Ask the Author: Merryl Hammond
Answered Questions (6)
Merryl Hammond
My mother left our family when I was very young, so my older sister and I were raised by my single father for several years before he remarried. This was back in the early 1960s, when divorce was very rare, and single fatherhood much more so. I never learned my mom's real reason for "abandoning" the nest. She did remarry soon after, so I assume there was a wild love affair of some sort? I've often dreamed of teasing out various possible scenarios, and also of tracing possible outcomes for me as a child and teen: what if she'd stayed in a miserable—possibly abusive—marriage? What if my father had run off, instead of my mother? What if she'd taken me with her when she left? And so on, endlessly. Both my parents are long dead now, so I'm left with my ruminations and imaginations... Great fodder for a novel, perhaps!
Merryl Hammond
I would travel to the fictional world I'm writing about in my first YA novel, and would sit down and talk with each character about how they're thinking and feeling about the chaotic events that have engulfed them. (The teen protagonist's mother gets diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and the whole family gets so severely disrupted it almost cracks apart.) I have personally lived through some of this drama, but I was the mother. It's both fascinating and challenging for me to write from the teen daughter's perspective in this novel.
Merryl Hammond
A variety of mental health-related memoirs and essay collections, just because I have bipolar disorder and am always intrigued to learn from the experiences of others. Also, a wide selection of young adult novels because I'm currently working on a YA novel myself, and of course the best way to improve one's own writing is to read, read and read some more!
Merryl Hammond
After publishing "Mad Like Me: Travels in Bipolar Country," I got a lot of great feedback from readers, many of whom have family members or friends with bipolar disorder. That gave me the idea to edit an anthology of short stories by these folks and by other bipolar patients. So that will be my next project, to bring all these stories together.
Merryl Hammond
For me, it's knowing that I can share my story and my message with others. If what I have learned can be of some help to others, that's a huge privilege.
Merryl Hammond
I usually wait till I feel I have something interesting to say. If I get stuck, a walk outdoors or some exercise usually does the trick to get my thoughts flowing again. Also, I just try to start writing – anything – knowing I can delete it all if necessary. But even a short paragraph is better than nothing at all!
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