PAST COFFEE CHATS Tess Gerritsen Sandra Brown Jennifer Apodaca Lorenzo Carcaterra MJ Rose Peter Abrahams Nancy Cohen Janet Evanovich Martha Lawrence Evan Hunter/Ed McBain William Lashner Lisa Gardner Gillian Roberts Clive Cussler Carol Higgins ClarkDavid BaldacciLawrence Block Stella Cameron Sara Paretsky Stuart Kaminsky Stephen Coonts Nelson DeMille Stephen White Nevada Barr Jerry B. Jenkins Michael Connelly Stuart Woods John Saul Lisa Scottoline Barbara Delinsky Gayle Lynds Brad Meltzer Jeffery Deaver Perri O'Shaughnessy James W. Hall

Bestselling Author Jodi Picoult Rob Holden: Jodi Picoult, welcome to ReadersRoom.com. It's a pleasure to have you with us today. Jodi Picoult: Thanks for the invitation! Rob Holden: I'd like to start this off with your last novel, My Sister's Keeper. Could you tell our readers a bit about it? Jodi Picoult: Sure. It's about Anna, a girl who was conceived 13 years ago as a bone marrow match for her older sister Kate who has a rare form of leukemia. After years of giving blood and marrow and more, Anna decides to sue her parents for the rights to her own body. Natalie R. Collins: I remember following a story like that in the news, although I'm not sure she sued her parents. But the intricacies are fascinating. Jodi Picoult: There is a couple in Colorado that was the first American couple to conceive a child for that purpose...luckily, a one time donation sent the sister into remission. Rob Holden: What sort of research did you need to do for this novel? Jodi Picoult: I spent a great deal of time with pediatric cancer patients and their parents. They are, to a fault, the most upbeat kids you'll ever meet. Very inspiring. I also did a great deal of legal research. Oh, and I got to go firefighting! Natalie R. Collins: Firefighting? Tell us about that!

Jodi Picoult: Yes, Anna's dad is a fireman -- a hero, who ironically can't save the one person he wants to. I rode with a firefighting team for a few nights...got my own turnout gear and room at the firehouse...and went on several good calls! I was the coolest mom.

Natalie R. Collins: I can imagine!

Jodi Picoult: It's pretty cool -- when firemen are dispatched in the middle of the night they don't know where they're going. That gets patched up to them after they start driving.

Rob Holden: Your next novel -- Vanishing Acts -- is due out in a couple of months. Could you tell our readers a bit about that one?

Jodi Picoult: Vanishing Acts is the story of a young woman who was raised in New Hampshire by her single dad, after her mom's death. She has a great life -- a 4 year old daughter, a fiancé she's about to marry, a search and rescue dog and a terrific career and then she finds out she was abducted during a custody visit when she was four...moved across the country...given a new name by her father...and that Mom is alive and well and living in Arizona. The rest of the book goes back there, while he is jailed and awaiting trial. It's a book about the different worlds we live in, in the course of one lifetime.

Natalie R. Collins: How did you come up with the idea for this novel?

Jodi Picoult: For Vanishing Acts?

Natalie R. Collins: Yes.

Jodi Picoult: It's funny -- I was writing a DIFFERENT novel, and I kept hearing a voice in my mind saying, "I was six years old the first time I disappeared." She was so annoying, that one day I sat down and wrote forty pages in her narrative voice...and then I sat back and said, "OH! That's the book I'm supposed to be writing!"

Natalie R. Collins: Isn't it funny how sometimes we are not in "charge" of what we are writing?

Jodi Picoult: Absolutely. I always say my topics pick me, not the other way around.

Rob Holden: And again with this one, I would imagine you needed to do a great deal of research into the legal aspects of the story.

Jodi Picoult: Well, the really fun part of this book was going to jail. I spent time at the Madison St. Jail in Phoenix, a very hardcore place.

Rob Holden: Not, I assume, as an inmate!

Jodi Picoult: I learned truly indispensable things: like how to make my own hooch, how to make a zip gun, and the recipe for crystal meth. And no, I was NOT an inmate! However, the inmates were MORE than willing to share their expertise.

Natalie R. Collins: Let's hope you are also not now making your OWN crystal meth.

Jodi Picoult: Thanks, but NO! There was also some great research for that book in Hopiland... The Hopi reservation in AZ.

