The Rainbow Rowell Fandom

Why is it—and Eleanor & Park fan fiction—not a thing? Because it should be. Seriously. 
by Fiel Estrella  

There’s a book called Eleanor & Park coming out this month. Actually, it’s been out for most of 2012 via UK publisher Orion, but a brand new American edition with the best cover ever is being released by St. Martin’s Press. It’s about first love, rock music in the ’80s, mixes, comics, real-people problems, saving lives and so much else. In it, two high school outsiders—eccentric, stoic new girl Eleanor with her wild red hair and quiet, half-Korean Park with his bright green eyes—at first feel like they’re stuck with each other on the bus to school (also known as hell) but eventually bond over similar interests and wordless conversations that turn into actual exchanges of words until they become friends, and…yeah, I’m not about to tell you the whole story.

And if you’re wondering whether it’s any good, well, a certain John Green read it and it liked it. No. Big. Deal. And look at that cover blurb by Gayle Forman!

Author Rainbow Rowell also has a new new book coming out September called Fangirl. Yes. Exactly. Let that sink in. It’s exactly what you think it’s about. Fangirling alert! Finally—our actual lives fictionalized! (Well, mostly. The main character does, apparently, fall in love, and we all know how that works for most of us IRL…)

And the cover is illustrated by artist Noelle Stevenson, who you may know as gingerhaze, creator of epic comic Nimona and various other adorable and hilarious art. Double fangirling alert! Even Rainbow Rowell couldn’t keep still.

Anyway. When I finished Eleanor & Park, all I could think over and over was WHY DO I KEEP LETTING BOOKS BREAK MY HEART?! (But in a good, reel-from-the-feels, this-book-is-so-good-oh-man sort of way, of course.)

I was about to ask Rainbow Rowell this when she agreed to an interview, but thought better of it. More pressing questions had to be answered. Plus, you know, all this deal about being professional, and all, whatever that means. Here, Rainbow talks to Elision about why Eleanor & Park had to be set in the ’80s, her own personal mix tapes, plans for a sequel, Fangirl, fan fiction and fandoms before the twenty-first century. You know, really important stuff. 

How did you get your start in writing? 
I think I realized when I was pretty young—grade school—that I was better at writing than I was at other things. So I was just drawn toward it. I worked on my high school paper, studied journalism, then worked as a newspaper columnist for many years before starting my first novel, Attachments. And that was almost an experiment: “Can I do this?”

What inspired you to write a misfits-in-love story like Eleanor & Park? 
I have always, always wanted to write a first love story. I feel like, when you’re 16, you have the greatest-ever capacity for romantic love. You fall in love with every cell of your body. But, at the same time, at that age, you have so little to offer the person you love. You don’t belong to yourself quite yet—you still have school and your parents, you don’t even have your own space…

And you also know that what you’re feeling probably won’t last. First love usually doesn’t. There’s a built-in tragedy to falling (truly) in love when you’re 16. It’s like every 16-year-old in love is either Romeo or Juliet. That is what I wanted to write about.

Were you anything like Eleanor in high school? 
Yeah, definitely. She’s harder than I was. Sharper, more cynical. I had a really rough time in junior high school, but I think I was still less guarded than Eleanor. What I really ended up borrowing from my own life were some of the cultural details—her clothes, the books and comics she was reading. I had a boy who lived a street over who introduced me to the X-Men.

Give us a quick summary of how your own experiences at first love played out.
I didn’t have anything in high school as dramatic as what Eleanor and Park have. I did have a high school boyfriend whom I liked a lot—and who was pretty romantic, especially in retrospect. (We went to lots of indie movies and laser light shows.) But my dramatic love story is with my husband. We met in the seventh grade and were close friends all through junior high, high school and college. When we finally confessed our feelings for each other, it made everything that had come before seem like one long build-up. Like we’d been dancing around each other for eight years.

Aside from genres, how is writing a young adult novel different from writing books aimed at older readers? Is there more pressure to please teen readers or adults?
I don’t really think about the difference; maybe I should. When I started Eleanor & Park, I didn’t even realize I was writing a YA novel. It was just, “This is the story I want to tell.” I was a bit more savvy when I wrote Fangirl. By that time, I’d sold Eleanor & Park as YA and worked with a YA editor, but it’s still the same approach: Get inside the characters’ heads, try to make it feel real.

Eleanor & Park is a book driven by music. Does your writing process include listening to songs, and did you choose any particular types of music while working on it?
Yes! I always build character playlists while I’m writing. It’s like a game I play with myself when I’m sitting alone with the manuscript for hours. Sometimes I use a specific song to help keep me inside a scene, even if it takes a few days or weeks to write it. The song becomes an emotional anchor for me. With Eleanor & Park, I listened to a lot of ’80s music—some of that early alternative music that was so exciting to me at the time. But I also listened to a lot of music that just felt like the characters. For Eleanor, that was The Sunset Tree by the Mountain Goats. Also, lots of Modest Mouse. For Park, it was The Cure and The Cure and The Cure. (Robert Smith is definitely Park’s patronus.) Also lots of open-hearted, melodic British music. The Magic Numbers and Badly Drawn Boy.

