a conversation with virginia hamilton...

I thought I had a rather quiet persona. However, I was into everything as an adolescent. I took part in a statewide declamation contest when I was about thirteen, and did very well although I didn't win the grand prize. I was a cheerleader. I was President of my Senior Class, co-captain of the girls' basketball team, and President of the highschool chorus. I remember writing a play and somehow getting the boys' basketball team to take part in it. I have no idea what it was about. I had boyfriends, went to proms, played basketball -- really loved it. I ran low-hurdles in track and was good at it! I guess I was popular. I had lots of friends but tended to go my own way. In other words, I was inner-directed and I always wrote things down.

2. What were the advantages and disadvantages of being the youngest of five children?

Well, I was the apple of my dad's eye. My aunt said I looked like a little fairy princess. She probably knew what one looked like, too! I was much loved. People watched over me. I was always with my mom. She was a farm woman who kept the household safe and strong. I helped her feed her 600 leghorn chickens. My cousins my age and I played all day in summers. My uncles had farms, too, like ours. So we would roam around all day and never leave family land. Cornfields, hogs, chickens, grape arbors, lazing on porch swings, climbing trees, walking on stilts, roller skating, riding bicycles. Each has special memories attached to it. I never had to do much work. My two older sisters did! We picked berries, apples, pears and greens in season. I was a dreamer and apparently, somewhat sickly. I had night terrors, nightmares. My mom always said, "Virginia, don't play too hard!" But I did, anyway.

3. When you write do you use pen and paper, a computer, a typewriter, etc.?

I write on a computer and have for about 15 years. Before that, I worked on an Olivetti typewriter. I don't know how I did it. I remember, it was exhausting, all those drafts of novels.

4. Where do you write?

I work in my study, a comfortable room with floor to ceiling bookcases, sliding glass doors, and clerestory windows. My study looks out on my beloved century-old osage orange hedgerow. And is a wonderful place to work. I have three desks and two computers. Would you believe, each desk is overflowing with papers, files, everything! I have a fax machine (which daily spits out more messages), a paper shredder, voice mail, etc. I store original manuscripts on high shelves for a while before I send them to Kent State University, which is the repository for my manuscripts in the University library Special Collections. They are on display sometimes at the Virginia Hamilton Conference there each year.

5. How much preliminary research does writing a novel require?

The research depends on the novel or collection, etc. All of my books take research. There is always something I do not know or need to find out about. Research is vital. For the story collections, it may take six months. Novel research can take quite a long time. Research for M.C. Higgins, The Great covered details about strip mining, steel making and the open hearth method. Unions, mountains, country living, steel poles, hunting, swinging vines, skinning rabbits, underwater tunnels, and so on. So you see, research can be quite extensive.

6. Of which of your novels are you most proud?

I do like all of my books and some better than others. I'm proud of M.C. Higgins, The Planet of Junior Brown, Cousins, Zeely, The House of Dies Drear -- In The Beginning. I don't know which I am most proud, but The People Could Fly comes to mind. It is out now in a new edition with a CD of myself and James Earl Jones reading 11 of the stories. I'm quite proud of our reading and the book, which was my first collection. I am devoted to my collection, Her Stories.

7. Adolescent literature novelist, Judy Blume, has of late been publishing for an adult audience. Have you ever considered authoring an adult novel?

Occasionally, I think about that. I know Judy. She's a good writer. Well, I am very comfortable doing what I do. I really feel that writing youth literature gives me the freedom to do exactly what I want. Interestingly, children's books, at least my own, stay in print forever because there are always new readers coming of age for any one of my many books. That's nice!

8. What do you like to do for fun?

I love reading. My husband and I travel and take vacations. We live in Florida part of the time. We swim. Mostly, we simply walk the beaches, sightsee, lounge, watch TV, visit with friends, or read.

9. What book(s) are you currently reading?

I'm an eclectic reader; I read everything.   I'm reading the late Ralph Ellison's Juneteenth. And I'm reading the collected stories of Eudora Welty. This is my 'heavy reading' week. :-) A favorite young adult author is Robert Cormier, and I'll read anything by Tony Morrison. Elmer Leonard is wonderful for vacation "lazing-in-the-sun" reading.

