Stephanie Diaz is the author of the Young Adult books, Extraction, Rebellion, & Evolution. The story takes place on the planet Kiel, which has a toxic surface. There are people who live in internment camps on Kiel's poisoned Surface, and people who live in the planet's safer Core. Extraction starts off the trilogy with Clementine, who lives on the Surface. Clementine is turning 16, which is when she will find out if she has been selected for extraction. If she is selected, she will be able to leave the Surface to live in the Core, but that also means leaving behind everyone she knows, forever.
In addition to writing books, Stephanie also works as an editor. SDLS sat down with Stephanie to talk about her books, what she is currently working on, and more.
SDLS: When you were 12 years old, you wrote a book and started shopping it around in the hopes of getting published. How did you know at age 12 what steps you needed to take to get your book published?
SD: My older sister, who was 16 at the time, was also trying to get published, so we learned about it together. We went to the library and researched the process, and used the internet to find out how to write a query letter, how to get an agent, etc. Its not particularly hard to find out how to do it, it's just hard to do it right.
SDLS: That first book is not the book that became Extraction, right?
SD: No, that book was a YA historical fiction story. Very different, a 180 really, from Extraction. Yeah, so I queried at 12, and I was pretty lucky. I had agents responding to me saying, "here are good things about it", and also "here are the bad things". I got a lot of really encouraging comments, which was great, because I pretty quickly realized that, obviously, that book wasn't good enough. But, I was encouraged to write another one, and that was what really pushed me to keep at it. I still look back and am pretty amazed that I got as much feedback as I did, because it could have just been "Nope. Nope, this is bad."
SDLS: When you sent the book out to agents or editors, did you tell them how old you were?
SD: Yeah, I did mention it. When I think back, I think why did I do that? But, I think that is part of the reason why I ended up getting such a good response. I think that they were nicer to me, and wanted to be helpful {because of my age}. I mean, I think I was talented even then, I just had a lot of growth I needed to do to get to the point where I could be published.
SDLS: You also wrote 2 other books after that 1st one you had shopped around.
SD: Yeah, so there was the historical fiction, and then there was a fantasy book. I almost consider it 2 books, because I wrote it once, queried it, and tried to get an agent, but that didn't work out, so I basically re-wrote the entire thing. All through the majority of my time in high school, I was working on that book and trying it get it published. By the time college came around, I realized that it wasn't working - here I had written it twice, and I'm done, I can't write it anymore. At that point, I knew I needed a better concept. I knew that I was pretty good at plot & characters, I just needed something that would hook people right away. Which is when I came up with Extraction.
SDLS: So, whatever happened with those first 2 books? Do you have any plans to revisit them?
SD: No, not really. Definitely not the 1st one. The fantasy one I still really like, but I just think that I've grown so much in my writing since that stage that I don't think I could go back into that story. It was a stepping stone, but now it's not something that I think I want to share with people.
SDLS: I've talked with other writers who also have written early books and feel the same way as you - they have books they don't like and hope will never to see the light of day - so I wonder, is there a graveyard of lost books somewhere?
SD: (laughter) I'm sure there is.
SDLS: Where do those characters go because, at one time, there was something that made you want to tell their stories. And, I understand that you've changed, and grown, your inspirations are different, but have you completely lost those characters?
SD: Well, they're still in my head. I mean, I absolutely still take some of those ideas and have incorporated them into later books - not the exact same plot, but there will be things like where I go you know, I'm going to stick this little character in here for a second, cuz, you know, you gotta do it.
SDLS: So, the characters or stories aren't gone, they just transmute.
SD: Yes.
SDLS: I have been thinking about the Extraction trilogy, and, even though the 3 books stand on their own and don't necessarily need additional stories, I still think a good case can be made for doing at least a prequel, if not a continuing, post-Evolution story. Do you have any plans to write more books in this world?
SD: At the moment, no. I'm definitely open to it in the future. I did, purposely, leave it open-ended enough that, if I want to at some point, I can go back, but at the moment, I just have so many other ideas I want to work on that it's kinda like I just have to set that world aside for now. It's finished for now, but we'll see.
SDLS: I understand that you were inspired to write Extraction while looking at the moon. It was something you saw, a visual, that lead to the writing. You were a film major at SDSU, so it makes sense that you are a visual thinker. Do you think that this has made it easier for you to create this world? Harder? Did you think in terms of how it all looks while you were writing the books?
SD: Yeah. I am totally a visual writer. One of the things that I do if I get stuck is I think, okay, if this were a movie, what would be the next shot? What would happen? What would it look like? That helps me a lot because, one of the things I find when I get stuck is that I don't think what is going on is interesting enough in the setting, so that is one of the elements that needs work. So yeah, it absolutely inspires me whenever I'm writing.
