An Inside Look with Gae Polisner
(Author of In Sight of Stars)
*This was a new feature I added to the blog during the summer of 2016. It was a shot in the dark that it would work, but much to my surprise; it took off and over first season I conducted 22 interviews with a variety of authors.
*It has been such an honor to connect with authors and "chat" about their novel, characters, and thoughts about the story.
*I ran a series of interviews for Season #TWO over the summer of 2017. It was great to get back to these conversations, that I decided to run Season #THREE during the 2017/2018 school year.
*Thank you to Gae Polisher for being the Fifty-First author that I've had the pleasure of interviewing. I truly appreciate it.
*Here are links to the first FIFTY interviews…
SEASON #ONE
SEASON #TWO
Interview#38 with Terri Libenson (Author of Invisible Emmie)
Interview#39 with Tony Abbott (Author of The Summer of Owen Todd)
Interview #40 with Rob Buyea (Author of The Perfect Score)
Interview#39 with Tony Abbott (Author of The Summer of Owen Todd)
Interview #40 with Rob Buyea (Author of The Perfect Score)
Interview #41 with Alan Gratz (Author of Ban This Book)
Interview #42 with Sally J Pla (Author of Stanley Will Probably Be Fine)
Interview #43 with Jake Burt (Author of Greetings from Witness Protection)
Interview #44 with John David Anderson (Author of Granted)
Interview #45 with Jarrett Lerner (Author of Enginerds)
Interview #46 with Leslie Connor (Author of The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle)
Interview #47 with Cordelia Jensen and Laurie Morrison (Every Shining Thing)
Interview #48 with Jacqueline Resnick (Author of Raffie on the Run)
Interview #49 with Sarah Weeks (Author of Soof)
Interview #50 with Dan Gemeinhart (Author of The Good Dog)
Interview #42 with Sally J Pla (Author of Stanley Will Probably Be Fine)
Interview #43 with Jake Burt (Author of Greetings from Witness Protection)
Interview #44 with John David Anderson (Author of Granted)
Interview #45 with Jarrett Lerner (Author of Enginerds)
Interview #46 with Leslie Connor (Author of The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle)
Interview #47 with Cordelia Jensen and Laurie Morrison (Every Shining Thing)
Interview #48 with Jacqueline Resnick (Author of Raffie on the Run)
Interview #49 with Sarah Weeks (Author of Soof)
Interview #50 with Dan Gemeinhart (Author of The Good Dog)
*I've had the honor of meeting Gae in person. I've read her novels and have enjoyed them all. I would say this is my favorite of her books. After finishing it over spring break, I reached out to her to see if she would like to be my guest author for the blog feature.
*She was kind, gracious, and giving with her answers to the questions. It is an honor to post the responses with my "Inside Look" feature.
*Here is a link to my review of In Sight of Stars
*Thank you Gae Polisher for writing this story for readers and taking the time to share your thoughts with us here on the blog...
In Sight of Stars
by Gae Polisner (Released March 13, 2018)
How Did You Come to Know Klee?
It’s
such an interesting question, how we get to know our characters. Of course, the
simplest answer is, “By writing them.” But more specifically, as I talk about
quite a bit in this Nerdy Book Club post (https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2018/03/16/in-sight-of-stars-and-the-sheer-luck-of-the-well-timed-title-by-gae-polisner/ ) In Sight of Stars originally started
as a book about a kid who loves art, with this scene between Klee and Sarah
(rather than the one that now opens the book):
Now, not appearing until pages
9 – 11, this scene was just there in my head one morning, and so I sat down and
wrote it, and it became the catalyst for the rest of the story. Because, as the
daughter of an artist, and a writer myself, I know that you don’t touch someone
else’s artwork. You just don’t. Not without permission. That
would be akin to me leaving a manuscript open on my laptop and someone walking
by and taking the liberty to just start changing all my words.
And, the thing I knew typing
that scene was that, as an artist, Klee knows this too. And, so, in that moment
I also suddenly learned a ton about Klee and who he was going to be when we
meet him: a kid who knows better, but is in such a fragile place he can’t stop
himself. He gives in to an impulse, feels utterly compelled. It’s a desperate
attempt to connect, and literally the first instant when Klee is out of
control. And Sarah forgives him. More than that, there is something about his
impulsivity, his compulsion, that draws her to him.
