Touring the blogosphere this month is author Phoebe Wray, whose debut novel, JEMMA7729, was just released by Edge Science Fiction & Fantasy Publishing. In this interview, Phoebe talks about her inspiration for the book, tackling writer's block, looking for a publisher, and her working environment, among other things.
When did you decide you wanted to become an author? Do you have another job besides writing?
I was telling stories before I could write. My Dad was a great story-teller, and he encouraged me to make up stories. The adults indulged and applauded and spoiled me. I wrote my first poem in second grade (I was about 7) and it was published in our very small village’s weekly newspaper. I started a newspaper in the 5th grade, a little weekly that ran 2-3 pages. Started writing stories about then, too.
I have another job. I teach in the Theatre Division of The Boston Conservatory, a very fine Theatre/Music/Dance private college in Boston. I teach History of the Theatre, Cultural History, occasionally Acting.
Were you an avid reader as a child? What type of books did you enjoy reading?
Yes. I especially loved animal stories, and action stories. I read a lot of comic books, too. I read all the kids’ stuff — loved Robin Hood (I wanted to be Robin, not Marion), Mark Twain, Stevenson, the Nancy Drew Dectective books. I liked poetry books and I read the dictionary (it was a children’s version).
Tell us a bit about your latest book, and what inspired you to write such a story.
JEMMA7729 is a rather dark action-adventure, futurist story, set in North America in the early 23rd century. The government is rotten and repressive —it’s a government that tells Big Lies and holds the country together with fear and intimidation. Once Jemma discovers that what she’s been taught is not the truth, she sets out to discover the truth for herself and becomes a rebel, a saboteur, and the government tries to stop her.
I got the idea one day thinking the “what if” mantra. What if there were a government so repressive it just lumped all crimes and misdemeanors into one huge category: Inappropriate Behavior. That was the original title of the book. I’m sure that the discomfort and anger that I’ve felt (and many many other Americans have felt) over the past eight years of bullying and repression by my own government has a lot to do with why I wrote it.
The theme may be one reason that I got framable rejections from American publishers and it wound up being taken by a Canadian publisher.
How would you describe your creative process while writing this book? Was it stream-of-consciousness writing, or did you first write an outline?
I can’t work with outlines. I had a hard time starting the novel. I just couldn’t get past a few pages until—it sounds hokey, but there was the morning when I sat down to write—and Jemma walked into the room. The novel had to be written in the first person. That’s not my favorite voice, but nothing else worked. The whole book comes off Jemma’s ideas and personality.
Article comments
1 - Lisa Damian
Nice interview. Enjoyed reading it. The Jemma book and the Tales of the Winter People series both sound like interesting concepts.