Justine Manzano Lauren Emily Whalen is such a big personality. A journey through her website and social media, one can’t help but get pulled in. One thing I love about doing my interview series isn’t just in getting to chat online with author friends, but rather getting to know new and interesting ones. As a fellow YA author, I was delighted when Lauren reached out to me. Check out our conversation below, and don’t forget to click on the links at the end and follow her on social media so you can stay up to date on her latest release.
Justine: You are a fellow lover of YA novels. Tell me, what made you gravitate toward young adult stories?
Lauren: I’ve always loved YA, ever since I was in the genre’s actual target audience! When I was in high school, my very first job was at my town’s library and I mostly worked in the Youth Services division, so I had access to all the new books as they came in. It was around this time I started reading the novels of Francesca Lia Block, who has a lot of queer characters in her stories — in fact, hers were the first queer characters I ever read. As a Catholic school student in a small town in the 1990s, this was an eye-opener for me. Of course I got older, but I still love YA, especially queer YA. I like the journey of finding oneself, which I think is relevant at any age. I started writing what would become my debut YA novel at age 30, and I was definitely questioning my identity and place in the world, just like my characters!
Justine: I was the same way at 30! Hell, I’m creeping up on 40 now, and I still feel like I’m learning about myself. Also, I agree
about the intense relatability of that age period, too. Something else I noticed about your books is that you’re upcoming novels are both Shakespeare retellings. What inspired you to write retellings and what are some things you changed to make these stories your own?
Lauren: After my debut novel, SATELLITE, was acquired in early 2017 for a release later that year, I told myself I was done with YA.
However, in late 2017 I was cast in The Winter’s Tale, a Shakespeare play from later in his career that’s not quite as well known as, say, Romeo and Juliet. Even as a theater major and actor, I hadn’t read The Winter’s Tale until just before I auditioned! I immediately fell in love with the play, its themes of redemption and family, and the character I was playing, Paulina, who was a voice of reason in a sea of madness, and who didn’t end up dead or “tamed” at the end of the play–somewhat rare for a female character in a Shakespeare play with tragic elements! The idea for TWO WINTERS just grew from there, and before I knew it, I was writing the book.
I’m not great with plotting, so reimaginings are great because I have a ready-made blueprint, and with Shakespeare, I know a lot of the plays very well and have acted in several. One of the main characters in The Winter’s Tale, Perdita, is actually a teenager, and I imagined Paulina as a teenager as well, in a different place and time from Perdita, although just like in The Winter’s Tale, their stories would eventually align. You don’t have to be familiar with The Winter’s Tale to enjoy TWO WINTERS, though I’ve included some Easter eggs for readers who know the original play!
Basically, with retellings I take my favorite parts of the play, and the themes I find most relevant, and update them in whatever way inspires me.
Justine: That sounds really great. Tell me more about Two Winters?
Lauren: TWO WINTERS begins in 1997 at a small Catholic high school. The narrator, Paulina, is 17 and dealing with a lot: she’s bisexual, in the closet, and in a secret relationship with a popular female classmate. Meanwhile, Paulina’s best friend Mia is pregnant by Paulina’s other best friend Tesla, and they’ve convinced Paulina to keep it a secret from the adults in their lives. Tesla’s also dealing with a lot–his parents are traveling and have left him in charge of his eight-year-old brother Max, and Tesla has become jealous of Xander, the new guy in school who bonds with Mia over their love of music. Everything comes to a head on one fateful April night.
The story picks up again seventeen years later in Chicago, where a high school junior named Perdita lives with her two moms. Perdita’s been out as bi since eighth grade, loves building clocks, and is devoted to her two best friends, one of whom has just come out as nonbinary. When Perdita’s moms enroll the whole family in an improv class–a very popular activity in Chicago, which Perdita is not enthusiastic about–Perdita finds a kindred soul in Fenton, the instructor, who’s about her age. She asks him to help her find information on her birth parents–her moms, normally very open and honest, won’t tell her anything–and what they find will change not only Perdita, but everyone in her orbit.
Justine: Well, you’ve got me curious. What inspired you to tell this story?
Lauren: The idea for TWO WINTERS started to take shape in 2018 after the production of The Winter’s Tale I was in opened: instead of Sicilia and Bohemia, the two very different locations where The Winter’s Tale is set, I envisioned a small farm town (and the even smaller Catholic school within it), and the city of Chicago, where I live. Catholic school is pretty much its own kingdom, with really specific rules and ideas, and at some point, many Catholic school students start to question this environment. And the consequences can be intense. I thought this was a good counterpart to Sicilia, the fictional kingdom where the first half of The Winter’s Tale is set.
After graduating from Catholic high school, I moved to Chicago for college and minus a few years, have been here ever since. It’s a very different environment than the small town I grew up in, just as Bohemia in The Winter’s Tale (basically what is now the Czech Republic) is a sharp contrast to Sicilia. I tend to get inspired by a strong sense of place, and of character, and The Winter’s Tale has both.
Justine: That sounds incredible. *adds to Goodreads list* Two Winters is your second novel, tell me about your first, Satellite.
