Book Interview: Susan McBride

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

Were you a Deb? How close is this lifestyle to what you experienced growing up in Houston, Texas?

I wasn't a deb, though I feel like the "debutante author" sometimes, having written five Debutante Dropout Mysteries for HarperCollins and now two in The Debs series for Random House. Even my editor got confused, stating that I was a Texas deb on some promotional material sent to bookstores. I did have friends who debuted, and I was invited to deb balls so it's not unfamiliar territory.

As for my Houston roots, my family lived in Bunker Hill Village for eleven years (while I was in junior high, high school and college) and I set Mac Mackenzie's house on a kind of fictionalized version of my former street. I didn't ever want for much, although it's not like we were the Hiltons. I did have friends whose families were super-rich, so it definitely opened my eyes to all that money could buy. On the other hand, it really taught me that money can't buy happiness.

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

Are any of the girls based on you?

I see a little of myself in Mac, especially her wistfulness at wishing romance weren't so fast-food-like these days and her fight to be herself when everyone around her is trying to change her in some way.

Ginger reflects my sense of being open-minded and giving people a chance, and always wanting to do the right thing.

Laura is loosely based on a girl from my high school who was breathtakingly beautiful but gained a bunch of weight before our senior year. She went from being the sex-pot of the school to "oh, but she has such a pretty face." Ouch. I wanted Laura Delacroix Bell to have come to a place where she appreciates herself just as she is, and to still harbor the same dreams that all the skinny girls have. I mean, why not? It doesn't seem fair to think that being a size 14 makes a girl unlovable or unworthy. What happened to believing that being a good person was a lot more important than being a size two?

As for Jo Lynn, well, I have to admit I stole her first name from a girl I went to school with (geez, am I going to get in trouble here?). I just think it's the perfect Texas beauty queen name, and I sort of molded my Jo Lynn around the name more than the person I used to know.

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

Seems that many of these girls have "absent" fathers. I say absent loosely as the majority of the dads are alive and well, just not involved in their daughter's lives. How does this affect the girls behavior?

The absentee father thing definitely relates to my growing up since my dad traveled a lot and really lived for his job. It was up to my mom to attend school functions, piano recitals, gymnastics meets, and any sports events where my sister and I were cheering. I can only think of one girl from high school—a fellow cheerleader—whose dad was super-involved in her life. They even practiced lifts together (which was kind of creepy). That much dad-involvement seemed pretty odd to my friends and I, who were used to our fathers saying "hi" and "bye" and otherwise silently footing the bills for our Ralph Lauren-obsessed lives. I do think it's important for young girls to have strong male role models. It helps shape a sense of identity and form a basis for future relationships with guys. I had a terrific relationship with my grandfather, and he was one of the most positive influences on my life. Missing out on that could lead to problems, like craving male attention (and not in a good way).

Mac absolutely craves her dad's attention, as he put up a wall between them after Mac's mom passed away. Ginger feels replaced by the baby her father recently had with his young second wife. Jo Lynn and Laura both risk an awful lot to keep the guys they love in their lives. I didn't consciously think about the girls' behavior in the context of their relationships with their dads as I was writing The Debs; but I'd have to say there's a definite link.

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

In the same token, the girls also seem to have struggling relationships with their mothers. The mothers really want to keep up appearances and have their daughters considered the best of the best. This kind of pressure is unhealthy but many of the girls have been experiencing it from a very young age. Case in point - Jo Lynn "fixing" pageants so that she'd win. Obviously her mother had a hand in that. Or Laura's mother trying to force her to a size she just can't be. What kind of values is this teaching these young women? How will it carry over into their own mothering skills?

Mother-daughter relationships have to be the most complicated of all. There's an instinctive need in moms to protect their children and to ensure their happiness. Only that's really hard to do as kids get older, especially when they begin testing their independence and their boundaries. Some of the mothers in The Debs are very controlling and have a great need to mold their daughters into perfect little debutantes. That kind of image is impossible for anyone to live up to, and Jo Lynn and Laura both feel like they've failed their moms (in different ways).

Jo Lynn's mom, Bootsie, has taught her to win at all costs, which is a little scary. Laura's mother has emphasized for a long time that being a debutante is the be-all and end-all. So there's a lot at stake for her as far as making the Glass Slipper Club's selection list. Ginger's mother, Deena, has always felt overshadowed by her very strong mom, Rose Dupree, and Ginger is trying very hard to break away from that. She'd love to carve her own path. She's just not sure how to do it yet. Mac had a lovely relationship with her mom, Jeanie, who passed away two years before the book starts. They were friends, and Mac depended on her mom's advice to get her through rough patches. So being without Jeanie is very rough for her. The hardest part of becoming a grown-up is figuring out for yourself what's best for you—what's healthiest—and shedding what's hurtful or self-defeating. I hope the girls in The Debs learn what NOT to do as mothers from any bad examples.

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

We see that some of the girls try to break from the mold of privilege. Ginger tries to do this by becoming environmentally conscious. But is she really achieving anything other than an expensive hobby? She outfits her room and herself with hemp instead of polyester and chains herself to a tree in hopes of winning herself a boyfriend. How serious is she? Does this just go to show that even the girls who try to rise above their spoiled upbringing really can't because it's so ingrained in who they are?

