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Amazon.com talks to Cherie Bennett Amazon.com: Where are you from? How--if at all--has your sense of place colored your writing? C.B.: I grew up in Detroit, Michigan, and my parents were in show business. My dad had his own late-night television show called "Meet Mr.Satan" where he showed horror movies. Growing up like this, I figured that I had two options for me life: become a serial killer, or become a writer. I chose the latter. Jeff and I live in Nashville and Los Angeles, which are two places as different from one another as can be. As my readers know, Nashville is a fave locale of mine for books, as is Michigan. But the most important sense of place that touches my writing is the emotional place of my characters. If I don't nail that, I'm in big, big trouble. Amazon.com: When and why did you begin writing? When did you first consider yourself a writer? C.B.: I always wrote. But the thing is, when I was a teen, I wanted to be an actress and a singer. My teachers would say, "Cherie, you're a really good writer." And I'd go, "Yeah, right." Then I'd go be in the next production of the next play. I actually got to follow that acting dream, acting both on and off-Broadway in New York. But a combination of things made me switch my focus to writing at the beginning of the 1990s, and I have to say, I'm glad I did. Why did I become a writer? I had to. The stories were burning inside me to tell. And I've been fortunate enough to be able to write in a number of different areas, like books, plays, and television, and even a syndicated newspaper column ("Hey, Cherie!" syndicated by Copley News Service out of San Diego). As for my love for and my focus (most, but not all of the time!) on teens, I have to say that I try to write the kinds of books I would have liked to have read...no, more than that. The kinds of books I would have fallen in love with. Amazon.com: Who or what has influenced your writing, and in what way? What books have most influenced your life? C.B.: My dad, obviously. My husband Jeff, who is also a writer, and with whom I have an artistic mind meld. Look, everything influences my writing, because you can't separate these things out. Themes influence my writing. My plays, like ANNE FRANK & ME and SEARCHING FOR DAVID'S HEART, both published by Dramatic Publishing Company, tend to explore the theme of young people being tested. And one last thing. My reader mail has been a huge influence. When I first got started, I was getting like five letters a week, and Jeff and I said, "Oh wow, this is cool, let's answer them," because without readers, we'd be nowhere. That mail grew to 150+ letters a week at times, and we still answer it all. It is a sacred trust between us and our readers. Snail mail, email, whatever. We answer it all. The newspaper column brings more mail. But the truth is, I learn as much from my reader mail as I could ever hope to give back to my readers with my replies. I cherish it. LIFE IN THE FAT LANE (Delacorte, 1998 hardcover, Bantam 1999 paperback, book on tape from Recorded Books, Inc.) had a lot to do with my reader mail from girls, who were going nuts over the body image obsession in America. It was a book I had to write, and I'm not sure I would have written it but for all the mail I got. Of course, the book, which is about a prom queen who gains 100 pounds in a year, has provoked a huge debate amongst girls and moms, which is exactly what I hoped would happen. Amazon.com: What is the most romantic book you've ever read? The scariest? The funniest? C.B.: How about some titles that have been a HUGE influence on me? The plays of Tennessee Williams. All of them. GONE TO SOLDIERS, by Marge Piercy. SHE'S COME UNDONE, by Wally Lamb. All the work of Carson McCullers, esp. MEMBER OF THE WEDDING. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, by Harper Lee. WHEN YOU COMIN' BACK, RED RYDER? a play by Mark Medoff that will blow you away. And there are more. Chaim Potok's THE CHOSEN, for one. Amazon.com: What music, if any, most inspires you to write? What do you like to listen to while writing? C.B.: I write in silence. Amazon.com: What are you working on? C.B.: So much. Jeff and I feel like we wish we could clone ourselves, so that we could write all the things we want to before our precious time on this planet is over. The last book we did was the fiction adaptation for Putnam of ANNE FRANK & ME, my play about modern American teens and Holocaust denial that has been so successful. Before that was ZINK, adapted from my play of same title from Dramatic Publishing. Upcoming is a new novel for Delacorte Press set at a southern high school during a Confederate flag controversy. And, of course, we're on staff at the WB show SMALLVILLE, so there's plenty of TV writing as well. There are screenplays and plays and novels galore on the runway...there aren't enough hours in the day to write it all! Amazon.com: Use this space to write about whatever you wish. C.B.: Definitely look around this website for more information on me. But if you've got particular questions that don't get answered, the email address is authorchik@aol.com, and fire way! The book series SOMETHING ABOUT THE AUTHOR has a seven-page spread about my work. And BIOGRAPHY TODAY, volume 9, also has a big spread. |
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