Lola Douglas

BIO

When she was five, Lola Douglas wanted to be an actress like her then-hero, Drew Barrymore. Instead, she became a supermarket checkout girl, a video store clerk, an administrative assistant, a features reporter and a textbook development editor before deciding that writing teen novels was her real forte. Lola has lived in seven of our great United States, including Indiana, and says that during her five-and-a-half month stint in Fort Wayne no one ever forced her to see the movie Hoosiers. She was, however, coaxed into auditioning for a part as an extra in a Neil LaBute film (Your Friends and Neighbors, to be exact), but was rejected during the first round. When not watching too much reality television, reading Gawker, or obsessing over all things Marc Jacobs, Lola can be found working on the next installment in the saga of Morgan Carter. To this day, she remains fascinated with Drew Barrymore.

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INTERVIEW

November 8, 2005

Teenreads.com contributing writer Carlie Webber interviewed Lola Douglas about her debut novel, TRUE CONFESSIONS OF A HOLLYWOOD STARLET. Douglas reveals how the book's premise stemmed from her fascination with Drew Barrymore, an extensive knowledge of pop culture, and the experience of living in the Midwest for five months. She also discusses the influence of television and movies on her work, provides words of wisdom for aspiring writers, and offers a sneak peak at the sequel to STARLET.

Teenreads.com: What inspired you to tell Morgan Carter's story?

Lola Douglas: A whole bunch of little things just came together. I wanted to do a diary format book because it seemed fun and challenging. I had a childhood fascination with Drew Barrymore and I thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be fun to read HER diary?" Putting Morgan in Fort Wayne...well, I lived in Fort Wayne for five months after college, and I have to say, they were some of the most awful months of my life. It was a total culture shock to be landlocked in the Midwest, after growing up an East Coast brat. I mean, in Fort Wayne, the nearest big city is Chicago, and it's a good three-hour drive. On the East Coast, you can usually find some place cool within half that time (or less). And there's water. I couldn't get over not seeing the water. Anyway, I figured if I felt like the proverbial fish out of water in Fort Wayne, how would a rich, semi-spoiled child star feel in the same place?

TRC: Have you ever been a Hollywood insider? If so, how did it help you write TRUE CONFESSIONS OF A HOLLYWOOD STARLET? And if not, what kind of research did you do into Tinseltown to help you capture Morgan's life?

LD: I'm nowhere near an insider, though Entertainment Weekly has been my Bible since the magazine debuted. When I was a kid I wanted to be an actress, and then a director, and then a screenwriter. I don't know how I ended up being a journalist, except that I always gravitated toward features writing, Which meant I got to interview people like Barry "Greg Brady" Williams and Davy Jones and Harry Connick Jr. My obsession with pop culture, and my pop savviness, was definitely an asset in writing STARLET. In fact, the whole time I was working on the first draft, I felt like I'd been training my whole life to write this book. It just...it gelled, you know?

As for the research, Google was a very good friend to me. For example, all of the clothes Morgan talks about were actual pieces from those designers' collections the year that Morgan was writing in. I adore Marc Jacobs, so Morgan does too. I'd go to different websites and find out what the hot eateries were in New York the time that Morgan and her best friend Marissa are supposedly partying with Lindsay Lohan. And while I did have some first-hand knowledge of Fort Wayne, I wanted Morgan to go to a racially diverse high school, so I researched stats on which school fit the profile. The house that Trudy owns was pulled from a real estate listing in a neighborhood so that Morgan could be in the right school district. I suppose I could've made everything up, but for me, it's more fun to make it as realistic as possible while still being fictional (if that makes sense).

TRC: Besides writing, what other jobs have you had? Since you're new on the scene, will you tell us more about your life before the publication of your book?

LD: I've done a bit of everything I suppose --- secretarial stuff, publishing stuff, the short-lived stint as a journalist. For the past few years I've been doing a lot of freelance editing and writing --- anything to pay the bills, you know? I even did this thing where I'd troll craigslist for odd jobs --- being a research participant for $200, or writing bizarre web copy for $50 a pop. Let me tell you: being paid to write this book was a HUGE step in a very pleasant direction.

TRC: In addition to being an actress, Morgan is a movie and pop culture addict. What are some of your favorite movies and television shows, and did they inspire you while writing this book?

LD: Oh, of course! I love movies. My dad passed that on to me when I was a wee tot. I think I've seen Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory about 800 times. But I have much affection for B-list movies, too. Any time Overboard comes on TV, I just have to watch it. Why? I don't know.

As for TV, I have this freakish memory where I can see a show once and it gets permanently imprinted on my brain. So, even before all of those '80s shows started showing up on Nick at Nite, I remembered most of the episodes. I can even remember WHERE I watched them and with WHOM. I made my mom watch an episode of "My So-Called Life" when the show was in its first run, on ABC; I remember sitting at the foot of her bed, eating takeout, during the hokey Christmas episode guest-starring Julianna Hatfield as some homeless angel, and me going, "No, really, it's usually MUCH better than this."

TRC: You're planning a sequel to TRUE CONFESSIONS OF A HOLLYWOOD STARLET. Can you give us a sneak peak at what may be happening to Morgan and the people in her life?

LD: I can't give away too much, but I will say that Morgan gets roped into trying out for the school play, and she goes home to L.A. for Thanksgiving and runs into some Scientologists. They don't, however, recruit her to be Tom Cruise's new wife.

TRC: We're all dying to know --- where can we get Scooby Snacks? Do you have a favorite restaurant or recipe for them?

LD: You can actually get them at Munchie's. It's a real place. I used to go there with my friends in Fort Wayne all of the time. There are a couple of different branches --- it's a local chain --- but our favorite was the one with this cutie waiter who painted his fingernails black and had dyed black hair that always covered one eye. We called him Trent (as in Reznor).

TRC: What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

LD: Don't write what you know --- write what you WANT to know. Your life is never as interesting as you think it is. It's much more fun and challenging to try and figure out what someone else's life is like. BECOME the character. Talk like them. Think like them. Make them as real to you as your friends and family. When I think of Morgan, I can see her in my head. And no, she doesn't look like Drew Barrymore. But I have a very vivid picture of her --- of all of my characters --- that's like a movie playing on a projector in my brain.

TRC: Do you have plans for other books in the future, besides the Hollywood Starlet series? What are you currently working on?

LD: I'm hoping to do a third installment of Starlet this summer, but that will depend on how well people respond to the first book. Currently, I'm playing around with some other ideas --- one based on a teen TV show --- but I'm still in the contemplating stage. I'll be working on rewrites for Starlet 2 this winter and then I'll get down to business on the next book, whatever it may be.

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