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Rebecca:
Brent Hartinger is an articulate & versatile author who focuses on the teenage life, especially in the high school context.
In The Last Chance Texaco we meet Lucy, a veteran of the foster care system. Now she arrives at an old Victorian group home in San Francisco, & must learn the ropes of both living with the other kids, the staff & a new school. This year will be the making or breaking of this savvy girl, on the verge of womanhood. Given you're a guy, how do you write from a girl's point of view?
Brent::
Sorry, I can't reveal trade secrets! No, seriously, this is the essence of a writer's job: to write convincingly from different points of view. Otherwise, every writer would have exactly one character & one story to tell: his or her own.
Most of my main characters come to me semi-fully formed. I know almost immediately the way they look & sound, & their gender. Lucy came to me as female, & I never questioned that. The only real question was how much to concentrate on her “female-ness”. In the end, I chose not to dwell on that too much, because The Last Chance Texaco is a pretty tightly plotted story (&, frankly, I was hoping for some crossover male readership!).
Every good writer sees characters as individuals, not genders or races or sexual orientation. That said, every writer should also be aware how that character's race or gender or sexual orientation helped shaped his or her POV. For Lucy, it's a question of sensibility. Underneath the tough exterior, she's a romantic at heart!
Rebecca:
In Geography Club, your first book, your hero is a high school sophomore with a secret. He's trying to be “one of the boys” & yet because there's something he cannot yet speak about, he's become an accomplished liar, even to his best friend. When he does tell a select few that he's gay, he's surprised at how many others are struggling with the same issue, & that's how the Geography Club starts. First love, no matter what kind, is rough. Why do you think public schools are such crucibles of initiation? What would make the passage easier, & should it be?
Brent::
Oh, man, what would make high school easier? That's the question, isn't it? I will allow that part of the trauma of adolescence is about being an adolescent. But as a society, we could do a much better job of allowing for differences, for diversity. In short, we give kids crappy role models. Why do we have a problem with bullying in our schools? Because we have a problem with bullying in our society.
As for the problems gay teenagers face, I don't think most people have any idea how hard it can be. A lot of people are hostile or on-the-fence when it comes to the place of gays in society, but if they could meet the kids I meet, or read my email, they would immediately change their minds. I hear about death threats, physical abuse, vicious, vicious name-calling. & sadly, these things are not that unusual for the gay teen today. Imagine the courage & character it takes for a kid to withstand an unrelenting fusillade of negativity from peers, society, religion, & even his or her own parents! There are a lot of wounded gay people out there, but what astounds me is that most gay people don't just survive all this crap, they flourish. They become passionate, creative, principled, & strong. If integrity means being true to yourself regardless of the personal cost, the openly lesbian & gay teenager has that in spades. People call me a role model, but when I was a teenager myself, I didn't have half that much moxie.
Rebecca:
Which writers influenced you the most & why?
Brent::
The reason I became a writer of fiction was this book called The Outsiders, which I read when I was seventeen years old. It was written by someone named S. E. Hinton, & I'd never related to anyone the way I related to Ponyboy Curtis, the book's teenage main character. But a few weeks after I finished the book, I learned that S. E. Hinton was actually a woman -- that the publisher had made her use her initials to fool teenage boys like me into thinking the author was really a guy, & that the main character, Ponyboy Curtis, really existed in some form. When I learned the truth about S.E. Hinton's gender, at first I felt betrayed & angry. But then I began to get interested. What was this thing called “fiction” & who was this writer who could so move me with her words? The day I started The Outsiders was the day I really became a reader. The day I realized it was fiction was the day I realized I wanted to be a writer too.
Rebecca:
What are the most exciting things about writing for Young Adults?
Brent::
For the record, we call our books “Teen” books now. I guess someone in marketing decided that the term “Young Adult” turns teenagers off!
