Sara Ryan

BIO

Who?

Born in a little college town in Ohio. Grew up in a bigger college town in Michigan.

Moved to Portland for a job, and now cannot imagine leaving.

Has tremendous respect for people who can write about themselves in the third person without feeling foolish.

Hand-codes her webpages.

The best writing advice she ever got came from Kate Wilhelm: "Write what you would most want to read." The second best came from Harry Ingham: "You are much better when you show your soul than when you display your erudition."

INTERVIEW

November 27, 2001

Debut author Sara Ryan deftly writes about love and loss and confusion in her new book, EMPRESS OF THE WORLD. The novel is written from Nicola's point of view, as part of Nicola's "field notes" for her archeology class. Like any young girl in love, she struggles with her feelings and obsesses over everything Battle does and says. Then there are the issues surrounding bisexuality and the girls' new-found sexuality. Author Ryan doesn't hold anything back, bringing the reader into Nicola and Battle's engrossing world. Lucy Burns recently got a chance to speak with Sara Ryan about this novel, her life, and Young Adult literature.

TRC: Where did the characters come from in EMPRESS OF THE WORLD?

SR: The characters were very much inspired by friends of mine.

TRC: Did you go to a gifted-kid program in high school?

SR: I got a lot of mail from gifted-kid programs, and I always wanted to go to one, and I never did. But I knew a lot of people who went to them, and people who did music camps and theater camps and Model UN and Knowledge Bowl and Science Olympiad and..., etc., etc.

TRC: EMPRESS OF THE WORLD is about a lot of things, but at its core, it is a love story. Why did you decide to write a love story about two teenaged girls?

SR: I had a lot of reasons. Since I'm a librarian in my day job, I was certainly aware that there are not a lot of books out there for queer kids. And since I'm bisexual, I was also very much aware of that lack on a personal level. But fundamentally, I wrote it because I wanted to tell Nic and Battle's story.

TRC: How long did it take you to write this novel? Did you have problems with publishers due to its possibly controversial themes?

SR: Almost five years from first draft to final version. (I hope I can write the next one faster!) I had no problems at all, because I have the best editor in the world, Sharyn November. (She also has one of the best websites in the world, at http://www.sharyn.org/.)

TRC: Why did you decide to make EMPRESS OF THE WORLD about two girls who fall in love, even though they both were (up to that point) heterosexual?

SR: Why are you assuming they were both heterosexual up to that point? Lots of queer girls date boys, for cover, or because they're bisexual rather than lesbian.

TRC: Are you worried that people reading the book might see being gay as a fad or a choice in Nicola or Battle's lives?

SR: That never occurred to me.

TRC: The teens in EMPRESS OF THE WORLD come off as very real and also as very worldly. Did you study teen slang and speech patterns before writing the book?

SR: I didn't really. I still have all my journals from high school, and I reread those and I looked at some online journals by teenagers as well.

TRC: Do you have any teens you use as guinea pig readers?

SR: Yes, Sharyn has a group of teen readers. We sent drafts of the book to them for their comments and feedback, and it was tremendously helpful, if occasionally brutal.

TRC: Nicola's parents are obviously very cool and love her very much. I especially enjoy the fact that she feels weird because she can't share in the "My parents are terrible" bonding that her friends do. But how would they react if Nicola came out to them? And what would Battle's parents do?

SR: You'll have to wait for the next book. :)

TRC: I am dying to know what happens after the book ends. Do the couples stay together? Will Battle ever see her brother again? Is there going to be a sequel?

SR: The sequel is what I'm working on right now. It's from Battle's point of view.

TRC: Who was your favorite author when you were a teenager? Do you have any Young Adult novelists now that you love and recommend?

SR: I had too many to count. Lots of science fiction and fantasy. As for YA novelists now, I have a page of recommendations on my website (http://www.sararyan.com/kidsteensbooks.html) which I try to update relatively often.

TRC: Did you have any teacher who particularly encouraged you? You work with young adults now --- what advice would you give to budding writers?

SR: I was lucky enough to have several teachers who encouraged me over the years, including the real-life model for Ms. Fraser. For writers, I have the same advice everybody else has: read read read. And when you read something you completely love, try to figure out why you love it. Are you responding to the characters? plot? style? all of the above? Try to take the book apart; how did the author build tension/develop characters/advance the plot? I reread books a lot to try to decipher the craft behind the story. Also, of course, write write write.

TRC: If we looked at your bedside table, what books would we find there?

SR: I just finished THE TELLING by Ursula K. LeGuin, which was wonderful. I'm reading a lot by and about Janet Flanner because I saw the excellent documentary Paris Was a Woman and got very interested in her. I've also been reading Lorrie Moore, who is breathtakingly good. And I just got THE BIG SLEEP and FAREWELL, MY LOVELY by Raymond Chandler, because people are constantly rhapsodizing about his prose style and I haven't read him yet.

TRC: What projects are you working on right now?

SR: Mainly the sequel, which doesn't have a title yet. I also wrote a story called "The Longing Garden" with Victoria Garcia and Steve Lieber for a graphic novel anthology called THE FORBIDDEN BOOK. It will be published by Renaissance Press in 2002. I might be doing some more writing for comics and some short stories, but I'm concentrating on the sequel, and hoping it won't take as long as EMPRESS did.

Want to read more about gay, lesbian and bisexual teens? Check this out: OUT, PROUD AND IN PRINT


© Copyright 2003, Teenreads.com. All rights reserved.

Back to top.