Music, Murder & Magical Creatures - A Day in the Park with Lucy Christopher

On a sunny afternoon in Bute Park, my partner-in-crime, Lucinda Murray, and I had the pleasure of chatting with YA author Lucy Christopher.

Lucy’s a bit of a superstar in the children’s book world.  Her debut novel, Stolen, received the Printz Honor, the Branford Boase Award and the Gold Inky Award in 2010.  Her second book, Flyaway, was short-listed for the Costa Children’s Book Award… We also happen to be lucky enough to have her as our manuscript tutor on Bath Spa’s MA in Writing for Young People and can tell you with authority that she is pretty much amazing.

In this exclusive Chronicles of Word interview, we chat to Lucy about her writing process, her upcoming psychological thriller The Killing Woods, whether it’s vampires or werewolves and just what The Hunger Games was missing.

***

Yael: So, our first question, because we’re your students we’re wondering if teaching creative writing impacts your own work at all and if so, how?

Lucy: That’s a very good question, Yael.  I’d say it definitely impacts my work as a writer. I find this with students, but I also find it with myself.  Often the things that you pick up in other people’s work as being of concern are things that you need to deal with yourself. I often find ways to fix my own writing through helping other people look at theirs, so it’s very practically helpful.  It also keeps me very much in the writing world, because if I’m there trying to fix someone else’s book and then I go back to mine, I think “well, I can do this, I’ve just helped someone else fix their book, I know how to fix mine. I’ve got those skills, I can do it.” So it helps to keep me embedded in writing.  And I also just really like it.

There's something particularly lovely about getting to work with a brilliant manuscript tutor and learning that they enjoy working with you, too. We blush at the improbable statement that we've had any impact at all on Lucy's writing, but feel great about it all the same...

Lucinda: Ok, so we know from talking to you in class (and in general) that you like to write with music.  And we were wondering if you could tell us a bit about the music you used for your upcoming novel The Killing Woods?

Lucy: I had an interesting music journey with The Killing Woods, because with Stolen and Flyaway, I had very set songs that I was writing to and I knew the songs and I knew the artists and had different scenes that I would write with different songs.  And now when I think of those songs, I think of that scene and vice versa.  With The Killing Woods, I had enormous trouble trying to find music to write to. I couldn’t find the right music at all.  And maybe that’s emblematic of the fact that I was struggling so much with The Killing Woods.  So, in desperation, I asked my friend Simon for some recommendations – he’s a musician and he’s an editor in the Cardiff Miniature Music Press.  He gave me loads of recommendations and I listened to them and they didn’t really help that much.  And I went back to him and I said, “Si, this isn’t working, can you give me another one?” And he gave me another recommendation.  Still wouldn’t really work.  And in desperation I said to him, “Please, Si, just write me a song.  I need a song about a bunker, I need a song about kids in a wood.  There needs to be moonlight.  There needs to be some threat, some danger, some sexual tension.  Can you just write me that song?” And off he went.  And he wrote me a song called “It Wasn’t Me, It Was the Moon” about a girl and a boy walking through a woods at night and everything he does with her is not his fault, ‘cos it’s the moon’s fault.  And it’s not really to do with the book, but the mood of it and the sense of it and the creepiness was brilliant.  I went back to the writing and suddenly I could write the scene.  [So] I said [to Si], “That worked so well, can you write me another one?”  And he did.  And so he’s now got a whole album of Killing Woods-inspired songs.  And he’s gigging again and they play these songs live and say, “Oh and we’re going to play our ‘Woodland Murder Set’ now.”

Yael:  Do they credit you?

Lucy: They do sometimes.  I think I credit them more than they credit me.

Lucy laughs good-naturedly. Lucinda, who loves the Miniature Music Press and can't imagine anything more exciting than having music written for your novel, is awed into silence. Fortunately Yael has enough focus to move onto the next question.

Yael:  Well, this is a perfect segue, because we wanted a little bit of a teaser trailer of The Killing Woods. Can you tell us a little bit about the book?

