In celebration of 36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You hitting bookshelves everywhere today, Vicki Grant gave us the lowdown on her new novel!
About ’36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You’ by Vicki Grant
Two random strangers. Two secrets. Thirty-six questions to make them fall in love.
Hildy and Paul each have their own reasons for joining the university psychology study that asks the simple question: Can love be engineered?
The study consists of 36 questions, ranging from “What is your most terrible memory?” to “When did you last sing to yourself?” By the time Hildy and Paul have made it to the end of the questionnaire, they’ve laughed and cried and lied and thrown things and run away and come back and driven each other almost crazy. They’ve also each discovered the painful secret the other was trying so hard to hide. But have they fallen in love?
Told in the language of modern romance — texting, Q&A, IM — and punctuated by Paul’s sketches, this clever high-concept YA is full of humor and heart. As soon as you’ve finished reading, you’ll be searching for your own stranger to ask the 36 questions. Maybe you’ll even fall in love.
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Related: Exclusive cover reveal: 36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You by Vicki Grant
Author Vicki Grant talks falling in love, adults behaving badly, and more
Give us your elevator pitch for ’36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You’!
Two mismatched teenagers sign up as guinea pigs in a university psych experiment designed to see if love between random strangers can be engineered. In the course of asking each other 36 increasingly personal questions, they laugh, cry, fight, flirt and ultimately reveal the painful secrets they’ve both tried so hard to hide.
Where did the initial spark of your story stem from?
About a year and a half ago, I read a Modern Love column in The New York Times about an actual study from the 1990s called “The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness.” That’s a long, boring title for a fascinating idea: is there a way to artificially create intimacy? I immediately thought, “There’s my next book!”
It seemed so brilliant. Imagine being able to replace all the head-ache, heart-ache, frustration and even boredom of looking for love with a nice, neat 36-question interview. I figured lots of people would jump at the chance, especially if they’re already bruised from having fallen hard before. I used the actual questions as the framework for the novel but, of course, made sure there was nothing nice and neat about the interview.
Do you believe an experiment like this could actually work? Do you think it could make strangers fall in love?
I don’t know about actually “making” anyone fall in love, but the study certainly does a brilliant job of replicating the process (or at least parts of it!) in a concentrated way. Dr. Arthur Aron and his team, who devised the original experiment, came up with deceptively simple questions to mimic the stages people go through on the way to becoming lovers. The questions cover everything from seemingly innocent small-talk to potentially shameful revelations. And that range is important. The hearts-and-flowers part is fun, but love isn’t real until you’ve found someone who can handle your ugly stuff too.
You use a variety of formats in the book, from classic third-person narration to straight dialogue and texts. How did you decide on this approach?
I had initially planned for the novel to be just Hildy and Paul’s dialogue as they answer Dr. Aron’s original questions. That was fun but restrictive. To fill in the picture for the reader, I had to have them saying things to each other they’d never normally say, so I broadened my approach.
I also needed more leeway because the book is a mystery of sorts. Both characters have secrets that are revealed when they have to answer, “What is your most terrible memory?” That’s Question 18 in Dr. Aron’s study which, unfortunately, is only halfway through the interview – a little early for the central mystery to be solved. So I came up with ways to separate Hildy and Paul. They fight. Things are thrown. Hildy storms off midway through the study. They track each other down through social media, tiptoe back together through texting then resume answering the questions. A classic case of form following function!
The questions that form the framework of ’36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You’ are used verbatim from the original psychological study. Is there anything else you’ve taken directly from real life?
Yes, for sure. Some things I stole consciously. For instance, as usual, I set the story in a geographical area I’m familiar with, simply because it’s easier to keep track of my characters in a place I know. (That said, I’m not above moving major thoroughfares to make the story work.) Likewise, the restaurants and coffee shops Hildy and Paul go to are cribbed heavily from the ones I frequent.
Real life, though, also creeped into the book while I wasn’t looking. I was surprised on final reading to realize that Hildy’s relationship with her younger brother mimicked my own. And it wasn’t even very well hidden. Little blondish older sister with a mother complex. Big dark-haired younger brother with personal hygiene issues. Been there, done that, as they say. (I’m sure if I flipped through my high school yearbook I’d find someone who looked a lot like Paul too…)
What kinds of stories do you feel most drawn to?
I’ve just had a recent revelation about this actually. Every book needs something terrible happening to the main character. That’s why we have bullies and vampires and mental illness and debilitating disease. All excellent dilemmas around which to build a plot – but those aren’t the kind of stories I’m drawn to.
For whatever reason, I often write about young people dealing with the fall-out of what I call “adults-behaving-badly.” Most of the grown-ups we gossip about – the drunks, the adulterers, the losers, the felons, the makers of sex-tapes – have kids at home coping with the consequences of their parents’ bad choices. Those situations are as common as divorce and as rare as mass murder. In many cases, the young people feel somehow responsible for what happened. And that’s where I get interested.
The kids and teens I write about are often having to come to terms with the fact that one of the people they love most in the world has done something wrong or shameful or even cruel. They have to keep trying to build their own lives and become the person they want to be, all the while processing the earth-shattering revelation that their parents are human after all. It’s a difficult struggle but one that we all, to a greater or lesser extent, have to get through.
Hildy and Paul often laugh and joke even when they’re talking about the most painful parts of their lives. Is this resilience or avoidance?
Both. And something else too: because people do. Some of the funniest people I know have been through the worst traumas. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” It also makes you see the absurdity of life – or at least realize that you may as well laugh when you have the chance.
About the author
Vicki Grant has published fifteen critically acclaimed and award-winning novels in her native Canada. She is also an award-winning TV scriptwriter and advertising copywriter. Vicki lives in Nova Scotia, Canada. Visit her at www.vickigrant.com.
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