Author Mindy McGinnis Visits Hickman →

Kennedy Lucas, Editor-In-Chief|October 6, 2022

On Wednesday, October fifth, Missouri Gateway Award-winning author, Mindy McGinnis visited Hickman High School. She spoke to students about her many books and sat down for an interview with the P&G. 

McGinnis won the Missouri Gateway Award for her book Heroine. Heroine follows Mickey Catalan as she navigates recovering from a devastating injury. Mickey is the star catcher for the small town’s high school softball team. When a car accident injures her leg and hip, she turns to painkillers to get her through rehabilitation.

When McGinnis was asked how much of Heroine was based on the current opioid addiction in the United States, she replied, “Pretty much directly,” and went on to cite her inspiration for the book, “I was visiting a school in Southern Ohio, and it’s an area of the country that is looked at as the beginning of the opioid crisis. I was visiting a school down there, and they had read one of my books in a district-wide read, and the librarian that had set up my event was like, ‘I’m really sorry, but some students have to get up and leave during your presentation because there’s a funeral today for a student,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, God, I’m so sorry. What happened?’ And she said, ‘It was an OD,’ I was like, ‘Oh, God, that’s awful,’ and she said, ‘Oh, it’s our third one this year.’ It was November. They had three kids die in three months. And I was like, ‘That’s horrible,’ and she said, ‘No, that’s the average around here. We lose them pretty fast.’ I ended up having a conversation with an upperclassman girl who was helping to plan the prom for that year. And she told me that they had settled on a black tie theme for their prom because they knew that they were going to be going to more funerals, and they needed to have nice funeral clothes and so they wanted a nice black dress that they could wear to prom and they could wear to funerals. Yeah, it was the most depressing thing I’ve ever heard.”

McGinnis also explained her reasoning for having a female-athlete lead in the book, saying “I always wanted to write a female athlete book. I’m a female athlete, and it’s really hard to find books written for teens with characters that are female athletes. And I don’t have a good reason for that. You can find male athlete books really easily, but female athletes, you can’t. And I’ve always been really frustrated by that, and always wanted to write a female athlete book. The truth is that a lot of young people that end up hooked on OxyContin and then move on to heroin, do so because they’re injured in their sport, and they have to use painkillers to get through their rehabilitation and recovery. They end up hooked on them, and then ‘graduate’ to street drugs. So I was able to take those two things, the fact that I’ve always wanted to write a female athlete book and pair that with the opioid crisis, to write the Gateway award winner.”

McGinnis has another book up for the Missouri Gateway Award, called Be Not Far From Me. In this nominated book, Ashley, a girl more comfortable in nature than anywhere else, goes into the woods with her friends for a night of partying. She briefly leaves the party to go to the bathroom when she finds her boyfriend with another girl in the woods. Heartbroken and furious, Ashley runs into the night, only to fall into a ravine. She must find a way back home, despite the growing infection in her leg.

McGinnis stated that Be Not Far From Me was her favorite book she’s written saying, “That one is really personal to me. There are a lot of reasons why, but some of the stories that are from my main character’s childhood are actually stories from my childhood.”

McGinnis told the P&G about her writing process, saying, “Typically, what I want to do is I write 1000 words a day, which is four to five pages, and then I stop. And the next day I write 1000 words again, and I look at what I wrote the day before, and fix it a little bit. I don’t do a lot of heavy editing or anything like that, just small changes. So then I write 1000 more. And then the next day I read the 1000 that I wrote the day before, and you just keep going until you have a book, which is anywhere from 65 to 95 thousand words, and so it takes time, but that is how I prefer to write and if you go about it with that approach, it’ll take three to four months to write a book. That’s how I prefer to do it. Sometimes I’m really bad at procrastinating and sometimes I end up in a situation where I’ve put it off and I’ve put it off and I’ve put it off and I have to write a book in three weeks. And I’ve done that twice now. And I don’t recommend it. It is not healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, psychically, spiritually. But I’ve done it twice now. And when that happens, you’re just writing as much as you can, as fast as you can. You just get it done and you make sure there’s a beginning, a middle, and an end. And then you go back through and you make sure that it makes sense. And then you turn it in.”

McGinnis later advised young writers, saying, “I don’t think you have to have any special training to be a writer. I actually never had a moment of instruction. I went to a really small high school, we graduated 67 kids a year, really tiny. And we didn’t have creative writing classes. And I didn’t go to college for creative writing. I’ve never had any instruction in creative writing. I learned how to write by reading. And that would be my advice for anyone: if you want to be a writer, the first thing you have to be is a reader.”

McGinnis worked as a school librarian in the small town she grew up in. She interacted with young readers every day and said that reader-based awards such as the Missouri Gateway Award meant more to her, “As a writer, it’s like, when you get good reviews, like it always feels good. And when your fellow writers are like, ‘Hey, you’re doing good work,’ or professional reviewers are like, ‘Yes, this one’s good,’ that feels good. But when my actual audience of readers are like, ‘No, this was the best book,’ and when teenagers are actually saying, ‘Yes, I read this book, and I liked it,’ that is what feels good. Yeah. So when I know that I won an award that was actually reader-based voting, that’s super cool.”

Mindy McGinnis has published twelve books of varying genres, but her trademark writing style includes many dark elements. McGinnis’ next book is called A Long Stretch Of Bad Days. It is a young adult mystery that is coming out in 2023. McGinnis’ visit sparked lots of interest in Hickman students. After she finished speaking, a large line formed to ask questions and purchase her books.

