Author Chat with E.M. Crane!

What people are saying about SKIN DEEP:

From teenaged blogger The Page Flipper, March 2008:
“…unlike any character I’ve ever read about.”
“I recommend this refreshing book to anyone who’s in
the mood for a good, honest, heart-warming/wrenching
read.”

From PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY Review February 2008:
“This thoughtful, evenly paced tale focuses on one
high schooler’s world and all that’s frustratingly
wrong in it.”
“Crane shows readers about self-discovery and the
importance of passion and strength.”

From BOOKLIST Review January 2008:

“Crane sensitively depicts the isolation and
insecurity that Andrea initially faces and allows the
story to develop slowly and credibly as she finds her
way to a new sense of herself.”
“Involving first novel depicting a pivotal year of
loss, change, and awakening.”

*Congratulations E.M. Crane on winning the Delacorte Press Award for First YA novel! Did you think when you submitted SKIN DEEP that you would be the grand prize winner?

Thank you! Winning the Delacorte was completely unexpected. When I submitted my manuscript, I was hoping for some red ink. Meaning, I was hopeful that a real editor would jot down a few suggestions for improvement on my rejection, so I could strengthen my work. Skin Deep was my first completed novel, although I had written lots of short fiction. I had only shown one dear friend any of my fiction before mailing Skin Deep off to New York.

How did you find out you won? You must have been so excited!

I was in the bathroom shoving myself into a taffeta maid of honor dress (OK, so I was actually a matron of honor, but maid of honor sounds so much less elderly) when the phone rang. I was pretty sure Best-Friend-The-Bride had a last minute need, so I took the call. It wasn’t Best-Friend-The-Bride. It was Random House. I had to get off the phone pretty quick, considering me and my lavender taffeta dress had somewhere else to be. I never knew you could float in lavender taffeta. For hours. Did you?

Can you tell us a bit about SKIN DEEP?

Skin Deep in a novel told in Acts. The main character is fifteen-year-old Andrea Anderson, who has spent her life in the audience, sitting on the sidelines, watching life pass her by as if it were a play. Then she gets a job working for a neighbor. Suddenly she finds herself pulled out of the audience and onto the center stage of life, surrounded by a group of artists she never would have expected to be her friends. She has to decide to either embrace life or continue to sit it out. She has a lot of unique experiences along the way to her decision, experiences that reveal the world isn’t always as it seems.

I love the cover. Were you able to give any feedback about the design, what you had in mind or anything?

I love it too. The illustration is by Stephanie Dalton Cowan, a mixed-media artist; the jacket design is by Vikki Sheatsley at Random House. Mad props to them. It was incredibly important to me that the cover art have artistic value, since art is such a relevant component of Skin Deep. I was lucky that my editor recognized that and guided the decisions, so all I had to do was clap my hands and babble with glee when they showed me.

What are you working on now?

Book three, which is a novel based on the theme of isolation. (I’m an explore-a-theme person; Skin Deep’s themes for me were beauty and passion, my second book ((now in my editor’s hands)) theme is gender identity, and now we’ve moved on to isolation. It’s set on an island in the Great Lakes. I’m in third revisions, so I hope I’m getting close.

Do you have any advise for future contest entries? What do you think made your book stand out in (what must have been) a pile of entries?

There were about 400 entries the year I entered the Delacorte. My advice is to not just read the guidelines, but highlight them, underline them, rewrite them in a checklist for yourself, and most importantly follow them. Also make sure your manuscript isn’t in first draft form. Revise it until it gleams. It’s a little like speed-dating when they have 400 manuscripts for one award: don’t let broccoli in your teeth give them a reason to move on.

If you could cast the film of your book, which actors would you choose for your MC’s'?

OK, I’ll have to out myself here as someone who could watch the entire Academy Awards and never know one film nominated for… anything. It’s that bad. So well-known actors, um…yeah. Them too. But I suspect that if I had to, I’d pick some random ordinary people from random ordinary backgrounds who have always wanted to be in a film and showed up at a casting call with no clue if they had any talent and have to take time off from their real jobs and maybe school and are all nervous and then they get the part and BAM, they nail it.

How do your fans get in touch with you?

www.emcrane.com and I’m on myspace, too at www.myspace.com/emcrane.
I’m on livejournal, too, mostly to read and share everyone else’s trials and tribulations.

Congratulations again! Your novel sounds amazing!

Thanks again! It’s great to talk with you and I look forward to hearing more great news from you real soon :)

E.M. Crane