Your Questions Answered

Alice as an Older Sister

Question:

Hi, I am a HUGE fan of your Alice books! I have read these books over and over again and I am on the very last one, Now I’ll Tell You Everything, and I love it! I think of Alice as an older sister, helping me through years to come through her experiences. I was really sad when it said on the cover that it was the final Alice book. I do have one question though; I haven’t finished the book yet but I assume her children grow up and I was wondering if you were going to write a sequel series about Alice’s children’s children growing up. Yet again I still haven’t finished the book (I honestly can’t put it down). You are quite an inspiration to me, I hope to become an author one day. If you do decide to write another book, could it be a cross between the Alice series and the TV show Gilmore Girls? If it’s too much to ask for I apologize. Thank you! Much love for Alice!❤️

Phyllis replied:

Well, I’m happy you put it down long enough to write to me!  I’m so glad that you are liking the last book so much, and that the series has meant so much to you.  I don’t plan to write any more Alice books, and if I did, I wouldn’t try to make them like anything else.  Because as soon as you dilute the original idea, tinker with the original characters, a story loses it’s uniqueness.  And I want Alice to stay that special friend to you.

No Book Put Me Through So Many Emotions

Question:

I just finished reading your last book of the Alice series – I think no book ever put me through so many emotions and tears while reading it as this one! I’m 24 years old now and I started reading the Alice series when I was about 10 – so I guess I could say her and my life ran in parallel for some time (I’m from Germany and the series was published a few years later than in the US) 😉  I know you hear it a lot, but I found myself so often in Alice and a lot of her life situations. Especially when growing up, hitting puberty, it felt as if I read about myself – which sometimes really helped me. There have always been periods in my life where I felt “in-between” and doubted about taking the right decisions, but now as I finished reading Alice’s story, I know that this feeling was and is more than okay and life has its way of figuring itself out.

I don’t think I’ve ever bonded so much with a character of a book and therefore also indirectly with you, the author. The funny part is, that when I was 20 I decided to go to the US for a while to live and work as an Au pair – and guess where it took me? A family in Bethesda, who also just moved there from Takoma Park. Right when I saw their request and the place where they lived, I knew it was a sign! While living there I explored the whole area including Silver Spring, and even though I know Alice is a fictional character, I felt very close to her. 🙂 I guess everyone has and needs her inner Alice, no matter which country she’s from and which language she speaks. I’m already looking forward to the day I can give the books to my daughter , should I ever have one- if not, I’ll keep them anyway and read them again and again!

Thank you Phyllis for creating such a real and lovely series 🙂 You and Alice have been a big part of my life and always will be!

Phyllis replied:

How wonderful that you were able to come to the U.S. and explore the same haunts as Alice!  I love the idea of everyone being able to  have an “inner Alice.”  I know that not all countries publish the Alice books, and that some countries print only the first ten or so, but it seems as though you have been able to find the whole series.  I’m delighted that the books meant so much to you, and appreciate your writing to tell me so!

A Box Set of the Alice Books?

Question:

I was wondering if there was a website that you could order all of the Alice Mckinley books at once, like in a box set?

Phyllis replied:

I so wish that were possible. Many people have written me about it, but so far the publisher hasn’t seen a way to do that profitably. I’ve suggested that they divide the first 27 books into threes, and publish 9 large 3-book sets, to go with the final large paperback, “Now I’ll Tell You Everything.” Alice’s senior year is already divided into books of 3’s, each one coming out with a different title. I think the problem is how to market them; how would this set appeal to a younger grade school girl, and would college girls want to buy all the books about a younger Alice?  For whom would the covers be designed to appeal? There are so many things to consider, but I’ll send your email to the editor just so your request will be heard. Thanks so much for writing. Phyllis

Will Cherish these books Forever!

Question:

Hi, I just finished reading the last book of the Alice series and am literally crying. I have started reading this series since the third grade and just want to thank you so so much. Your books have helped me in more ways than I can say. I don’t even know how I’m going to move forward from right now; I feel like my life is over now since I have finished the series. This series has really been such a light in my life through the years, it has really taught me sooo many things and helped me grow through these years. I feel that I have gone through the same things that Alice did which has been really shocking to me but this series has helped me so much in continuing my life and love the Alice books even more. Thank you thank you so much for writing this series. Words can’t even justify how much love I have for these Alice books and for you for writing them. I will always cherish the Alice books forever. Thank you! <3

Phyllis replied:

Well, I’m happy that your post-Alice life is just beginning, it’s not over. That was one of the ways I wanted readers to feel when they finished the last book–that just as Alice is starting something new, readers will feel that they have a fascinating life ahead of them, and I very much wish the same for you.  Thanks so much for taking time to write to me.

How Long to Write a Book?

Question:

Hi there! I an a fan of the Alice books. I read many of them and every time I go to the library, the books I look for first are the Alice books. My name is Annie and I am currently in year 4. We have book boxes and mine are sometimes full of Alice books that it is so heavy to carry! I am just wondering: how long does it take for you to write one book? If you can answer my question, it will be great. Bye!

Phyllis replied:

It usually took me about six months to write an Alice book.  I already knew the characters and the setting, so that was a big help.  Other books take six months to a year–sometimes several years, depending how long they are and how complicated the plot or the amount of research I need to do first.

Now On My Bookshelf

Question:

I love your Alice books, and I have read all of them! I recently just bought “Now I’ll Tell you Everything” and I love it so much! I’m so glad I have it to keep on my bookshelf.

Phyllis replied:

I’m so glad you have the final book.  Enjoy!

