| Wendy Mass deals with some very traumatic events
in the lives of the teen characters in the novel, A Mango
Shaped Space. I had never heard of the condition, Synesthesia,
and Mia's experiences were very enlightening. I almost wish
I had it too! Wendy very generously agreed to answer some
of my questions. Here is what she had to say:
 Bev:
Could you tell us about your growing up years, Wendy?
Wendy:
I grew up in Livingston, New Jersey, about 45 minutes from
New York City. I was always a big reader, the flashlight-under-the-covers
type of kid. Everyone in my family liked to read so there
was always something new in the house. In fourth grade my
best friend and I competed to see who could read more books.
For every book we read, we got to add a segment to the larger-than-life
construction-paper inchworm that our teacher had cleverly
coined a "bookworm." Our friendly competition turned us both
into life-long readers, and me into a writer. My first story
was co-written with my two younger sisters. It starred my
cat Muffin who magically transformed into a goat and then
terrorized the neighborhood dogs. In junior high my mother
took to calling me Harriet the Spy because I was always taking
notes and listening in on the phone extensions. By high school
I was working at the town public library, the local bookstore,
editing the literary magazine, and taking creative writing
classes at universities over the summer. I was also writing
the essays for my friends' college applications. :o)
Bev:
Who were your favorite authors as a kid? And now?
Wendy:
Some of my favorite authors growing up were C.S. Lewis (I
must have read the Chronicles of Narnia a hundred times),
Edward Eager, Judy Blume (my copy of Are you there God,
it's me Margaret is held together by a single thread now),
Paula Danziger, and E.L. Konigsburg. I loved the Encyclopedia
Brown and Danny Dunn books, The Phantom Tollbooth,
and A Bridge to Terabithia, which was the first book
to make me cry. Charlotte's Web was the second. My
favorite book when I was in junior high was a novel called
Allegra Maud Goldman by Edith Konecky. I still enjoy
reading books for young adults. Two novels that I think are
very special are: Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen
Cushman and Missing May by Cynthia Rylant. As for today,
I read anything by Alice Hoffman, Robert Jordan, Francesca
Lia Block and of course J.K. Rowling. Recent favorites: Bee
Season, White Oleander, Hotel World, and Carter Beats
the Devil.
Bev:
Did any other writer inspire you to write?
Wendy: I don't know if there is one specific writer
who inspired me more than another, but rather a combination
of the authors above. The fact that between them they could
make me laugh, cry, think, fantasize, and grow, inspired me
to achieve a balance of all those things in my own writing.
Bev:
Young adults must be the most difficult group to write
for…why did you choose to speak to this age group?
Wendy:
I choose to write for young adults for a few reasons. When
I was that age, reading was such a huge part of my life. I
wouldn't be the same person today if I didn't have those wonderful
stories living inside my head. It seems to me that those years,
between ten and fourteen, are when kids figure out what kind
of person they want to be-both inside and outside, and how
they want to live their life. You're not a kid anymore, but
you're far from having the freedom of an adult, and reading
novels about others the same age is a big part of how we learn
that our problems, needs, desires, fears, etc, are normal
and universal. We can experience things in books that we can
never experience in life, but these experiences show us what
is possible in our own life. I also think that at some point
our internal "voice" stops aging, and I think mine stopped
some time around 13! So this age range comes pretty naturally.
Bev:
How long have you been writing? A Mango-Shaped Space is your
first novel, but you have some nonfiction and other things
that have been published, haven't you?
Wendy:
I've been writing professionally since my late twenties. I've
written a number of nonfiction books for teenagers that are
found mostly in libraries, including a book on Stonehenge
and a biography of author Ray Bradbury that's coming out in
early 2004. The nonfiction books are fun to write because
I love doing research, but fiction is really where my heart
is.
Bev:
Tell us about the magazine you co-founded for teens.
Wendy: After college, a friend and I started a teenage
literary magazine called Writes of Passage. It came
out twice a year in the beginning, and it was composed of
poems and short stories written by teenagers across the country.
It was sold in bookstores and by subscription, and was intended
to give teens a forum in which to express themselves and to
read the works of other teens. The kids got a real thrill
out of being published, and I really loved editing the magazine
and working with all the writers. But it was a nonprofit venture,
which meant that we were always scrambling to find enough
money to print it. Right now the journal is on hiatus, which
means that we're not printing new editions until we figure
out how to get some grants to support it.
