Fun Facts about lucy
FAQ
Where do your ideas come from?
My stories come from my imagination. But my characters seem to worry about, and are driven by, the same things that worried and upset me, growing up. Like how much wrongness there is in the world. Like feeling there’s almost nothing in your life you can control, and if you could only lose weight, or find a boyfriend, or -- as with Jake, the boy with the terrible stutter, in LUCKY STARS -- say what you needed to say. Like you’re trying as hard as you can to impersonate a normal person, but always feel out-of-step, and deep down, know you’re strange.
You almost always write about New York City. Is that where you grew up?
I grew up in a small town, Croton-on-Hudson, an hour north of New York City, in a house with woods on three sides. But like Sarah, in WILL YOU BE MY BRUSSELS SPROUT, as soon as I got old enough, I began taking the train to New York every Saturday for dance and cello lessons. I loved the lessons, but even more, I loved the excitement and freedom of the city, loved listening in on conversations, loved watching all the different people. I went to Barnard College, in New York and except for some time in Los Angeles, have lived here ever since.
Why are there so many animals in your books?
My mother was a child portrait photographer when I was little. She liked to pose kids with kittens, so my brother and I had cats of all sizes around, and a dog my mother bought from a man in the Grand Union parking lot because it was so tiny she thought it was a kitten.
And were you strange?
I’ve never been sure if I actually was a strange child or just felt like one. I had imaginary friends (Lucy Brown, Lucy Weasel, Lucy I Don’t Know, and Mrs. Pun, who lived across the Croton River), talked to myself until a fairly advanced age, made up stories (or lies, depending on who you’re asking. Like Lucas, in THE ANNOYANCE BUREAU) to make my life seem happier or more interesting, chewed toilet paper (don’t ask!), and had a unibrow till I discovered tweezers. My father, a dentist who wrote poems, made puns, and played the cello, told me sweets were bad for my teeth. He also insisted I didn’t like them. So I ate prodigious amounts of candy, much of it in the secret club house I built out of boards and branches in the woods behind my house, and, like Joy, in OY, JOY!, baked cakes after school with my friends. Like Katya, in THE HOMESCHOOL LIBERATION LEAGUE, my happiest times were wandering the woods foraging for berries, or picking wildflowers, and, when I got older, hiking. But I also did really well in school and was, like Chess, in TWO GIRLS, a very good girl. At least, outwardly.
Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?
I guess I did, since I that’s what I listed as my career goal in my high school year book. But it never occurred to me that I could write novels. I didn’t study English in college, or start writing fiction till I was in my thirties.
Do you like writing?
I mostly like writing. I always love revising.
Where do your ideas come from?
My stories come from my imagination. But my characters seem to worry about, and are driven by, the same things that worried and upset me, growing up. Like how much wrongness there is in the world. Like feeling there’s almost nothing in your life you can control, and if you could only lose weight, or find a boyfriend, or -- as with Jake, the boy with the terrible stutter, in LUCKY STARS -- say what you needed to say. Like you’re trying as hard as you can to impersonate a normal person, but always feel out-of-step, and deep down, know you’re strange.
You almost always write about New York City. Is that where you grew up?
I grew up in a small town, Croton-on-Hudson, an hour north of New York City, in a house with woods on three sides. But like Sarah, in WILL YOU BE MY BRUSSELS SPROUT, as soon as I got old enough, I began taking the train to New York every Saturday for dance and cello lessons. I loved the lessons, but even more, I loved the excitement and freedom of the city, loved listening in on conversations, loved watching all the different people. I went to Barnard College, in New York and except for some time in Los Angeles, have lived here ever since.
Why are there so many animals in your books?
My mother was a child portrait photographer when I was little. She liked to pose kids with kittens, so my brother and I had cats of all sizes around, and a dog my mother bought from a man in the Grand Union parking lot because it was so tiny she thought it was a kitten.
And were you strange?
I’ve never been sure if I actually was a strange child or just felt like one. I had imaginary friends (Lucy Brown, Lucy Weasel, Lucy I Don’t Know, and Mrs. Pun, who lived across the Croton River), talked to myself until a fairly advanced age, made up stories (or lies, depending on who you’re asking. Like Lucas, in THE ANNOYANCE BUREAU) to make my life seem happier or more interesting, chewed toilet paper (don’t ask!), and had a unibrow till I discovered tweezers. My father, a dentist who wrote poems, made puns, and played the cello, told me sweets were bad for my teeth. He also insisted I didn’t like them. So I ate prodigious amounts of candy, much of it in the secret club house I built out of boards and branches in the woods behind my house, and, like Joy, in OY, JOY!, baked cakes after school with my friends. Like Katya, in THE HOMESCHOOL LIBERATION LEAGUE, my happiest times were wandering the woods foraging for berries, or picking wildflowers, and, when I got older, hiking. But I also did really well in school and was, like Chess, in TWO GIRLS, a very good girl. At least, outwardly.
Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?
I guess I did, since I that’s what I listed as my career goal in my high school year book. But it never occurred to me that I could write novels. I didn’t study English in college, or start writing fiction till I was in my thirties.
Do you like writing?
I mostly like writing. I always love revising.
