Interview with Susan Beth Pfeffer

You know how when a story just completely grips you, you just want to live in it.  Well that is exactly what happened to me with The Last Survivors series. So I was beyond thrilled when I had the opportunity to interview the author of the series, Susan Beth Pfeffer.     

How was The Last Survivors series born? Did you originally plan it to be three books? 
SBP: I wrote Life As We Knew It entirely on spec, not even sure I’d finish it, let alone anyone else ever reading it. But even while I was writing it, I thought about a sequel. I cared so deeply about Miranda and her family that I wanted to know what would happen next, and I figured if the book did find its way to readers, they would want to know too.

When I first suggested to the publisher (Harcourt) that I write a sequel, they told me they didn’t want one. But it didn’t take much to convince them to let me write a companion novel, The Dead And The Gone. Even as I was working d&g out, I planned for Alex and Miranda to meet somehow.

Eventually Harcourt changed its mind and requested a more traditional sequel. I got my brain back into gear, figured out a way for Alex and Miranda to get together, and wrote This World We Live In.

Many parts in the series had my crying my eyes out. What does it take to write about that many heavy emotions (desperation, despair, humility, pride, fleeting happiness)? How did writing these books affect you? 
SBP: I loved writing all three books, partly because I was so emotionally involved, and partly because it’s really a lot of fun to kill off all humanity. I have always been intrigued by consequences, and that’s what all three books are about.

But every now and again, I’d have to kill of a character I loved, and that was painful. I don’t remember ever crying while I was writing, but I did feel a total absorption in the world I’d created.

Dystopian fiction seems to be picking up in popularity, each taking a different approach. The Last Survivors series had a lot to do with science and faith. What type of research did you have to do to prepare for writing these books? 
SBP: I did a little for LAWKI, but most of it simply seemed like common sense to me. If the moon’s gravitational pull was stronger, then tides would be unceasing, volcanoes would erupt, plates would be pulled causing earthquakes, and famine and epidemics would naturally follow.

I did more for d&g, since I wanted the religious aspects to be as accurate as possible and because I don’t speak Spanish, and I knew there would be certain words and phrases Alex would automatically think in Spanish.

When I wrote LAWKI, it truly never occurred to me that anyone would take it seriously. It was quite a surprise when I read blog reviews evaluating the science.

Miranda’s diaries were not only important to her, they were also important to her family. They cared about her continuing her writing, even after the event. Do you think she was always as honest as she could have been when she wrote about what was happening around her. 
SBP: That is a great question, and I think you’re the first person to ask it.

Miranda was honest in the sense that she wrote what she knew as her truth. But one of the things about TW is the readers who’ve read d&g know more about Alex and Julie than Miranda does. She’s truly an unreliable narrator, and she makes decisions and judgments based on incomplete knowledge.

But I don’t think Miranda lies to herself. There’s a moment towards the end of TW where Miranda starts by writing, “This is what happened,” and changes it to “This is what I did.” She acknowledges her responsibility in the baldest way I could come up with for her.

Personally, I really appreciated what you did with the Morales family in The Dead & The Gone. Even as teens, the Morales siblings remained loyal to their religion and faith in God. What influenced your decision to portray this type of family unit for book 2. 
SBP: When I was working out the family for LAWKI, I decided I didn’t want them to be religious. I didn’t want them turning to prayer for their answers, since I knew their prayers weren’t going to be answered. My intention was to make their lives harder and harder.

But when I was planning d&g, I wanted it to be as different from LAWKI as possible, since the basic setup (moon/floods/volcanoes, etc.) was identical. I decided on a teenage boy from a lower middle class urban background since that was quite different from Miranda, upper middle class exurban. And since Miranda’s family wasn’t religious, Alex’s family, almost by default, became religious.

It also proved useful to the story to have Alex be Catholic, since the Catholic Church in NYC (and elsewhere) has its own infrastructure in place, and that would help Alex and his family survive that much longer. With all three books, the issue of getting food into the mouths of the characters is paramount.

As long as Alex was Catholic, he had a better chance at being fed and looked after.

In addition, I was intrigued by how one reconciles faith with bad times. Alex and his sisters have different responses to what’s going on, but none of them ever seriously question their faith. By the end of TW, on the other hand, it’s clear that whatever faith Mom might have had is gone, and Miranda’s is certainly shaky.

