Issue One - Dystopia

Carrie Ryan

Interview by Jodi Sandel Wayne

1. Of course, we want to know whatcha’ reading now?

Right now I’m reading Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver which is coming out from HarperCollins in March 2010. It’s about a girl who relives the last day of her live several times until she gets it right -- I’ve been totally sucked into it!

2. Our contest question of the month: Which dystopic society would you least like to live in and why?

I think I’d have to say Panem from the Hunger Games not just because you have to put your name in to compete in the Hunger Games but also because it just seems like such a hopeless world with huge disparities between the have’s and have not’s.

3. Were you a big fan of zombie books and movies before writing The Forest of Hands and Teeth? If not, what led to you writing about them?

I actually avoided all scary movies after my babysitter convinced me to watch Poltergeist when I was five. And yet somehow my fiancé convinced me to go to the opening night of the Dawn of the Dead remake -- I was flat out terrified during the entire movie. But afterward I was so pumped up and I couldn’t stop thinking about that world and wondering what I would do. My fiancé fed this addiction with more zombie movies (the rule was he had to warn me of the scary parts) and books and I was hooked. However, I’d never thought about writing zombies -- I’d been writing chick lit at the time. And then I was trying to come up with a new idea for a novel for NaNoWriMo and my fiancé said “Write what you love.” I laughed and said “the zombie apocalypse?” And he smiled and shrugged and that was that!

4. What do you and the story's narrator, Mary, have in common?

I think that to a certain extent Mary always felt a restlessness to follow her dreams and not be content with the accepted status quo. I like to think of myself as the same way.

5. If The Forest of Hands and Teeth got made into a movie, who could you see playing Mary? Who for Travis? Who for Harry?

We sold the movie rights to Seven Star Pictures and I actually know who they have in mind to cast for most of the characters so I don’t feel like I can say anything specific (though I do love to know who other people would cast!). I also don’t tend to see my characters really clearly in my head so it’s hard for me to decide who I’d cast.

6. Did you originally plan to write a second book within the series?

I actually didn’t plan on writing a second book - I wrote The Forest of Hands and Teeth as a stand alone (although we sold it in a two book deal). My editor approached me about writing a sequel and I loved the world and was excited to jump back into it.

7. Why a different narrator for The Dead-Tossed Waves?

Because I’d written The Forest of Hands and Teeth as a stand alone I felt like Mary’s story was finished. Sure I could follow her around for a while, but it didn’t feel right having her reach the end of this book only to say “just kidding!” and throwing something totally new at her. I feel like the most successful series have story and character arcs that are set up in the beginning that last through the entire series and I just hadn’t laid that foundation for her. At the same time, I had this new character who I was really excited about and I felt like I could still satisfy those who wanted to know what happened to Mary while following someone new.

8. Is Mary also in this book?

Mary is an important character in The Dead-Tossed Waves. It’s told from her daughter’s point of view and they have a lot to deal with.

9. In The Forest of Hands and Teeth, the story focuses on the love triangle and Mary's quest to find the ocean. Does The Dead-Tossed Waves also involve love and a quest?

I think all my books will involve love -- it just seems to be such a central part of so many people’s lives, especially teens (when I go back and read my journals from when I was a teen I’m almost always writing about boys). I also think to a certain extent most young adult books also contain quests though they might not be as overt as Mary’s desire to find the ocean. Almost every teen is on a quest to find out who they are and who they want to be and I think that’s a lot of what Gabry deals with in The Dead-Tossed Waves.

10. Why do you think dystopic novels are so popular, especially with teens?

That’s a good question! I wrote The Forest of Hands and Teeth in part because I couldn’t find that many dystopia’s to read and so I wrote the book I wanted to read. I think part of their popularity is that we’re going through a period of uncertain time. Usually younger generations grow up expecting to be in a better position than their parents and surveys have shown that today’s teens don’t always feel that way. I also think that zombies in particular are popular because they allow us to address issues that might be too scary to address otherwise (like flu pandemics, global warming, economic crisis, war, etc).

11. We love to throw in a bonus question: Tell us something totally random about yourself.

I spent a summer working at the coroner’s office after my first year of college which meant I went to crime scenes and autopsies. You name it, I’ve probably seen it! (except I never did see anyone come back to life - lol).