Daily Inspiration: Meet Mindy McGinnis →

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mindy McGinnis. 

Hi Mindy, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I began querying – the process of trying to get a literary agent – when I was still in college. Ten years later, and after I’d written five novels, I was able to land an agent and subsequently, a publishing deal with Harper Collins. I have been publishing a book a year consistently since 2010! 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not. Writing is never an assured thing. I’m entirely supported by freelance income. I don’t have retirement, insurance, or any type of benefits. Also, you never know how many books you will sell or if your publisher will want another one. You are mostly just crossing your fingers a lot and hoping that you can survive. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a writer who tackles darker themes for teens. My writing covers everything from rape culture to the opioid crisis to good old-fashioned whodunit murder mysteries, as well as fantasy and historical, contemporary thrillers and fantasy. 

I’m known for writing gritty, honest, no punches-pulled novels, no matter what genre I’m writing in. 

What sets me apart, and what I’m also particularly proud of, is that I do jump genres. Many authors are pigeon-holed, but I’ve been fortunate in my career that my publisher has allowed me to take chances. 

We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
My novels are dark, but I’m really funny! I write about tough topics, but anyone who comes to any of my presentations leaves laughing. I use humor to even things out, and that can take people by surprise. 

A Moment With Mindy McGinnis →

FHC Today

Emma Schultheis, Staff Reporter

Heroin: A highly addictive opioid made from the natural substance morphine, taken from the seed pod of various opium poppy plants. Everyone has an addiction. Whether that be drugs or alcohol or something as simple as caffeine, everyone has something that they crave so intensely that without it, they go through withdrawal even without realizing it. We are all flawed by design, but the struggles that come with those flaws are what make us human. 

 2021 Gateway nominee “Heroine” shares the story of how simple painkillers for treatment can turn into a deadly addictive habit. Although her book isn’t based on personal experience, author of “Heroine,” Mindy McGinnis, paints the perfect picture of how easy it is to spiral into a world of substance abuse.

Composition Connections: McGinnis describes the connections to English classes and composition of literature. (Isabella Totra)

  On Sept. 30, the Edgar award-winning novelist shared her journey as an author with students to show how persistent hard work and dedication can lead to success. Having no degree in writing and never having taken a writing class, her journey was long but well worth it in the end.

  “You don’t have to have special training or knowledge. You don’t need to have anything. You just sit down and do it. Know what you like and write what you emulate. And it’s just like playing a sport or musical instrument, you’re not going to get better at it unless you do it and no one can do it for you. No one can make you a good basketball player. You have to go to practice. Writing is the same way,” McGinnis said.

 Most people’s childhoods consist of playing games or playing with toys. For McGinnis, her toys were her imagination. Growing up on a farm with little money, entertainment was something you had to create yourself. With a wild imagination, she was always making up stories. Her creative mind followed her into adulthood and led to the books she writes today. The stories she would read growing up never met her expectations due to a lack of realism and underwhelming content. It took a while before she discovered Stephen King’s novels and truly found a love for the dark, horror, and crime-filled world.

 “This isn’t real life and it wasn’t interesting to me. Ever since I was a little kid I was interested in the dark stuff, the questionable stuff, the stuff that makes other people uncomfortable,” McGinnis said. “I wasn’t a little kid that laid in bed and thought about kittens and puppies and rainbows. I lay in bed and thought: ‘What is under my bed? What’s in the closet? What’s at the window?’ That’s just how my head works.”

 Other authors may have a layout of their story before writing but McGinnis never plans her books. She has a general idea of the story she wants to tell but doesn’t know what’s going to happen in them until she sits down and types directly on a word document. The fear of not being able to find the right words is always a concern that races in her mind.

 “Even after 11 years of publishing, when I sit down to write every day, I’m scared because I think ‘What if I can’t do it?’ Because I don’t know what the magic is. I don’t know what switch flips that makes me start writing,” McGinnis said.

 Only 1 percent of published writers make a living off their writing so the pressure can be overwhelming, especially when there are always deadlines hanging over her head. When you write you are alone with your thoughts and the writing of one of her books, isolated her from her peers and made it hard to separate her work life from her personal life. 

Overcoming the intrusive thoughts of failure, the author still pushes herself to the limit and continues to grow into the successful writer she is today. Every day is a new day, and every day is a new page.

“Always be working. Never give up just means you keep going and you might not think what do I need to do to improve? Just being bullheaded doesn’t get it done. You have to ask yourself, ‘What do I need to change in order to make it?’” McGinnis said.

Columbia Missourian - Young adult author and former library aide knows about banned books first-hand →

BY SARA GEORGE

Oct 4, 2022

High school student Mickey Catalan has a passion for softball. When she is injured in a car crash right before softball season, her ability to keep playing is threatened. To deal with her injuries, she is prescribed painkillers, and she becomes addicted.

Mickey is the main character in author Mindy McGinnis’ 2019 book “Heroine.” The young adult novel received this year’s Missouri Gateway Readers Award, intended “to promote literature, literacy and reading in Missouri high schools.” Students across the state vote on the winner.

The Edgar Award-winning author was in Columbia this week to speak at Douglass and Hickman high schools, as well as venues including Columbia Public Library.

