Once and for All Author Sarah Dessen Talks Voice, the New Book, and Barbecue
I’ve been a huge fan of Sarah Dessen since I was young enough to be considered in the YA audience—which is to say, since I was twelve. Her wonderful, hopeful romantic novels set in North Carolina (where we’re both from) were what I desperately needed as an angsty teenager. I’ve grown up with and loved her characters, from Colie in Keeping the Moon (my favorite), to Annabel and Owen in Just Listen. Dessen was one of the first YA authors I read where I thought, Hey, I could do that too, especially since we’re from the same state. So I was absolutely thrilled to talk with her about her latest book, Once and For All. Louna has spent her life helping her Mom with her wedding planning business, but is a cynic about love herself. When she meets Ambrose, though, he’s determined to make her give love a second chance. Once and For All has got all the trademarks of Dessen’s classic novels—deep friendship and family dynamics, a Southern setting, and characters you won’t forget easily, and I’m thrilled I got to interview her about it. I also asked her about her favorite type of barbecue, and y’all, she picked the right one.
Once and for All (B&N Exclusive Book)
Hardcover $19.99
Once and for All (B&N Exclusive Book)
By Sarah Dessen
Hardcover $19.99
I adore the friendship between Louna and Jilly, especially because I had friends like that in high school. Is Jilly based on any of your friends?
She’s not specifically, although I had a core group of girlfriends in high school and I think bits of them are in every best friend character in some way. Mainly I wanted Jilly to be the opposite of Louna, because with friends that often is what makes the relationship work. She’s confident in everything, from her body to her future, wide open in the way that Louna is closed off. We all need that friend who wants us to step outside of our comfort zone and is there to hold a hand while we do it. That’s Jilly to me.
What made you decide to set this book in the world of wedding planning?
I was thinking I wanted to write a novel about the idea of a first, ideal love that is lost, but I wasn’t sure how to get into it. At the time, I had two babysitters who were planning weddings. One was a big Southern one, with all those attendant details, and the other a traditional Hmong wedding, which was steeped in very specific aspects of that culture. They could not have been more different in terms of planning, but I saw so many similarities in that need for things to be “perfect” or as close as you can get. It got me thinking about my own wedding, almost 17 years ago, and how I was so obsessed with every little thing but now only remember it as a fun, happy blur, even though I know things went wrong. I love the idea of working so hard for these milestone moments but in retrospect the big things, the ones you remember, are often smaller and not ideal. Plus, weddings provide so much fun fodder for a book. Whether you are in one or a guest, there are a million stories to tell.
The family dynamics in your books are always so well done and complex, as with Louna, her mother, and William. Do you pull from real life when writing those?
My last book, Saint Anything, was very much about the idea of family and siblings. I really was ready for a switch, and I loved the fact that William and Natalie, Louna’s mom, have made their own little unit out of such a great friendship. Just like there’s no one way to get married, there’s not a single “right” kind of family. We make our own. I’m always intrigued by the different ways people come together.
One of the things I’ve always admired about your books is how you weave in darker issues with a lighter contemporary tone. Do you find that difficult to do?
I do. In this book especially it was difficult, because even as I was creating this amazing first love for Louna I knew it wouldn’t end well. I cried a lot while writing this book, I have to say. But that’s why you need both, the light and dark, in every story. We can’t just have either, because that’s not how life is. I try to balance it, because I believe in happy endings, or at least happy moments. I don’t like to finish a book and be wrecked by it. We need hope, now more than ever.
I absolutely adore the hate to love trope and you’ve done it excellently in this book with Louna and Ambrose. What was it like writing that?
Oh, Ambrose. I love him even as he makes me nuts. I think my favorite part was that he’s just so honest about his failings. There’s no denial that he plays the field recklessly, or that he doesn’t like not getting what he wants. But it’s a fine balance, because you can’t dislike him TOO much or the story won’t work. You have to find a way to show the character’s good side even when showcasing the not ideal part. Ira, the dog, was a big part of that. Yes, Ambrose steals a dog (sigh) but he does it for the best possible reason. At least, I think he does.
