Interview with Lauren Oliver, Author of Before I Fall

Today I am thrilled to feature debut author Lauren Oliver whose highly anticipated novel, Before I Fall releases March 2nd! Lauren graciously agreed to stop by and answer a few questions. We will be discussing her inspiration for Before I Fall, her advice to aspiring writers and much, much, more. Let's get started!

In Before I Fall, popular and pretty teen Samantha Kingston relives the last day of her life seven times, where she learns to confront issues of what is perfect and meaningful about her life. If you could pick any day of your life to relive, what day would you pick and why?

It’s funny that you should ask; I’ve posed the same question to myself many times, and it’s one of the things that first inspired me to write Before I Fall.

I have a very clear memory of being young—maybe eight or nine—and coming home after a long day spent outside, at the local pool and tennis club my parents belonged to. This was when I lived in Westchester, in a small town that very much informed the setting of Before I Fall. During the summer I spent the whole day outside: swimming, playing shuffle board, eating greasy snack bar French fries (on the occasions my mom allowed it), playing cards and massive games of Sharks and Minnows with my friends. At the end of the day I would come home in my bathing suit, barefoot and exhausted and happy, occasionally sunburned, reeking of bug spray and chlorine, starving for dinner.

Anyway, as I said, I have a clear memory of coming home one day in particular when my cousins were visiting, and walking through my old house—which was old and rickety and beautiful—and hearing voices and laughter from the deck, and smelling charcoal from the barbecue, and knowing that once I went outside I would find my mom and sister and cousins sitting at the table under the umbrella, and my dad standing at the grill, tending to his famous hamburgers—knowing, in other words, that all of these people I loved were outside and waiting for me. I remember standing with my hand on the screen door, about to go outside; I think actually I could live forever inside that single moment and be happy.

And in my adult life…? To be honest, the day I found out that Harper had bought my book was pretty fabulous…

On your website you describe how many details of the book have their origins in real things from your life- the small affluent town where you grew up, driving to Dunkin Donuts every day before school, and “Cupid Day”, a real event at your high school. Are there any memories, people or places in particular that inspired you the most, and if so, can you share a story or two with us?

Hmmm. It’s hard—there are so many! I really drew a lot from my own experiences. In my book the main character, Samantha, has a dream in which she is passing people, all of whom look familiar, except that there is something wrong and distorted about each of them, some detail that is off. In some ways this exemplifies the relationship between the fictional world of my novel and my own high school experiences: I pulled a lot from real life but the characters, and the impressions, and the world itself, became distorted and filtered and altered as I re-imagined it.

One thing that comes straight out of real life: in the novel, Samantha and her sister Izzy go to Goose Point, a large rock at the top of a hill in the woods near their house, a place Samantha went to often as a child when she needed to escape. That place actually exists. My older sister (Lizzie) discovered it. It sat—and presumably still sits—on the top of a hill in the woods near our old house, and we used to go there when we needed to escape. In real we called it Gosling Rock; my sister christened it after she found the tiny gray feather of a gosling stuck in a fissure running along its underbelly.

And yes, as you point out, my best friend did pick me up and drive me to school every day, at least until I got my license, and we did stop at Dunkin’ Donuts and order the exact same thing as Samantha and her friends—large hazelnut, no sugar, extra cream. We also listened to the same song every morning to pump us up before school started—not “No More Drama” (as Samantha and Lindsay do in the book), but “What I Got” by Sublime. Laura and I still text each other we hear the song—and we also still love to drink coffee together, although our drink orders have changed over the years!

You have a core group of best friends from when you were growing up that continue to be an important part of your life. Did you draw from any of their personalities in constructing characters like Samantha, Lindsay, Ally and Elody? In addition, have your friends been able to read Before I Fall, and if so, what sort of feedback have they given you about it?

First of all, I have to clarify: My friends are much, much nicer than Samantha and her friends! They are moral and empathic and sensitive to the core, and would never intentionally hurt someone’s feelings (unless he or she really, really deserved it!). But yes, there are many details about my friends that inspired me when I was imagining and fleshing out the characters in Before I Fall. In the book, for example, Elody loves the color green and has a beautiful singing voice, like warm maple syrup—both of these facts are true of my friend Deirdre. I’ve already said that Laura used to pick me up every day before school, just as Lindsay does for Sam, and my friend Jackie has an angel’s face just like Lindsay’s, and an incisive sense of humor that totally belies how sweet and angelic she looks (also like Lindsay). I had a close friend in high school who was obsessed with cows, like Ally in the book—and like Ally, I’m always cooking and trying to concoct gourmet meals and threatening to have a cooking show someday.

So yes, lots of true details worked their way in, but no single character is based exactly on any one of my real friends. They are composites, distortions, sketches. The truest thing—the thing that is the most perfect reflection of reality—is the way Samantha and her friends feel about each other. This is an exact parallel to how I felt, and still feel, about my best friends: that fierce, prideful love, the sense of the world being bounded by your friendships. No fictionalization necessary there!

Do you remember the first words you ever wrote for Before I Fall, and are they still in the novel today?

Absolutely! (It helps that I save all my drafts.) The first words were originally: They say that just before you die your whole life flashes before your eyes. I’ve never understood what that meant, but it always sounded awful to me. The original editor of the book, Brenda Bowen, suggested that I alter the initial line to its current manifestation, which is: They say that just before you die your whole life flashes before your eyes, but that’s not how it happened for me. Interestingly, I wrote the first chapter (prologue) and the last chapter (epilogue) before anything else, and very quickly—I think I wrote them both in a single day. Then I spent eight months writing the bridge between them, the book that joins them together. But I knew where my character started, and I knew where she had to go.