“Heroine” was challenged in the Rockwood School District near St. Louis during the 2021-2022 school year. According to the Challenged Materials Committee report, the challenger was concerned the book encouraged drug use and contained material that was inappropriate for students.

“I was partially amused, because it’s probably my tamest book,” McGinnis said in an interview Monday. “I was like, ‘Oh, if you don’t like that one, wait till you read the next one, you’re gonna get really upset.’”

In the end, her book was allowed to remain in Rockwood schools without restrictions.

McGinnis, who worked as a librarian aide at a school that served grades six through 12 for 14 years, is familiar with attempts to remove titles from the shelves. Her first question to those raising concerns over a book, she said, was whether they had read it. The answer often was no.

“If they say this book is inappropriate for their child, that is their call, and that is fine,” McGinnis said. “When they say this book is inappropriate for all the children, and no one is allowed to have it, that’s censorship — and that’s when we have a problem.”

McGinnis said that although her books may be considered young adult, she doesn’t “pull any punches.”

“I write about violence, and I write about murder, and I write about rape, and I write about a drug addiction,” she said. “And if you don’t think those things are happening to teens, then you probably haven’t walked outside lately.”

According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, in 2020, there were over 100 deaths caused by non-heroin opioid overdoses for 15- to 24-year-olds. In Missouri, drug overdose is the leading cause of death for adults age 18 to 44. More than 70% of those deaths involve opioids.

“I was visiting a school where there was a funeral for a child, a student that had OD’d. And I was talking to the staff, and they were like, ‘Yeah, we get about three or five a year.’ And I was like, ‘Are you serious?’” McGinnis said. “I walked away, I was like, ‘Man, I really want to write something about the opioid epidemic.’”

Another of her books is nominated for the 2022-2023 Missouri Gateway award. “Be Not Far From Me” focuses on a girl who gets lost in the Great Smoky Mountains. McGinnis, who has written a dozen young adult books as well as short stories, finds writing isolating.

“You are by yourself. And you shut down completely while you’re working and nothing is around you, and you know nothing except the inside of your own head,” she said. “So I like to be around people as much as possible outside of my writing time. And so I do still substitute in the district that I used to work at because I miss the kids.”

Thrills & Chills for Teens & Tweens - Ohioana 2022 Panel

2022 Ohioana Book Festival Thrills & Chills for Teens & Tweens with Mindy McGinnis, Mar Romasco Moore, Margaret Peterson Haddix, and Natalie D. Richards.

Cardington author Mindy McGinnis celebrates latest release, 'The Last Laugh'

Growing up on a farm in Cardington, which she described as beautiful and idyllic, author Mindy McGinnis felt safe from life's dangers and uncertainties. 

It was here in the safety of her childhood in rural Ohio that her fascination with darker themes and deeper questions began. 

Now an Edgar Award-winning author who just saw her eleventh novel, "The Last Laugh," published Tuesday, the Morrow County native shared her realization that it was both this curiosity toward danger and the lack of young adult literature to meet her interest that inspired her to become an author.

She now writes young adult fiction and short stories with strong female main characters, diving into darker topics and gaining inspiration from mystery novels, horror stories and the dark poetry by Edgar Allan Poe.

"I write very dark, very gritty. I’m very honest about the human condition. When I was growing up as a kid in the 80s and the 90s, most if not all of the books that were available to us were very clean, very antiseptic, usually didactic, and those weren’t my tendencies," she said.

"Even from a young age, I was interested in darker things and darker themes."

Being so intrigued with darker themes, McGinnis was reading Stephen King novels in the 6th grade, even though they weren't conventionally age-appropriate for a 12-year-old to be exploring.

As she got older she realized she wanted to fill in the gaps in literature, and her career in writing was born.

Still, it took her 10 years of pitching her stories to agents before landing a publishing deal. In the meantime, she worked as a library aide within Cardington-Lincoln Schools, where she shared her love of reading with students for 14 years.

It turns out, she explained, that her work with teenagers in the school library at Cardington-Lincoln High School, where she herself graduated in 1997, has helped to drive her career as a young adult author, writing small-town Ohio and its unique challenges of rural poverty and assumptions made about individuals based on family ties into her work.

"I grew up in Morrow County. I’ve always lived here. I still live here, and I just always knew that I wanted to be a writer. I didn’t know how that happened," she said.

"I assumed that someone tapped you on the shoulder and said, ‘You. You get to be a writer,’ Right, and it doesn’t work that way. Any type of creative industry, it’s an odd path and usually a different path for everyone."

Since selling her first book came out in 2013, McGinnis has been publishing consistently.

Beyond getting to live her dream career and experience literary success, she said her favorite part of her job is seeing the way her words and stories deeply impact her fans, many of which reach out to her after events via email.

“I always get emails after I get school visits and they’re just like, ‘This happened to me. This is a thing that I went through,’ and there’s one thing about how brave and courageous these girls are, but also sad they feel they need to speak to a complete stranger about it because maybe other people in their lives won’t listen or they’ve tried to speak up and weren’t heard,” she explained.

In her work, McGinnis focuses on highlighting female strength, whether physical strength or deeper, emotional strength like resolve, empathy and seeing girls use their voices.

"I’m all for literal female strength, absolutely, I am, but female strength can also be compassion and empathy, also like speaking up, being courageous and being brave and standing up and making your voice heard," she said.