You started writing when YA was really a new genre. How has your own writing grown as the genre has?
I think my scope, as far as story, has gotten wider. In my first couple of books I had simpler plotlines, and the books were shorter. But as I got older and experienced more things, I wanted to layer additional ideas into each story. I think it shows most with the adult characters, like the parents. At the beginning, they were only the Mom and Dad, although I hope I portrayed them as complex even then. Now that I am a parent, though, I see so much differently! And I think that comes across on the page.
Each of your characters has such a distinct voice. What’s your process for finding that through each draft?
I do a lot of reading my stuff aloud when I’m writing a novel. I think that helps to hear the voice better, to catch particular cadences. But I can usually tell if the voice is working when I hear it ALL the time, not just when I’m sitting at the computer writing. By the end of a book, it’s like my narrator’s been with me every moment for months. I think that’s why I’m so exhausted when I finish!
If you could coauthor a book with any other writer, who would it be?
Oh, what a great question! I love the IDEA of writing with a partner, if only because the pressure of carrying the entire story could be shared with someone else. That said, I’m so neurotic I can barely write with myself most days, so I don’t see it actually happening. In a perfect, world, though, in which I wasn’t such a mess…. I’d love to write a book with Judy Blume. Can you imagine being that close to her process? I’d be hanging on every word.
All of your books are set around the same location in NC (particularly the beach town of Colby, which I love.) What is it about NC that lends itself well to your books?
Well, it’s my home, and what I know. Sometimes I feel kind of lame that I never left my hometown, struck out in the big world and all that, but I’ve found my own way here. And I think the small connections that thread my books together are made more possible in a small town like Lakeview or Colby. Here in Chapel Hill, I am always bumping into people from other parts of my past, like customers I served as a waitress at the Flying Burrito or people who took my classes when I taught at UNC. My elementary school music teacher came up to me at a restaurant the other day and said, “I know YOU!” I hadn’t seen her since about 1980. It was great, that sense of connection between past and present. I feel about North Carolina the way you feel about family. It’s not perfect, and I wish I could change some things, but I love it dearly. I can’t imagine living anywhere else now.
Being from NC as well, I have to ask: what’s your favorite kind of barbecue?
Okay, THIS is the best question I have ever been asked! I am an Eastern BBQ girl, vinegar all the way. We served it at our wedding!
Once and For All hits shelves June 6 and is available for pre-order now.
I adore the friendship between Louna and Jilly, especially because I had friends like that in high school. Is Jilly based on any of your friends?
She’s not specifically, although I had a core group of girlfriends in high school and I think bits of them are in every best friend character in some way. Mainly I wanted Jilly to be the opposite of Louna, because with friends that often is what makes the relationship work. She’s confident in everything, from her body to her future, wide open in the way that Louna is closed off. We all need that friend who wants us to step outside of our comfort zone and is there to hold a hand while we do it. That’s Jilly to me.
What made you decide to set this book in the world of wedding planning?
I was thinking I wanted to write a novel about the idea of a first, ideal love that is lost, but I wasn’t sure how to get into it. At the time, I had two babysitters who were planning weddings. One was a big Southern one, with all those attendant details, and the other a traditional Hmong wedding, which was steeped in very specific aspects of that culture. They could not have been more different in terms of planning, but I saw so many similarities in that need for things to be “perfect” or as close as you can get. It got me thinking about my own wedding, almost 17 years ago, and how I was so obsessed with every little thing but now only remember it as a fun, happy blur, even though I know things went wrong. I love the idea of working so hard for these milestone moments but in retrospect the big things, the ones you remember, are often smaller and not ideal. Plus, weddings provide so much fun fodder for a book. Whether you are in one or a guest, there are a million stories to tell.