If you had to attach a musical score to your novel, what songs do you imagine playing during prominent scenes?

That’s a fabulous question, but it’s difficult to answer without giving away too much about the book! I will say this: Before I Fall is, in some ways, about a girl who finds herself suddenly and unexpectedly lost in her own life. She is disconnected and unhappy without knowing it, and of course without knowing how to correct it, an experience that many people (I think) face at some time. The song that I think best embodies that experience—and a song I played many times when I was writing the darker and more “dramatic” bits of Fall—is “Bring Me To Life,” by Evanescence.

Can you share with us some of the challenges you faced to publish Before I Fall? Is there anything about the process that you would do differently, knowing what you do now?

To be honest, the publication experience was a bit of a dream. My wonderful agent, Stephen Barbara, was supportive and enthusiastic in the extreme, and the book met with interest and excitement right away. Harper has, throughout the entirety of the editorial experience, been almost surrealistically kind and patient and supportive.

But, lest everyone reading this start instantly despising me for not paying my dues, I will say that Before I Fall—despite being my first published novel—is most certainly not the first novel I completed and sent out on submission. I wrote an adult novel when I was twenty-one called A Measure of Light; at the time I was represented by Loretta Barrett Books, and the manuscript went around to a long list of publishers before getting roundly rejected by all of them. (Could it have been because the book had no plot? Perhaps.) Then, while getting my master’s degree at NYU in creative writing, I wrote and re-wrote the same book three times. Literally. First it was eight hundred pages; then I cut it to four hundred and re-wrote the first half, then the second half, then the whole thing. Then, six months later, I tried to rewrite it again. At some point I showed it to some fellow writers and my former agent; they all made the same vaguely conciliatory and overly generous remarks about how “not all novels are meant to be published,” when they may as well have said, “some novels are better used as toilet paper.”

So, you know, again, the message is to keep trying, keep pushing, try to get better. When people criticize your work, don’t assume they’re idiots. Maybe you can be pushing yourself, or doing something differently. At the same time, don’t listen to every idiot who tells you your work isn’t good, or publishing is dying, or nobody reads anymore, etc etc. The world is chock-full of people who will tell you you’re not good enough to do x or y, and people who will advise you against pursuing your dreams—whether you dream of writing a novel, manufacturing the world’s largest hot dog, or running a really fast marathon. Don’t listen to them (or you’ll end up just as bored and unhappy as they are).

Do you have any advice for all the aspiring writers out there?

Definitely. Write every day. Writing is, more than anything else, a question of practice and discipline. As with any other activity—from sports to cooking to playing pool—you get better at it the more you do it. (Well…I never get better at playing pool, no matter how often I try, so maybe that’s a bad analogy.)

Also—and this is something that the novelist Chuck Wachtel told me while I was getting my MFA in creative writing at NYU—aim for truth and beauty will follow. Aim for beauty, and truth will not necessarily follow.

So yeah, aim for truth. And read a lot. It helps.

What is one message you would like teens to take away from your book and possibly apply to their lives?

Obviously the fragility of life—and the preciousness of time—is a major thematic element of my book. But at the heart of Before I Fall is a message, I think, about connection. E.M. Forster said “Only Connect,” and I think at the very center of the book is an idea that connection—to friends, to family, to strangers, even—is the thing that gives meaning and resonance to people’s lives. People are connected; lives are intertwined, whether you know it or not, and the deeper your recognition of your connection to other people, the more meaningful and happy your life will be. So that is the message I would hope teens (and anyone who reads the book) would be able to carry with them. Reach out to other people; show up for your friends; be kind; show empathy to others. Ultimately, it’s the only way to find happiness.

What can we look forward to reading from you next Lauren? Any upcoming projects or new series in the works?

Yes! I’ve just finished a first draft of my second book (unfortunately, it remains untitled. I’m terrible at thinking of titles!). It’s very different from Before I Fall, dystopian, with a very different scope and setting. My agent has been running around pitching it as Romeo-and-Juliet meets Brave New World, and I think that’s fairly accurate. Essentially, it takes place in some alternate history of the United States, when love has been identified as a disease and scientists have made a cure mandatory. The book takes place during the summer just before the main character, Lena, is due to be cured. I won’t tell you what happens—you’ll have to read it! :) I just signed up two more novels with Harper, so hopefully you can expect to hear from me for a long time to come!

Thank you Lauren for taking the time out to talk with us!


BEFORE I FALL BY LAUREN OLIVER

What if you had only one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?

Samantha Kingston has it all: the world's most crush-worthy boyfriend, three amazing best friends, and first pick of everything at Thomas Jefferson High—from the best table in the cafeteria to the choicest parking spot. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life.

Instead, it turns out to be her last.

Then she gets a second chance. Seven chances, in fact. Reliving her last day during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death—and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing.

"This story races forward, twisting in a new direction every few pages, its characters spinning my emotions from affection to frustration, anger to compassion. You'll have no choice but to tear through this book!" (Jay Asher, author of the New York Times bestseller, Thirteen Reasons Why )

Official Website & Blog of Lauren Oliver
Purchase Before I Fall HERE.