This, she said, is the crux of why she writes: to allow girls going through tough experiences to meet themselves in her pages and see there’s hope and recovery on the other side of whatever they're facing.

An example she offered is a young woman from Missouri who attended a book signing event and asked for two copies of McGinnis' Heroine, a story about the opioid crisis.

The girl wanted to bring one of the copies to her mother, who was at the time incarcerated for drug-use. She wanted to attempt to rebuild their mother-daughter relationship with Mindy's work of fiction that so closely related to their lives.

McGinnis said she was honored to give the young woman two signed copies right away.

“I’ve had teens reach out and say, ‘You helped me understand my mom, my dad, my sister.’ If I can actually have an effect on other people’s lives with my words through the story I’ve made up in my head, that is profound,” she said.

As McGinnis celebrates the release of her latest book this past week, "The Last Laugh," the second installment following her previous release, "The Initial Insult," which is a modern retelling of Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," she is preparing for a tour of events across the Midwest, including one at the Cardington-Lincoln Public Library Saturday. 

Though the pandemic changed many aspects of the publishing industry, she said, she is looking forward to traveling and getting to engage with students across the Midwest in-person once again.

“I’m so grateful I get to do this for a living. It’s wonderful. Yeah, it’s just amazing to be able to do the thing that you love and achieve the thing that you’ve always wanted and to be able to succeed at it," McGinnis said.

The Many Heroines of Mindy McGinnis →

By Melissa Warner Published March 3, 2022

The Last Laugh is author Mindy McGinnis’ latest published book.  A sequel to 2021’s The Initial Insult, it is her 11th published solo work. Her books are gritty, and not for the very young or faint of storyline.  In college, she read a novel for class “that I just thought was terrible…[I thought to myself] I can write better than that and then I said to myself, ok, then do it.”  That turned into an early version of Female of the Species, but it was not YA. When she began writing books, she was writing adult fiction, and commented “It’s not a humble brag, I was not a good writer.  I had to become a good writer…I learned to write by reading.”  Having spent seven years as a high school librarian, she realized, she was spending 40 hours per week with a target audience and knew the market thoroughly.  She then wrote a book about water shortage in a dystopian setting which she’d wanted to do for some time, she changed her intended audience to teens, and shortly (for the publishing world) thereafter, Not a Drop to Drink was a successful, published book, and the sequel A Handful of Dust, followed the next year.  

In writing YA, Ms. McGinnis doesn’t “pull any punches.  [Teens] can read my books and feel like they’re not being talked down to.  I’m not going to skip over anything.” She recalled that when she was a teenager, YA literature tended to be happy, clean books (“I really want a puppy but I can’t have a puppy because my mom is allergic and I found this puppy and I’m going to keep it in the basement and hope no one notices.”), but are not very interesting to most 16 to 17 year olds.  As a teen, she wound up reading dark stories such as Cujo, and she enjoyed reading “dark things.” As an adult, she realized that she wanted to write books “for that teenager that wanted the hard, scary stuff…all of the things I was seeing in the real world that adults wanted to pretend didn’t exist.”  

At least one (Heroine) and reportedly a second (Female of the Species) of Ms. McGinnis’ books have been challenged, and she stands by her work at least in part because they address real things that happen to real teens, and she strives to present difficult material in a respectful and safe setting.  Notably she commented, “I don’t think there’s anything in [A Madness so Discreet] that you couldn’t find on any prime time tv show or video game that isn’t marked M for mature.” She also has commented that “there’s a teen out there that needs to read about a girl standing up for herself and there are more than you think that need to read [for example] that being abused by your father is not okay. I’m writing for those kids…”  She does acknowledge that many of her books might not be appropriate for those under the age of 15. A Madness So Discreet is the story of an 1890 teen whose family has committed her to the insane asylum for a “problem” that is not of her doing. 

“If you read my books in order, you can actually see what’s going on in my mind.” She explained that “there’s foreshadowing for what’s going to happen next because you’re literally following my thoughts.”  For example, Female of the Species was written just after A Madness so Discreet.  “In some ways, when I wrote [the main character killing someone], I was testing the waters to see how people were going to react to vigilante justice.” Indeed, reading the books in publication order shows this author’s development in her writing style and themes, especially teen girls and society. In Female of the Species, Ms. McGinnis tackles vigilante justice head on.  She aimed “to make people uncomfortable,” but also balance justice. The book was sparked by a documentary about an individual that most in a community believed was guilty but never brought to justice due to lack of evidence.  This Darkness Mine came next, and addresses the dichotomy of a person being “good or bad, period, there’s no gray.” What happens when a “good girl” does “bad things?”  The main character in this book was particularly complicated, and Ms. McGinnis commented that “what’s hard is to make a complicated character likable.” It is difficult to know what to feel about many of her characters – are they good? are they bad? what does that even mean?

