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When I first met Gayle Brandeis several years ago at a conference where I was giving a writing workshop, she struck me as young, lovely, and fully present. What I couldn't know was that she would go on to write and get published so consistently over the years.
With her two latest novels just out, one for adults, one for a younger audience, it seemed time to interview her and see how she does it. Gayle's responses to my questions were charming and disarmingly frank, as you'll see.
Q: Gayle, tell us about My Life with the Lincolns and how it turned into a YA novel?
A: For a few years, I kicked around the idea of writing a memoir called My Life with the Lincolns. I've always felt a powerful connection with Abraham Lincoln: I went to Lincoln Elementary School and would touch the life-sized bronze statue of Abe as I walked up the stairwell every day. When I was a little girl, I thought my dad was Abraham Lincoln reincarnated. In grad school, I learned more about Mary Lincoln, and she reminded me a lot of my mom, especially regarding their grandiose delusions about money.
When I sold my book Self Storage, Ballantine offered me a two-book deal. My agent and editor took me out for a celebratory lunch and when I told them that I was thinking about writing a memoir paralleling my family's story with the Lincolns' story, they were very excited. After I thought about it for a while, though, I realized I wasn't ready to write that book--I was too close to the subject matter, plus my mom had asked me not to write about her while she was alive. They then suggested I fictionalize my family's story, but I told them that I really did want to write a real memoir someday. But then the character of Mina started talking to me. The story had some autobiographical elements, but it quickly veered away from my life and became a truly fictional story.
As I wrote the novel, I honestly thought I was writing a book for adults, even though the narrator was 12 years old. I had seen other novels for adults narrated by young people, and figured that I was addressing enough serious issues to make it a grown-up book. When I finished a draft and shared it with my agent, she thought the voice was very young, and the story needed more of an adult perspective, so I rewrote it, alternating Mina's perspective with that of her dad. I turned it in to my editor and waited to get her notes, but what I got, instead, was a phone call.
As soon as I heard the tone of her voice, I knew the news was not good. Even when she prefaced it with "I really love this book, Gayle. It's a beautiful story," I could hear she was leading up to a "but." She told me that even though she adored the book, it wasn't right for her list. "It's a young adult novel," she told me. "Maybe even younger."
I was devastated. My first marriage was on shaky ground at the time and I had been counting on the next chunk of the advance to give me options. Now I wouldn't see a check for at least another year. I felt trapped and deflated, but I trusted my editor. Eventually I started to get excited about the opportunity to reach a whole new, unintended audience. I took Mina's dad's perspective out of the book, and played around with Mina's voice to make it more consistent and suitable for a young audience.
Q: It really felt like you were tiptoeing into some tricky areas. Like infidelity and reincarnation and pubic hair and heart disease and death (not in that order!). Not to mention the n word and so on.
A: There wasn't much I needed to remove from Mina's sections--mainly a few mildly sexual references. The words "vagina" and "tits" are still in the book, which apparently makes some school librarians nervous. A couple of school visits were cancelled because of those simple, charged words. The mature issues felt to me as if they were part of the fabric of Mina's life, and the time in which she lived, and I was grateful that my editor was fine with keeping them in. Some reviewers have cautioned parents about certain issues and words in the book, but I think kids are often more savvy than they're given credit for, and they certainly won't be damaged by reading about a girl growing a few wispy pubic hairs.
Q: Your adult novel, Delta Girls, is coming out now too. Did that recent rejection affect your writing process for Delta Girls?
A: My editor gave me a year to write a new novel to fulfill my contract. Both of those novels are the first I've ever written on deadline (other than the built-in deadline of National Novel Writing Month). There were times when the writing felt forced to me with each of the books, but eventually I found my way into a creative, fluid groove. I have to say it took a bit longer to get into the rhythm of Delta Girls because I was still smarting from the rejection and was scared to dive into a book that could very well be rejected, too. Eventually, though, the characters took over as they do and took me along for the ride.
Q: Can you share your writing schedule or process with us? Because I know you have had a really challenging year and you also have a new baby. And two blogs!
A: I am a completely undisciplined writer. I have no schedule, other than writing when I find slivers of time. My tendency in the past has been to write in big sloppy bursts--I sometimes go for weeks without writing, and then I'm consumed by the need to write and it will gush out quite abundantly (plus I'm a big fan of writing a quick first draft and then using subsequent drafts to shape and hone the work).
The non-writing times have been fertile, percolating times, filling the well so it can spill over again. I haven't been writing much lately, but this feels a bit different--I'm getting used to life with a baby again (my older kids are 19 and 16) and am still processing my mother's suicide last November and the sudden death of my mother-in-law this March, and all of those things have deeply impacted my writing life as well as my daily life. I don't blog as often as I'd like to, and when I have a moment to write, I often just need to take that time to decompress and not do much of anything.
I'm trying to be gentle with myself and not push myself too hard, but I do want to find a better rhythm that creates more space (especially inside myself) for my creative work. And I'm returning to teaching soon.
Q: I love the way you work your social justice passions into your books. Do you know what's next on that front?
A: I've started a new YA novel that deals with industrial farming, monoculture, guerilla gardening, etc., all things that I'm passionate about. I'm also working on a book about my mom, which is probably the most personal thing I've ever written. My mom taught me a lot about fighting for social justice, so in a way, all of my books that explore social issues (namely all my books!) are an homage to her.
- Gayle's website is here.
- These are her blogs: Fruitful and Mama Redux.