Ginger has gone through several metamorphoses before readers even meet her in The Debs. Mac mentions in one chapter that she's watched Ginger go from Goth Girl to Rock Girl to Green Girl. A defining theme of adolescence is figuring out who you really are. So much of that seems to be based on the superficial that it's difficult to dig down to the core and realize, "Hey, this is who I am." Ginger has a strong desire to make a difference somehow. She's truly looking for the right path. So she's very sincere in her beliefs, whatever they may be at any particular time. Still, I think a fair amount of who we are is ingrained in our DNA and the environment in which we're raised. That doesn't mean it's impossible to rise above and use entitlement toward a positive end. That's what I see Ginger doing, though not without a bit of stumbling along the way.

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

Mac is the only character who is really down to earth. Could it be that the loss of her mom put things in perspective for her? How important is it really to have the best clothes, makeup, and hair when she doesn't have a mother to love her?

Losing her mom had a huge impact on Mac. It made her question everything, and she still hasn't recovered her land legs yet. She's heart-broken and cynical, and she doesn't see the value in some of the things that are important to her peers. What she wants most is to have enduring love and friendships. What she fears most is suffering another loss. Deep inside, she's a romantic. She doesn't like how fast the world is moving around her, and she wishes she could slow it down. Of course, she can't, and she's finding that out the hard way. But having designer clothes, wearing makeup, and styling her hair aren't at the top of her priorities, that's for sure.

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

Honey is the token trophy wife but she ends up showing us a pretty nervy side. Makes you wonder what wiles she used to win over Mac's dad. Should we think Honey is a good person or just a conniving, sneaky, grown up Jo Lynn?

On the surface, Honey Potts Mackenzie seems very much the typical airhead beauty queen. But there's more to her than that, much more, although Mac won't allow herself to see it at first. Mac is too blinded by grief and by jealousy at her father's remarrying this seemingly ditzy woman to give Honey a chance. I love taking stereotypes and turning them on their heads and Honey's a good example of that. So stay tuned!

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

Laura's size is definitely an issue throughout the book. Why did you choose to include a big girl as one of the main characters in a story where beauty really does count for a lot? Was the point to show that you can be beautiful at any size? Is it reasonable to think that Laura would get an invitation even though she doesn't fit the bill?

When I imagined Laura Bell, I envisioned the "Laura" from my high school: the young Elizabeth Taylor who had the world at her feet. Until she started gaining weight. Then suddenly she wasn't the "it" girl anymore, and she wasn't sure how to handle not being the hottest girl in the room. By making Laura a size 14, I wanted to show that the world didn't end when this lovely person wasn't a size six or size eight anymore. In her heart, she's still the same, and she doesn't see the need to change her exterior, not for anyone. Not even for the debutante selection committee. Although she knows it's a very fine line she's walking, since appearance factors into which girls get picked. Laura's a legacy, and she has everything else that the Glass Slipper Club deems essential for a deb. I wanted to give her a shot so she could prove she's made of the right stuff, even if she's curvier than the rest of her deb class.

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

The Debs obviously is going to become a series. How many stories do you already have in the works? When will the second book be released?

The second book, LOVE, LIES, AND TEXAS DIPS, is already in production and will be out in June of 2009. I've signed with Random House for two more in the series so I'm sure I'll have to start outlining Book Three fairly soon. (And I hate outlining!) I'm honestly not certain at this point how long the series will go. I guess we'll have to wait and see how The Debs does when it comes out on August 26. So cross your fingers...and toes!

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

Why did you choose to begin writing YA fiction?

Several years ago, I'd mentioned wanting to try YA fiction to my agent, and I actually sent her sample pages from three manuscripts I wrote straight out of college to see if I might revise them toward that end. She thought they were too risqué and grown-up for the YA genre, so I put them aside. Not long after, she called saying she'd had lunch with an editor looking for an author to write a teen series about debutantes in the South. Since I was then writing my Debutante Dropout Mystery series for HarperCollins, my name popped into her head. I wanted to give it a shot, envisioning stories about girls at a prep school in Houston's Memorial Villages, the area where I grew up. I think it was just fate that everything clicked into place so quickly! I love writing about high school, because I don't think any of us ever forgets those days or how it feels to be a teenager. Times have changed, and there's a lot more technology involved in being a young adult now; but the emotions haven't changed. That's what I'm tapping into when I write the books.

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride

Do you have any words of wisdom for fledgling authors?

Read as much as possible and in a variety of genres. Think about the writers you love and how their books engage you. Write and keep writing. Too many aspiring authors want a quick sale and that rarely happens. Be prepared to practice, practice, practice. Try different points of view and different genres, and stretch those literary muscles! There's nothing better for confidence-building than taking chances and succeeding. Oh, yeah, and don't give up! Being a published author isn't an easy path; but if you'd just as soon stop breathing as writing, you don't have much choice. My road to publication wasn't quick or easy by any means. I wrote a manuscript a year for ten years after college and was rejected a lot before I was published. When it happened, it was an unbelievable feeling of accomplishment. I still get tickled when I see my name on a book cover. I hope I never lose that sense of amazement that I actually am living my dream.

Book Club Queen:Thank you for your time Susan! You've made fans of the Queenies here at Book Club Queen!

Book Interview: A Conversation with Susan McBride