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Rita Williams-Garcia and Rosemary Brosnan
January 15, 1986
Dear Editor:
What would you do if you were on the edge of 15 and
• Your ballet teacher tells you your butt's too big for Swan Lake
• The only job you can land involves selling your blood
• Your best friends really aren't
• The boy you like has this religious vow against girls
• And the boy you think you like thinks you're a cow?
You might keep both your legs and fingers crossed. Or you might do what Joyce does in BLUE TIGHTS!
I would be happy to forward the manuscript along with SASE at your request. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Rita Williams-Garcia
March 27, 1986
Dear Ms. Williams-Garcia:
I enjoyed reading your manuscript, BLUE TIGHTS. You've written a very special story, and I would like to meet with you to discuss it further. As I don't have your phone number, would you please give me a call at your earliest convenience so that we can set up an appointment?
Sincerely,
Rosemary Brosnan
Associate Editor
Rosemary Brosnan: Happy Twentieth Anniversary! Rita, we've been working together since we were sweet young things, and we've been through so much together, as colleagues and as close friends. I've held onto your query letter for twenty years—it's always been my favorite! How could I have resisted reading a manuscript about a girl whose butt was too big for Swan Lake? When I read the manuscript, I felt as though I had found a sparkling new writer with a fresh, unusual voice. And finally, here was a new author who was writing about black teens—something the world desperately needed.
We had lunch for the first time while I was making plans for my upcoming wedding—you were in your "author suit" and I was in a flowery dress with puffed sleeves. I wondered what you would say to me when I asked you if you would be willing to do a revision of your manuscript for Blue Tights.
Rita Williams-Garcia: Can you believe it's been twenty years? My dad still asks about you after meeting you at ALA.
I remember typing that query letter and sending it off, hoping to find a publisher who wanted real stories about real kids. If I heard, "Too real" and "Too black" one more time, I'd save up and self-publish Blue Tights. You have no idea! Your response came at the right time! You were one of the few editors who wanted to see the manuscript in spite of my veiled warning.
For our first meeting, we had lunch at the Back Porch on Third Avenue, which is now closed (I still have my matchbook souvenir). I bought a dress that in my mind said "author" and "Rita." It was both conservative and off kilter, a perfect contradiction. When I first saw you—blonde, blue eyes, in your prim floral dress—I thought, Stepford Wife. White. Really white. Oh my goodness. Does she want to publish Blue Tights? I was suspicious of white editors after years of receiving letters asking me to "broaden" the appeal of the book. I didn't know what to expect.
I remember being wound up in knots while we sat in the restaurant. There was all that good seafood and I could barely touch it. But you enjoyed your dish! Your plate was almost cleaned while I was halfway through my blackened fish. That was when I relaxed and allowed some trust to trickle in. By then the other shoe had dropped: I learned I had to completely revise the manuscript. Honestly, I wasn't prepared for the work the manuscript needed, but here was the opportunity of a lifetime. Blue Tights was a good, yet untold, story. I couldn't quit now.
We taught each other a lot in the process.
Rosemary: And now you've published five novels, with two more on the way! The process has been different with each book, and each book has required less revision and less editing, so I've had the privilege of seeing you grow tremendously as a writer. Your manuscripts come in so polished now, and I don't need to do the kind of structural editing—looking at plotline and characters and focus—that I did at the beginning. Now I focus my editing more on the details. I don't think I touched much of No Laughter Here, your last book. But remember that you wrote Blue Tights while you were in college—what an achievement! As an editor, I wasn't interested in just publishing more of the same thing that was out there, so it was just as rewarding for me to find you.
One of the things that's been great is that, as a white editor (okay—a Stepford Wife!), I've always felt comfortable asking you questions about references to black culture that I don't understand, and we've had a good give-and-take. Hey, and now I know what an A.M.E. church is.
Rita: What? You can't have six different points of view in one chapter? Really? I flipped through the manuscript [Blue Tights] and some of it was just painful! If I hadn't taken the opportunity to grow, I would have done my craft a disservice. I both love and hate the editing process. I'm always appreciative of the chance to make the writing clearer, stronger, better, or to simply take my foot out of my mouth. But sometimes I just stare at the comments. The most memorable comment was a question about Joyce straightening her hair in the kitchen instead of blow drying it in the bathroom. Straightening hair with a hot comb on a stove was an every-other-day occurrence of my childhood. Between the two of us, there was a whole lot of educating going on! Who knew the holly loaves that I likened Joyce's braids to were challah loaves. You don't say?
It's funny that you should mention structure as we talk about my next novel (Jumped). Although the story will take place in one day, it will be my least linear novel. In other words, we might have to revisit structure!
We're way beyond the initial black-white stuff—although we do differ in terms of correctness. Ms. versus Miss. Fag versus Rita, please rethink using this derogatory term. We always find common ground. We're always about the book. About getting the best work out of me. There was no greater champion for No Laughter Here than you. I in effect said, "Rosemary, I want to publish a book that hasn't a prayer of being carried in schools or libraries." Even when there was doubt, you had faith and published the book intact. No medals. No off-the-chart sales, but the letters from our readers have made it all worthwhile!
Rosemary: You know, I've realized over the years that good publishing has very little to do with the awards and medals. They are so wonderful when they come, but the most important thing for me is to publish books that will resonate with readers and make them see the world in a fresh way. You've reached so many people with your books, and you've affected so many lives, Rita. That is the biggest reward of all! •
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Author-Editor Dialogues:
Rita Williams-Garcia & Rosemary Brosnan
Christopher Curtis & Wendy Lamb
Kevin Henkes & Susan Hirschman
Katherine Paterson & Virginia Buckley
Karen Cushman & Dinah Stevenson
Tracy Mack & Brian Selznick
Virginia Duncan & Naomi Shihab Nye
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