Natalie R. Collins: Did you actually go out there?

Jodi Picoult: Yes. I had the opportunity to see the katsina dances. They aren't usually open to whites. The Hopi believe that when we outgrow our world, we rip a tiny hole in it and squeeze into a new one... we're currently on our fifth world.

Natalie R. Collins: I recently studied the Navajos, and they believe they are living in the Fourth World!

Jodi Picoult: Navajo culture is fascinating too!

Natalie R. Collins: I was fascinated by it.

Rob Holden: Your novels seem to incorporate elements of mystery, suspense, thriller ... some romance -- which makes you a very hard novelist to categorize. How would you describe the sort of fiction you write?

Jodi Picoult: Indescribable! LOL, I'm kidding...

Rob Holden: Good -- that would make for a short chat!

Jodi Picoult: I think it's a bit of all of that. I like to say that I write about topics that don't have easy answers. I love that my books make readers think.

Rob Holden: Vanishing Acts will be your 12th novel, I believe. Do you find that it gets easier or harder to write your books as time passes?

Jodi Picoult: You know, it's different every time. Some books are harder than others. I think that I've gotten better at the process of writing and editing, but it's always a bit like peeling one's skin off, to get the emotions real and raw.

Rob Holden: Jodi -- since we announced this chat we've gotten a lot of questions for you from our readers. Would you answer a few of those for us now?

Jodi Picoult: Sure!

Natalie R. Collins: Robin T., Dallas, TX: Songs of the Humpback Whale is one of my favorite books! I loved how Uncle Joley leads Jane and Rebecca on a scavenger hunt of the heart. How did you come up with such a creative idea?

Jodi Picoult: Robin, I wish I could lay claim to brilliance, but I think the answer is simply that I had a lot of actively sparking brain cells all those years ago when I wrote Songs. I did love the idea of one of the male characters in that book "singing," as it were, to get the female to follow his lead...much like a male whale would.

Natalie R. Collins: Deborah B., Baton Rouge, LA: What has been your most exciting moment while you were doing research? (Your week with the Amish family must have been enlightening.)

Jodi Picoult: Deborah -- the Amish family I lived with for a week was certainly remarkable...and let me use this moment to plug the fact that Plain Truth will air on Lifetime in October! But I have to say that some of the most remarkable research I've done came recently, when I went to a native Eskimo village in Alaska in January in -40F temperatures. You haven't lived until you've shared moose stew and tea with a native Yup'ik.

Natalie R. Collins: I hope the tea wasn't moose tea!

Jodi Picoult: No...but it was better than the dried fish I ate!

Natalie R. Collins: Carma H., Springfield, OH: Your Web site is great! Under the novel section after reading about the plot, there are discussion questions. Do you write the questions?

Jodi Picoult: Carma, I write some of the questions, and a woman who is longtime fan and friend comes up with the rest.

Rob Holden: And let's take this opportunity to mention that your website is www.jodipicoult.com!

Jodi Picoult: Yes, thanks . It's a great place to come and talk with other folks about my books. You can also sign up to receive a monthly newsletter.

Natalie R. Collins: Morgan P., Great Falls, MT: As you wrote My Sister's Keeper and discovered information about stem cell harvesting/transplanting, did you find anything surprising out and will you ever tackle such a controversial story line again

Jodi Picoult: Morgan: I think one of the things that really struck me while I research My Sister's Keeper was that the parents involved in these cases aren't the villains most people make them out to be. Most of them -- like any of us -- really just want to do whatever it takes to keep their families intact. As for tackling controversy again...well...when DON'T I tackle controversy!?!?! It seems to be my modus operandi for writing

Rob Holden: Just out of curiosity, what did you think of Ron Reagan's speech on stem cell research at the Democratic National Convention

Jodi Picoult: You know what? I listened all night on Monday for it, and then by the time I tuned in last night, he'd already spoken!!! But from what I've read, I think he's a compassionate man who's crossed party lines to make a serious, thoughtful, emotional appeal. I personally support stem cell research. It's a slippery slope, to be sure, but I think too much good can be done to ignore that science

Natalie R. Collins: Sami Jo G., Orlando, FL: Your family unit sounds amazing. So much colorful energy. What one thing would you like your children to remember about you

