Today, Olivia from YA Mag chatted with the super cool, musical-loving Amy Spalding, author of THE REECE MALCOLM LIST!
Olivia with YA-Mag: Amy, welcome to the Young Adult Magazine! As a fellow Sondheim fan, let me just say I practically giggled with joy to see someone using Merrily We Roll Along in their book! But enough gushing about what excellent taste you have…
YA: Actually, who am I kidding? That’s the perfect way to start! I read that the Interwebs helped pick the musical featured in this book. What, then, are some of your favorites? (I’ll highly recommend checking out Ragtime and Sondheim’s Company if you have not!)
Amy Spalding: Ragtime is also one of my favorites. I love a lot of shows: Hair, Evita, Chess, Hedwig & the Angry Inch, and Floyd Collins are just a few of my favorites. Also almost everything Sondheim’s written, of course, especially Merrily and A Little Night Music.
YA: So back to REECE MALCOLM! Devan! First, killer name. But second, where did this girl come from? What about her personality had her kicking and screaming her way to the top, your perfect protagonist for this story?
AS: I actually thought of the concept for the book (long-lost mother story) before I thought of Devan, so she evolved as I tried to figure out the best way to tell the story. I figured because of her history of wondering about where she came from and feeling abandoned to some degree that she would be a little meek and self-doubting. But because she had such an extraordinarily talented mother, I wanted to give her an extraordinary talent too, and what better than being great at performing? I think a lot of performers aren’t always as comfortable being themselves as being onstage.
YA: What non-book influences (films, television shows, music, plays, etc) helped spark this story or your writing career in general?
AS: I’ve been writing ever since I was a little kid because I’d get stories or characters in my head and want to do something with them, so there wasn’t one big influence that started that off. Back then my biggest influences probably all were books. As I got older, I grew to love storytelling about real kids and parents on TV shows like My So-Called Life and Freaks & Geeks. I loved how Joss Whedon’s characters sounded on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and how feminist the show could be. I loved family dramas like Once & Again, Gilmore Girls, Six Feet Under, and Everwood. Musical theatre has always been something I’ve loved, and Stephen Sondheim’s ability with words just astounds me. I know Andrew Lloyd Webber gets a lot of disdain–and much of it, rightfully so–but Evita was one of my first glimpses at how exciting a sort of anti-hero could be. And I’m astounded how songwriters like Neko Case and John Darnielle can tell what feel like entire novels’ worth of stories in single songs.
YA: When you were a teen, what was your favorite book (YA or otherwise)? Now that you’re an author for teens, what is your favorite contemporary YA?
AS: My favorite book for quite awhile as a young teen was Lois Lowry’s A Summer to Die which remains one of my favorites today. It has so much of what I love in a book! Family drama! Cool and realistic adults! A tragic disease! Sibling issues! Feminism! Swoon. It’s good stuff.
YA: What’s the story behind the title THE REECE MALCOLM LIST? How long did it take to settle on it?
AS: Oh, it took a long time! I noticed recently in the Word document’s info that it’s still labeled “My Long-Lost Mother”, which was the working title for a long time. I never wanted to call it that, but I had no idea. Finally as the list element was gelling in the manuscript, it hit me, and then it seemed like it had always been called that. In a lot of ways it’s a terrible title, though, because no one can spell Reece or Malcolm correctly!
YA: Haha! I have to admit, I misspelled them both a lot myself! All right, so, up next for you is a completely separate tale, INK IS THICKER THAN WATER. Tell us a little more about this upcoming novel?
AS: It’s about sisterhood, best friendship, falling for an older intense–and hot, of course–guy, and figuring out what your identity is when everything seems to be changing. Also, tattoos!
YA: If you could cast the Dream Film Adaptation of THE REECE MALCOLM LIST, who would you cast?
AS: I like to leave this up to readers, because I don’t want to put specific ideas in anyone’s head. But I LOVE hearing what other people come up with. It’s so interesting how some people see these characters just like I do, and how others have completely other interpretations. I love them all.
YA: Do you have any pet writing projects you’d like to try out sometime soon?
AS: I always have a long list of stuff I’d like to work on, but honestly that list just grows and grows while my new projects seem to come out of nowhere with just the right spark. But since I love disease books I definitely want to write something tragic or at least tragedy-light. (I don’t like writing super dark things, but I like playing around with the ideas.) Also I’d love to write something set in the 1990s but I’m afraid that’s just my own nostalgia talking!
YA: Amy, I’m really looking forward to seeing THE REECE MALCOLM LIST invade bookshelves everywhere! I have one last question for you, and we’re going a little meta. Let’s assume that all plot is on hold for a bit: if you and Devan spend a day in Los Angeles, what would you do together? Do you think you’d get along?
AS: I think we’d get along OK! I’m afraid I’d be a little too loud for Devan’s taste, but I do think we’d enjoy shopping together or checking out some theatre. I’d probably admit to her I was terrified of her mother and force her to talk me up like I was really, really cool.
YA: Thank you very much, Amy! And again, from YA Mag, congratulations on your debut! We look forward to hearing a lot more from you in years to come!
AS: Thanks for having me!
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Devan knows very little about Reece Malcolm, until the day her father dies and she’s shipped off to live with the mother she’s never met. All she has is a list of notebook entries that doesn’t add up to much.??L.A. offers a whole new world to Devan—a performing arts school allows her to pursue her passion for show choir and musicals, a new circle of friends helps to draw her out of her shell, and an intriguing boy opens up possibilities for her first love.??But then the Reece Malcolm list gets a surprising new entry. Now that Devan is so close to having it all, can she handle the possibility of losing everything?
Readers, be sure to check out Amy Spalding at her website TheAmySpalding.com. Or follow her on Twitter @TheAmes.
THE REECE MALCOLM LIST, published by Entangled Teen, is now available at your favorite retailers and local independent bookstores!
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Olivia Hennis is a transplanted New England girl dropped by a tornado into the magical Land of Jersey. For more info, follow her on Twitter or at her blog, Olivia’s Secret Reading Room.
(Twitter link: https://twitter.com/#!/OliviaHennis)
(Blog link: http://www.oliviahennis.wordpress.com)