In Conversation with Cynthia Leitich Smith

by Bethany Hegedus

Hunger Mountain: Congratulations on Eternal (Candlewick) debuting at # 5 on the New York Times Bestseller List on March 14, 2010.  We here at Hunger Mountain and VCFA have always been avid fans and are thrilled to see you reach this milestone. What was your reaction? How and why do you think the paperback edition has hit the bestseller list now?  

Cynthia Leitich Smith: Thank you! It’s the first time that one of my books has made the list.

My immediate reaction was disbelief. I’d originally heard the news from a fellow author. I was certain that there had to be some kind of mistake and emailed my agent, asking, “Could this be for real?”

I don’t think the news really sank in until later the following morning, and it still catches me up short.

As for why this particular book at this particular moment, I have to give tons of credit to the Candlewick Press team. I’m talking editorial/marketing/sales/design (love that cover art!).

Beyond that…This is all just speculation of course, but I suspect part of it is concept driven. Many readers are attracted to a specific mythological/belief tradition, and this is a story that includes vampires, shape-shifters/werebears, and guardian angels—all of which are both popular and intrinsically strong metaphors for various aspects of adolescence.

They are the “other,” the outsider. Their bodies are literally shifting. They feel immortal. They’re dealing with gender-power issues, and let’s face it, contemplating the exchange of bodily fluids (a big thing in vampirism).

Plus, as Joss Whedon pointed out, “High School is Hell.”

Gothic fantasy and, more broadly, paranormal fiction are naturals for illuminating that that time of life.

Incidentally, it’s a market that was underserved for years. When I began writing Gothics in 2001, examples in YA literature were scant, though there were a few great ones. Annette Curtis Klause’s Blood & Chocolate is one of my “inspiration books.”

Fortunately, the commercial success of Harry Potter opened up a demand more fantasy and, in particular, youth fantasy that could crossover to adult readers.

That said, gothic/paranormal readers have a lot of choices these days.

It may have helped Eternal that it is the second of two related books. Readers of Tantalize (Candlewick) may have been looking for more tales from my universe.

I’ve also published a couple of related short stories—“Cat Calls,” which appeared in Sideshow: Ten Original Tales of Freaks, Illusionists, and Other Matters Odd and Magical, edited by Deborah Noyes (Candlewick, 2009) and “Haunted Love,” which appears in Immortal: Love Stories with Bite (BenBella, 2008, 2009).

Hopefully, the audience builds over time.

Eternal also has alternating male and female protagonists and an arguably gender-neutral cover. It’s very much a genre bender—a love story with some humor but also a political thriller of sorts and at times genuinely horrific. So, there are various hooks to attract a wide array of readers.

If there’s anything I’ve contributed, sales-wise—besides the actual writing of the novel, it’s probably contributing thoughtfully and consistently to the conversation of books. I’m active in the children’s-YA book community as a teacher, mentor, blogger, and speaker. I make an effort to serve as an ambassador of my own work but also of youth literature as a whole. Truth is, I spend a lot more time talking about other folks’ books than my own. And I love it. The life. The scene. The art of literature for young people.

It’s as much my pleasure as my purpose.

HM: In your blog post on the NYT Bestseller news, you mention that perhaps this may have been the first time two Native children’s-YA authors (the other being Sherman Alexie‘s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Little, Brown) have appeared on the list at the same time. You speak and write often on multiculturalism. Do you feel you have just broken a barrier?

CLS: It’s one of many recent signs that the youth literature community has hit Multiculturalism 3.0. We’ve celebrated myths, folk tales, and other traditional stories from cultures around the globe. We’ve heralded (mostly historical) titles with a strong social studies subtext and those designed to raise cross-cultural awareness and appreciation. And of course we’ll continue to do so. Many books of this kind are wonderful, and a few have found not only critical but also commercial success.

Yet I’d be surprised if Alexie sat down to write Part-Time Indian with any curriculum connections in mind. I suspect folks who asked when I’d write a Trail of Tears novel never thought I’d grow into a Gothic fantasist. And again, there are many other examples, more all the time.