Lucy: Sure.  It’s a dual narrative told between Emily and Damon.  It’s about both of these characters working out the dark places inside of them and discovering just how dark and how scary and angry they’re capable of being.  The beginning of the book starts with Emily. It’s late at night and her dad has disappeared into the woods.  Her dad is a soldier returning from Afghanistan and he is suffering with PTSD because of something that happened on tour. He arrives out of the woods late at night with what Emily thinks is an injured deer in his arms.  And she runs down to give him a hand and then realizes it’s actually a girl from school called Ashley Parker and that she’s dead.  And so dad gets arrested that night for the murder of Ashley Parker.  So her narrative is trying to work out what happened with her dad and the girl in the woods that night.  And if her dad is actually a murderer, then what does that mean for her? The other narrator is Damon.  And Damon’s the boyfriend of Ashley Parker.  And he wakes up very hung-over, still pissed really, and thinking about being in the woods with Ashley the night before and how she’d promised that they were gonna have sex.  And he’s trying to remember and put it all together and he can’t quite work it out.  As he starts to try and figure things out, he starts to remember things that he’s not quite sure he wants to remember.  And he starts to think that maybe he had a little bit more to do with what happened that night than he first thought. So, it’s about him trying to work out what he’s capable of doing. 

We take a moment to let this sink in, and perhaps the sunny surroundings of Bute Park seem a little less innocent than before. Lucinda can feel her scalp tighten, and Yael grins as she imagines sinking her teeth into The Killing Woods.  It is in this mood that Lucinda broaches the question of Lucy’s interest in the deep, dark woods of fairy tales...

Lucinda: So it’s hardly news to people who know me, but I have a bit of a thing for fairy tales.  And I’ve been wondering if you intentionally reference any in particular in your stories, because I feel like there’s a definite fairytale theme running through the books.

We talk a little about the swan myths that Lucy wove into Flyaway deliberately, and Lucinda suggests reading Stolen against Beauty and the Beast, as a way of twisting the fairytale. Lucy claims never to have looked at it from this angle, but we choose to believe that her subconscious is just that clever! Either way, she’s no stranger to using the sinister hints of fairytales for mass effect, as The Killing Woods proves...

Lucy: With The Killing Woods I was definitely thinking of Hansel & Gretel in the woods and I was thinking a bit about Little Red Riding Hood.  That comes up a few times – the wolf in the woods and you not knowing who the woodcutter is and who the wolf is.  And very bleakly, very obviously, I’m mentioning “Teddy Bear’s Picnic” – I know it’s not really a fairy tale, but that comes up quite a lot, going down into the woods for a picnic and you’re in for a big surprise.  And it’s such a creepy song.  I have a dream sequence at one point with it...

Yael and Lucinda laugh nervously, at once thrilled and terrified by the prospect of Lucy’s upcoming novel.  Yael admits she’ll never be able to hear “Teddy Bear’s Picnic” the same way again.  Lucinda suggests that this is a book to read in broad daylight.  Yael agrees, and wonders if it would be better read aloud, in the company of a good friend and possibly a comfort blanket. Even in the bright, warm sunlight, the three of us sense a chill on the air...  Yael decides it might be time to speak of things that are more uplifting than murder in the woods.  Like kidnapping, for example.

Yael:  So, shifting gears a bit, we’re curious about the original ending of Stolen, because I know you had to rework it with the publisher and there are a couple of different ones floating around for the American one and the British one.  Can you tell us about the original ending that you wanted and the process of shifting it and why that happened?

Lucy: Sure.  When I was originally writing Stolen, I wasn’t entirely sure if it was going to be an adult book or a young adult book.  I thought it was YA, but I always kept a questioning, ‘well maybe it’s adult, I don’t know, we’ll get to the end and see’.   And when I got to the end, I ended it in a way that would be fine in an adult book.  I was equating Ty with the desert and my idea for the book was to have the desert saved at the end of the book, and to have the desert seen as a good, beautiful place that needs to be saved.  And so for that to happen, metaphorically, I had to save Ty at the end of the book, as well.  And you can interpret that in whatever way you want to.  When the publisher saw that ending, they freaked out big time, because for a teenage girl to metaphorically or literally save a kidnapper is perhaps not giving great messages to a teenage readership, saying it’s OK to be kidnapped, it’s OK to fall in love with your kidnapper.  It’s sort of almost a bit too Edward Cullen and Bella.

The mention of the romantic leads in Twilight elicits groans from both Lucinda and Yael, as well as a pointed feminist jibe about how apparently we’re OK with Bella and Edward’s relationship. And by that, we mean not so much.  [N.B. for a contrary, feminist reading of Twilight, please see Josh Martin. We’re inclined to disagree with him, but no one’s perfect.]  

In fact, Lucy goes on to admit that...

