Amy Spalding grew up in St. Louis, but now lives in the better weather of Los Angeles. She received a B.A. in Advertising & Marketing Communications from Webster University, and currently works as the Digital Media Planner for an independent film advertising agency.
Amy studied longform improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, and can be seen performing around L.A. Her debut novel, The Reece Malcolm List combines many of her favorite things in life, including Stephen Sondheim and boys with great hair.
Tell us 5 random facts about yourself.
- One of my wildest fantasies is that eggnog could be available year-round.
- My favorite Sanrio character is Chococat.
- If I could time-travel I’d probably only use the power to see musicals I missed the first time around.
- Once a waitress at a Cracker Barrel told me I looked like a cartoon bear.
- I’ve only woken up with an anxiety attack from a dream once, and it was one in which I was Sam Seaborn, just minding my daily duties for Bartlet’s White House.
Tell us about your journey to becoming a writer.
I have always wanted to be a writer, from as young as I can really remember. I wrote throughout grade school and high school, but I never really took it that seriously. Finally a few years after I graduated college, I decided it was time to stop being scared and really go for it. I discovered the young adult genre, and realized it was what I was already writing. The book I wrote then got me an agent, but getting published didn’t come as easily. That book kept nearly almost selling, but then it wouldn’t. It went similarly with my second book, and I started to lose serious hope. Luckily, trends changed a bit in the YA world, and seemingly out of nowhere an editor was interested in both of those books. It was hugely validating and made me incredibly relieved I hadn’t completely given up.
Why do you feel you had to tell this story?
I’ve always loved reading long-lost family stories, because family can be such an odd bond. It might feel great, it might feel obligatory, it might change exponentially when you’re growing up. So I love when writers explore what that means when it isn’t typical. Once I decided to write that kind of a story, it only took a few false starts to come up with the characters of Devan and Reece and know they were at the center of it.
What was your favorite chapter/scene to write and why?
The last chapter is probably my favorite, because it all kind of came to me in a flash and I actually scribbled some of the dialogue down while stuck in traffic on the 10 freeway. (Please, everyone else, never do this, ever.)
The main character in The Reece Malcolm List is in to musical theater and some her storyline involves being in a play. Where you into musical theater? What made that part of Devan’s character?
I’ve always loved musical theatre, but growing up I never felt talented enough to try out. I did a little stage-managing in college, but my main involvement has just been being a fan of it, and being friends with performers and writers. I also do longform improv, which has really helped me understand a lot of the teamwork of performing with others and the allure of applause.
It was important to me that Devan have something special in her life already. Her mother is this acclaimed bestselling author, and to me it was the right fit that Devan shone at something as well. I also find performers really interesting characters in general. So many of them—like Devan—can be reserved and even shy in person, and then onstage it’s completely another story. That contrast is really intriguing.
The relationship between Devan and her mother, Reece is very unusual. How did you find a basis for both Reece’s character and that relationship?
My only initial thoughts about creating Reece’s character is that I didn’t want her to seem like a typical mother, but I didn’t want her to be a typical “bad mother” either. I’ve read so many books where if the main character’s relationship with their mother is strained, it’s because the mother is too controlling or too absent or too uncaring. To me it was much more interesting to write people who just didn’t necessarily know how to have other people in their lives.
I actually think it’s really common, even as an adult, to not always know how to just be a person. There are so many relationships and responsibilities to juggle at any point of your life. And a lot of times it’s easier not dealing with your emotions or giving them too much power. So I let a lot of that guide me with both characters too.
At what point in the development of an idea do you know that it will become a full-length novel?
I start writing, and if I’m thinking about the characters when I’m not working on it, I generally know it’s working. I just set aside something because it only really seemed to interest me while I was sitting in front of my computer, but the project I started after that is one I can’t stop thinking about. That’s always a good sign for me. I feel like those aren’t necessarily the better ideas, but considering how long a book really has to live with you, it’s helpful to focus on the ones that excite you the most.
What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author?
I definitely went through a realization when my second book got the same kinds of rejections as my first that the stories I’m interested in are often seen as too quiet or small to really find an audience. It surprised me because these are just the stories I’m interested in—the ways we relate to each other, the feelings you have when you first start to fall in love with someone, the changes that growing up have on all your relationships. So that feedback made me focus on trying to write these things as big as they feel when you’re going through them.
What has been the best compliment?
Any time someone tells me something made them laugh, I’m thrilled. But, honestly, all compliments are the best.
Do you most relate to your main characters, or to secondary characters?
I know this is kind of a cop-out answer, but honestly I relate to them all. Years ago I was watching Kissing Jessica Stein with the commentary track on, and writer Jennifer Westfeldt said she realized she had to start writing her supporting characters as if she had to play them—i.e. everyone should have a fully formed life with interests and wants and needs, even if perhaps those things don’t tie into the overall story as much. So even if someone’s only on the page a little, I still want to know what they’re after and what they’re all about.
Do you have things you need in order to write (i.e. coffee, cupcakes, music)?
Nope. I write a lot in what I call stolen time. The down time in between plans. My lunchtime at work. Commercial breaks while watching TV. Etc. Of course I also have long writing or editing sessions at my desk or at Starbucks or wherever else, but in general I’m someone who can write anytime/any place.
Where’s your favorite place to write?
I really do love coffeeshop writing, as long as I can guarantee a table with an outlet and not too many loud/annoying people around.
What character do you relate most to?
There’s really not one character in The Reece Malcolm List that I don’t relate to in some way. In musical theatre, a character who actually plays a large role—no pun in tended!—in the book, Merrily We Roll Along’s Mary Flynn.
What is easier to write: The first line or the last line?
Oh, it depends! My second book’s first line actually came to me in my car, and I sped to get home to jot it down. (That time I was a safe driver.) That first line still stands today. (Though I am awaiting an editorial letter from my editor, so, perhaps its time is limited!) For The Reece Malcolm List, NEITHER! I ended up cutting the first draft’s beginning 10 pages, and didn’t have the same last line at all in that draft.
What one YA novel do you wish you had when you were a teen?
E. Lockhart’s Dramarama hit so close to home with how it feels with friendships shift and change. I read it as an adult and it brought back so much from high school. I would have loved to have had that book back then.
What are you working on now?
I’m about to start editing my next book, Ink Is Thicker than Water, which is about sisters and tattoos and intense older boys, and is set in my hometown ofSt. Louis. I can’t wait to dive back into it.
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