| Interview with Elise Broach |
First off, thanks so much for joining us for an up-close and personal interview for TeensReadToo.com! My
name is Jen, and I'll be your server toda...oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out
of your writing schedule--which I'm sure is busy!--and answering a few questions for your readers and fans.
Thanks for asking me. It's always great to talk to readers!
Let's get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you
wanted to be a writer?
I've always loved to write. Starting when I was five or six, I wrote lots of little books about brave animals,
sometimes with my best friend Jennifer. But I never thought of writing as a real job. For years, I wanted to
be a veterinarian, but I was bad at biology. When I finished dissecting something, my teacher would look at
the mess on the lab table and cringe.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
Long and winding! After college, I worked as a management consultant in Boston, then went to history
graduate school at Yale and briefly taught there (U.S. environmental history and western history), got
married and had three children, left the Ph.D. program with a half-completed dissertation on American
sacred landscapes, and started writing fiction while I was home with my children. I was very lucky to have
two picture books accepted out of the slushpile at Dial and Putnam in 2000 and 2001, and then my first
novel, Shakespeare's Secret, was accepted at Holt a year later.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing
about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
Desert Crossing is a mystery/suspense about three teens on a road trip that goes horribly wrong, with
life-changing consequences.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
Probably my greatest inspiration has been other people's artistic creations: the wonderful books I've read,
plays and movies I've seen, art exhibits I've gone to. My stories tend to come mostly from my imagination,
rather than from something real, and I think my mind is basically a big mulching ground of all the stuff I've
read or seen.
Let's hear about your family, who I'm sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
My family has been incredibly supportive, from my husband and children to my parents and siblings. My
dad is always googling my book titles and sending me obscure references or reviews. My kids love it that I
write books their friends like to read, but they also keep me grounded. For instance, my son likes to give
me a running tally of how many copies of my books are piling up in the middle school lost-and-found.
Now for some fun facts. What's your greatest comfort food?
Too many! Cinnamon muffins; scones; chocolate-chip brownies. I love to bake, so anything warm and
sweet is comforting.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
If I wake up early enough, my favorite thing to do is read in bed. But usually: brush my teeth, let the dog
out, help the kids get ready for school.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what's the one thing that would surprise
me the most?
What would probably surprise you is that my house is neat, but the attic and basement are stuffed with
weird things: large pieces of driftwood, old paintings, dog crates.
Everyone asks the question about "if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?" so I want to know: If
you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
Probably some shade of purple, because it's complicated and intense, but also soothing. Or green, the
color of nature, spring, life.
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
That's a tough one! Some favorites: Linus, Bugs Bunny, Tigger, the Road Runner. The one most like me?
Probably Snoopy, off in his own world.
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world ("Beam me up, Scotty!"), during any time in history,
where and when would it be--and why?
Back to the Mesozoic Era. I'd love to see dinosaurs. But I wouldn't want to stay there very long!
So what's your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while
you're writing?
The Who, Spoon, Aimee Mann, The Fray, Sondheim songs from various musicals. There's a certain kind
of moody, introspective song that I tend to like, whether it's Snow Patrol or Maroon 5 or Norah Jones or
The Goo Goo Dolls. I don't listen to music while I'm writing; I pay too much attention to the lyrics, so it's
distracting.
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie
you saw at the theater?
The last two movies I saw at the theater were "The Queen" and "Casino Royale," in the same afternoon.
I'm a total movie junkie! I try to see all the Academy-Award-nominated ones and then make a bet with my
sister every year on what's going to win in each category. Some of the movies I'll watch again and again
are "Groundhog Day," "Witness," "L.A. Confidential," "You've Got Mail," "The Fugitive," and the BBC
version of "Pride and Prejudice" (which is six hours long, but a pure delight). Favorite T.V. shows are
Seinfeld, Grey's Anatomy, and some of the cringe-worthy reality shows, like Project Runway.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Surround yourself with people who like you for the things you like best about yourself. Make friends with
those people, date those people, work with those people, spend your summers hanging out with those
people. Life is so much more interesting and fun if you have companions who support and challenge
you--who value you for who you are. I think when you're a teenager, it's so easy to be swept along,
coasting into relationships and situations that you haven't actively chosen. So my advice would be: choose.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
The next two books in the pipeline are a picture book coming out this fall, When Dinosaurs Came with
Everything (for which David Small has done the most wonderful illustrations), and a middle-grade mystery
called Masterpiece, about art, forgery, and friendship.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
Thank you!
name is Jen, and I'll be your server toda...oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out
of your writing schedule--which I'm sure is busy!--and answering a few questions for your readers and fans.
