E. Lockhart is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller We Were Liars. She also invented a superhero for DC Comics. Her books include Whistle: A New Gotham City Hero and Again Again. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks was a National Book Award finalist and a Printz Honor Book. Genuine Fraud was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize. Visit her online at EmilyLockhart.com, and follow @elockhartbooks on Instagram and @elockhart on Twitter.
Today, to celebrate the release of Family of Liars (the prequel to We Were Liars!), E. Lockhart is on the blog to take on our Ten Terrifying Questions! Read on …
E. Lockhart (Photo by Heather Weston).
1. To begin with, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?
Born in Greenwich Village in Manhattan. Raised in a Massachusetts new age communal living situation and then in Seattle with a single mom. Schooled mostly as a scholarship kid at some pretty fancy educational institutions, an experience which frequently shows up in my novels, one way or another.
2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?
Twelve: an actor. I went to three years of summer drama school and worked as an actor from ages 11-15 in Seattle.
Eighteen: a professor of English literature. I was an English major and went on to get a PhD with a focus on the 19th century English novel.
Thirty: a novelist.
Why? The reason is the same for all three: Stories are magic.
3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you don’t have now?
I believed (because I was taught) that racism, sexism and most other forms of discrimination were a thing of the past in American society — they were like, something that happened long ago “in the olden days.” My college education opened my eyes, and they are still being opened wider, all the time, as I continue unlearning the lie that I was taught.
4. What are three works of art – this could be a book, painting, piece of music, film, etc – that influenced your development as a writer?
Three stories of middle-class people being brought into a highly privileged world that isn’t all it seemed to be at first, stories in which those middle-class protagonists must navigate a complicated set of unwritten rules and codes: Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh; The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith; The Secret History by Donna Tart.
5. Considering the many artistic forms out there, what appeals to you about writing a young adult novel?
Novels in general are explorations of ideas and sentiments too complicated and even contradictory to be written as simple statements. God, I love that. And young adults are at such a fascinating time of life: they are separating from their families of origin, questioning the institutions (church, school, sports teams) that have shaped them, newly sexual, newly able to drive and work — it is such an intense time, so it makes for very interesting fictional situations that illustrate a lot about the human condition. Also: teenagers are the best readers an author could ever want. Adults don’t read a book 6 times. They really almost never do. But teenagers do it all the time.
‘Everything you read or watch is contributing to the wealth of stories inside you, from which you’ll draw when you write.’
6. Please tell us about your latest book!
Family of Liars is a prequel to my novel We Were Liars. You should probably read We Were Liars first, but you don’t have to. They’re both stories of intense first love and enormous family secrets, set on a private island off the coast of Massachusetts.
7. What do you hope people take away with them after reading your work?
I hope it’s a thrill, frankly.
8. Who do you most admire in the writing world and why?
Have you got all day? I love the show-offy wordsmiths who lay their guts on the table. Helen Oyeyemi, David Sedaris, Charles Yu — those three for starters.
9. Many artists set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?
I often set some kind of excruciating formal challenge for myself: tell a crime story backwards (Genuine Fraud); tell a love story in multiple universes (Again Again), tell a story structured as a list (The Boyfriend List). Perhaps I am done with ambitious goals and will now just try to tell a good story.
10. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Everything you read or watch is contributing to the wealth of stories inside you, from which you’ll draw when you write. So read and watch widely — outside your comfort zone — so you have a richer pool of stuff inside.
Thank you for playing!
—Family of Liars by E. Lockhart (Allen & Unwin) is out now.
Family of Liars
The Prequel to We Were Liars
The page-turning must-read thriller prequel to We Were Liars takes readers back to the story of another summer, another generation, and the secrets that will haunt them for decades to come. Includes a hand-drawn map and family tree.
A windswept private island off the coast of Massachusetts.
A hungry ocean, churning with secrets and sorrow.
A fiery, addicted heiress. An irresistible, unpredictable boy.
A summer of unforgivable betrayal and terrible mistakes.
Welcome back to the Sinclair family. They were always liars...
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