Spotlight on Garret Freymann-Weyr

I am pleased today to feature Garret Freymann-Weyr. Garret is the author of the Printz Award winning novel My Heartbeat and the recently released After the Moment. For more information about Garret and her novels, please visit her website.

S: After the Moment is an honest and realistic novel about first love. In a sea of YA novels with romantic themes, why did you feel it was important to share your story?

GFW: There are, in my view, two elements missing from most fiction about young people in love. The first one is the role memory plays in any love story in which the lovers part (and, frankly, any romatic relationship that begins in high school and lasts much beyond that verges on tragedy). The second is the way in which love is transforming. The experience of love has the power to shape us, just as rage, hate, desire, envy, joy and grief do. But we almost only ever see love stories in which the teenagers find a kind of bliss or a terrible fate. I wanted to explore how love, even at a young age, can determine the people we become. It is complicated and nuanced. It’s my hope that the reader leaves Maia and Leigh’s story aware of love’s many demands as well as its rewards.

S: After the Moment is not just a love story. It incorporates many diverse themes. Could you speak a bit about the incorporation of the Iraq War?

GFW: Leigh came to me as boy who did not go to war. After 9/11, a lot of my female friends with teenage sons told me how they had wept that day, fearing that the draft was coming, as the United States would surely be at war soon. Well, the war came, but not the draft. I wondered what it would be like to be a boy becoming a man in a country at war, but not fighting in that war. That’s how I first met Leigh, as someone aware of this war he was priveleged enough not to fight. And that is why the Iraq War found its way into After the Moment. Since the love story explores a certain kind of violence, it made sense to me that the country’s violence should be in the background.

S: The relationship between Leigh and his stepsister Millie is a moving story that is seen in the background of the novel. How would you say their relationship causes Leigh to mature throughout the novel?

GFW: I don’t think I would say that Leigh’s relationship with Millie causes him to mature. I think Millie matures during the year, because of her father’s death and her awareness of what Maia goes through. Leigh’s relationship with Millie is one in which he sees his failings, but is able in some ways to succeed. Family relationships are often far more stressful than romantic ones. Both Millie and Leigh have complicated feelings about their parents, but for eachother love and acceptance is enough.

S: You are quite an accomplished writer. Aside from being the author of My Heartbeat, a Printz Honor Book, what has been your biggest writing accomplishment?

GFW: I don’t think one can say that winning an award is an accomplishment. When a book does well, it often has nothing to do with the writer or the writing. On the rare day that I feel accomplished, it’s because I’ve finally found a way to get the idea in my head onto the page. This is much harder for me than I care to dwell on. Julian Barnes, the noted British author, has said that he works everything out in his head so that when he sits down to write, he is merely typing. Lucky him.

Fill in the blanks:

My favorite place to write is anyplace quiet with access to a clear surface, be it kitchen table, desk, or counter.

If I could cast one actor to play Leigh in the movie version of After the Moment, I would request Jesse Eisenberg, who was so great in Adventureland.

One thing people would be surprised to know about me is I once wanted to be a film director and I have an MFA in film from NYU. But like a lot of writers, it’s hard for me to be around lots of people, so I can’t imagine what I was thinking.

If I could fly in a hot air balloon, I would most want to see The deserts in Mongolia or maybe Greenland. I often, when travelling, have motion sickness, so I’m not entirely sure a hot air balloon is a good idea for me.

If I could eat any dessert everyday for the rest of my life (without gaining a pound), I would choose Dark chocolate mousse. I would never tire of that!

Everyone should read After the Moment because I can’t finish this sentence, because I’m terrible at promoting my own work. As a slow, but determined reader, I am painfully aware of how many books there are in the world, and how little the world needs another one. The best I could say is that everyone should read because it is the surest passport to a more interesting life.

Thank you so much for participating, Garret!

You can check out my review of After the Moment here. It is one book you certainly do not want to miss!