Posts Tagged Kara LaReau

Kara LaReau on Bluebird Works

Posted by admin in Literature on July 8, 2009

When I interviewed Cecil Castellucci a few months ago, I was impressed at the level of praise she had for her editor, Kara LaReau. So I contacted Cecil to see if LaReau would be open to discussing her new endeavor, Bluebird Works Creative Consulting. Before starting the interview, here’s a brief bio from her blog: “Hatched in a small town in southern Connecticut in the early 1970s, I eventually flew the coop and received my Masters in Fine Arts in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, and later worked as an editor at Candlewick Press in Cambridge, Massachusetts and at Scholastic Press in New York. Now, I’m spreading my wings again — managing my own creative consulting firm, developing my writing career, and maintaining a cozy nest in Providence, Rhode Island.” My thanks to LaReau for her time and thoughts.

Tim O’Shea: How long have you been a book editor–how many books have you edited in your career?

Kara LaReau: I’ve been editing for more than ten years — first at Candlewick Press, then at Scholastic Press, and now via my own creative consulting firm, Bluebird Works. Honestly, I have no idea how many books I’ve edited; it must be at least a hundred!

O’Shea: What’s the most challenging manuscript you’ve ever edited?

LaReau: Each book presents its own thrills and challenges, so it’s difficult to single out one in particular. I’d say the most challenging situations, in general, were those where the author was reluctant to consider my suggestions. If the author and editor don’t have a reciprocal sense of trust, the story goes nowhere.

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Cecil Castellucci on Beige, Her Creative Process

Posted by admin in Literature, Music, sequential art on April 8, 2009

Cecil Castellucci is a storyteller of many platforms. In a creative sense, she wears a seemingly infinite number of hats–the most apt description of her work can be found at her You Tube channel: “young adult author, Graphic Novel writer, filmmaker, performance artiste and general troublemaker”. Her 2007 Young Adult novel, Beige was released in paperback last month (March) . I caught up with her recently to discuss that novel, as well as the path that has led her to find a new voice as a writer. An interviewer always hopes to get a subject who can be as open and direct as Castellucci, but it happens so rarely, I’m always appreciative.

Tim O’Shea: Beige is partially inspired by your initial move to Los Angeles. While the novel is not your story, of course, I’m wondering if when writing a novel like this do you find you learn a little about yourself in the process?

Cecil Castellucci: While no novel is biography, there are always elements of myself and where I’m at or where I’ve been. Sometimes it’s a look back, sometimes it’s a reflection of now, sometimes an imagined path not taken. So, I think that I learn a little bit about myself from every novel I write. For Beige, I was inspired by moving to my particular neighborhood in Los Angeles, Silverlake, and dealing with all the punk in Los Angeles. Everything was so punk rock here and I felt like an outsider looking in, even though I had moved here to put out my first CD on No Life Records. I was working at Epitaph Records and I was this little indie rock girl who sang Twee music. I suppose in this case I learned about the essential roots of punk, which are pretty much the essential roots of being an artist in the world. Ask questions. Pay attention. Think for yourself. When you do that, it’s all good.

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