Thanks for asking me. It's always great to talk to readers!
Let's get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you
wanted to be a writer?
I've always loved to write. Starting when I was five or six, I wrote lots of little books about brave animals,
sometimes with my best friend Jennifer. But I never thought of writing as a real job. For years, I wanted to
be a veterinarian, but I was bad at biology. When I finished dissecting something, my teacher would look at
the mess on the lab table and cringe.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
Long and winding! After college, I worked as a management consultant in Boston, then went to history
graduate school at Yale and briefly taught there (U.S. environmental history and western history), got
married and had three children, left the Ph.D. program with a half-completed dissertation on American
sacred landscapes, and started writing fiction while I was home with my children. I was very lucky to have
two picture books accepted out of the slushpile at Dial and Putnam in 2000 and 2001, and then my first
novel, Shakespeare's Secret, was accepted at Holt a year later.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing
about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
Desert Crossing is a mystery/suspense about three teens on a road trip that goes horribly wrong, with
life-changing consequences.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
Probably my greatest inspiration has been other people's artistic creations: the wonderful books I've read,
plays and movies I've seen, art exhibits I've gone to. My stories tend to come mostly from my imagination,
rather than from something real, and I think my mind is basically a big mulching ground of all the stuff I've
read or seen.
Let's hear about your family, who I'm sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
My family has been incredibly supportive, from my husband and children to my parents and siblings. My
dad is always googling my book titles and sending me obscure references or reviews. My kids love it that I
write books their friends like to read, but they also keep me grounded. For instance, my son likes to give
me a running tally of how many copies of my books are piling up in the middle school lost-and-found.
Now for some fun facts. What's your greatest comfort food?
Too many! Cinnamon muffins; scones; chocolate-chip brownies. I love to bake, so anything warm and
sweet is comforting.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
If I wake up early enough, my favorite thing to do is read in bed. But usually: brush my teeth, let the dog
out, help the kids get ready for school.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what's the one thing that would surprise
me the most?
What would probably surprise you is that my house is neat, but the attic and basement are stuffed with
weird things: large pieces of driftwood, old paintings, dog crates.
Everyone asks the question about "if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?" so I want to know: If
you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
Probably some shade of purple, because it's complicated and intense, but also soothing. Or green, the
color of nature, spring, life.
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
That's a tough one! Some favorites: Linus, Bugs Bunny, Tigger, the Road Runner. The one most like me?
Probably Snoopy, off in his own world.
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world ("Beam me up, Scotty!"), during any time in history,
where and when would it be--and why?
Back to the Mesozoic Era. I'd love to see dinosaurs. But I wouldn't want to stay there very long!
So what's your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while
you're writing?
The Who, Spoon, Aimee Mann, The Fray, Sondheim songs from various musicals. There's a certain kind
of moody, introspective song that I tend to like, whether it's Snow Patrol or Maroon 5 or Norah Jones or
The Goo Goo Dolls. I don't listen to music while I'm writing; I pay too much attention to the lyrics, so it's
distracting.
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie
you saw at the theater?
The last two movies I saw at the theater were "The Queen" and "Casino Royale," in the same afternoon.
I'm a total movie junkie! I try to see all the Academy-Award-nominated ones and then make a bet with my
sister every year on what's going to win in each category. Some of the movies I'll watch again and again
are "Groundhog Day," "Witness," "L.A. Confidential," "You've Got Mail," "The Fugitive," and the BBC
version of "Pride and Prejudice" (which is six hours long, but a pure delight). Favorite T.V. shows are
Seinfeld, Grey's Anatomy, and some of the cringe-worthy reality shows, like Project Runway.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Surround yourself with people who like you for the things you like best about yourself. Make friends with
those people, date those people, work with those people, spend your summers hanging out with those
people. Life is so much more interesting and fun if you have companions who support and challenge
you--who value you for who you are. I think when you're a teenager, it's so easy to be swept along,
coasting into relationships and situations that you haven't actively chosen. So my advice would be: choose.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
The next two books in the pipeline are a picture book coming out this fall, When Dinosaurs Came with
Everything (for which David Small has done the most wonderful illustrations), and a middle-grade mystery
called Masterpiece, about art, forgery, and friendship.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
Thank you!