You can listen to my playlists on Spotify.

And read about them on my blog.

Did you get or make any mix tapes when you were their age? What were the tracklists and art like?
Yeah. I did. I took it Very Seriously. I’d make special covers/liners and name each side. Like: “The world is not a bottomless pit” on one side, and “Yes it is” on the other. (I’m looking at them now.) There’s also “Curiouser and Curiouser”/”Disenchanted Evening.” [Ms. Rowell was gracious enough to send us photos!]

For a while, I got really into buying odd 45 rpm records at thrift shops and incorporating sound effects and spoken word stuff into my mixed tapes.

THIS IS WHAT WE DID BEFORE THE INTERNET. THERE WERE SO MANY HOURS IN A DAY THEN.

If the book took place in real life, almost 27 years would have passed. Where do you imagine Eleanor and Park are now?
I know exactly where they are now, but I don’t want to say because I really, really want to write a sequel. I started plotting the sequel when I was writing this book—almost as a way to comfort myself, because I knew these characters wouldn’t get a clean, neat ending. 

Seventeen-year-olds don’t get endings; they get beginnings. 

Someday I want to come back and write about Eleanor and Park at 32.

You seem to incorporate a lot of experimenting with different settings time-wise in your writing. Was it important to you that Eleanor & Park be set in the ’80s and [your first novel, aimed at older readers] Attachments be set in 1999? How so?
Attachments had to be set in 1999 because it’s about an IT guy who falls in love with a girl while he’s monitoring her office email—and I needed the characters to be naive about email and Internet privacy. 

With Eleanor & Park, I wanted to capture that time in the mid-’80s when alternative music and comic books were finally seeping into Middle America. That feeling—it was almost foreboding—that INTERESTING THINGS were happening out there. 

What can you tell us about your upcoming book Fangirl?
It’s about a girl who doesn’t think she’s good at life—but she’s really good at being a fan. She feels more comfortable in fandom. She’s been writing fan fiction about the same two characters—Simon and Baz—since she was 12, and she’s gotten kind of famous in that world. 

The book is about her first year of college. She’s got a mean roommate (with a too-friendly boyfriend). Her twin sister’s ignoring her, her dad’s a mess, her writing professor is pushing her too hard…She keeps having to rise to the occasion, but all she really wants to do is stay in her room and write more Simon/Baz.

Also, she falls in love. (Because, in my books, somebody always falls in love.)

How is being a twenty-first century fangirl different from being one before Y2K? And how are they similar?
IT’S SO MUCH LESS LONELY! Pre-Internet, if you got really into a show or a book or a comic, you were lucky to know ONE other person who also liked it, and chances are, that person didn’t like it as much as you did. Now you can watch a show—Sherlock, for example—fall in love with it, then INSTANTLY connect with everyone else in the world who loves it. You can be part of a community. Immediately. So things have changed, but the feelings are the same…

Like “shipping.” I didn’t have that word in my life until a year or two ago. But it perfectly describes my lifelong relationship with fictional characters. Also, the idea of writing fan fiction. I was writing fan fiction in junior high—but I didn’t know that anyone else was. I didn’t know that it was a universal brain activity among certain kinds of girls. (And boys.)

What are some fandoms you’re a part of?
Since I discovered Internet fandom, the two that I’ve immersed myself in are Harry Potter and BBC’s Sherlock. But I’m much more comfortable lurking than I am participating. So mostly I just read fan fiction and follow people on Tumblr. Every once in a while, I’ll be so blown away by something that I can’t help but comment on it.

How would you feel if any fan fiction based on your work comes up? 
I WOULD LOVE THAT SO MUCH. OH MAN. I’m not sure if my work lends itself to fic, but I would LOVE it. If anyone ever made fan art for me, I might faint. (Because I know what that means. How strongly you have to feel about characters to want to add to their story.)

Do you get any fan fiction ideas yourself for the shows or ships you like? What has been the most elaborate?
Yes. I’m ridiculous. I’m always trying to come up with stories for my favorite supporting characters, like Molly on Sherlock—or characters who don’t get a fair shake in canon (MALFOY). And I always want everyone to fall in love, even when that is NOT the author’s intent. 

What great books have you read lately, YA or otherwise?
I loved Where She Went by Gayle Forman. And Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. I’m reading a lot of comics right now. Catching up on Fables and Saga.

What is the most important advice you’ve ever gotten/given when it comes to writing?
Write a lot. Write something you’re scared to write. That’s the best advice I can give: If you have an idea, and you can’t stop thinking about it, but something about it scares you half to death—WRITE THAT.

Eleanor & Park comes out February 26th, 2013. In the meantime, say hi to Rainbow Rowell on her website.