Ms. McGinnis next wrote a fantasy duology (Given to the Sea and Given to the Earth), and “it was definitely the most difficult one to put onto paper.”  In writing this book, she discovered that world building is “really hard.” She prefers contemporary settings for her books, and Heroine is a prime example. In Heroine, the main character is a star athlete who is injured, and starts taking opioid medications.  The book is a masterful building of a train wreck the reader knows is coming, and is helpless to stop. It also a much more realistic (vs presumed stereotypical) picture of an addict and the surrounding people in the addict’s life.  Ms. McGinnis took great care in not writing a “how to” book for drug addiction, and pointed out that many things in the book regarding the actual drugs and drug use “couldn’t have happened that way;” she intentionally mixed in “drug terms/culture and usages from the 1980s onward.” For example, one character telling another to grind the Oxy to kill the time release to get a bigger high “may have been possible in 1998” but not now; many years ago the drug manufacturer changed the drug so that could not be done.  She understands such a concern about her book, but also points out that several of the challenges appear to be from those who have not read it.  Another specific challenge is that the book “glamorizes” drug use.  However, Ms. McGinnis writes “very honestly about drugs – they make you feel good in the moment… They do not solve your problems.” Upon reading the book, one can see that the book’s title, Heroine, is a clever play on words. 

Be Not Far From Me was originally supposed to be released prior to Heroine, but after she pitched Heroine, it was decided to publish Heroine first.  Sparked by being the author herself being lost in the woods, Be Not Far From Me is a story of survival and even self discovery. Her most recent duology (The Initial Insult and The Last Laugh) is very dark, and very much in the same vein as and inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s stories.  Her main human character is once again complicated, and struggles to handle situations common to being in high school. Another main character is a feline, and Ms. McGinnis has finally written a book about a cat, but definitely not as a family member had hoped for. 

Ms. McGinnis has co-authored several other books with close author friends, and even co-authored a book with James Patterson.  City of the Dead, published in 2021, was an exciting opportunity and a revisit to one of his prior series. Having previously written a dystopian duology, the setting for the series was quite familiar for Ms. McGinnis. “It wasn’t hard to make that leap again…and I really enjoyed it.” 

Although a common misconception about being a writer, according to Ms. McGinnis, is that “we all have money,” she also noted that “I love writing, I love reading.  I feel so blessed, seriously, every day, that I get to do this for a living.  It’s incredible.”  She does have an at least part time job, substitute teaching in the community in which she grew up and still lives. Quite oddly, she has a birthmark on her left knee in the shape of her home state, Ohio. As a teen, she wishes she had known that “it gets better, everything gets better. The things that upset you at 16 won’t upset you at 40.” Ms. McGinnis has known since she was little that she wanted to be a writer, and in high school she was “bookish but also an athlete.” 

When asked how she has come up with the idea for so many books, she said “I never have trouble coming up with ideas… I don’t know where they’re going to come from or how they happen.  Sometimes they really do just land on you and it doesn’t have to be necessarily tied to even what you’re doing at the moment.  I will just have epiphanies.  Generally those are the best ones, the ones that just seem to fall from the sky – those are my favorites.”  She draws little inspiration from people in real life. Laughing, she explained: “There’s always a high body count in my books and if people think you based a character on them and you killed them, that hurts their feelings.” Ms. McGinnis stated she had no plans to write romance, and pointed out that while there is some romance in her books, “look how that turns out.”  Again laughing, after discussing the darkness of her books, she said “people have said to me [after reading one of her books], Mindy you seem so normal.” 

Covid had no significant impact on Ms. McGinnis’ writing, although she had to cancel approximately 60 events, and missed meeting people in real life.  Interestingly though, it affected her “life long go to,” reading.  She struggled to find something to keep her attention. Reading dark things was difficult due to the pandemic, and reading happy things felt “trite or silly.  Reading couldn’t be what I needed it to be.”

Unfortunately for eager readers and fans, Ms. McGinnis’ next solo book will not be published until 2023 (hopefully March).  It is titled The Long Stretch of Bad Days, and in it the main characters uncover the dark history of a small town while trying to earn their last history credit for graduation.  What will happen next??

2022 SEYA Panel - It's Complicated

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2022 RosieCon Book Festival - Mindy McGinnis

Off the Cuff on Instagram Live

What a show we had last night! If you missed Off The Cuff, catch the replay of farm rebels, librarian secrets, and writing reimagined clsssics.

Guests: Mindy McGinnis and Tirzah Price.

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Buckeye Book Fair Book Bit - Be Not Far From Me

Join us to find out what drives @mindymcginnisauthor and her feisty grit when creating characters who overcome life’s adversity. www.buckeyebookfair.org

Be Not Far From Me Featured on Good Morning Austria!

The German edition of Be Not Far From Me - called Lost - was featured this morning on Good Morning Austria!

Response to Heroine Being Challenged

Q: As an author, what is your perspective on the banning of certain books in school libraries? Is there a greater significance behind banning books at schools?

A: “First of all, I want to say that a parent knows their child best. If a parent says, “this book is not appropriate for my child,” they are right. Bottom line. When a parent says, “this book is not appropriate for any child,” we’re in censorship territory. Yes, there is greater significance in a book being banned in a school. It’s a black mark, a patina of shame. It tells kids who are dealing with these topics – whatever they are – in their daily lives, that they are wrong, shameful, and dirty. This does not encourage anyone to speak up, or seek help. It encourages them to keep their heads down, bury pain, and live in emotional isolation as they pretend to fit in, be normal, and abide by a social code that others have pushed upon them.”

Q: Are there any premises in which certain books should be banned from the school library?

A: “Again, parents always have final say. If they believe that a book is inappropriate for their child, then it is. Their ethical code within their own household is their decision. It doesn’t extend to the public.”

Q: Who do you think should be responsible for these decisions? Teachers, Admin, Parents, Librarians, Students, etc?

