Interview with Young Adult Author Rachel Plummer by Jennifer Minar

How did you get your start as a writer?

Like many writers, I’ve been an avid reader since I was a child. I taught myself to type on my father’s old Underwood typewriter when I was eight, and would type short stories, hoping to get them published in Hop Scotch or Jack and Jill. I had no idea that professional writers, not other kids, wrote for kids. I went through some turbulent times in my teens and twenties, so the writing was on hold for a while. I picked it up again in my early thirties, sold my first short story—a dark comedy about a necrophiliac—to a horror magazine for $4.56, joined a writers’ group, and wrote my first novel, which landed me an agent and some freelance work as a writer-for-hire for the Sweet Valley Twins series. The novel started out as an adult novel, but my group thought I had a flare for writing for kids, so the book turned into a young adult (YA) novel instead.

Do you have a writing schedule? And, where do you write?

I try to write every day. I work full time, since I find it stressful constantly trying to find work as a writer, and prefer to have a steady paycheck that leaves me free to concentrate on my work. My writing courses, editing services, and freelance work make a nice supplemental income. I take my works-in-progress to my day job and find fifteen minutes here, fifteen minutes there to work on them. You can get an awful lot done that way if you’re faithful about pulling out your work every day. It’s like exercising—you don’t have to do a whole hour all at once; you still get the benefits if you go for it in short spurts. I’ve written three of my own novels, including numerous rewrites, this way, and finished four books for 17th Street Productions (Sweet Valley Twins). The way I write is to set a goal of how many pages/paragraphs/sentences I’m going to write any given day and just get it done. Once your brain knows you're serious about sitting there until the quota is reached, the fingers start flying.

At home, I have a study with my computer and hundreds of books—I love books. The library is great, but there’s nothing like having your own reference books that you can reach for any time of the day or night. I have a very eclectic collection, from works on the paranormal and supernatural, to books on physics, history, and art, metaphysics, world religions, and of course a zillion books on writing.

What is your favorite part about writing? Your least?

That’s an easy one. I love the start of the second draft, when you’ve got the novel down on paper and now have something tangible but pliable to work with. My least would have to be, like many of us, the submission process. I hate writing query letters and synopses, and waiting for replies. Very boring and stressful at the same time.

Tell us a little about your book.

The Painting in the Attic is about a boy, Aaron Pierson, who has the ability to project his imagination so that other people can see and experience it. Shortly after his mother, an artist, dies, Aaron discovers an unfinished self-portrait she was working on in her attic studio and begins to believe that, through the painting, he can bring her back to life. This was a very cathartic book for me. My father, a great art lover and someone I deeply respected, died when I was seventeen. It created a lot of havoc in my life for a number of years. I realize after talking at numerous middle grade and high schools, that kids are really curious about death. It’s very scary to them to think about their own mortality or that of their parents and other close adults. Death is basically an unknown to all of us, although we may harbor strong beliefs about an afterlife or lack thereof. I think this is why books on the supernatural and the occult do so well in this age group. The teen years are typified by feeling out of control and uncertain about the future. Reading about how others deal with the unknown gives back some sense of control.

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