Even in the dire circumstances they were facing, Miranda has been able to keep everyone in her family, Alex has lost almost everyone, he may even be lost himself. Why? Okay, that is an awful question, and it is totally not fair. But when Alex said that everyone loves Julie, I didn’t believe you until I fell in love with Julie! I didn’t want to lose her. 
SBP: I never thought of Alex as possibly being lost himself by the end of TW, but you’re right. He’s certainly devastated and it’s an interesting question whether he can pull himself together sufficiently to survive.

When I was writing TW, I knew it had to have a big ending. I tried a lot of versions, but eventually I realized that if something truly awful happened at the end, Miranda herself had to be intimately involved, and a character people had known and cared about had to be the one in jeopardy.

In the period between writing d&g and getting the go ahead for TW, I might have considered killing off Matt. And I do know while I was working through TW, I did play ever so briefly with the idea of killing off Mom. But ultimately I decided Miranda, strong though she is, has been sheltered and I wasn’t ready for her to have to deal with that kind of loss, as Alex does in d&g.

Deciding that you wanted to be a writer in first grade and then becoming one is pretty major. You have published over 70 books, that is quite an accomplishment. Can you share some of your favorites from your own works? 
SBP: A lot of times I’m asked which is my favorite book out of the 70 odd, and I reply I don’t have a favorite, which is true enough.

But there were books I loved writing. Certainly LAWKI/d&g/TW. I did what I regarded as a YA family saga novel (one family, five books) called The Sebastian Sisters that I adored (I haven’t reread them, so I have no idea if they hold up, but I sure did love writing them). And my favorite of my books for younger kids is called Courage, Dana. A little bit of it is used for standardized reading tests, so I still make a tiny bit of money off of it.

The books I have fun writing tend to be the books I love the best.

On your blog, you share a lot of tips for aspiring writers. What kind of guidance did you seek/receive when you were first starting out as a writer? 
SBP: I don’t remember seeking guidance, and I certainly remember rejecting it when offered.

I was 20 when I wrote my first book that got published (Just Morgan), and at that age, you tend to assume you know better than anyone what to do (although in fairness to me, the future editor of the book made suggestions for major revisions, all of which I followed, and only then did they accept the book).

I have learned over the years though, and I like to think I’m a better writer now than I ever have been.

Really, the best piece of advice I ever got (and have mostly lived by) came from an agent, who told me, “Don’t buy the mink coat until after you’ve got the check.” It’s so easy to live in a world of financial fantasy when you’re self employed. There are deals you’re so sure will come through, promises you can’t imagine ever being broken. But deals fall apart and promises aren’t contracts, and money you anticipate living off of evaporates before you ever see it.

Generally, I buy myself something celebratory when I have unexpected good news. But I don’t buy it unless I can afford it right then and there!

Can you give us any insight on what you are working on next? 
SBP: I’m close to completion on a polished first draft of a YA novel with the working title (and my guess is final title) Blood Wounds. Usually I tell everything to everyone about a book I’m working on, but this time I’m trying to teach myself discretion. So I’ll just say it’s about a teenage girl who lives with her mother, stepfather and two stepsisters in a successfully blended family. Then something big and bad happens, and the book is about how my heroine and her family respond.

I figure with a name like Blood Wounds, no one is going to think it’s a Happy Jolly book!

What do you do to take a break from writing? For fun? 
SBP: Does whining and kvetching count as a hobby? Because I sure spend a lot of time doing both.

I spent many years in American Idol fandom (thank goodness I quit this year). I love following various of the performers, and am now knee deep in Adam Lambert fandom. Idol is a great show for internet fans, and I can waste a lot of time there.

I also love figure skating, go to competitions, and read about it online as well.

Friends and family are time consuming, in a good way. And I have a year old cat named Scooter, who I find insanely adorable, and could watch rolling around on the floor for hours (my carpet is actually turning black from all his rolling).

It’s really a great life. I’ve been incredibly fortunate that my dream of being a writer has turned into reality.

Thank You Ms. Pfeffer! You now have a dedicated fan in me, and I look forward to reading more of your works! 

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Posted at 4:29 pm  •  Labels: author interview, Susan Beth Pfeffer