A: “I think most schools have a great process for dealing with challenged books. Of course, all voices should be heard. Parents have real concerns about what their children are exposed to, and raising their children is their most important job. Listening is also critical, and in a time when most public discourse has been demeaned to slugging matches where the winner has the best one-liner and everyone has a pie chart to refute someone else’s bar graph, actually being quiet and considering the other person’s point no longer seems essential to arriving at a decision. That’s what I would ask – that everyone let everyone speak, and then actually think about what they said, not just reload the next quip.”

Q: Parents in the district have challenged your book, Heroine, claiming that it is not appropriate for high schoolers. How would you address the concerns parents have raised about your writing?

A: “The specific stated claims read as such:

1) The content of the book is inappropriate for children of school age through 12th grade. Facts and data here are from the CDC, link below, graphics attached. https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/heroin/index.html Heroin use has more than doubled among young adults ages 18–25 in the past decade. This means that real talk has to happen with teens about drug abuse, prescription drug misuse, and the very real dangers of casual drug use BEFORE they turn 18… exactly the period of time – and the window of opportunity – that the statement above would deny.

2) We should be trying to help the opioid crisis in our country, not contribute to it by putting books like this in our kids hands. Heroine is a cautionary tale about a gifted female athlete whose injury leads her to misuse prescription drugs in order to recover for her season, leading to reliance upon the drug, followed by a decision to turn to street drugs once she can no longer obtain them legally. This dead-ends her athletic career, ruins her personal relationships, and ultimately leaves her life in a wreck that she is unsure she can fully recover from. The statement above makes me question whether the entire book was actually read. 3) It tells students how to take oxycontin and heroin and it leads them to believe that these drugs can improve situations in their lives. The opening line of this book is, “When I wake up, all my friends are dead.” I don’t think this can be construed as a claim that drugs can improve their lives. Another example would be Chapter 51, when my main character literally poops her pants in public during a softball game, then vomits all over herself, and hides in a port-a-potty until the game is over. Everyone knows she is in there, covered in her own filth. Her team, the opposing team, her family, her friends, the entire crowd watches this happen to her in real time. Her utter humiliation and outing as an addict is very public, and again, I don’t think a word of it can be construed as leading a reader to believe that using drugs will improve situations in their lives. Once again, this statement makes me question whether the entire book was actually read. As far as Heroine being a “how to,” on taking drugs – much of the drug culture and language that I used in this book is pulled from the late 90s and early 2000s. Many of the methods used in Heroine would no longer be effective for a reader today — which was a conscious decision on my part. For example, in 2010, Purdue-Pharma, the makers of Oxycontin, discontinued the original formula for the drug, releasing a new pill that could no longer be crushed and snorted, as it would not turn into a powder (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/upshot/opioids-oxycontin-purdue-pharma.html). This also meant that the method of sucking the time release layer off the pill (also used in the novel) was no longer effective, as the time release characteristics were now infused throughout the entire pill, not in a simple covering. So… long story short – no. Heroine does NOT tell students how to take oxycontin, unless they read it a full decade before it was published, when those methods would have actually worked. As for shooting up heroin: no, my novel most definitely doesn’t walk the reader through how to do that. I can say that with conviction because I’m the author and I don’t know how to do it.”

Q: What audiences do you think your book Heroin is “appropriate” for?

A: “Humans. Anyone looking for empathy and compassion in the world. Anyone hoping to be understood. Anyone wondering how easy it is to fall down a rabbit hole, and anyone who has ever considered the fact that it could be them one day.”

Q: Do you think censorship of the youth is an important and relevant issue? How does banning books like Heroine contribute to this?

A: “It’s absolutely relevant, given our climate of everyone screaming at everyone else, and each side absolutely believing they hold the highest moral ground. Banning books like Heroine, which is an empathetic look at the emotional and mental state of an addict, means that we continue to stand fast on our side of the line, and hold tight to the concept that we could never, ever end up on the other side of it.”

Q: What power should parents have in censoring the reading of high schoolers beyond their own child?

A: “My honest answer is that adults need to trust educators, librarians, and other institutions. Junior Library Guild, Kirkus, Horn Book, and other professional review sites assign age categories to young adult books. But more importantly – trust the readers themselves. I worked in a high school library for fourteen years. Teens and young readers DO self-censor. I’ve seen plenty of kids pick up a book, page through it, and be like, “Woah! Okay… not for me.” They put it down. They move on.”

Originally published: https://marquettemessenger.com/news/2021/12/15/qa-with-mindy-mcginnis/

The Good Story Podcast: Episode 24

Mindy McGinnis, mystery, suspense, thriller author and dog haver, joins the Good Story Podcast to talk about her upcoming work with James Patterson, shit-shoveling, book snobbery, and showing characters' humanity.

The Inside Scoop On The Initial Insult With The Bookish Box

Thanks to The Bookish Box for hosting this IG Live chat where we talk about The Initial Insult, cats, dogs… and of course my Dalmatian Gus makes an appearance.

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Resurrecting Edgar Allan Poe While Continuously Disappointing My Mother

by Mindy McGinnis

The germination of a story can be hard to pinpoint, even more so if the seed was planted over 30 years ago, as I suspect is the case with my newest release, The Initial Insult. I can’t say for sure that I’d been introduced to Poe before my freshman year in high school, but I can certainly recall staring at Harry Clarke’s 1919 illustration of “The Cask of Amontillado” included in my English textbook and feeling—in a word—horrified.

