About the Author: Madeline Claire Franklin
What would you like readers to know about you?
I am a queer, Jewish, invisibly disabled witch living in sin in Buffalo, New York, with my partner, two dogs, and three cats. I spend more time removing pet fur from my clothes than I do on styling my hair each day.
What music do you listen to (if any) when you write?
I generally don't listen to music because I find it distracting, but sometimes I will use "wavelength" music that is meant to help a person focus. I don't know how scientifically sound it is, but it seems to help.
What books or authors inspired you to become a writer?
Honestly, the old Star Wars expanded universe books are what made me want to become a writer. I was obsessed with Star Wars the trilogy as a kid in the 90s, and when I read the novels that continued the story my mind was blown by the difference between film and book—how much more you could do with words than on screen. I had been dabbling with writing before then, enjoying playing with words and writing silly short stories, but it was around age 11 when I decided I wanted to write novels and become an author some day.
About the Book: The Wilderness of Girls
What is your book about for those who haven’t read it?
The Wilderness of Girls is about a troubled teen who discovers a pack of feral girls in the woods and is swept up in the ensuing mystery: Are the Wild Girls of Happy Valley lost princesses from a faraway land, as they believe, or are they brainwashed victims of a deranged kidnapper? Told through multiple POVs and metatextual elements, this story explores how the world teaches young girls to cage their wildness, and what happens when they claw themselves free.
What has been your inspiration for writing it?
In my late 20s I experienced a feminist awakening that pulled back the curtains on how much I had been shaped by society to be something I am not. Even as a young feminist, even with parents who taught me to question authority, I had fallen into the trappings of the roles society had assigned to me as daughter, wife, and woman. When I started to pull at the threads of those identities, they fell apart—painfully and spectacularly. I wrote this book because I wanted to spare other people from having to go through that. I hope that teenagers and young adults will read this book and start to see the ways they have been influenced in their identities, and question those influences.
What was your favorite scene or part of your book to write?
I had a lot of fun writing the metatextual elements of the book. Originally it started as a fun way to insert backstory by using excerpts from a future memoir, but as the story dove more into highlighting how we consume each other's stories and how the media turns tragedy into clickbait, the possibilities of how to incorporate the metatexts expanded. My favorite part to write was the TikTok Live transcript.
Where can your book be purchased?
-Anywhere books are sold! But you can find some suggested buy links here: https://madelineclairefranklin.com/books/the-wilderness-of-girls/
To the Future Writer:
What advice would you give to aspiring authors who want to write a book?
Ask yourself why you want to write a book. This is not to dissuade anyone, but writing novel-length fiction is not for the faint of heart. It can be grueling, torturous, and frequently unrewarding in any tangible way. However, if you have stories and ideas inside of you that are bursting to get out, or you feel most at peace with your place in the world when you are crafting a scene or composing the perfect sentence, or if you have thoughts and concepts you need to express that can't be said in a few simple words, or if the magic of creative writing is all the proof you need to know that you have a purpose in this world...then keep going.
And even then, do you want to write only for yourself, or to publish? Do you want to improve your craft, or are you happy creating without feedback? It's important to know the answers to these questions so you can protect yourself from the wrong person seeing your work. A person who writes for fun can be crushed by unasked for criticism. A person who writes to publish can ruin their career if they don't learn how to take feedback.
But above all else, if you really want to write a book: find a way that works for you to keep a notebook. I've taken to using Google Keep on my phone, which is searchable and cloud-based, so I can jot down a thought almost anywhere, anytime, and then find it later. It's what's working for me at the moment, but I've been known to fill up my fair share of paper notebooks, too (especially the kind that fit in your purse).
What’s next for you? Any events, upcoming pubs, etc.
I'm currently working on the next book, which is under contract so it should be out sometime in the next few years! It's also contemporary YA, feminist, and angry, but this time I'm exploring how the roots of Western misogyny stretch back into ancient Greece. There will be witchcraft and vigilantism in this one.
Where can we find you:
Twitter- @madelineclaire_ (but I'm not really on there)
Instagram- @madelineclairefranklin
Website- www.madelineclairefranklin.com
Others- Threads: @madelineclairefranklin
What’s on your TBR list?
SO many books. Right now I'm reading FlyBoy by Kasey LeBlanc, and next I'll be re-reading Know My Name by Chanel Miller. I'm also looking forward to reading Rocky Callen's newest release, Crashing Into You.
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