Lucy:  Reading Twilight actually did really affect how I then came to edit Stolen, because I really liked Twilight until I got to the end and I thought, “What on earth is this book saying? This is bizarre!” And then I looked at my book and I was like, “Am I saying the same thing?” And I started to get a bit worried.  Coupled with my publisher saying, “We will not publish this book like this.  You must change it!”, I then went the other way and wrote a very moral ending about her hating Ty and [how] he did exactly the wrong thing and of course she’s over him and blah, blah, blah – exactly what my publishers wanted.  They then said, “Yeah, this is great, we want this.”  And I said, “No, no, hang on, no.  Don’t take that yet, I’m not sure about this.”  And in the end what I think I did was a sort of a compromise between the two.  So, I tried to appease my publishers, I tried to appease what I wanted to do and I tried not to be Edward Cullen and Bella.  So I sort of tried to merge it into a bit of an ambiguous ending.

If we're honest, we don’t think Lucy actually could write Gemma and Ty as Bella and Edward while still being Lucy Christopher, so we’re not too worried. Thinking about the resolutions in Twilight still leaves us cold though, so we quickly jump ship to a more compelling topic. Like shadowy, secret writing rituals...

Lucinda: We were wondering how your writing process has evolved over the course of 3 books.  How the process of writing has been different.  And we're also wondering on that basis, whether you have any amusing and entertaining writing rituals that you would like to share with the world?

Lucy laughs nervously, until Yael and Lucinda make solemn, reassuring promises never to tell the world about the demon-summonings or the bodies in the woods. 

Lucy: OK, process.  Um – yes, it has been different and I’ve noticed a progression.  Flyaway and Stolen were a very conscious writing process.  I knew pretty much what I was writing and why I wanted to write those books.  And although they both changed their endings, I had an idea of the whole shape for the book.  I plotted it all very consciously.  Killing Woods was very different.  Killing Woods, I tried to plot, to be conscious about it and it just kept slipping through my fingers every single time.  And in the end I had to chuck the consciousness out the window in this book and had to almost just trust by feel that I was going to get to the end and I was gonna write something and I’d be able to sort it through and work out what I was writing at the end of writing it.  So my first draft of Killing Woods was 125,000 words.  It was a lot of feeling out things, really.  Now, the final draft I think is 84,000, so that’s a hell of a lot of chopping, now that I’ve worked out how to do it.  So Killing Woods was a subconscious feel.  And the other two were very conscious understanding.  And I think that that’s really helped me, because as I teacher I used to be like, “Just plot out your book, know your ending, it’s very conscious, you know how to do it,” but I think it’s made me quite aware that actually, no, it’s not the only way you write a book.  You can be much more feel-y and subconscious about it and that’s fine.  It’s just a different way.  Maybe a little bit more traumatic, but it can be done.

We nod thoughtfully, neither of us strangers to book trauma.  We feel even more validated when Lucy mentions a writing ritual of hers that sounds remarkably familiar...

Lucy: Sometimes I need to have a little jump around the room.  Especially if I feel like I’ve got something, I’ve finally written a chapter [or I’ve suddenly] understood something, I just whack on the loud music and just jump around the room.

I like to walk, as well, before I write.  And that’s the same way of trying to get into the headspace, trying to think – it’s almost a way of planning without sitting down and planning.  Just thinking it through.  But I don’t think I have to wear anything in particular…

For a brief instant, Yael contemplates whether a unicorn onesie is appropriate writing attire. Lucinda, who occasionally dresses up just to channel fictional characters, is certain it is. With our obvious maturity established, we move on to a more serious question... 

Yael: What’s the best thing a fan has ever said to you?

Lucy: Oh, wow.  That is a good question.  That’s a really good question.  That’s really hard to answer.  Lots of people say really lovely things to me.  I remember having a – I don’t know if it’s the loveliest thing – but I remember having an email once from a reader who had read Stolen and told me about [how] it had helped her.  She told me about how she was in quite an emotionally abusive relationship with her boyfriend – she was only fourteen, fifteen.  And she was telling me about how she felt she couldn’t actually break up with him, she couldn’t leave him, and there was just no way out of this relationship.  And how she’d read Stolen and saw how Gemma dealt with Ty and how she kept hold of herself.  And that gave her almost the courage, then, to do it and to break up with her boyfriend. I wrote back to her and had a short sort of email correspondence with her. She read the book again a second time, because she needed the confirmation that she could do it and stay away. That was quite a cool email exchange.