I so love writing for this market! Like most authors of Teen Books, I was put in the genre by one of my first agents, who thought that my book about a teenager must be a “Teen” book. At first, I was indignant, thinking that this somehow made the book “lesser”, not quite “real” literature. Then I started reading other Teen Books, & realized that, on average, the quality is much higher than for the average “adult” book. Hey, we Teen authors have no choice but to write engaging page-turners -- we're competing against Nintendo & Britney Spears humping a couch! We can't mess around.
But what I really like best about the genre? The enthusiasm of the readers. When a teenager likes a book, he or she really likes it, & isn't ashamed to tell you so. It's very humbling.
Rebecca:
I sit corrected: Teens it is! Who do you speak to about your books, & how are you received?
Brent::
The life of a writer is so strange. Before I was published, I was home alone all day, & even on the weekends, I never saw anyone except my friends. Now that I'm published, I do at least five speaking engagements a month -- bookstores, conferences, classrooms, civic groups. This past weekend, at a conference in Columbus, I talked to about three hundred people. Or I'll go to a school & talk to two hundred kids. Sometimes it's overwhelming, but I gotta tell you -- it's great for the ego! People want my signature, want to take photos with me, just want to meet me because they were somehow touched by my books. It's the closest I'll ever get to feeling like a rock star!
Rebecca:
What's your next book, The Order of Poison Oak, about?
Brent::
The Order of the Poison Oak is a sequel to my first book, Geography Club. Russel & his friends go to work as counselors at a summer camp. Expect Indian legends, skinny-dipping, & lots of summer romance! It'll be out in February 2005.
Even before Geography Club was published, I just assumed that I would write a sequel to it. But when I first mentioned it to my editor at HarperCollins, he said, “Well, let's wait and see how it does, okay?” I guess I was a little naive. Fortunately, Geography Club was a huge, huge hit, with a big non-gay crossover audience, & HarperCollins was so eager to get a sequel out that they moved the publication date up a whole year. So I was naive, but I was right! & now we're planning two more books in what is turning out to be a whole series involving Russel & his friends. Plus, we're working on both a stage & big-budget screen adaptation of Geography Club as well, so this little story of mine has really taken off.
For the record, I have lots of other projects in the works too -- two fantasies, a psychological thriller with a “twist” ending, & maybe even a sequel to The Last Chance Texaco.
Rebecca:
I do want to read that! Would you tell us about the support group you founded in Tacoma, Washington called Oasis?
Brent::
It was a support group for lesbian & gay young people. At the time in Tacoma, there was absolutely no place for gay teens to meet & talk, except for a seedy restaurant in front of an even seedier bar. How healthy was that? So we created a whole social network, which also did HIV & safe sex education. It was really one of the most positive experiences of my life.
Interestingly, it was really the inspiration for Geography Club. We would interview the kids before they were allowed to come to a meeting, & I would meet such a diverse group of kids: street kids, drag queens, squeaky clean jocks & prom queens from the suburbs. & before the first meeting, I thought to myself, “These kids have nothing in common except the fact they're gay -- this is going to be a disaster.” Well, when they got together, it was absolute magic. What they had in common was that they all felt alienated in some way from their peers. They felt like outsiders, like they didn't belong. & all their external differences turned out to be completely superficial. When you think about it, that's pretty much the story of Geography Club too.
Rebecca:
Thank you, Brent, for taking time out of your busy life. Your stories are entertaining & thought-provoking. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Brent::
Just that I so feel lucky to be paid to do what I love. Those arrogant authors who act like they're doing you a favor by writing their books? Forget them! It's readers who are doing us authors a favor by buying & reading our work. I couldn't be more grateful.
Oh, & be sure and check out my website, “Brent's Brain” at www.brenthartinger.com
Rebecca:
Do catch my reviews of Brent Hartinger's Teen adventures The Last Chance Texaco & Geography Club. I know you're going to like them!
Rebecca Brown
Published 10/10/04
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RebeccasiReads.com
