So here's a funny (and true) story that is just so 2009. About a month ago, I was in bed reading InStyle, when I flipped past their summer book recommendations. I was surprised (and excited!) to see that I knew one of the authors, but not through my usual network of author friends. In fact, she had dated my brother in college! I called my mom, and, as moms do, she of course knew that said ex-of-my-bro had written a book, and thus, I googled said ex, found her on Twitter, sent her a tweet, and then she tweeted me back, and then we swapped email addys, and then we emailed, and then she sent me her galley, and then I asked her to do a Q/A on this blog. 

Whew! Like I said, so 2009! :) Yes, thanks to modern and social media, I am thrilled, THRILLED, to present Hyatt Bass to Ask Allison readers. I read The Embers, which is garnering great reviews, including being named one of People's hot summer reads, and was just in awe of her mastery of language. She is just a beautiful, beautiful writer (and one who clearly dates good guys). :) She stops by below to offer some really fabulous writing insights and other insightful answers to my questions:

1)How long did it take you to write The Embers? Where did the story idea come from?

It took me seven years to write the novel. Before that, I tried to write it as a screenplay. A filmmaker at the time, I was in the editing stage of my first feature film, Seventy-Five Degrees in July. One day, I saw a precocious-looking adolescent girl in a café, and realized someone like her, caught between childhood and adulthood, would make a compelling subject for my next film. There was also an actor, Harris Yulin, who was so fantastic in Seventy-Five Degrees in July, I knew I wanted to feature him prominently in the next film as well. So, I started creating a story about an unlikely friendship between a young girl and an elderly man. When it became clear that the screenplay wasn’t working, I had this crazy urge to write the story as a novel. And at that point, the man’s family began to grow around him. The girl is still there, too, but the family ended up becoming the real focus of the book. There’s a quote by Van Gogh that I use in The Embers, “One may have a blazing hearth in one’s soul and yet nobody come to sit by it.” That quote was something I had in my head, and it really described the way I thought about this family. In addition, it gave rise to some other elements of the book, including the title.

2) I was so very impressed with your character development in this book. Do you have a set process that you use when envisioning and developing characters? How do you create and keep track of all of their nuances and habits?

For me, the characters and the story are so intertwined. Usually, when I’m first getting ideas for a book (and this was true for film as well), I get little glimmers of things I think I’d like to write about¾places, activities, character traits, major life-changing moments¾and then the challenge is to figure out how to fit all of those things together. Of course, a lot of stuff just ends up getting thrown out or put away for another project. But by having this odd collection of personalities and events and themes or questions I want to explore, I end up having to flesh out the story and the characters in a way that allows me to weave all of these elements together. Then, once I’ve got the whole thing mapped out, and I start writing, it’s immediately clear if I run into something I don’t know yet, or that needs to be worked out in order for the novel to work as a whole. So, then I’ll stop and do a little more of what I think you’re talking about, just working on a character, and asking a lot of questions about them¾Do they habitually stay out all night or turn in with a book at 9pm? Do they pick fights or shy away from them?¾Whatever I need to know for the story. And then once I’ve gotten to a certain point in the writing, the people are totally real for me. They’re just there.

3) You have some pretty big reveals in the second half of the book. I tend to write my books as they come to me, not knowing how they’ll end. Did you have this plot all mapped out or did it surprise you when you got there?

Both. I do map everything out. I have pages and pages of notes, scene by scene. Which works really well for me because it helps me avoid that overwhelming feeling of facing a blank page, and the structure also gives me more freedom in my writing. Because I know where I’m going, I can take all kinds of detours; whereas if I had no idea where I was going, I’d be really cautious¾kind of frozen up¾afraid of going the wrong way. At the same time, even though I’ve got this clear map of the book next to my computer, I’ll often stumble upon something while I’m writing that’s a total surprise, and that makes me realize things can happen differently down the line. And that’s really cool. I also have to say that the main thing I learned over the course of writing this book is that the problem-areas are often the biggest goldmines. When I avoid them or try to pretend they don’t exist, they just keep giving me trouble. But if I’m really honest with myself, and bore down into them, those are often the places I find really interesting questions¾and answers¾that end up altering the book in totally unexpected and exciting ways.

4) You’re also a screenwriter. What’s are the differences between writing a book and writing a movie?

Well, people often say that a screenplay is like a blueprint, which is true in the sense that it’s not the final form the project is meant to take. And one thing that’s nice about writing a novel is that you know you are writing the actual final form of something, and you can do it without someone giving you a huge check, or without a dozen people coming in with their own interpretations of your blueprint and telling you how they think you should shape things from there on. I don’t mean to sound obnoxious¾I actually really like the collaboration of film, but a screenplay is just frustrating that way. Also, when I started writing The Embers as a novel, I was amazed by how much freedom I had, not only in terms of length (a screenplay generally has to be 120 pages or less), but also in terms of how many different ways I suddenly had to tell a story. You can go into people’s heads, and back out again, and describe the scenery or gestures in great detail, and so on… You know, compare that to action, dialogue, action, dialogue.

5) You’re donating a portion of the proceeds of this book to charity? Want to talk a little bit about the charity and why it was important for you to give back?

Around the same time I started writing the book, I became involved with the New York Women’s Foundation, which makes grants to community-led, grass-roots organizations working with women and girls to promote sustainable economic security and justice. I’m now a board member of the NYWF, and the people I’ve met through the Foundation¾fellow board members, staff, volunteers, and grantee-partners¾are such an incredible group of inspiring women. And they, and the work that we’re all so passionate about, have been such a grounding force for me throughout the process of writing this book. Out of debt and deep gratitude, I’m giving a portion of the book’s proceeds not only to the New York Women’s Foundation, but to several similar Women’s Funds throughout the country.

6) What’s the scariest thing about publishing your first novel? And what’s the best thing?

The scariest thing right now is the prospect of the readings. Writing and reading have always been intensely private experiences for me. There’s just something so strange and terrifyingly intimate about the idea of reading my own book out loud to an audience. If you want to see me crawl under the table, or into a bookcase, you should check out the tour-schedule.

The best thing is hearing from people who have read the book and really gotten something out of it. I can’t tell you how meaningful that is. Or I guess I can actually since I must be one of the zillions of people who have told you how much they loved Time of My Life. So, you know what I’m talking about.

7) You’re a busy mom of two little ones. How do you manage it all and keep track of your time?

I have a great babysitter and a strict writing schedule so that I can enjoy my time with the kids, and I also have an incredibly supportive husband. But the truth of the matter is, I don’t really manage it all most of the time. I’m always feeling guilty that I’m either neglecting my kids or my work or some other part of my life. My piles and to-do lists are ridiculous, and I always feel like I’m forgetting something, which I usually am.