On October 23, 2024, we had a special author visit with Janae Marks who has written the Zoe Washington series, A Soft Place to Land, and A Split Second. Marks, a New York Times-bestselling author, has an MFA in writing for children from The New School, and lives in Connecticut with her husband, daughter, and miniature schnauzer named Cookie. I was fortunate to get the chance to ask Ms. Marks a few questions before her speech in the afternoon.
What inspired you to write From the Desk of Zoe Washington? Was there a specific moment or story that made you want to create Zoe’s character?
I was actually inspired after listening to a podcast. So many years ago, there was a podcast that told the story of a man who was in prison for a crime. A lot of people believed he didn’t commit it. Like a wrongful conviction. It kind of just got me thinking about this topic. The podcast really showed the listeners that there were a lot of holes in the way the case was handled.
It just made me really curious. I did some research, and I ended up discovering more about this topic. I found out about the Innocence Project, which is also mentioned in the book. They help overturn those kinds of cases.
In doing this research, because I like writing for kids, my mind automatically went to, What would it be like to be the kid of somebody in that position? How would that impact them? Because when you hear true crime stories, you don’t always hear about the victim’s families. So that’s where Zoe first came to me. And then I had to figure out different elements of her character to make her the best character for this story. Once she realizes there’s a mystery to be solved, she’s the kind of kid who wants to try to solve it. So that helped me determine that she was going to be a go-getter kind of character.
In the book, Zoe really likes to bake cupcakes. Do you have a favorite cupcake flavor or something similar to Zoe?
So I am kind of like Trevor in the book. I really like chocolate cupcakes or chocolate cake. When I wrote him as somebody who likes chocolate, I was like, that’s kind of like me. I really do prefer chocolate over anything.
What are three pieces of advice you wish you could give yourself when you were writing your first book?
My very first book that did not actually get published. I wrote three books before I finally got one published. So if I were to go back to that person who wrote the very first book that didn’t end up publishing, I would just tell myself: Keep going.
You’re on the right path.
Number two, try reading and writing outside of what you think you might want to write. At that time, I was actually writing for young adults with teen main characters. And I ended up realizing that my voice was better suited for middle grade, which is middle school characters.
The last thing would be to keep reading. Just read a lot, just keep writing as much as you can. Those are the main things that I tell anybody who wants to be a writer to do. I guess I would tell myself to just keep at it.
How do you get into the mindset for writing a middle age book?
I think everybody who writes for kids feels like there’s still a part of them that feels 12, even though they’re an adult. A lot of the emotions about what it’s like to deal with all the stuff going on at home or stuff going on at school, juggling everything, all the changes you go through at that age. I think I just remember what that was like.
I was a big journaler, so I think I was writing about it constantly. Even though I’m a lot older, I think those feelings are really universal and you can still remember what it’s like. And some of it you still deal with now, like, disappointment or grief in that case, or dealing with friendship changes. That still happens. So I think there’s a part of me that just remembers a lot of what it’s like. And then there’s also part of me that is just writing about topics that are still kind of universal.
And I try to surround myself with those kinds of stories, and pay attention to what kids around me care about. I read other books about this age group and watch movies and immerse myself as much as I possibly can. I actually have a fourth grader now, so as she’s getting older, I’m like, What is it that you’re thinking about? I’m not going to write a book specifically about her life, but what are her and her friends thinking about? What are they worried about? What could maybe possibly make a story that they would be interested in reading? So that helps me.
When you were writing Zoe Washington, do you have any connections to Zoe that you put in the book?
I don’t have connections with her in terms of her family dynamic. I didn’t have an incarcerated parent, but I did write a few things that were kind of related to me. She’s an only child, I’m an only child. So I relate to her. I also gave her dog in the book the same name as my childhood dog, Butternut. Even her writing letters, that’s something that I used to do as a kid a lot—I would write to my camp friends during the school year. Little things like that.
Did you become a writer right away? Or were there other things that you did?
I did not become a writer right away. It actually took me a long time to eventually become published. Being a writer just means you write. So in that sense, I did become a writer right away because I was writing. But as for a published writer, that took many more years. So I did have jobs. My first job outside of college was for a publishing company, Simon & Schuster. I worked there for several years. That was when I was still learning about writing and publishing.I didn’t get published by working for them, but it was cool to see the behind the scenes.
I had other jobs. And honestly, it was only in the past two years or so that I was able to leave all other work and just be a fulltime author. I think a lot of authors have to start out having some sort of part-time job or a full-time job, while you’re juggling being an author. And then hopefully you get to the point where you can do it fulltime.