For a moment, we’re quietly, perfectly stunned. We talk about how that's something that every YA author wants: to know that they've made a difference in the lives of their readers.

But we’re also both well aware that every writer has books that impacted them in some way... So with that in mind, Lucinda asks...

Lucinda: If you could’ve written any book in the world, which one would it be, and why?

Lucy: God, that’s tough. That’s a really tough question.  Yes, I actually do know one – but, can I rewrite it?

Lucinda: Yeah.

Lucy: It would definitely be The Hunger Games.  And I would rewrite it with more sex.

We promptly die of laughter. Yael thinks this may the greatest thing Lucy has ever said, while Lucinda wants to work the quote into the interview tagline. Meanwhile, Lucy’s not quite finished...

Lucy: I mean, come on, Peeta was so great, but what happened there?! Where’s Gale?! Let’s have a bit more juice going on!

It’s a struggle to change the subject from Lucy’s master plan to bring sexy back, but Yael has a decidedly relevant follow-up question... 

Yael: Vampires or Werewolves?

Lucy: Definitely werewolves. I mean vampires are dead.  A bit cold.  Very hard.  They’re very old.  Werewolves are human and wolves are nice. And that’s the one big problem with – well, not the one, there’s many big problems with Twilight – but why the HELL did she pick Edward? Jacob was the healthy choice.

Yael admits to a firm Team Jacob affiliation. Somehow, the conversation simultaneously becomes a werewolf appreciation party and a critique of Meyer’s problematic portrayal of Native American werewolves, who are savages unable to control their own urges.  Jacob may be hot-blooded, but there’s nothing that gets OUR blood boiling quite like racial stereotypes and cultural appropriation.  Except possibly enforced gender-normativity.

Soon, it’s clear we might need something to dispel the rising tension, so Lucinda pipes in with a charming and creative sort of question...

Lucinda: If you were a setting in a novel, what would you be?

Lucy: What a question! I’ve never been asked that.  If I were a setting in a novel, I think I’d like to be Rivendell in Lord of the Rings.  Because it’s just so pretty and magical, full of beautiful elves.

Since Lucy Christopher is a pretty magical person, this isn’t too much of a stretch. We agree that she’d fit in happily with the elves.  After all, then she could float on and off horseback just like Legolas.  But Lucy has other plans for him…

Lucy: I could get legless with Legolas!

Lucinda: I’m not sure elves can get drunk, actually. I think it came up in one of the films, which is a great sadness. Though they might get high. I’m not sure if anyone’s tried that yet...

Lucy: A high elf would be a thing to behold.

Yael and Lucinda promise that one day they’ll write Lucy that fanfic: “Legless with Legolas.”

Yael: That could be another post on the blog. Our last question is one you’ve probably been asked before.  You happen to have received a Printz Honor - which is amazing, by the way.  And I just was wondering... What was that like for you? How do you feel it’s impacted your feelings about yourself as an author since?

Lucy: Good question.  I don’t get asked that nearly enough.  In fact most people don’t have a clue, so that’s quite nice to be asked.  It was amazing.  It was amazing on many counts.  Personally because my publishers flew me out to New Orleans and let me stay in a beautiful place.  And they lavished me with lovely things, and I could have room service fruit salad every morning, which felt like the most wonderful indulgence. I think it certainly made a huge impact on my career too, because America is my biggest market, by a really long way.  I found out my sales figures for Stolen in America last week.  It’s 100,000 in America, just on Stolen.  I’m pretty sure that’s double what it is in the UK.  America have just taken it and loved it and nearly all the responses I get for this book are American responses.  Interest from the films come from America.  And I’m sure that wouldn’t’ve happened without the Printz.  Printz and Maggie Stiefvater endorsing it are the two biggest things that happened –

Our eyes brighten at the mention of Maggie Stiefvater, author of the best-selling Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy and The Scorpio Races. Unfortunately, the interview goes off topic again at this point, as we try to convince Lucy to introduce us to another of our heroines. Lucy, ever-graceful, avoids this by changing the subject to tell us that we’re part of a wonderful cohort of students at Bath Spa of which she’s proud to be a teacher.  Distracted by flattery (it gets you everywhere, kids!), the interview comes to a most-pleasing end. True, the last answer might have been interrupted in mid-flow, but we suppose you can’t win them all.

Unless you’re Lucy Christopher, of course.

-

Lucy's books are available anywhere good books are sold and also on the wondersite that is amazon... to order, click on the links - 

Stolen
Flyaway
The Killing Woods