The family dynamics in your books are always so well done and complex, as with Louna, her mother, and William. Do you pull from real life when writing those?
My last book, Saint Anything, was very much about the idea of family and siblings. I really was ready for a switch, and I loved the fact that William and Natalie, Louna’s mom, have made their own little unit out of such a great friendship. Just like there’s no one way to get married, there’s not a single “right” kind of family. We make our own. I’m always intrigued by the different ways people come together.
One of the things I’ve always admired about your books is how you weave in darker issues with a lighter contemporary tone. Do you find that difficult to do?
I do. In this book especially it was difficult, because even as I was creating this amazing first love for Louna I knew it wouldn’t end well. I cried a lot while writing this book, I have to say. But that’s why you need both, the light and dark, in every story. We can’t just have either, because that’s not how life is. I try to balance it, because I believe in happy endings, or at least happy moments. I don’t like to finish a book and be wrecked by it. We need hope, now more than ever.
I absolutely adore the hate to love trope and you’ve done it excellently in this book with Louna and Ambrose. What was it like writing that?
Oh, Ambrose. I love him even as he makes me nuts. I think my favorite part was that he’s just so honest about his failings. There’s no denial that he plays the field recklessly, or that he doesn’t like not getting what he wants. But it’s a fine balance, because you can’t dislike him TOO much or the story won’t work. You have to find a way to show the character’s good side even when showcasing the not ideal part. Ira, the dog, was a big part of that. Yes, Ambrose steals a dog (sigh) but he does it for the best possible reason. At least, I think he does.
You started writing when YA was really a new genre. How has your own writing grown as the genre has?
I think my scope, as far as story, has gotten wider. In my first couple of books I had simpler plotlines, and the books were shorter. But as I got older and experienced more things, I wanted to layer additional ideas into each story. I think it shows most with the adult characters, like the parents. At the beginning, they were only the Mom and Dad, although I hope I portrayed them as complex even then. Now that I am a parent, though, I see so much differently! And I think that comes across on the page.
Each of your characters has such a distinct voice. What’s your process for finding that through each draft?
I do a lot of reading my stuff aloud when I’m writing a novel. I think that helps to hear the voice better, to catch particular cadences. But I can usually tell if the voice is working when I hear it ALL the time, not just when I’m sitting at the computer writing. By the end of a book, it’s like my narrator’s been with me every moment for months. I think that’s why I’m so exhausted when I finish!
If you could coauthor a book with any other writer, who would it be?
Oh, what a great question! I love the IDEA of writing with a partner, if only because the pressure of carrying the entire story could be shared with someone else. That said, I’m so neurotic I can barely write with myself most days, so I don’t see it actually happening. In a perfect, world, though, in which I wasn’t such a mess…. I’d love to write a book with Judy Blume. Can you imagine being that close to her process? I’d be hanging on every word.
All of your books are set around the same location in NC (particularly the beach town of Colby, which I love.) What is it about NC that lends itself well to your books?
Well, it’s my home, and what I know. Sometimes I feel kind of lame that I never left my hometown, struck out in the big world and all that, but I’ve found my own way here. And I think the small connections that thread my books together are made more possible in a small town like Lakeview or Colby. Here in Chapel Hill, I am always bumping into people from other parts of my past, like customers I served as a waitress at the Flying Burrito or people who took my classes when I taught at UNC. My elementary school music teacher came up to me at a restaurant the other day and said, “I know YOU!” I hadn’t seen her since about 1980. It was great, that sense of connection between past and present. I feel about North Carolina the way you feel about family. It’s not perfect, and I wish I could change some things, but I love it dearly. I can’t imagine living anywhere else now.
Being from NC as well, I have to ask: what’s your favorite kind of barbecue?
Okay, THIS is the best question I have ever been asked! I am an Eastern BBQ girl, vinegar all the way. We served it at our wedding!
Once and For All hits shelves June 6 and is available for pre-order now.