I probably shouldn’t be Writing at Four AM

Question:

I probably shouldn’t be writing these sorts of e-mails at four in the morning, but alas. What led me to it is the fact that when I feel the most stressed, I look for comfort, and I think your Alice books are a bit like comfort food for me. I went back to re-read a whole bunch of books in the Alice series recently, after discovering that you had books about Alice in which she was older than fourteen. For some reason, I thought what I’d seen in my elementary school library was pretty much the entire Alice bibliography, but one day, hanging out in my neighborhood library, I was pleasantly surprised to find newer books. Since then, I made it a point to read your books again to remember what went on in Alice’s life as a refresher, and found myself growing attached to the anecdotes again.

Since it seems that your books are growing with Alice, following her up through high school, I’m wondering if you have any plans to follow her any further. I recognize that these books are written for varying audiences, from the 8-10 year old up through the young adult/teen, and that most of your other books (not in the Alice series) are also written with the same age range in mind. Perhaps it’s greedy of me, but I find that the more I read of Alice, the more I want to know or find out; I keep wondering what the familiar Alice will be like when she’s 25, when she’s 40, when she’s 85. Or who she’ll meet, or what will happen to her diverse circles of friends. Of course, the older Alice gets, the more mature the content becomes, and I wonder if that will or does affect your reasons for continuing or not continuing the saga once Alice reaches a certain age.

I’m also asking these questions from the standpoint of a writer of stories for young adults, because I’d like to know what your thoughts are when it comes to writing about older characters for a younger audience, when the audience has already been introduced to the younger versions of the characters. Do you think the audience is likely to be able to identify with the characters based on their previous acquaintances with them, or will the emotional development and thought processes of the characters be lost on the audience? When the character progresses rapidly in age in one single book, are the emotional changes too rapid for the audience to follow? If you don’t have answers to those questions, that’s okay; I don’t expect any one writer to know. I’m just seeking your opinions, if you have any.

Anyway, thank you for dozens of excellent books. Alice helped me through some shenanigans when I was younger, and her personality is a comfort to me now. I’m looking forward to reading the next handful of books in the series.

Phyllis replied:

I’m flattered that you thought of me at that hour!  Most of my readers know that there will be 28 books in the Alice series total, and that the very last book, # 28, has already been written and is waiting in a fireproof box here in my office to send in when the ones in between have been published.  In that final book, Alice starts out at 18, and each chapter jumps a few years, up to her 60th birthday.  Since readers have followed her this far–the very first book , “Starting with Alice,” introduces Alice at age 8–I think they will readily identify with her at  age 60 when her class gathers again to open the time capsule they once buried.  Most readers go back and read the Alice books again when they’ve gained some perspective.  As I get three books for every year of Alice’s life, readers age faster than Alice, but nobody seems to mind.  Best of luck in your own work!