Q&A with Deb Caletti

National Book Award Finalist and Printz Honor Recipient Deb Caletti is the author of nearly twenty books for teens, adults, and kids, including her newest, ONE GREAT LIE (coming June 1, 2021).

We are delighted to feature this interview!

How did your childhood impact the writer you’ve become?

I was a voracious reader as a kid (and am still a voracious reader!). I needed books – my home life was often intense, and books allowed me to escape to places that were both safe and exciting, where kids could be adventurous, brave, and independent. We moved around a lot, too, and so I often felt like an outsider.

All of this contributed to a rich inner life, and a drive to find meaning, security, and retreat through the magic of words. I quickly discovered that writing could provide the same word-magic that reading did. I started writing when I was about seven years old. Books – writing them, reading them – are still the way I find comfort and understanding of my own life and the world around me. 

How has writing changed you as a person?  

Writing has helped me find insight into my past experiences. Sometimes, it’s also provided closure for difficult events. There’s a definite sense of growing – personally and creatively – with each book. Most importantly, though, it’s allowed me to find – and use – the power of my own voice.  

Can you tell us a bit about your novel ONE GREAT LIE and what inspired you to write it?

One Great Lie is most definitely a book for writers, and for book lovers. The story begins when a young writer, Charlotte, wins a spot in a summer writing program in Venice, Italy, led by her favorite author, the brilliant and charismatic Luca Bruni. While there, she’ll also get the chance to delve into a troubling question about her long-ago Venetian ancestor, Isabella Di Angelo, who just might be the real author of a very famous poem, long attributed to a male writer.

When she arrives, though… La Calamita, the island where Luca’s villa is, is beautiful, but it was home to quarantine victims of the plague centuries ago, and it’s eerie. And Luca Bruni himself… Well, you’ll have to read to find out. As Charlotte gets closer and closer to the truth about Isabella – and closer, too, to the sweet, smart conservation student, Dante, who helps her – things go very wrong. The events of that summer will force Charlotte to confront some dark truths about the history of powerful men—and about the determination of creative girls. 

Everything in the book – the places, locations, and historical facts are either true or based on true events. And while there is mystery and romance in One Great Lie, it’s also a deeply feminist book, one I was inspired to write during the art-versus-artist debate that caught fire during the #MeToo movement, and which continues to blaze. In the book, readers discover (same as I did after much astonishing research) some of our earliest feminists: the teen poets of the Renaissance. These fierce, brave young women were writing bold and controversial works about the very same power dynamics we are still struggling with, and still writing about, today. 

What would be your 6-word memoir? 

Finding Joy: Love, Family, and Creativity 

What is the best writing advice you’ve ever had, and the worst?

The best writing advice I’ve ever read: End your writing day when you know what’s coming next. I think this may originally have been from Hemingway. I follow it devotedly. If you stop when you’re stuck, you’ll end doing every dreaded thing on your list, before you face those pages. Stopping when you have a clear path ahead, though, makes it easy to get going again. The “getting going” can be one of the hardest parts of writing. 

I’ve only taken one creative writing class in my life, and have always kept a protective, solo circle around my work, so I haven’t personally heard a lot of bad writing advice, but I’ve seen it out there. A lot of it sounds exploitive, fear-mongering, or just plain uninformed, or inexperienced. Writing is a craft, and an art, and it can take years to develop. When it’s done best, it comes from an urgent, private place. Which all means that it’s not a great landscape for rules and have-to’s. The advice that I give most often is to avoid writing advice. Your honest voice is your most powerful asset as a writer. 

What is your writing process like? Are you a pantser or a plotter? 

I’m definitely not a plotter. And I don’t really relate to the term “pantser” because “seat of your pants” seems to indicate a wild ride that negates all the careful decisions that I, as the writer, am in control of. I do have a sense of where I’m beginning and where I want to end up, though I’m not always entirely sure how I’ll get there.

Knowing what I want to say is more important to me than knowing how it will get said, though even that will likely expand and clarify as I go. I do like to leave room for discoveries along the way. Sometimes (hey, like in life!), those moments of struggle are where you find the richest stuff. The not-knowing is important space to me – it allows memory plus research plus your weird subconscious plus whatever-is-happening-at-the-moment to collide in writing alchemy. 

Do you need a special place to write? Are you part of a writing community or a writing group? 

I always write at home, usually in my office. We live in a very serene and beautiful spot, which helps. I’ve never been a café writer, or a writing group writer, since my work is always private until I show it to my agent and editor at the end. Occasionally, I’m asked to participate in writer retreats, which sound like fun, but I know I’d never get actual work done. I’d have to pretend to type and look pensive, like when people are supposed to be praying, but you’re peeking around. Even at home, it can be hard to work if anyone else is in the house. I need my own mind space. 

What is your experience with social media as a writer? Do you find it distracts you or does it provide inspiration?

For me, the best part about social media is the way it allows for readers to reach out, connect, and share their book love. In terms of my own writing, though, it’s definitely a distraction, and more of a have-to than a want-to. I sometimes see great, quippy lines on Twitter, and think, “Oh, man, you should have saved that for your work!” In order to write, I need to live, and have experiences, and have the time and space to reflect on those experiences. I would so much rather live my life than display my life.  

What are you reading currently?

Like any book lover, I have to give you more than one! Just finished: Girlhood, by Melissa Febos. Currently reading: The Death of Vivek Oji, by Akwaeke Emezi. Next up: Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr. 

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Find out more about Deb HERE

ONE GREAT LIE

A compelling and atmospheric YA story of romance, mystery, and power about a young woman discovering her strength in lush, sultry Venice—from the Printz Honor–winning author of A Heart in a Body in the World.

When Charlotte wins a scholarship to a writing workshop in Venice with the charismatic and brilliant Luca Bruni, it’s a dream come true. Writing is her passion, she loves Bruni’s books, and going to that romantic and magical sinking city gives her the chance to solve a long-time family mystery about a Venetian poet deep in their lineage, Isabella Di Angelo, who just might be the real author of a very famous poem.

Bruni’s villa on the eerie island of La Calamita is extravagant—lush beyond belief, and the other students are both inspiring and intimidating. Venice itself is beautiful, charming, and seductive, but so is Luca Bruni. As his behavior becomes increasingly unnerving, and as Charlotte begins to unearth the long-lost work of Isabella with the help of sweet, smart Italian Dante, other things begin to rise, too—secrets about the past, and secrets about the present.

As the events of the summer build to a shattering climax, Charlotte will be forced to confront some dark truths about the history of powerful men—and about the determination of creative girls—in this stunning new novel from award-winning author Deb Caletti.

BUY HERE

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: Interviews, On Writing