Lauren: SATELLITE also has a strong sense of place and character. The protagonists, Levon and Harmony, have grown up together in Boystown (now Northalsted), a Chicago neighborhood with a big LGBTQ population. Levon and Harmony’s dads got together when the kids were in second grade, but days before their junior year, Harmony’s dad decides to break off the relationship and move to Los Angeles. Harmony goes with him, and Levon is confused–especially since his and Harmony’s best friends-and-stepsiblings relationship changed significantly a few years prior, and the two of them never talked about it and just gradually drifted apart. In LA, Harmony falls for someone new while still puzzling out her feelings for Levon, and in Chicago, Levon throws himself into ballet, which he’s studied since childhood but never taken seriously until now. When the two finally reconnect and stumble upon a long-buried family secret, they’re forced to reckon with their shared past and what it all means for their future.
Justine: That also sounds really great. I was looking through your website and realized you don’t stick solely to YA fiction. What other genres do you write in?
Lauren: I write sexy, romantic stories for adults! Three of them have been published in BUST Magazine, and you can read others on the website Bellesa.co (though there’s a LOT of NSFW content there, so be warned!). I’ve also been part of two anthologies: BETWEEN THE COVERS and BEST WOMEN’S EROTICA VOLUME 5.
I sort of fell into erotica writing, and was finding some success when SATELLITE finally sold. I’d basically told myself I wasn’t going to write more YA and was going to lean fully into erotica, but then I figured, why not do both?
Justine: Why not both is right? And it’s my understanding there’s a story that is based on your work as an aerialist. Tell me more about that and if your work as an aerialist impacts your writing work. How do you even get into something like that?
Lauren: Chicago has an abundance of circus schools, with professional training as well as recreational classes for kids and
adults. Several years ago, a friend was accepted into a professional program here in the city and I was like, “wait, circus classes are a thing you can do?” I have a background in dance and had seen Cirque du Soleil shows, but didn’t think I had the nerve to go up in the air (I’m afraid of heights), so initially I signed up for a flexibility/baby contortion class. Almost exactly four months later, I decided to try aerial silks, and now my preferred apparatuses are aerial sling/hammock and aerial hoop/lyra.
Aerial is pretty much my only hobby that I haven’t monetized or made a job in some way, and I’m a very cerebral person, so I welcome any chance to get out of my own head! It’s physically intense, so you have to focus or else you could get hurt. That said, I’ve found my subconscious works things out while I’m up in the air, so I’ve definitely come up with new ideas when I’m hanging upside down! My Best Women’s Erotica story, “Spin,” is about two aerialists. You can see aerial photos and videos on my Instagram.
Justine: You’re afraid of heights and hang upside down like that? I could NEV-ARRR. But that’s super exciting. You seem to have a performer’s heart, like me. You mentioned your acting. I used to act as well. Do you find that your dramatic training influences how you write your characters?
Lauren: Definitely! My writing tends to be very character-driven, even with Shakespeare retellings where I have to hit certain plot points. My favorite part of acting is the character work: really getting into someone else’s head and figuring out their motivations, while not judging their actions–because most often, characters are convinced they’re doing the right thing! When I was in college, I met Gene Hackman, who had just co-written a novel, and I asked him a similar question: how does your acting influence your writing? He told me, “one word: subtext,” and I’ve never forgotten that.
Justine: Even the villains absolutely should believe they’re doing the right thing. It’s such an important part of characterization. We’re all heroes of our own story, and we’re all often our own antagonists as well.
Now, just because I like to throw out random questions and because my last book was ice cream themed–favorite ice cream flavor?
Lauren: Peppermint, no question. I wish it were available year-round, and I can’t understand why it’s mostly only findable at the holidays. A few years ago, I did an arts journalism fellowship at the Eugene O’Neill Center in rural Connecticut, and it felt a lot like summer camp. We’d often go off campus to this tiny little stand attached to a dairy college that had the absolute best peppermint ice cream. And it was bright pink, which in my opinion, makes it taste better.
Justine: Yay for brightly colored food-stuff. 🙂 So, Lauren, as we close up this interview, tell me…what’s next for you?
Lauren: TAKE HER DOWN, my next YA novel, is a queer retelling of Julius Caesar. That one came about because after TWO WINTERS was sold, I was thinking out loud about what Shakespeare play I wanted to reimagine next. My best friend and I were sitting on the el train and he said to me, “You should do Julius Caesar, only with girls and there’s a student government election at their really competitive high school.” And that’s exactly what TAKE HER DOWN is! It will be released March 15, 2022 (the Ides of March).
Justine: Oh my goodness, I love the way your mind works.
My readers! Please don’t forget to check out Lauren Emily Whalen’s latest release which should be available TODAY, on the day you are reading this. So, if this interested you, definitely pick up your copy. Also, make sure you follow her at her website and all of her available socials below.
Website: http://laurenemilywrites.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/laurenemilywrites
Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenemilywri
Instagram: http://instagram.com/laurenemilywrites
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/maybeimamazed02