Carolyn Coman

You've only written two novels for young adults, and already you've not only gotten tremendous reviews, but WHAT JAMIE SAW has garnered a Newbery Honor Medal and was a finalist for a 1996 National Book Award. Have you been working towards this for years, or did you write two exceptional novels on your first two tries?

It wasn't a case where I had been writing novels for years and years and I had a bunch of them stored away; they were the first and second novels I ever wrote. But I had been practicing my writing for a long time. I did short story writing and freelance nonfiction for magazines, and I really feel I honed my skills working in the short story form before I went to the novel.

What made you decide to write novels for young adults?

I didn't. I started writing what I thought was going to be a short story, but it grew so big that it finally became a novel ATELL ME EVERYTHING?. It was about a 12-year-old girl, and at that time I didn't realize that if I wrote a story completely focused on the point of view of an adolescent, that it would be called a young adult novel. I simply had that story to tell, and so I told it being as true to this girl's vision as I could be. The same was true with Jamie, a 9-year-old boy. When I started to write JAMIE and it started to get darker and darker, I said to my editor, "I don't know what you're going to do with it or who it's for." He said, "You just have to write it; I'll figure out who it's for."

Teens and adults are getting a lot out of reading this book. Who is your ideal audience?

Anyone who the book speaks to. What matters to me is that if children of the same age were to read it, they would feel that I had rendered something honestly. I still don't ever think about age, and since I tend to write about subjects that are termed difficult or dark or hard, I think there's always a question of who is the audience. I wouldn't recommend WHAT JAMIE SAW to everyone. My hope is that it will speak to whoever needs it. We all read books at certain times of our lives and sometimes they really get us. Part of that is timing; when we read it, where we are in our lives and what we need at that moment. That's always a miracle; when the right book gets put in the right hands at the right moment. I don't worry about my books being too difficult for children. If it doesn't interest them, they won't read it.

Do you want to write novels for a different audience at some point?

I'm happy to be writing books that are considered young adult. I've written enough now to know that I come back over and over to childhood and adolescent issues. It's something that really interests and concerns me, so when I get an idea for a story, I just go with it. I couldn't have been more graciously and more warmly received, and if all my books end up being in that genre, wonderful. We'll see if there's a point at which someone else makes the determination that my work doesn't belong in that slot anymore.

The subject matter is dark and serious. Why did you decide to take on the issue of abuse and of the fear that it causes.

When I started writing JAMIE, I had the characters and I had the setting. It took me a while to understand that the story itself was about a journey from fear to safety. It happened that domestic violence became the vehicle for making that journey, but I didn't set out to write about domestic violence. For a long time I resisted it, because I did think it was so fraught. Could I really handle it and not have it become sensational or melodramatic or cliched, all the pitfalls that you can trip into when you take on a subject like that? But that is what asserted itself, and that's how I know that's the story to write, when it comes knocking on my door instead of my chasing it. My conscious mind was leading it in a different direction, but the scene of violence kept coming up, and finally I kind of surrendered to it.

Are there any special elements you always include in your work, messages you hope to leave with your readers when they finish this book?

Knowing that children will read my books, it's essential that hope is an ingredient. It's not about wrapping up everything and having a happy ending, but it is an ultimate sense of affirmation about life and the love that family members have for each other.
I don't think about messages while I write, and its impossible to in any way dictate or control what a reader will take away from the book, because they bring to it their own history and their own understanding. I'm often surprised in reviews--I feel like I get a lot of extra credit for having done or said things in a certain way that I had no awareness of doing! I always hope that people will care about my characters, that they would care for and understand Jamie's situation, the absolute horror of what he's had to deal with as a child. Children are asked to bear more than they should or could and yet they do it in these inventive, strong, funny, resilient ways. I hope that people will respect and see how wonderful kids are capable of being, even in such difficult circumstances.

You have a daughter and a son. Do you write for them?

I have an almost-18-year-old daughter and a seven-year-old son. My daughter has been very much in the inner circle. She reads my stuff in progress and she's a very sharp, good critic who doesn't hesitate to say what she thinks. She's been in on everything for a long time. My son is too young.
He asked me the other night about reading JAMIE, but I said, "Not yet." I think when he gets older he'll be part of it, too.

What has been most gratifying about this experience?

The awards are what impressed my son. I got a sticker from the Newbery and I got a medal from the National Book Award nomination. The medal is kind of heavy, and it looks like an Olympic thing. Those things carry a lot of weight with a 7-year-old! It was stunning to me that it got the kind of attention that it did because JAMIE is not easy or simple and I knew that people would worry about the audience and the age level. It's always moving to me when I realize someone has cared enough to read carefully and think about my work. It's the most you can ask as a writer.

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