Author of Teen Lit Talks Shop

Thursday afternoon, the Burnhaven Public Library had a special visitor: Laurie Faria Stolarz, a popular writer of teen fiction with 10 books to her credit so far, in addition to a number of short stories and essays. In 2003, Llewellyn Publications issued her breakout novel, Blue is for Nightmares. The book quickly found a following, winning the title of “Popular Paperback” from the American Library Association 
in 2007. Since then, the book has been optioned by actress Ashley Tisdale’s production company and could become a television series.

 Stolarz grew up in Salem, MA. Though Stolarz has always loved storytelling, she did not set out to become a novelist. As an undergraduate at Merrimack College, she studied marketing and business. She became interested in writing fiction after she took a creative writing class at the suggestion of her professors.

 “That teacher changed me. She pulled me aside and said, ‘You really owe it to yourself to pursue this passion,’” Stolarz recalled. “When she said it to me it was like a proverbial light went off inside me.”

 Nevertheless, after graduation Stolarz continued to pursue a career in marketing, taking night classes in writing at Emerson College in Boston. It was there that she developed her style — which she describes as “juicy” and “loaded with suspense” — and began her writing career in earnest.  She decided to write for the teen market, which was just a sleepy backwater of the publishing industry at the time. In the years since, the teen market has exploded, Stolarz said.

 “When I started at Emerson a lot of people were saying that the market was about to collapse, that young readers were going from (elementary level books) straight to adult work,” Stolarz said. “People would complain that there wasn’t a whole heck of a lot out there for teens.”

 All that changed with the Harry Potter series, Stolarz said, followed by th incredible success of the Twilight series. Stolarz was right there with them: Blue is for Nightmares concerns a teen who uses her uncanny intuition and folk magic to ferret out a homicidal stalker.

 The story hit a nerve. Even now, it is almost impossible to keep Blue in house at  Burnhaven, librarians said, and Stolarz’s other works fly off the shelves just as quickly. These are some of the questions from the audience gathered there.

 Q: What comes the easiest to you—the beginning, the middle or the end of a story?

A: Probably the beginning. I tend to think in pictures and scenes, so when I’m beginning a story I’m always trying to think of what is going to be grabbing, something really big to grab the reader. Before I start drafting I'll decide ahead of time what character needs to learn, where it needs to go, and what will happen by the end.

 Q: Do your characters ever surprise you with their actions or do you keep them under control when you’re planning out your novel?

A: Sometimes yes. Silver is for Secrets for sure. I planned on (the series) being a trilogy. I had it outlined and I was all set with my plot and point I knew where I was going, but then I reached a certain point where I said, 'Oh no, this needs to happen’ and it ended on a big cliffhanger. That wasn’t intentional from the get-go. Even though I have an outline, I’m definitely open to anything that comes because it could be better.

 Q: There’s been all this controversy about an article in the “Wall Street Journal” about teen fiction being too dark and too violent. What are your thoughts on that?

A: It’s funny because the pendulum just keeps swinging. With Bridget Jones’s Diary (by Helen Fielding) coming out it really impacted the teen market — everything that was coming out was ‘chick lit’ for adults and teens. Then we had Harry Potter and we got all this magic and that sort of spawned Twilight. Then we had all these dark paranormal novels in the market and now that’s getting flooded and publishers don’t want that anymore. It used to be that publishers said 'We don’t want the problem novel, about anorexia or teen depression' but now it’s coming back, a more realistic style. 

 Q: I heard you say you’re a big scaredy cat. I’m a big scaredy cat but I love being scared. Is that why you write suspense novels?

A: I really like the psychological thrillers. It’s a fine line for me. A horror film will keep me awake all night. I sort of have this love-hate relationship with it. There are certain movies I just can’t see like “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Halloween.”