Forced to Read Books I Didn’t Like

Question:

I grew up with Alice in a way, since I started reading the series when I was a young teenager and could relate to the awkward and embarrassing moments in Alice’s life. When I read your books, your writing was so descriptive, it was as if I was watching through the window as Alice ate dinner with Lester, Ben and Sylvia or I was standing beside them as Alice and Patrick shared their first kiss. My mind turned into photographs as I read each page and I was able to tune out the world.

I remember when I finally caught up to your writing, I waited with anticipation of the next book’s release date. I turned 25 years old last month and just finished your last Alice McKinley book, “Now I’ll Tell You Everything”. I had tears in my eyes when I realized I was nearing the end of the book and the series. When I was younger, I was placed in a remedial reading class and my parents always forced me to read books I had no interest in. That was, until I found your series. I have related to Alice on so many levels, her close group of friends, her hometown and even her job (I am a social worker- I work with kids too).

I am sad the series is over, however, you left it on a good note. Throughout the series, I cried, I smiled and I burst out laughing, uncontrollably on several occasions. I will forever be grateful to you and your imagination, thus creating an amazing series for girls who can relate to difficult situations and grow to be strong, independent women. So thank you for making Alice quirky, inspirational and entertaining. She will forever be instilled in my memory.

Phyllis replied:

I’m so happy to know that you and the Alice series found each other.  And that now you are a social worker, working with kids!  Thank you so much for taking time from your busy life to write to me.  It means a great deal, and it’s wonderful to know the books meant so much to you.

How Do You Make Them So Real?

Question:

Hello. I really love your books. Alice is near and dear to me. I was wondering what trials and tribulations that Alice faced were based on personal experiences? I also wondered where you get your inspiration from. You write in great detail about issues like sex and dating. I don’t mean this offensively, but how do you make Alice’s experiences so real when back when you were growing up things were a lot more innocent? I mean in middle school and high school girls there weren’t really any “Pamela’s” back in the day. So, how did you write her character so well?

Also, I came across a review I copied and pasted below. I am not sharing it to hurt your feelings, but I was wondering if you feel any of the comments make you wish you had written the last book differently. I also want to all you to speak for yourself as to why you wanted to have Alice’s character be that old by the end of the series? I LOVE YOU AND YOUR BOOKS

Phyllis replied:

I didn’t include the review you sent, because it was too long, too many spoilers, and someone else’s view, not necessarily yours.  So I’ll just respond to your own questions, which are good ones.  I knew when I wrote the last book that it could not be all things to all readers.  To cover that much ground in one book meant I had to select my scenes carefully.  Younger readers wished that I had stuck mainly to college life and the years just after.  Older readers were delighted to find references to their own lives, where Alice faces problems at work, in her marriage, and raising her own children.   When I made my book tour two years ago, I had expected teenage girls primarily, and was surprised to find women in their twenties, thirties, and older.  As long as there are far more positive reviews than negative, I’m happy.

To answer your specific questions, so many of Alice’s experiences are blurred memories of things that happened to me, all mixed up with friends’ experiences and things I read about in the newspaper. I remember interviewing a student at the University of Maryland for some of them, and one of my own sons graduated from there.  I take all these things from real life and mix them up with imaginings, so it’s hard to separate them.  As for our innocence back when I was in high school and college–yes and no.  It’s true that most of us weren’t going as far as sexual intercourse, but there were definitely girls and guys who did, most certainly a lot of Pamelas, and we definitely thought and talked a lot about sex.  Now and then a girl would drop out of school to have a baby, and I knew a couple who planned their pregnancy so they could marry.  I don’t know…in a way I think we enjoyed sex more because it was mostly foreplay, and that was certainly exciting, and kept us focused a lot on our feelings.

I knew when I wrote the book how it would end, and I most certainly wanted to take Alice to her 60th year, at least.  To so many young girls, 60 seems old, very old, like the end of the world, sort of.  I wanted to show a vibrant Alice who is starting a whole new career, because that, in actuality, happens to a lot of people.  Thanks so much for your thoughtful email.  I don’t take offense at criticism at all.

Question:

Sometimes, when I’m reading the Alice books (I just finished Alice in the Know), it seems as though Alice is quite immature. For example, she is 16 and loses her first job at Hecht’s, and asks Sylvia if she’ll ever get a job again. Not even I would say that and I’m 11! Also Alice always says that Sylvia went to England for a year just to decide whether she wants to go with Ben or Mr. Sorringer. She went to England for at teaching job, for crying out loud! Sometimes I want to grab Alice’s shoulders, shake her, and say, “Grow Up!”

Phyllis replied:

I can see how you might feel that way.  Sometimes I think she does act immature.  I also think that many, or most of us, however mature we think we are, have times that we revert to our younger selves.  I had imagined that Alice might feel that her going on vacation from that job without permission from her employer might be on her record, and that she would not be able to use them for a reference in the future.  As for Sylvia going to England, actually, she did choose that job because she wanted to get away and think things over.  Alice was absolutely right.  Yes, she did apply for a job, but she knew she would need to support herself if she went, and this was her solution: get away, she how she felt when she was alone, and see how each man reacted to her being away.  That may not have been your solution, if you were in Ms. Summers’ place, but somehow that seemed right to me.  I appreciate your input, however.  Another author may have done something entirely different.

Alice as a TV Series?

Question:

Recently I just started rereading the Alice books again and a random thought occurred my mind; Wouldn’t it be totally awesome if the Alice books were made into a TV Series? It would be extremely popular, I’m sure of it! What do you think of the idea? Would it be manageable?

Phyllis replied:

It would be manageable, I’m sure, but by someone else, not me. My job is to write books, and the movie/TV offers come from other people. One big problem with the Alice books is that she grows slightly older in every book, so it would require a larger cast of characters. Should it ever become a TV series, though, I’ll let my readers know.