Bev:
I just finished reading A Mango-Shaped Space, What
a great story! I certainly learned a lot! I had never heard
of Mia's fascinating phenomenon, Synesthesia, in which ordinary
stimuli results in extraordinary perceptions. Could you explain
her wonderful color perception and tell us a bit about your
research for this novel?
Wendy:
To put it simply, Synesthesia is a condition that some people
have where the different senses--touch, taste, hearing, vision,
and smell--get mixed up instead of remaining separate. The
most common variety is called Lexical Synesthesia, which is
where letters and numbers each have individual colors. For
instance, someone with this condition might say that the letter
"A" has a sunflower yellow tint with a crumbly feel to it.
The number 2 might be the color of wet cement. There are other
pairings, like sound-to-vision, where the notes of the violin
could cause the listener to see small silver balls raining
down in front of them. For others, their synesthesia takes
the form of sound-to-taste. The word "cat" might taste like
peanut butter, or the name Michael might be hot buttered popcorn.
These perceptions feel very real to the person having them.
Most people who have Synesthesia think that surely everyone
else sees the same things they do. At some point they inevitably
find out that's not the case--usually by the blank stares
they receive when they talk about it. Scientific researchers
have known about it for over a hundred years, but only recently
has it been getting the attention it deserves. One out of
every two thousand people are now believed to have some form
of Synesthesia, and the numbers may be even higher than that.
I read as many articles on the topic as I could so that I'd
be prepared to write about it. I also interviewed many synesthetes
and attended conferences organized by the American Synesthesia
Association. Everyone has been very open and happy to explain
the way they see the world. It was important to me that I
get the details in the book as accurate as possible.
Bev:
Are you a synesthete? Tell us about developing the idea
into a novel.
Wendy:
I'm not a synesthete, although after writing this book I wish
I were. It would add such an interesting layer to the way
I see the world with my boring ol' five senses! I chose to
use synesthesia in the novel for two reasons. First, to share
information on such an interesting condition which had never
been written about in this form before, and second, I wanted
it to stand as a kind of metaphor for the way that kids want
to be like all the other kids while holding on to their own
identity. Mia's struggle between feeling like a freak and
feeling normal is something that all kids go through at one
time or another.
Bev:
What writing project are you planning next?
Wendy:
I have a novel coming out in February 2004 called Leap
Day. It's about a girl named Josie who turns 16 on Leap
Day, February 29th. The story all takes place on that
one day, which made it really fun to write. Each chapter alternates
between Josie's point of view and the points of view of the
people she comes into contact with. I wanted to show that
by going through our day, by interacting with our family,
friends, schoolmates, and strangers, we affect people in ways
we would never imagine.
Bev:
Will Mia be a character in another book?
Wendy:
I have no plans right now to put Mia in another book. I'm
toying with the idea of writing a book starring Mia's best
friend Jenna.
Bev:
What is your advice for our young readers that want to
write?
Wendy:
My advice would be that it's never too early to start collecting
story ideas. Find a notebook that you love (I use those black
and white composition notebooks) and start filling it with
your own experiences, snippets of overheard conversations,
quotes that you read which affect you in some way, funny/sad/moving
stories that you've heard about other people's lives, and
descriptions of people and places that you find captivating.
That way, when you're ready to sit down and write a story,
you'll have all this background to draw from. I'd also suggest
taking creative writing classes whenever possible. If your
school doesn't offer them, there are after-school and summer
programs, and even classes through the Internet. Or form a
writing group with like-minded friends where you can comment
on each other's work in a supportive environment. Perhaps
the most important thing to do if you want to be a writer
is to learn how to be a good reader. Read everything you can
get your hands on, especially within the field that you think
you'd want to write. See how these other authors create their
characters and weave their plots. More goes into it than you'd
think, and when you start looking at stories closely, you'll
see how they all have the same building blocks in common.
I'd also recommend getting on the staff of your school newspaper
or literary magazine.
Bev:
Do you have any other thoughts you would like to share
with us?
Wendy: I hope that your readers enjoy A
Mango-Shaped Space. They can feel free to email me their
thoughts at mangobook@aol.com
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A
Mango Shaped Space