Welcome author A.J. Walkley as she talks about her current project and her
NaNoWriMo experiences.
Hi A.J.!
Can you tell readers a little about yourself and your books?
A.J.:
My name is A.J. Walkley, author of such titles as Choice and Queer Greer.
Choice is about the decision a
high school student must make once she discovers she is pregnant, the plot
following both her path to abort the pregnancy, as well as her path to keep her
baby in alternative endings. Queer
Greer tells the story of a girl in high school coming to terms with her
bisexuality after she falls for both a boy and a girl upon moving to a new
state and school.
What are you currently working on?
A.J.:
I have two projects in the works. Vuto,
which I wrote the first draft of during National Novel Writing Month
(NaNoWriMo) 2011, tells the story of a Malawian woman who bucks tradition and
must flee from her husband; a Peace Corps volunteer takes her in, leading to an
attack by her husband and his accidental murder; the two women must flee,
encountering physical, ethical and cultural struggles along the way.
I
just finished the first draft of The
Pileup during NaNoWriMo 2012; this book follows the stories of every
passenger involved in an eight-car pileup on the 405 freeway in Los Angeles one
morning, getting into their backstories as their fates in the massive accident
are revealed.
Where did the idea come from for the book?
A.J.:
I was driving home one day and saw a car swerve in front of me when I realized
the driver was on his cell phone. This got me thinking about what was so
important that he had to read a text while driving. I thought it might be
interesting to write a book that started with that premise and expanded from
there.
What genre does it fall under?
A.J.:
Probably just traditional fiction.
What is the one-sentence synopsis for your book?
A.J.:
A pileup on the 405 in Los Angeles during morning rush hour reveals the lives
of the passengers involved, forever connected by one of the worst accidents in
recent history.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
A.J.:
I’ve been seeing more and more stories in the media about terrible accidents
and injuries caused by texting and driving, so I wanted to incorporate that
message into a book in some way. As I wrote it during NaNoWriMo 2012, however,
that message became overshadowed by the serious stories each of my characters
were dealing with at the time they became involved in the car accident that was
caused by a text. Now, it’s not so much a cautionary tale about texting while
driving as it is a character-driven story in which that message is only one
small factor.
I can imagine that there is a lot of research
involved in writing The Pileup. What can you tell us about what the research
process has been like and it's obstacles?
A.J.: When writing a
NaNoWriMo project, there is no time for research except for what is in your
head already. I had years and years of watching terrible car accidents on the
news to base my initial draft off of, so that was, in a sense, my
"research." As for the ample amount of characters I chose to include,
all of their individual accounts of the crash and their back stories just sort
of came to me as I was writing, very organically. When I finished the first
draft, I was actually surprised by what I had made the characters do and have
happen to them. I almost felt like this story came from someone else!
I participated in NaNoWriMo before and one of the
few negatives things that I have to say about it is that it took away from my
being able to get to know and enjoy my characters like I usually do. Do
you think that NaNoWriMo limits what 'could be' in terms of research and
character development or is that something which can be easily fixed during the
revision process when you have more time to go back and add to the story?
A.J.: For me, I love the
NaNoWriMo challenge simply because it forces you to write, write, write and not
to worry about editing as you do, which leaves you with a pretty nice sized
rough draft at the end of the 30 days. Because of the need to not edit,
however, there are tons of details, especially character details, that need to
be added and fleshed out in the weeks and months post-challenge. I am sure
there are some writers who prefer to get those details down on the first run.
In my writing, however, I find the revision process post-first draft to be a
fine time to go back to the beginning and get into the nitty-gritty of it all.
Oftentimes, it takes me the entirety of the first draft to really get a feel
for who I want my characters to be, so this method works really well for me.
What else about your book might pique the
reader’s interest?
A.J.:
I think The Pileup would
interest readers who enjoy reading books in which different characters take up
varying chapters. I really enjoy writing such stories where each chapter is
told from the perspective of a different person, eventually having all of those
stories overlap and intertwine down the line.
