Q&A: Francesca Lia Block
By Wilda Williams -- Library Journal, 8/15/2005
Since the 1989 publication of Weetzie Bat and the series of five novels that followed, the magical adventures of Francesca Lia Block's eponymous punk flower child and her extended, unconventional family have attracted a cult following, among both teenagers and older readers. This month, Weetzie returns to face a midlife crisis in Necklace of Kisses (see review in LJ 7/05). Block talks with LJ about how Weetzie and her creator have changed over the past 16 years.
How was Weetzie Bat born?
When I was about 16, I was driving on the freeway in the San Fernando Valley and spotted a pink Pinto with license plates that read "Weetzie." The girl driving the car had short, bleached-blond hair. From that name and from that image, I developed the character of Weetzie and started to write these silly stories about her, which eventually developed into the first novel. Weetzie was definitely my alter ego, as I lived some of the adventures Weetzie experiences in the books.
Why did you decide to write about a middle-aged Weetzie?
I had departed from the character when I started writing non-series books (like The Hanged Man). I was also consumed with raising my two children. But then things started happening that reminded me of magical events that I had experienced in my mid-20s; it brought me back in touch with Weetzie and the more mystical world that she inhabits. And even though my protagonist is now 40 instead of 18, Necklace of Kisses deals with the same themes explored in the earlier books: the healing power of love, family, creativity, and self-expression. And I use the poetic language and the same surreal and fantastical elements drawn from fairy tales and Greek mythology.
Speaking of magical realism, did any of the South American writers influence you?
Reading Garcia Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude changed my whole idea of what I could aspire to with writing. Isabel Allende also made a big impact.
When you first started writing, did you set out to be a young adult author?
I have never considered myself a young adult writer. I am really more interested in telling a story than in focusing on the ages of my readers. My largest audience are readers probably in their mid-20s and then going ten years either way.
Do you believe the YA classification has limited you as an author?
I felt it did so in the beginning but, fortunately, I have a wonderful editor in the young adult side of HarperCollins who believes in my work as crossover material. For instance, she repackaged Dangerous Angels, which collects the first five books in the Weetzie Bat series, to look like an adult book. However, I will admit from a marketing perspective that the YA classification can also be quite nice. My books stay in print, and there are a number of amazing young adult librarians supporting them.
In the YA world, your novels have stirred controversy because of their subject matter (incest, sexual abuse, drugs). How do you feel about attempts to ban your books from school libraries?
I write about these things not to be controversial but because those are the stories I want to tell. I just keep writing and hope my books fall into the right hands.
