Today's Author Spotlight is on Natalie Standiford and her new novel "How to Say Goodbye in Robot," which tells the story of Bea, an alterna-girl after my own heart. Starting senior year of high school as the new kid, thanks to a professor dad who moves the family to Baltimore, Bea opts out of the popular crowd in favor of getting to know pale, sardonic Jonah, mockingly called "Ghost Boy." The two forge a unique and powerful bond sparked by a mutual love of late-night radio, but soon encompassing a vast weird, wonderful cultural landscape (side note: the book serves doubly as a love letter to Baltimore.)

In her unconventional take on (Ghost) Boy meets (Robot) Girl, Natalie paints a rich, realistic dynamic, fraught with the type of tension that often comes from being so close to someone at that age.

How to Say Goodbye in Robot is out in bookstores now, but we're giving away free copies to the first three commenters who share the fictional character they most wanted to befriend as a teen.

Ypulse: What inspired Beatrice's story? Have you ever had a friendship similar to the one between Bea and Jonah?

Natalie Standiford: I've never had a relationship quite like that one, but I have had close, intense friendships, especially in fifth or sixth grade. Those girlhood friendships are like romances. We used to entertain ourselves at slumber parties by playing "The Best Friend Game," which was a version of "The Newlywed Game"–you had to answer questions about your best friend, and the pair of friends that got the most answers right–who knew the most about each other–won. At that age, friendships were as intense as marriages. But Beatrice is older, and her story was not inspired so much by a friendship as by imagining her situation–feeling isolated in a world where everyone else is connected. I went to a small school like Canton and was very comfortable there, but I still had moments when I felt misunderstood and lonely. I wondered how much lonelier it would feel to be plopped down in that world your senior year, knowing no one.

At the same time, the kind of friendship where two people create a world of their own with no one else allowed in is very appealing. But it can be dangerous to shut out the rest of the world, and those kinds of relationships can't last forever.

YP: Were you a fan of old radio shows before or did you discover them in the process of writing the book? Do you have any favorites? Which ones and why?

NS: I've been a radio fan my whole life. When I was very little I had a transistor radio and secretly slept with it pressed against my ear, trying to decipher the meaning of pop song lyrics. As a high school insomniac I listened to a show called "The Nightcaps": old people from all over the country talking about their gardens or their grandchildren. No upsetting or controversial subjects were allowed. It was simultaneously fascinating and soothing.

In Baltimore in the 90s there was a great local show called "Legends Radio/Over 50 Overnight." I was living in New York by then so I couldn't listen regularly but my brother was a big fan and used to talk about it all the time. "The Flying Carpet" and some of the nuttier characters, like Don Berman, were inspired by that show. The host was so calm and patient; nothing rattled him. There's a strong strain of crazy in Baltimore–you can see it if you ever watched a John Waters movie–and that show brought it out. It's a beautiful thing.

Now I listen to WFMU (a fantastic station in Jersey City) for music, the BBC for news, and "Coast to Coast AM" for the latest on Bigfoot, Shadow People, poltergeists, UFOs, etc. There's something romantic about lying awake listening to the radio at night. You're alone in your room and yet you're connected to people far away by invisible beams.

YP: I really appreciate how nuanced and realistically flawed the parents are in the story. Especially Bea's mom. Was it ever a challenge to make them sympathetic characters?

NS: It was a challenge. At first the parents didn't play such a big role, but it soon became clear that I needed to flesh them out more to help explain why Bea and Jonah are they way they are. Jonah's dad was too mean at first–a villain–so I tried to humanize him a little (but not too much, because we see him through Bea's eyes and she's not objective).

I sympathize with Bea's mom, but I also understand why Bea would be angry with her, why she'd wish her mom would just snap out of it. I remember feeling that way as a teenager. Parents are people and they have problems but often their kids don't really want to know about it, and that's understandable too. Kids have their own problems to worry about.

I don't know anyone quite like Bea's mother, but some of the things she does are exaggerated versions of things people I know have done. When we moved into the house where my parents still live, the kitchen had chicken curtains. The woman moving out of the house loved those curtains and forbid us to get rid of them. It was practically one of the conditions of buying the house. Of course, the first thing my mother did when we moved in was get rid of the curtains–they were hideous. But I thought it was interesting how attached that woman was to those chickens. She talked to them.

YP: Who would you cast to play Beatrice and Jonah in the movie version of How To Say Goodbye in Robot?

NS: My favorite game! I had to think about this for a while.

Beatrice: Abigail Breslin or Dakota Fanning. They're very different but either one could work, depending on which side of Bea's personality you want to emphasize. Christina Ricci would have made an interesting Beatrice when she was younger.

Jonah: This is the hardest part to cast. I really don't know. Tobey Maguire would have been a good Jonah when he was younger. Now? Um . . .

Beatrice's mom: I keep picturing Drew Barrymore for this, even though she's not really the right type–too sunny and relaxed. And too young. Maybe Parker Posey or Diane Lane.

Beatrice's dad: John Cusack! Wouldn't he make a great charismatic professor?

Walt: Jesse Eisenberg. He's got the hair and the air of decency.

Speaking of movies, my web site, www.nataliestandiford.com, has a "Mystery Page" with movie stills, music, and pictures of places mentioned in HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT.

YP: I don't want to give away the ending here too much, but can you explain why you made the choice you did? What message do you hope teens take away from that?

NS: I started the book knowing how it would end and working from there. I'd heard a story about someone who did something similar to what Jonah does and found it chilling, but it was a challenge to understand why anyone would do that. I wrote the rest of the book to explore why Jonah is so angry and to try to justify his decision, as much as it can be justified. Bea is there to narrate the story and to show us the consequences of Jonah's actions. I didn't tell the story from Jonah's point of view because I wanted to keep an element of mystery behind his motivations. Why does he do it? You can make up your own theories but you can never completely know. He might not know himself.

As far as what message teens might take away from this ending . . . I imagine it will vary from person to person. I don't think about messages when I'm writing. For me a beautiful story has mystery and ambiguity and strangeness. I tried to write a book that would resonate with readers emotionally, and I hope everyone will have their own reactions to it.

For more coverage of YA books and publishing, check out the Ypulse Books Channel sponsored by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, publishers of Ash by Malinda Lo

Categorized under: Author Spotlight, Books & Print

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. If you are a Facebook user, comment using your Facebook account.