And also—oddly elated. I ditched the pace of the always-painful class read aloud, finished Amontillado, turned the page to take in “Hop-Frog” and looked back up from my textbook with a single thought: I didn’t know you were allowed to do that in writing.

I’d only been subjected to safe, typically didactic classroom readings at that point in my life, but being exposed to Poe was a game-changer for me. Yes, you can bury people alive (can in fact, rely on that trick more than once, if you’re Poe). You can also set them on fire and let their pets eat their decomposing bodies.

It all made my own dark imaginings seem tame by comparison—but also valid.

I’d always known I wanted to be a writer, but I hadn’t seen the shadows that wandered my mind exemplified on paper, let alone be considered worthy of praise. Now, with ten books behind me and a reputation for killing fictional people while making real people cry, that not only can you do that in writing, but you can make a career out of it.

All that being said, I almost always get a phone call from my mom after she reads an advanced copy of my latest book. And while complimentary, these conversations tend to end with a sigh and the often-repeated wish that I will “write something nicer next time, maybe with a cat.”

I managed the second part. Only, the cat is an escaped panther wandering around a debauched high-school gathering while a virus breaks out among the party-goers and a murder goes down in the basement.

And yes, not only can you do that in writing, but you can do it in YA.

Moving Edgar Allan Poe into a modern, Appalachian setting was not something I’d ever toyed with. Yes, I loved Poe, but emulating others wasn’t a goal of mine… until a black cat ran across my path as I pulled into a service station, and, while pumping gas, I thought about how most people would hold to the superstitious view that bad luck would find me soon. I’m a fan of the Poe interpretation and assumed that the black cat was an arbiter of justice, late for his appointment to deliver judgement upon someone.

And instantly, there was a story in my head. The cat became a prowling panther, an abandoned house and known party-pad morphed into the setting for The Masque of the Red Death, underneath which I added a basement, a coal chute, loose bricks, a bucket of mortar and cast female frienemies in the role of Fortunato and Montressor. It happened in about seven minutes, which is how long it takes me to drive home from work. When something blooms into life that quickly, it’s either been percolating for a long time, or it’s pure drivel.

A series of texts with a fellow writer friend reassured me that it wasn’t drivel. In fact, she insisted that not only did my idea have legs, but they were sexy, sexy legs. All of this happened during the summer of 2018, and while I definitely thought the depths I was plumbing were worth the risks, I had reservations about diving in.

My usual creative process is to mull for a while, do some background reading, and then full-bore plow through a first draft at a chaotic pace. This time the mulling meant determining which Poe stories to use as a framework, the background reading meant learning more about Poe’s life itself, and the first draft came up in the form of what I politely like to refer to as a “word vomit.”

Also, my mom was not happy with the amount of actual vomiting in the book. She wasn’t particularly fond of the swearing and drinking, either. The violence she seems to have grown accustomed to, admitting to me that “I think people question my parenting.” The tension was what proved too much for her in the end, evidenced by the text I received one night letting me know that she couldn’t read the book before bed, because it was “just too much,” but that Game of Thrones was serving her nicely instead.

Everything my mother considered a drawback, I perceive as a strength. Poe’s work always carries with it the dark and macabre, but brings them forward with that touch of realism that makes it all the more believable. Family feuds, stinging rebukes that fester for years, lost dreams, buried pasts, and the bright flash of a familiar smile that leads you into the shadows are all elements of what makes Poe endure. 

As humans, we acknowledge the darkness that co-exists with the light, and while some of us may be more inclined to probe it than others, it carries with it an undeniable fascination. It has been exactly such subjects that have fired my imagination since I can remember and which served as a cornerstone for both my and Poe’s careers.

One of my much-loved coffee mugs carries quotes from famous writers, and I happen to be staring down one from Jane Austen as I write this: “Let other pens dwell on guilty and misery.”

To which I say—Don’t worry, Jane. I got this.

Radio Chat With DCDL: Initial Insult Inside Look!

Check out my radio chat with the Delaware Library about what I'm reading right now, a little about the inspiration behind THE INITIAL INSULT, and a sneak peek about what to expect from THE LAST LAUGH in 2022!

2019 Summer Flash Contest Winner →

I sever the first two fingers of my left hand on a Tuesday. They fall to the ground at my feet, causing a momentary confusion as I wonder what tree has dropped this odd fruit. Then I see the crescent scar left behind by a fish hook and know that these are my fingers, that they are no longer attached to my body, and that I will surely not be going to piano lessons the next day. This is when I know how much I dislike piano, that the momentary relief at the thought lifts my spirits even though I am bleeding profusely.

I am 9, and it is fall, the woods around me swaying in the wind, dead leaves drifting to the ground as I take off my shirt and wrap my hand. It is a new shirt, and I will surely be in trouble, I think, as the blood overtakes the print design – horses that can’t outrun the beat of my heart. I pick up my fingers, still warm, and squeeze them, feeling the texture of my skin. I’ve held my own hand, made the church steeple and opened it up to see the people, twiddled my thumbs and traced the lines of my palm, but always there was reciprocal feeling, touch to touch. It is a one-side game now, my dead fingers rendered mute.