10. Where is your favorite place to travel?

Our son lives in N.Y. He was married in September. He sold the first book he'd written and has four others that will be out in the next couple of years. I'm very proud of him. His wife is a nurse-practitioner. We stayed a week in Manhattan for the rehearsal and wedding. We also saw The Lion King on Broadway. An exceptional show. Don't miss it! We love New York. I like south Florida as well. Heat and sun. Wonderful. But New York is special.

11. What is in your CD player right now?

Probably the People Could Fly CD. My webmaster and I just put samples of the stories on my website. Very much fun to let kids hear some of it.

12. Who are your favorite musicians and bands?

My daughter is an opera singer and I listen to her CD of Arias of Love and Madness, made with the Europa Symphony Orchestra. She makes her home in Germany and has a music studio there. I also listen to Prince. Aretha Franklin figures in to my novel, Plain City. I had a ball listening to all her early albums. Bonnie Raitt and Fleetwood Mac albums are my favorites . I love Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham. I even listen to Eminem -- I find 'the real' Slim Shady very interesting as a 'rapper'. I don't believe in censorship. My son is a musician, although he is now writing books. He had his own pop-rock band in New York. So you see, I keep in touch with all manner of muses and music.

13. What movie did you last see? What are some of your favorite films?

The last film I saw was on television and starred Amanda Plummer as a crazy lady serial killer! Bummer, but she was exceptional as an actress. I don't remember the title. I don't go to movies much. My favorites are old things like Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf and Suddenly, Last Summer, both starring Liz Taylor. I also like Orson Wells' The Third Man. I do like some modern ones, but not many. The Little Drummer Girl, from the John Le Carre book of the same title. I Am The Cheese, from the Robert Cormier book. Nice film. And Get Shorty from the Elmer Leonard book, starring John Travolta. Great fun film. I like anything with Gwyneth Paltrow.

14. How long did it take to write Bluish ?

Bluish took about three years to write, counting the research time. I did the research over two years, in New York mostly, and a lot of medical reading also and hospital visits having to do with chronic blood disease. The writing may have taken a year, but its hard to remember now.

15. Where did you get the idea for the character Natalie?

Natalie came to me whole, as characters sometimes do. I think characters emerge from whatever one sees and hears in one's life. My children grew up with children who had leukemia, so I had long been familiar with the subject. But more than that, I wanted to play three girls to and against and for one another. That triangular structure is one of the methods I use in character and plot building. Characters define the social order in which they live. All three characters are very sympathetic, I think.

The research involved spending time in an alternative, magnet elementary school in New York City. The wonderful principal there gave me run of the place. I posed certain questions to 4th graders, like "how would you act if a very sick child -- and you didn't know why she was sick-- was suddenly a part of your day, your classroom and your lives?" I received very interesting responses from the students. I asked all kinds of questions. Bluish is one of my most authentic books based on real feelings and the speech of real students. I wasn't trying to write a medical tract. I was writing from the hearts of all three characters.

16. What does "Bluish is, because we are; we are, because Bluish-is-us!" mean to you?

I'd prefer that students and adults figure that one out for themselves, from reading the book and from the final idea they get of the book. To me it means none of us is an island onto ourselves. We are all part of one another, or should be. We are one.

17. What is your philosophy of life?

I don't know if it's a philosophy. My life involves reaching out to others with my books. My newest title is, The Girl Who Spun Gold, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. I very much care about sharing my beliefs with others through story. I am keen on readers understanding the beauty of the English language, and learning how to use and appreciate it. I lecture widely and travel all over doing that. I enjoy giving whatever I can to my society. Being a friend to children through my literature is important to me. Promoting heritage and the value of past, present and future generations, and family, is what I am about. Most of all, I believe in accepting life and living every day to the fullest. Never closing out any of it, seeing it all.

Please check out www.virginiahamilton.com for more information on Virginia Hamilton.