SDLS: Do you storyboard? Are you a plotter, or a pantser?
SD: No, I don't storyboard. I'm really in between {a plotter and pantser}. I have to know basically where it's going, and I have to know the basic plot points, the turning points in the story, but then I'll get to places where I have no idea what's going on next. So, I like to do a kind of mix because it keeps it interesting enough that I don't know exactly what's going to happen, but I also know enough that I don't get completely stuck.
SDLS: Have you thought about doing a movie based on the trilogy at all? Making something independently, on your own?
SD: I did film school and, going into it, I really wanted to be a director. I did have it in my mind that it would be really cool to direct a film based on my books, but then, actually being in film school and being on film sets, I came to realize that I really like the writing more. But, I was actually able to write a screenplay version of Extraction, partially for class credit and partially for fun. I had a screenwriter instructor who was helping me, so I have something. I do have a film agent, and we've tried to sell the rights to Extraction, but at the time, it was really difficult to sell anything that was remotely similar to The Hunger Games, or Divergent, because Hollywood had already moved past it. So, I don't have any hopes of selling the rights, but I do have a couple of short films that were inspired by it {Extraction} on You Tube somewhere, so I did get the chance to do that a little bit.
SDLS: There is some similarity between your books and The Hunger Games & Divergent, but weren't your books written before them?
SD: Well, Hunger Games was already out, and The Hunger Games did inspire me in my writing. But Divergent, I didn't read that until after I had already written Extraction. In reading Divergent, I saw that, yeah, there were some parallels that I didn't know about so, I was like, shoot!, but what that lead to was to make sure that, in the Extraction sequels, I veered away from that kind of thing {the plots in the Divergent books}. I wanted to make my books way more sci-fi and way more sort of Star Wars-esque {to differentiate my story from Divergent}.
SDLS: Your books are considered to be Young Adult, and I'm wondering what you're thoughts are in regard to what the difference is between a YA novel vs an adult novel. I've read, for example, Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach trilogy, which is classified as an adult, post apocalyptic novel, but it has many of the same plot lines as many YA books. Your books, especially the final 2, have a lot of politics and heavy matter, as does The Hunger Games. So, I'm thinking maybe the only difference between YA and adult books is that the main characters, heroes and/or heroines are just young.
SD: There are a lot of people who assume that YA is easier to write, and less high-brow, all that kind of stuff. But, its really not true anymore. There are so many mature themes that are discussed in YA. Kids can handle that kind of material more than adults think, I think. The main difference is that YA is about the growth, I mean, a child becoming an adult in a way. It's those coming of age years, that's really, at the core, the difference. Also, in terms of plots, YA tends to be a lot more fast paced because there's not usually as much back story. But, in my opinion, that's a lot more interesting.
SDLS: Back in the day, you know, I'm old, so back in the day, we thought kids were naïve. They were unsophisticated in the ways of the world, and clearly, as time has gone on, we certainly do realize now that kids know a lot more than anybody thought about the world around them. Kids are exposed to a lot more, they have access to a lot more, but also, by the same token, YA books have amped things up a lot more in terms of what plot lines and stories are playing out in these books for young people. Sometimes I read a YA book and think, "WOW, I don't how many adults can process some of this story, let alone a kid". So, I wonder what you think. Is it that kids now have matured earlier than back in my day, or do you think that, maybe, we are making them grow up so fast by so much exposure? Are we exposing them to more than maybe we should be?
SD: Yeah, I think it's a combination. Because, obviously, with the internet and all that, there's so much more that they have access to that they probably didn't before. But, I also think that its partly that adults are forgetting. I know, because its true for me, now that I'm 25 I look at teenagers and think, "they're so young". But 10 years ago, I didn't feel young. I knew a lot, and I just think we forget how much we did know and understand at that age. I think teens and kids, they notice everything, so it's just easier for them to take in information.
SDLS: I agree. I do think teens and kids know a lot and understand a lot, but they also are not cognitively developed enough yet to fully understand context. They are not able to grasp grey areas and subtleties, so that, while they see things happening around them, they cannot completely process and integrate the events or information. And, I think that's where YA books can help kids work through complex events, like a fellow student's suicide, or domestic abuse, etc.
SD: Yes. YA is, its really important I think. It really does allow a kid to sit down, read something that's not them, in the middle of a bad situation, but they're reading about a character who is, and that definitely lets them think about all of the things, and work it through with the characters. And in YA, things aren't always black and white. Even the villains are complex, and not all bad, so you may even root for them. YA is simultaneously an escape, and also a way of showing real world stuff. I'm thinking about this one book, The Hate You Give. It deals with police violence, which is a hot topic right now. I read it and was like, WOW! She does not shy away from the bad stuff. I learned a lot, and I feel like everyone who reads it will learn a lot, including kids. It's YA, and YA is really perfect for that because, in a way, it does allow people to talk about things like this.
