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Interview with Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Interview by Sara Polsky
Jennifer Lynn Barnes wrote GOLDEN, her first published novel, at age
nineteen. It was released in 2006, her second young adult novel, TATTOO, came
out in early 2007, and her newest series, THE SQUAD, will be published beginning
in February. Jennifer grew up in Oklahoma and graduated from Yale, where
she studied cognitive science, in 2006. She spent a year doing autism research
on a Fulbright fellowship at the University of Cambridge and is now back at
Yale, where she's working on her Ph.D. This interview was conducted via e-mail.
For the first part of Sara Polsky's interview with Jennifer Lynn Barnes,
click here.
You wrote your first published novel, GOLDEN, several years ago. How do you
think your writing has evolved since then?
I think my writing has changed a lot since GOLDEN. The funny thing about
publishing is that by the time a book comes out, it's been so long that if you
haven't grown as a writer since you wrote it, there's something wrong. I
definitely think I've gotten better at pacing things since GOLDEN, and my plots
have gotten a lot more complex. I've also branched out to writing characters who
aren't quite as similar to me as Lissy and Bailey are, starting with Lilah, the
narrator of the GOLDEN sequel PLATINUM.
Tell us a bit about your scientific research. Does your
academic research influence your fiction writing in any way?
I started out doing primate cognition, and then branched into working with four
and five year old children. Most of my research in undergrad focused on a
concept called "Theory of Mind," which is basically conceptualizing other
people's minds as separate from their own-- reading their intentions and
emotions, knowing what they believe about a given situation, figuring out their
desires, etc. So my undergraduate research asked questions like "do any primates
other than humans have the ability to read intentions? How does this ability
develop in infants and small children?" And then this year, I branched out from
that to do autism research at Cambridge, because some theories conceptualize
autism as relating to certain deficits in theory of mind or empathizing
abilities. My research hasn't really affected anything I've written (yet), but I
am thinking of ways I can incorporate these experiences more-- I'd love to do a
YA book in which science plays a major role.
Do you feel any tension between being in academia and
writing for a young adult audience? How do you balance your writing with your
academic work, and do you find it difficult to switch back and forth?
I love using both sides of my brains, so switching back and forth between the
two isn't much of a challenge at all. The hardest thing is remembering that when
I write scientific papers, they should NOT sound like they were written by a
fifteen year old girl, because over time, I've just become conditioned that when
I sit down and start typing in Word, I should go into teen mode. As for
balancing the two, that's actually something I've never had much of a problem
with. Writing a first draft, for me, is usually the equivalent of coming home
and watching television or reading a book. It's fun-- a way to unwind after a
day of research. Things can get a bit trickier if I'm working on revisions or
copy edits, but I'm the kind of person who likes to stay busy, so I wouldn't
have it any other way. I've also been very lucky, because the people I've worked
with in academia have been really interested in the fact that I write, and
everyone at Random House is so supportive of my research. I really do get the
best of both worlds.
The author biography on your website says you've been
"a competitive cheerleader, a volleyball player, a dancer, a debutante, a
primate cognition researcher, a teen model, a comic book geek, and a lemur
aficionado." How have these experiences influenced your writing? Do you think
the varied experiences you've had played a role in your finding success as a
writer at a young age?
I think one of the most important things aspiring writers can do is to be
involved in their world. This is especially true for teen writers. If I'd spent
all of my high school years writing and hadn't done anything else, I wouldn't
have very much to write about, but because I was always really involved and
active, I've met so many more people and had so many experiences that give me so
much more to work with. And sometimes specific activities work their way into
books-- the whole premise of THE SQUAD is based on the fact that when I was
cheerleading, I learned that everyone underestimates cheerleaders and assumes
that they don't think about anything deeper than high school politics, which in
the series makes them perfect spies.
What do you see as the primary differences between
speculative fiction being written now for young adults and that being written
for adults?
It's actually hard for me to comment on this, because I don't read a ton of
adult speculative fiction, though I've recently gotten more into paranormal
romance and adult urban fantasy. Overall, the biggest differences seem to be
just what you'd expect-- the mentality of the main character. A fifteen year old
and a thirty year old view dating very differently, and there are very different
obstacles involved, and this is reflected in the books, often in a supernatural
way.
What are you working on now?
I'm playing around with a few ideas for my next book. I'd love to do a chick
lit/science fiction hybrid.
What are your long-term writing goals?
Right now, my biggest goal is just to keep writing, and to keep growing with
every book. At heart, I've always been a series writer, so I'd love it if one of
my current series would take off enough to let me continue it down the line.
Beyond that, I'd like to change things up a little genre wise-- something
science fictiony like I said before, and some day, I'd love to write middle
grade and maybe even the occasional "adult" book, though I never want to stop
writing YA.
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