Stephanie Kuehnert Interview

Stephanie Kuehnert, author of I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone, and the newly released Ballads of Suburbia has been lovely to allow me to interview her as part of her Traveling to Teens tour. Thanks, Stephanie!

1) Why did you start the book with the epilogue?

Well, it just came out that way actually. That was the first thing I wrote and I realized quickly that it was an important way to frame the story. It does give some information away right away. The reader knows that Kara had a heroin problem, they know she survives but at a cost, they know Stacey has a kid, they know Adrian is important to Kara but bad for her. But these were things I wanted the reader to know right away and this framework let me reveal those things. I also thought (and hope) that it was a compelling hook. That immediately people would want to know how Kara came to be in the position she was in. It also sets the tone for the book way better than chapter one. Chapter one sounds so much more innocent than the rest of the book is. It's necessary to have the info in the first few chapters, but starting with the epilogue shows readers where the book is really going to go.


2) Each character in Ballads has a long, hard past and many of them are detailed in their ballads. How did you keep everyone's past straight and not too similar to one another?

I honestly don't know how to answer that because the characters sort of told me about their past. I don't know how to explain how that happens. As I get to know a character-- any character, not just in Ballads-- I eventually just see the turning point that made them who they are. I know this about all my characters, but in Ballads I got to actually write those events out and include them in the story whereas normally they would just be in a separate file on my computer that would likely never see the light of day. So I really knew what everyone's backstory was before I really started writing, so that's how I was able to keep them straight. And there are so many ways that families can be screwed up-- and that's really want each character's ballad is about if you think about-- that it was pretty easy to find different situations for the characters. At the same time some of them do mirror each other and that was intentional. Like the brother/sister relationships in the book.

The main thing was keeping character details straight with such a big cast of people and I did that by giving each character their own index card where I wrote down their physical traits and personality quirks!


3) There are a few different points of view in Ballads, even though Kara narrates the majority of the book. Were there any characters' views in particular who were more fun/more difficult to write?

I had a lot of fun writing both Stacey and Adrian. Christian and Maya were more difficult because as people they are more guarded and it's hard to get into their heads and get them to speak honestly. Liam and Cass were kind of in the middle.

4) Both I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone and Ballads of Suburbia are raw, emotional novels full of drugs and real issues. Do you think you'll ever stop writing stories like them?

No, probably not. Drugs may not always be part of theme and I may not always write books with a completely realistic setting. (I'm toying with an Urban Fantasy idea and a sci-fi/post-apocalyptic idea right now) But I will always hone in on real issues that teens (and adults) face. I think that is the real power of fiction. To start a dialogue about the hard issues and sometimes give guidance in facing problems. I started writing so that I could talk about the difficult stuff in life and encourage others to talk about it.

5) I know you're really into music- what band (or singer) can you not stop listening to right now?

I have three: Civet, an amazing all-girl punk band. The Gaslight Anthem, who totally remind of The Replacements. And Rise Against, who are local Chicago punks who have recently made it big. I've loved them for a long time but am on a big kick lately!

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The 59 Sound by The Gaslight Anthem is my JAM. Thought you should know.

Thanks again, Stephanie!

Here is the description of Stephanie's latest, Ballads of Suburbia, straight from Amazon:

Kara hasn't been back to Oak Park since the end of junior year, when a heroin overdose nearly killed her and sirens heralded her exit. Four years later, she returns to face the music. Her life changed forever back in high school: her family disintegrated, she ran around with a whole new crowd of friends, she partied a little too hard, and she fell in love with gorgeous bad-boy Adrian, who left her to die that day in Scoville Park....

Amid the music, the booze, the drugs, and the drama, her friends filled a notebook with heartbreakingly honest confessions of the moments that defined and shattered their young lives. Now, finally, Kara is ready to write her own.

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It's an amazing book, so I hope you all check it out!

Links: Stephanie's website/blog/twitter /Ballads of Suburbia Taffy

MTV Books/Paperback/$13.00/Amazon/B&N/Borders/IndieBound