SDLS: And that brings to me why its so important to have diversity in books. Having all voices, reflecting the realities of each of their experience, allows people from varying backgrounds to connect with reading and feel someone understands their world.
SD: Exactly.
SDLS: I read that you are half Mexican. Have you incorporated any of that heritage and experience into your books?
SD: Yeah, in a way. Being more conscious of the need for diversity has definitely led me to write books that aren't all about, or just about, White characters. The 2 books that I have been working on now don't necessarily include Mexican characters. I don't feel that I necessarily have to write that. I mean, that's a part of me, and I can take from that to write about race in general, but I don't want it to be that I have to write a book about being Mexican, or the Mexican experience. For now, it just influences the type of book I write, but I do have the spark of an idea for a fantasy story inspired by Aztec culture, so I might pursue that more in the future.
SDLS: So, what are you working on now?
SD: I have a pirate fantasy that's in the works, and I also have an Asian-inspired fantasy actually. It's like a Mulan re-telling, but with elemental magic, sort of like Avatar The Last Air Bender. So that's what I'm halfway through writing now.
SDLS: Are you writing full time, or are you doing other stuff in addition to writing?
SD: I do freelance editing, which, at the moment, is my main source of income because I am in between book deals. I work with writers. I primarily edit YA, sci-fi, fantasy, that kind of stuff. I pretty much read all the time, and help other people who are trying to get published.
SDLS: Having an editing background, do you think that makes it easier or harder to write your own stuff?
SD: You'd think it would make it easier, but it doesn't. I still have to deal with the same exact stuff - getting stuck, not knowing how to move past it - but it is really helpful in terms of revision because I can go back and be immediately like "yeah, that's wrong. I need to redo that". But, in terms of writing, drafting, its no easier unfortunately.
SDLS: Are you part of any writer's groups here in San Diego?
SD: Yes and no. I'm not part of a critique group, but I'm very involved with the San Diego writers community.
SDLS: When you were writing the trilogy, did you have a group that gave you feedback on it?
SD: No, not really. My best friend has always been my first reader. I have developed critique partnerships with individuals, but not a group. The people that I exchange books with don't live here, so we mail our manuscripts to one another.
SDLS: What are you reading now?
SD: I just finished Beauty Queens, by Libba Bray. It's an older book. I read it because I heard recently that they are going to be making a female version of Lord of the Flies as a film, and this book is, actually, a female version of Lord of the Flies, but super different. It's about a group of super models who end up on an island, and how they survive. It's so funny, and so poignant, and I loved it.
SDLS: What is your writing process? Do you set aside a certain time to write each day, or just take notes throughout the day, or something else?
SD: Most days I have a word count goal. It might be only 500, or 1000, depending on what's going on. Sometimes I write in the morning, but most of the time I'll be doing edits for my clients then, once I have cleared the afternoon, I'll start writing. I always have music playing. I make soundtracks for every book, which really helps me to get into the mood.
SDLS: Have you ever thought about doing a graphic novel?
SD: No. I've never been a huge graphic novel person. If there was an opportunity to do it, I might try it, but at the moment I think I will stick with novels.
SDLS: What about a comic book?
SD: I actually have had a couple of opportunities to do a comic book, but it ended up not working out. I'm kind of glad about that because its a whole other format to have to learn. I'm sure that I could learn it, but at the time, I didn't have the time to do that.
SDLS: What have you learned from your experiences in trying to get published? What was the most surprising thing you discovered?
SD: Oh, I've got a lot! (laughter) The most important thing to know is how much patience you need. Everyone jokes in publishing that if an editor tells you "I'll get back to you in a week", they mean a month. If they say a month, they mean 6 months. Publishing definitely moves much slower than you would even think. Back when I first got the book deal, I was so excited, but then I had to wait 3 months before I got an editor, and then another several months before I got the cover, and everything takes longer than you think, so that's why its so important to just be working on another book, because that is what will keep you sane.
Thank you so much, Stephanie for sitting down with me for this interview. Stephanie will be at the Poway Library in 2 weeks for an event with 2 other authors. See her there, or check out her website for other upcoming events.
Additional information here:
https://www.stephaniediazbooks.com/
http://sandiegoliteraryscene.blogspot.com/2017/08/san-diego-festival-of-books-highlights_65.html
Labels: Author Interviews
