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QUESTIONS FROM READERS

Philip Beard, Bookreporter.com's featured One to Watch author for March, answers readers' questions about his inspiration for writing DEAR ZOE and his decision to incorporate the events of September 11, 2001 into the story.

ajrevelli@sbcglobal.net: Of all the topics to choose from and all the voices you could have chosen, why this story, this girl?

Philip Beard:The story really started out being about Tess and her two fathers. My stepdaughter was 15 at the time (she's almost 20 now), and I thought that her position between her birth father and me was an interesting one to explore. Gradually, it developed into something more. I wanted to explore my greatest fear --- that of losing a child --- and I thought I might be able to handle the emotional turbulence of writing that story better from Tess's perspective than from a father's.

AcornLiz@aol.com: What life experiences did you draw on to write so realistically in the voice of a modern-day teenage girl? (Tess doesn't really seem like someone who could be your daughter.)

Philip Beard:Tess's voice did in fact come from listening to my stepdaughter. She and Tess are very different, especially now, but Tess wouldn't have existed without Cali in my life. When I finally let her read the book (after her first year of college) it really brought us closer together. She said it was liberating to see that I had recognized some things that had been unspoken between us. Tess's story isn't Cali's story, but I certainly drew on some of the difficulties inherent in the step-relationship, and it deepened my relationship with Cali when she saw that I "got it."

Attwoman@aol.com: What gave you the idea to set the book on September 11th? It made me think of a friend who was diagnosed with a disease that day and my response was for her to write about it!

Philip Beard:Actually, I started writing the book before 9/11. After the attacks, I found it very difficult to get back to Tess's story. It seemed so insignificant in comparison. I didn't write for some time, trying to decide whether such a story could have meaning anymore. Gradually, that feeling of everything else being silenced or diminished by 9/11 started to feel like a part of what Tess herself would be feeling.

mccoy_bonnie@mchsi.com: In order to write a book with this much feeling, a person would almost have to have some knowledge of the pain and struggles. Did you draw on a personal experience to write this book?

Philip Beard:Other than the basic family structure, which is very similar to mine, the story itself is, thankfully, entirely fictional.

quilterofwords@bonbon.net: Will you be writing a second book with this character as a sequel to her growing up?

Philip Beard:I don't currently have any plans to explore where Tess might go from here, but I would never rule out revisiting a character that I love as much as Tess.

stephanie@krantz.name: How do you come about your keen insight into the mind of a teenage girl? I would have expected this book to have been written by a woman, not a man. Terrific job --- I think it rings very true to life.

Philip Beard:Thank you. I guess all good insight comes from watching and listening with care. I like to think of myself as that kind of father, even as a stepfather. My mother used to say of my own father, "The rest of the world around our little family could disappear, and your father would never notice." As times moves on, I understand that observation more and more. Nothing is more important to living a good life than family. Which is why, I suppose, most of my writing begins there.

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