So this actually told me so
much about both of them.
I then kept asking myself the
question, “But, why?” Why was Klee in that fragile state? Why was his fragility
so intrinsically related to art, and specifically the art of Van Gogh? And that
led me to flesh out his story.
What do you think is Klee most admirable quality?
I love so many things about
Klee, but particularly: his sense of humor and ability to make light of his
dire situation, and his desire to dig deep, even when it’s painful, to get
better. I just want to hug him. And I want to sit and have a cup of coffee with
him now and see how he’s doing. I imagine he’s doing pretty well.
Is there anything you wish Klee would have changed or done differently in his
story?
Such a funny question,
isn’t it? Because, of course, if he did anything differently, we wouldn’t have
his story for what it is. I think the path he has taken is one that was brutal
in many places, but will serve him well as he matures. He learns from all of
it. They are lessons that will stay with him.
What do you think Klee can offer to other children that are experiencing
similar situations to what he went through?
I’m
hoping he offers the simple understanding that we all suffer at times, we all
fall apart. There’s no shame in it. Some of us crash and burn so quietly you
wouldn’t even know; some spectacularly making it clear we’re needing help.
And, that there are people who care and want to help. So, we shouldn’t keep things bottled up inside, but rather talk about it, because often what we’re thinking, worrying about, upset about, isn’t even the objective truth. And often knowing the objective truth could change everything.
How did you research Klee and the circumstances he found himself in?
Oh, you know, the usual
writer ways. A combination of what we know well, with what we learn from reading
deeply, and talking to others. Observing the world around us. But many of the
therapeutic details come from wonderful therapists I am lucky to have had help
me and my family throughout the years. What was the question again? None of
your business is the answer. Move along, now.
Do you and Klee share any similarities?
Yes.
We both have a rather dark sense of humor and believe there is power in being
able to laugh at ourselves. We both have learned the value in working to see
the world around us, and our relationships in it, as they really are, rather
than how they feel, which means seeing them from a mindful place, which his so
much easier said than done. And we both appreciate the healing power of water.
What was
the hardest scene to write about Klee?
The scene where he finally
confronts his mother. I’m a “less is more” writer and tend to stray away from
big drama, and that scene is full of it, and I had to find a place where it
both reflected that, and felt real. I rewrote it many, many times.
Who do you think was Klee's biggest supporter and why?
I actually think he has
more support than he initially realizes, and naming some of those names would
be spoiler alerts. But I think Dr. Alvarez sincerely likes and appreciates
Klee, and is moved by his deep desire to do better than he has done. And, of course,
there is Sister Agnes Teresa for obvious reasons, but I even believe his friend
Cleto is a good support in many ways, not that we see tons of him.
Why do
you think children and/or young adults only want to see certain parts of their
parents and ignore the parts they don’t want to see? Do you think most
children and/or young people have a favorite parent they bond with more than
the other?
That says question 9. but
it’s really two questions, and the second one is a doozy!
As for the first part, I
think children only see their parents through their eyes with their unformed Id-state
brains, borrowing from Freud for a moment. So, I’m not sure they ignore versus
can’t even see those other parts if they wanted to, and if they could, it would
be way too complex for them to handle. Being a grown up is complicated. Being
married is hard and complicated (even in the best marriages). Imagine if a
child could really see their parents as the fully formed complex humans they
are rather than as just “Mom” and “Dad”?!? To some extent, that could be
terrifying. Or at least way too difficult and overwhelming.
I do think that children
often have a parent they bond more with, and the list of reasons that go into
that, I’m guessing, is long. I also think that bond can commonly switch over
time. Or maybe a third variable: they bond differently, but equally strongly
with each. It’s an interesting question. I have no real answers, except my own
personal experiences.
What do you think Klee is doing as this present time?
Ah, as I said above, I think he’s doing well. I believe he’s in
college in art school, weighing the things we all weigh at that age. I believe
he views the people he meets and his relationships differently than he used to
– that he checks in with himself about his perceptions vs. the reality in front
of him. And I bet he texts often with his mom. J
