Your Questions Answered

So Excited I Could Stop Breathing!

How Do You Think It All UP?

Question:

Omg. It is so weird to be writing to the best author EVER!!!! I know you get thousands of emails like these each day, but I sincerely mean it from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR WRITING THESE ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE BOOKS!!! They’ve made my life easier.
     Pam’s parents are going through a rocky divorce same as mine are, in the grooming of Alice somebody died (I’m not saying who in case someone hasn’t read it yet) same as someone close to me did, I’ve had to move, I’ve had embarassing expierences, etc. Some embarassing stuff has been answered too (questions everyone has about sex and bodies and life.)
     I completely see myself in all the characters in the book. Parents tend to think that kids in junior high (in Canada where I’m from it’s grade 7 8 9 not 6 7 8) are so innocent and they still have so much to live for. We are not as innocent as people think. Yes, we have tonnes to live for, but seriously….we experience SO MUCH of it in jr. high.
     Now for the question part lol!! How do you keep all the events in the books in order? I get confused just reading them sometimes haha!!! But seriously…I think that you are the best author ever. I know that you base a lot of what happens in these books on your own experiences, but the rest of it…how do you think it all up?? And how do you know so much about bodies and everything? I know tha tyou probably took sex ed in school and that you’re a married woman….I guess my real question is, how do you write so well about it without making it seem that Pam Al and Liz aren’t hormonal crazed , minds-only-on-sex girls?
     I know you won’t have time to answer all these questions but if you read this, thank you so much. I feel very priveledged to be able to email you like this. I love how you encorporate technology in the books too. I can’t say one bad thing about these books!! Oh btw why do some of the earlier Alice books say ages 14 up and then some say ages 12 and up? e.g. Alice on her way and Alice in the know. Just wondering. Thanks Mrs. Nayor!!

Phyllis replied:

I guess all I can say is that the things I write about come naturally to me, and I have a really good memory of what I was thinking about and worrying about all through my teen years.  (And every other year).  I’ve been in enough gym classes to know that girls’ body parts can be quite different, girl to girl, and I’ve read enough books and articles to know just how much girls worry about these differences.  And, having been married for 49 years to one man (and five years before that to another), I guess you could say I know a bit about sex. 

As for your other questions, the publisher decides what age level to put on the inside of the dust jacket.  And sometimes, in a new edition of a book, they decide the book is meant for older teens, and they change it from 12 – 14  to 14 and up.  As for keeping things straight from book to book, that is a constant problem for me and especially for the copy editor.  Finally the publisher asked the copy editor to make a “book,” or “bible,” as the editor calls it, listing all the characters, what they look like, what their houses look like, their parents’ first names, their love lives, what gifts they received and from whom, what they wore each Halloween, their religion, as well as listing major events in each book, and–in a special section–all the mistakes I’ve made from one book to another and which will probably never be corrected.  (I think I’ve given Alice three different birth dates).  Each year the Alice “bible,” as we call this book, is reprinted with new information in it.  Only my editors and I have copies of it, but it’s the only thing that keeps the stories “somewhat” straight.  I keep telling my editor that they should officially publish this “bible” after the series ends, but nobody’s said anything about that yet.

How Do You Come Up With Story Lines?

Question:

 

i am 15 years old.  I am absolutely in love with all of the alice books, and own every single one of them.  I am so eager for the next one to come out! 

I have some questions, comments, and thoughts that i would like to share with you.  First of all, i wanted to say how much your books have helped me through a rough time.  When i was 12 years old, i was diagnosed with a type of Leukemia (just like Molly).  I fought so hard for two years and finally beat it.  Whenever i was feeling upset, or when i was coming home from Chemo every day, feeling nauseous and pissed at the world, i would pick up one of your books and read them.  Obviously, i am in remission now, but i still sometimes don’t quite feel myself.  Reading your Alice books has taken my mind off of my illness and made me happy (something that was not easy to do).  Thank you so, so, much.

I wanted to know how many more alice books you are going to make.  I really don’t think you should stop.  I think you should actually continue with her through her twenties.  I would love to be able to “grow up” with her.  another question: how do you come up with the story lines?! they’re pure gold!

Phyllis replied:

I’m so happy that you are in remission.  I have friends who have gone through chemo, and know a little of what that is like.  I wish I could continue Alice forever, but the last book is already written, and all I have to do now is write the books in between!  I guess I’ve sort of “grown up” with Alice too–as her mom–and I simply put myself in her place, with her family in mind, with her background, and try to imagine what her life would involve next.   Then I write about it.  Readers keep sending me things they want me to write about–have her try drugs, make her diabetic, get her pregnant, etc.  The ideas have to come from me, and Alice can’t be “every” girl.  She already has a formed personality, a formed family, relationships with friends, her own values, and I can only have her do what I feel would be natural in her circumstances.  I’m delighted that the books have helped you in any way, and send my very best wishes!

False Information

Planning a Wedding

Cover Girls

Phyllis replied:

 

The current trend is not to show faces on covers.  The girls who posed before are probably in their 20’s by now.

Don’t Kill Lester!

Thanks

 

Question:

thankss for making so many of our livess a little bit cheerier

 

Phyllis replied:

 Well, some readers would tell you I’ve made them cry, but I hope I’ve given you a good balance.  If you were never sad, you wouldn’t enjoy being happy so much, would you?

I Couldn’t Hold It In

Question:

I read intensley alice and I was wondering when you first made —– did you know you would make him die?  It was so sad at first I didn’t cry but when Alice said she wished he had the radio on full blast and that one moment it was music and then nothing I cried. I couldn’t hold it in! And I think I figured it out when you say that in the last book your going to skip years to when she is sixty.Well I still remember when they were supposed to open the time capsul when they are sixty so what I think is that they are going to open the capsul and that will be the end. That is so gonna make me cry!!!!!!  Anyway thanks bye!!!!!!

Phyllis replied:

Yes, there are some sad things ahead, some scary things, some wonderful and fun things….just like life.  But no, when I first created the character who dies, I hadn’t planned it.  Life happens.

 

Planning to Do Anymore?

Phyllis replied:

 

I’m glad you liked that movie.  I really don’t have much to do with movies made of my books.  My big job is to write books, and if a producer wants to make a movie of one, he works with my agent, and usually lets me make suggestions about the script.  Right now I don’t know if they plan to make any more Alice movies, but a lot of people have enjoyed this one, even though it’s different in many ways from The Agony of Alice, the book on which it was based.