Jodi Picoult: Sami Jo, what a great question!! I hope that if my kids could remember one thing about me, it would be that they came first

Natalie R. Collins: And our last reader's question... Micki N., San Diego, CA: When you won the New England Bookseller Award for fiction last year, did being recognized for your work give you added inspiration

Jodi Picoult: Micki -- I'm not going to lie: it felt REALLY good to win that! But honestly, I think it did more to make my publishing company sit up and think, "Oh! Maybe she IS someone we ought to be promoting more!" I already have gotten so much incredible feedback from fans over the course of a decade...I know what I write is appreciated; I didn't need an accolade to tell me so

Rob Holden: Thanks for answering those. Jodi -- as you just mentioned, you have never shied away from controversial subjects in your novels -- and they are always intricately woven into the storylines. When you are plotting out what you are going to write next, which comes first -- the "real" subject, or the fictional storyline

Jodi Picoult: Usually the characters come first, in conjunction with the heart of what the story's really about, for me. For example, I'm currently piecing together a book that has a school shooting at its center...but it's REALLY about who has the right to judge whom

Rob Holden: Can you tell us a bit more about the upcoming book, or would you prefer to keep it a mystery for now?

Jodi Picoult: Well, I can't tell you more about the shooting book, because I'm still working it out in my mind but I can tell you about the book that will come out after Vanishing Acts, in 2006. The one with the Eskimo research

Rob Holden: Let's hear it

Jodi Picoult: It's about a man who grows up as the only white boy in a native village where his mom teaches, and he's mercilessly teased. He basically fights his way out of there, and when he gets a woman pregnant in the lower 48, he reinvents himself so that she'll marry him. Flash forward fifteen years later...he's now a mild mannered stay at home dad, who is a comic book artist, and who gets his rage out on the page. His daughter is the light of his life...and she is date raped in the first chapter. And all of a sudden, this mild mannered guy realizes that you can hide your anger, but it never really goes away. Things get REALLY interesting when the boy who rapes her turns up dead. What's cool about this book, to me, is that between the narrative chapters we will see the actual comic book that he's drawing...which deals with a hero whose daughter is stolen into Dante's levels of Hell -- and who has to go find her. So what we learn in the comic book will ultimately tell us a great deal about this man's relationship to his child

Rob Holden: Did you hire a comic book artist to work on this book, or will the comics be yours

Jodi Picoult: Gosh, no, I can't draw that well! I worked with a very talented man named Dustin Weaver. However, I wrote the script for the comic

Rob Holden: That must have been fun

Jodi Picoult: It was pretty neat

Rob Holden: One of the questions our readers who are also writers like us to ask is about our guests' writing habits. Do you work on a set word/page count per day? Set times

Jodi Picoult: I don't set a word count. There are some days I will write five highly emotionally charged pages, and others I'll breeze through 50 during a trial testimony. I tend to write during the day, because my kids are otherwise occupied

Rob Holden: You mentioned that Plain Truth will be airing shortly on LIFETIME. Could you tell us a bit about that

Jodi Picoult: Yes! I'm leaving to watch shooting in Nova Scotia next week. Mariska Hargitay, of Law and Order: SVU will star as Ellie, the attorney who defends an Amish teen accused of murdering a newborn. Rumor has it the movie will air in October

Natalie R. Collins: Oh, she's a wonderful actress. I am a faithful fan

Jodi Picoult: I know. I'm very pleased

Rob Holden: Did you have any direct involvement in scripting the project

Jodi Picoult: No-- I haven't seen the final script, as a matter of fact

Rob Holden: Before we wrap this up, I know that you will be touring in support of Vanishing Acts. Is your schedule for that tour set yet

Jodi Picoult: It's not set in stone yet, but if you go to my website, www.jodipicoult.com, and click on the HAPPENINGS link, you can see the cities that are on the docket so far. I will also be touring in England and Australia and New Zealand

Rob Holden: Finally, Jodi -- is there anything you would like to say to your fans who might read this chat at ReadersRoom.com

Jodi Picoult: Yes! Thanks so much for your support, and please keep on reading

Rob Holden: Jodi Picoult, thank you so much for joining us here today, and best of luck with Vanishing Acts, and all your future work

Jodi Picoult: Thanks so much - and thank you again for having me here




Copyright 2004 by ReadersRoom, LLC. All rights reserved.