Meet Michelle Ray, debut author of Falling For Hamlet. Her YA novel is a modern re-telling of Hamlet and will be arriving in bookstores in July. Michelle is great to talk to and was forthcoming about her book and writing process. Check out Michelle’s website and facebook page for writing tips, speaking events, and more news about her upcoming books.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Michelle-Ray-writer/103487896377304
Michelle's headshot and book cover
QUTESSY: What is Falling For Hamlet about?
MICHELLE RAY: It’s a modern retelling of Hamlet told from Ophelia’s POV. From page one you know she doesn’t die because she’s being interviewed by both an Oprah-like character and the police, who want to know what happened to everyone else. The bulk of the story, however, is told in the first person. It’s follows the main plot of Hamlet, but explores Ophelia’s relationship with Hamlet and his family, the perils of celebrity, and the challenges of growing up. Of course, it’s also about betrayal, intrigue, and murder.
Q: What was your inspiration for this book? How long did it take you to write it?
MR: My inspiration was a production of Hamlet done by the Shakespeare Theatre Company in DC. It was done in modern dress, but not to prove a point. It simply showed how timeless the story was. I was completely taken by the show, but was dissatisfied with Ophelia’s madness in this context. I walked out of the show wondering what would make a modern Ophelia betray the guy she loves, and why she’d go crazy.
The first draft took about three or four months, but then I revised for a long time. I spent at least six months working with feedback from friends, then a couple of months with my agent, and then I did about five significant rounds of revision with my editor. We added scenes, deleted scenes, reworked and reworded characters and chunks of text. Start to finish, I guess you could say it was three years, but I wasn’t working on it constantly.
Q: What is the most exciting sequence in Falling For Hamlet? At what point when you were writing this book did you get so giddy with excitement that you couldn’t get the words out fast enough?
MR: Wow, that would be so cool if it had happened, but it didn’t. My best stuff often comes when I’m thinking about a scene while lying in bed or sitting in my car. Both are places where I can’t write the words down, so, to my irritation, I lose a lot. Once I have the keyboard in front of me, I’m slower and the experience is more restricted. When I’m just imagining, it flows.
There were a few parts while working on Falling for Hamlet when I closed my eyes and just wrote, and funny enough, those seem to be the most memorable for people who have read the manuscript. My favorite comes at the very end. My friend, Kim, read an early draft and wrote a note on the last page asking, “Okay, so what did she learn from all this?” I thought, “What do I want readers to know about her? What do I want to say to young women who might be thinking about the impact boys could have on their lives, as well as the consequences of bad decisions?” I closed my eyes and typed as fast as I could. The final pages move me, and they move readers.
Q: What character did you fall in love with the most? What character kept you up at night?
MR: I love the boys: Hamlet, Horatio, and Sebastian (who’s not in the original, but seemed to be needed for the story I was trying to tell). Horatio’s one of Ophelia’s best friends, and someone who never lets her down. I have guy friends like that and it’s a tribute to their fantastic friendship that I can write a character like Horatio. Hamlet and Sebastian are, to me, awesome and detestable at the same time and I’m drawn to them for different reasons. Hamlet can be amazingly good to Ophelia, and then, when things go wrong, they go really, really wrong. But I don’t want anyone to hate him because he’s confused and angry, and completely manipulated by everyone, including, to a degree, Ophelia. Sebastian likes Ophelia very much for who, not what, she is, and he knows her in a context outside of the castle, which is important. But he’s jealous, and this complicates things for Ophelia. Most fun for me is that Sebastian is really quite hot, so it was fun to imagine him. The beauty of writing is that I get to be someone else for a bit, especially if I’m writing from that character’s POV. See, I’m an average, happily married woman in my thirties, so it’s exciting to spend time as a beautiful, famous teenager who gets kissed by handsome boys. Anyway, what I love is that all three boys bring out different sides of Ophelia. Good sides and bad.
Q: What about this story is compelling?
MR: I think it’s close enough to the original that readers who love Hamlet will enjoy seeing how the story translates to a modern context, while at the same time, there are enough deviations to keep the audience guessing. People who don’t know Hamlet will get a great story of intrigue, love, and violence.
Q: What is your preferred genre? Why do you write for YA readers?
MR: I originally wrote Falling for Hamlet for adults, actually. I wrote a story I liked and planned to share with my friends, not really thinking about anything beyond that. Well, it turned out to have more of a teen vibe, so when I went to find an agent, that’s the direction I went in.
I read a lot of YA books because I teach middle school and want to know what interests my students, and I really like the books. They move fast, they’re fun, and they’re well written, often without being fussy. Plus, they bring up memories for me. 16, 17, 18 – those were heady years. There were so many choices to make — choices that would affect the rest of my life. I think many YA books directly and indirectly deal with the challenges of straddling childhood and adulthood. The expectations. The responsibilities. The desire to move forward and the desire to keep things the same. Navigating these uncharted waters is scary and thrilling. YA books let me relive what I did right and make me glad I never had to make certain choices.
Q: Do you write by the fireplace in your home or on a couch in a hotel lobby? Would you like to show us a picture of your writing zone?
MR: I’m really productive anywhere because I have to be. I’m a mom, so sometimes I write on the front step while my kids are riding bikes. I write while next to the bathtub when my little one’s getting washed up. I write on subways and at coffee shops. But the place I spend most of my time is one corner of a couch in our “fancy” sitting room (which isn’t that fancy). There are glass doors I can close to make my point that I don’t want to be bothered (though they don’t block out enough sound), I can look out the window if my kids are playing in the snow, and it’s the only spot in the house that tends to be free of clutter. It’s not a classic writing space – windows with afternoon light surrounded by books on writing — but that’s okay. It’s part of how I try to balance everything I need to squeeze into my day.
Q: What kinds of books do you like to read?
MR: I like books that move quickly. I don’t like flowery prose or books about shopping or divorces. I love YA books and books that make me laugh. I also love to cry.
Q: What author would you want to meet?
MR: My top three choices would be Geraldine Brooks, Maya Angelou, and JK Rowling. Geraldine Brooks because she writes fascinating books about history and I’d love to ask her about her research and her process. Maya Angelou because I’d love to hear her speak her works. And JK Rowling because I want to know how she sustained that great story over so many thousands of pages.
Q: What book character would you want to meet?
MR: I would love to hang out with Horatio from my book or Jesse from Tuck Everlasting. Jesse is so optimistic, so full of life.
Q: What character from another book would you want a character in your book to spend a day with?
MR: I’d love for Ophelia to hang out with some strong, independent woman who could teach her how to live on her own. Maybe someone in the art world who could get her a job.
Q: What are you working on now?
MR: I’m working on a couple adaptations of classic stories for teens, and a historical fiction book for adults. Some are out with editors (fingers crossed) and some are in their very early stages. In one, I’m toying with a minor character of a classic book because she makes me ask lots of “what if” questions when I think of her, and also I’m working on something completely original set in the late 1960s. I thought the story was headed in one direction, but while teaching the other day, a photo caught my eye and made me think of adding a whole new layer to the story. We shall see.
Q: Is there anything you would to add?
MR: Nope.
Thank you so much for your time.
QUTESSY 