I gather my hatchet, made by my grandfather. My name – Ellie – is etched onto the handle. I loop it through my belt, not cleaning the bright smear of blood from the blade. I trip over the spear I had been making, defense against some imagined enemy who would threaten my forest. I am 9 and determined to protect what I care for.

I head home, leaving behind the canopy of the woods for the rustling of the dried cornstalks. I break into our backyard to see Mom at the kitchen window, working. She is cleaning, baking, cooking, fixing, mending, caring, raising, mothering. She is doing something appropriate to the hour, day, month, year. She is not cutting off her fingers in the woods while making weapons.

I go to the door, unsure how to present myself, her only child, naked from the waist up, hatchet at her side, filthy, bloodied, carrying her own body parts. I squeeze my fingers. They have gone cold; the blood tacky.

I am 9. I do not have the words for this. I cannot explain myself or the mystery of what has occurred; how my blade was untrue, how I have maimed myself for life. Inside I hear: water running, the smell of fresh bread, Mom humming. I step into the kitchen.

“Mom,” I say. “Something happened.”

—Mindy McGinnis is an Edgar Award-winning novelist who writes across multiple genres, including post-apocalyptic, historical, thriller, contemporary, mystery, and fantasy. While her settings may change, you can always count on Mindy’s books to deliver grit, truth, and an unflinching look at humanity and the world around us.

Interview with Mindy McGinnis

What inspired you to write “Something Happened?”

I grew up in a very rural area and still live there. It’s a lifestyle that is easily romanticized, but it also carries a fair amount of danger with it. I spent most of my time in the woods, playing alone, and I often did carry a hatchet with me. As an adult, I think about some of my activities and cringe…like purposefully crossing a flooded stream because I liked how it felt when the current carried me.

What was your writing and revision process like for this story?

It came out fairly quickly, and the tone was exactly what I had wanted right from the beginning. However, with so few words, each one carries a lot of weight. I’d leave it alone for a week or two, return to it and change one or two words. But when you’re working with less than 500, each word carries great importance.

What are some of the challenges and benefits of writing short-short fiction? How does it differ from novel writing?

I think it’s an emotional hurricane for me. I often get one line, or a visual, and try to evoke the gut impact that it brings for me. I’m naturally a tight, concise writer, so I actually enjoy the parameters that encourage me to hone my natural inclination, which is to say a lot by writing very little.

Your fiction spans an impressive variety of genres. How has not staying in one particular authorial “lane” helped your craft and your career?

If I’m being perfectly honest, I doubt it has. I think if I had picked a lane and stuck in it, I might be more successful or well known. I know I’d be easier to market, and my brand would be more defined. I think career-wise it might have been more intelligent to establish myself in one arena. Craft wise, the thought makes me claustrophobic. I read widely, so I write widely.

What’s your best advice for fellow short story writers?

The short story is a form that presents challenges the novel doesn’t. World building, character development and arc, plot…all of the elements you’d have more room for in a novel are constricted to a very small narrative. Flash fiction is an area I excel at, micro-focusing on a single moment and the impact of it. A short story is much more difficult for me. You need more than one moment in a short story, but you need to give equal weight to each and not become involved in a single scene to the detriment of others. It’s a tricky balance, and one I’ve not mastered yet.

Author Of The Week: Author Chat with Mindy McGinnis →

 YABC:  What gave you the inspiration to write this book?

I can't always say for sure where ideas for my books come from. My new duology is no exception. There wasn't a single moment where I thought - hey, someone should combine elements of Poe short stories and set it in contemporary Appalachia. What I do know is that over a period of a short (7 minute) drive, and a flurry of texts with one of my writer friends as I aired ideas, (Is this too crazy? How much puking is allowed in YA?) I arrived home aware that I had a story with legs.

 YABC:  Who is your favorite character in the book?

One of the more fun elements of this book is that some of the chapters are written from the POV of a panther. Asking myself what a panther's internal monologue would look like was pretty fun.

YABC:  Which came first, the title or the novel?

The concept, for sure. But the titles followed very shortly. The first - THE INITIAL INSULT - is pulled directly from Poe's "Cask of Amontillado" and the line, "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge."

YABC:  What scene in the book are you most proud of, and why?

Again, anything with the Cat as the narrator. Those chapters are written in verse, which was a new challenge for me, and one I'd like to explore further.

YABC:  What do you like most about the cover of the book?

A lot of the elements of the book are present in the cover - bricks, the shadow of the panther, and the ivy / vine that alludes to the isolated setting. It does a good job of preparing the reader for what we're rolling into - darkness, and bleak shadows.

YABC:  What new release book are you looking most forward to in 2021?

Honest answer - my own. I think it's the best thing I've ever written and I look forward to getting it out into the world.

YABC:  What was your favorite book in 2020?

Hard to say. 2020 was a difficult year for me with reading. It's unfortunate, as I usually turn to reading as an escape, but reality was so pressing last year. It was inescapable.

YABC:  What’s up next for you?

The sequel! THE LAST LAUGH will be coming in 2022! 

YABC:  Which was the most difficult or emotional scene to narrate?

There are various flashbacks throughout the novel, exploring the friendship of the two main characters and how some unfortunate events had unfolded in the past, specifically in their middle grade years. Writing with that young of a voice was foreign to me and took some adjustments. 

YABC:  Which character gave you the most trouble when writing your latest book?

A male character whose outward persona is essentially very different from his inward self. Actually, now that I think about it, there are two of those in the book!