FAQ
Where did the idea for Angel Falls come from?
DAVID: One day when we were hiking at a place near Bear Mountain called Doodletown—cute-sounding name, till you find out it’s from a Dutch word that means “Valley of the Dead”. There’s the ruins of an old town that was settled in the 1700s and abandoned. We were exploring these old stone walls when a deer ran across the trail right ahead of us, just like the one that startles Jessie and Jared. Later on, we stumbled across this old graveyard with tombstones covered in moss. I think the idea for Angel Falls started there.
JULIA: After Doodletown, all we had was a creepy place and mysterious deer. It wasn’t till later that year we discovered Gloucester and started reading up on the abandoned area known as Dogtown. Over bowls of "the best clam chowder in Massachusetts" we posed the question: what if a girl from NYC moves to Gloucester and meets a local boy in the spooky woods of an abandoned town?
JULIA: After Doodletown, all we had was a creepy place and mysterious deer. It wasn’t till later that year we discovered Gloucester and started reading up on the abandoned area known as Dogtown. Over bowls of "the best clam chowder in Massachusetts" we posed the question: what if a girl from NYC moves to Gloucester and meets a local boy in the spooky woods of an abandoned town?
What was your writing process like?
DAVID: We started out trading chapters back and forth. Julia wrote the chapters that are from Jessie’s POV, I wrote the ones from Jared’s. Then the further we got into the book, the more free we got about that—I wrote some passages from Jessie’s POV, Julia wrote some from Jared’s. Now there are places in the novel that I’m not sure which one of us wrote. I think that’s a good thing. It’s like the novel and the characters have their own voice.
JULIA: For about half the first draft, all the writing was about discovery. Several chapters didn’t even refer to the other main character; we were learning about who they were, and what happens when they meet, what's at stake for them separately and together. David and I love long walks in the woods, and since the Hudson river valley is full of trails, we were never short on places to go. Most plot elements and many key scenes were ‘written’ on our walks.
JULIA: For about half the first draft, all the writing was about discovery. Several chapters didn’t even refer to the other main character; we were learning about who they were, and what happens when they meet, what's at stake for them separately and together. David and I love long walks in the woods, and since the Hudson river valley is full of trails, we were never short on places to go. Most plot elements and many key scenes were ‘written’ on our walks.
Have the two of you written anything else together?
DAVID: Oh yes…we’ve been writing things together for years. ‘The Secret Life of Gods’. It’s a collection of linked monologues in the voice of characters from Greek mythology who have somehow survived into the present day and are now living incognito among us. I wrote a monologue in the voice of Midas, then Julia surprised me by writing an “answer” in the voice of a mortal woman who becomes Midas’ lover. It was so much fun, we needed up writing several more.
JULIA: My favorite voice is Hera's, she's a lot of fun to write. If we get around to making a book of them, the Hera/Zeus conversations will be interjected throughout. AND — drumroll please — we are writing another novel together, also two characters, inspired by yet another couple of spooky places. And that's all I can tell you for now.
JULIA: My favorite voice is Hera's, she's a lot of fun to write. If we get around to making a book of them, the Hera/Zeus conversations will be interjected throughout. AND — drumroll please — we are writing another novel together, also two characters, inspired by yet another couple of spooky places. And that's all I can tell you for now.
You both enjoy hiking in strange, abandoned places—what’s your favorite(s)?
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JULIA: The West Point Foundry near Cold Spring, Storm King mountain has some ruins, Frannie Reese Park in Highland. But one of my favorite ‘ruins’ is on the grounds of Lyndhurst Mansion in Tarrytown. There is a greenhouse of massive ironwork, with every bit of glass removed. One day, we were walking under the ironwork when we heard strange tones, clicking noises, and other natural sounds coming from above and around us. Following some colored wires we found multiple speakers attached to the ironwork throughout the greenhouse. Much later we discovered it was part of a sound installation called “The Garden of Sonic Delights!”
DAVID: I think Dogtown in Cape Ann, Massachusetts has to be at the top of that list. It has this strange, magical vibe or aura that’s really powerful. You can really feel it when you’re there. |
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Who did you write this book for? And what do you hope they’ll get from it?
JULIA: Me. Definitely me. But I hope everybody reads it, and they enjoy it at least half as much as David and I enjoyed writing it.
DAVID: There’s this wonderful thing that Gwendolyn Brooks said: “If there is a book you want to read that hasn’t been written, you must write it.” That’s a little how writing ‘Angel Falls’ felt. A lot of things that we love went into it, and a lot of things that scare us too—all these mysterious old places that feel like they have their own secret story to tell, the powerlessness that young people feel when they can’t control what’s happening in their world, plus the feeling that magic might be real, the hope that it’s true and the fear that it might be—that was the kind of book I wanted to read. So we wrote it.
DAVID: There’s this wonderful thing that Gwendolyn Brooks said: “If there is a book you want to read that hasn’t been written, you must write it.” That’s a little how writing ‘Angel Falls’ felt. A lot of things that we love went into it, and a lot of things that scare us too—all these mysterious old places that feel like they have their own secret story to tell, the powerlessness that young people feel when they can’t control what’s happening in their world, plus the feeling that magic might be real, the hope that it’s true and the fear that it might be—that was the kind of book I wanted to read. So we wrote it.