I’m not sure what it all means yet. But I sense a bit of movement, forward movement, and a positive shift in expectations.

Note: I personally find the word “multiculturalism” as it’s used in the industry a bit off-mark, but you all know what I mean.

HM: Eternal is the second book in the Tantalize trilogy, with Blessed to be released in 2011 and there are graphic novels in the works, the first of which will be from Kieren’s point of view. Can you tell us a bit about the projects to come and how the visual story-telling aspect came to be?

CLS: The casts of Tantalize and Eternal will crossover in Blessed, which is told from Quincie’s point of view and picks up where Tantalize leaves off. It’ll continue threads introduced in the first novel and build further on my conversation with Abraham Stoker’s Dracula (1897).

If I had to weight it, I’d definitely say Blessed is more of a sequel to Tantalize, though there’s plenty there for Eternal fans. At the moment, I’ve just turned in a major revision and expect to do another draft and then a clean-up sweep.

An as-yet untitled novel to follow Blessed will be more of a direct sequel to follow Eternal. It’s still at the outline-notes stage.

Graphic novels for both Tantalize and Eternal are likewise under contract. I expect to see sketches for Tantalize: Kieren’s Story (a working title) any day now.

The visual storytelling aspect came naturally. I’ve been an avid comic reader since early childhood and am heartened by the breadth and depth of graphic novels published in recent years. I’m also a picture book writer and often find inspiration in the visual, especially when it comes to place.

HM: You write strong, empowered female protagonists, during a time when dark gothic fantasies tend to have weak and strongly sympathetic female characters. I don’t believe you are bucking a trend, but are writing instead from a stance of your own female empowerment. Is this so, and if so how and why is it important to you to write from this place?

CLS: I started these books years before the “paranormal trend” hit, so it’s not a reaction to any specific recent YA fiction.

But yes, I do have a girl-empowerment theme throughout. It’s not all-encompassing—Kieren and Zachary, for example, are strong male protagonists, and certainly, Quincie and Miranda have their moments of extreme vulnerability. I’m not easy on the ladies, and they’re crafted as three-dimensional, identifiable girls, not superheroes.

That said, for me, it all goes back to Stoker’s Dracula and the adaptations that followed.

Years ago, when I sat down to seriously study the Gothic literature tradition, I started with the many oral and few written stories that preceded it. But of course it wasn’t long before I was in the thrall of the master. It fascinated me that so many of his themes—plague, invasion, the “dark other” were still so resonant today.

The character of Mina Harker caught my eye. She’s still very much a woman of her time—her husband at one point sends her to bed to protect her delicate sensibilities, and she goes—but she’s also resourceful, knows how to work the newfangled gadget that is the manual typewriter, comforts the grieving men after her friend Lucy’s death, organizes the information on the monster, and helps to track it.

I was dashed when she’d been reduced to simply the stock girl, the victim, in the 1931 film adaptation starring Bela Lugosi and further dashed when, in 1992, Fracis Ford Coppola recast her as the monster’s love interest and, worse, it’s mutual—no matter that he was a soulless demonic serial killer who’d tried to kill her husband and had killed Lucy, her dearest friend since childhood.

Bottom line: poor Mina has been losing power 1897. It seems to get worse every time somebody rewrites her.

My Gothics are far from feminist treatises, but I do offer girl characters who are, say, interested in boys but not defined by them, who have other meaningful relationships in their lives, and have their own goals and sense of identity. Heroes that can, if need be, save themselves.

It does matter. As gatekeepers often cheer, books can change and save lives. They have a tremendous impact on the readership. I’ve received mail from readers who argued that there was no point to a girl character’s existence unless she had a boy to love her (at least they’re being challenged), and I’ve received a couple from readers who left their abusive boyfriends because my books made them think (thank the Big Boss!).

That said, fans of strong girl characters can also find them in YA fantasies by authors like Libba Bray, Holly Black, Malinda Lo, Ellen Jensen Abbott, and Lisa McMann, among others.

HM:  A big thanks to Cynthia Leitich Smith for finding the time to chat with us here, and for all she does for the Kid Lit Community at large.