Amy Goldman Koss [Author Interview]

With the paper back of Poison Ivy having just been released[October 08], I thought a mini Q&A with author Amy Koss was to be had. Amy is the author of four picture books and fourteen middle grade/YA novels. As a kid, she assumed that "...when I grew up I'd get some miserable job and would only get to do anything interesting in my wee bits of free time." [I guess no one ever told Amy what happens when you assume..=] But without further ado, here you have her, Amy Goldman Koss-- The author with the not soo miserable job.!!!!!


I just padded outside to pick breakfast, (Thanksgiving is persimmon & tangerine season here). The sun is a thick glowing ring, and everything is lit strangely. The ash from the neighboring brush fires is falling like a gentle snow. Lovely.

I wipe the dusty remains of people's lives, (their homes, dolls, blankets, photos of past youth and dead ancestors) off my bare feet, and come inside to make coffee. Good morning! Time to answer your questions!

What's something interesting that happened to you on your journey to be a writer?

I've been a writer a long time now, so my journey to become one is not as interesting to me as my journey to stay one. Fourteen novels worth of characters have come along, completely taken over my life and days, weeks, months, sometimes years, then gone off into the world with out a backward glance!

Maybe that's why so many writers write series, so they can see those same characters again. But all my books are stand-alones.

I can pick up any one of my old novels and revisit those friends, but still, it's kind of eerie. Perhaps that's just the brush fires talking.

Where did you get the idea to write Poison Ivy?

Who knows where ideas come from? Every day is full of WHAT IFs. Like the ash falling outside. What if it was my home that had been whooshed up in a ball of flame? What about Timmy, my bunny rabbit. Sweetie, my dog. the turtles sloshing in their aquarium, my daughter's harp, all my son's guitars and banjos, the huge upright bass?

We'd all have to make choices, EVERYTHING couldn't fit in the van. But what about art work and books and sentimental treasures? And how much warning do we get? Are we woken suddenly by frantic banging on the door and given twelve minutes -- in total darkness -- to pack and flee? And go where????

This is the stuff of novels, if you let it be.

Poison Ivy is a different kind of WHAT IF. I don't actually remember exactly how it started, but I know that the idea of a battle between the dark forces of human nature (bullies) and their victims, fascinates me.

Plus, I spend an enormous amount of time on the phone with my brother in Michigan. (He procrastinating writing his court decisions, me procrastinating everything.) We had a grand old time WHAT-IFing the legal aspects of this classroom / courtroom trial story.

How do you compare to Ivy, in Poison Ivy, when you were a teenager?

All characters are bits and pieces of ourselves, but I have to say that I don't recall ever being Ivy-esque. I love poor Ivy, as I do all my babies. But in this book Cameron speaks the most romantic line I've ever written so I have an extra tender spot in my heart for him.

Well, and for Marco, and his fat dad, and Ann, too, and even Daria, and Bryce...

Warning: There are a lot of people crowded into this thin book!

How did you celebrate Poison Ivy getting signed?

You can only trot your friends and family out for so many book launch parties. Their enthusiasm wanes after say, one, and they become very ho-hum about the whole thing.

I know I sound like a grumpy old fart, but after book three or four, the celebrations are more relief than excitement. But relief is good! It means Phew! I don't have to get a real job.... yet.

What advice do you have for any aspiring writers out there?

Don't listen to anyone's advice. Including mine.

Anything else you would like to share?

Writing a book, for me, is a slow, unwinding process. The characters appear gradually, as if out of smoke and ash. It takes several pages together before I begin to recognize them. And even longer to really hear the story they want to tell.

THAT discovery is the fun part. The rest is work.

I'd like to thank Amy for taking time out of her schedule to do this interview, and for my copy of Poison Ivy. Head on over to her myspace or website for more on her and her books. And don't forget, since October, POISON IVY has been released out in paperback for the public. Go out and get a copy, NOW!

www.amygoldmankoss.net