Courtesy of Lindsey Jane Gardner

Today we have a very special OOM interview with debut author Erin Saldin. 

Author of the YA novel The Girls of No Return, Erin Saldin went on her first backpacking trip in central Idaho at age fourteen. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times and the Best New American Voices series, as well as multiple literary magazines. She teaches creative writing and honors courses at the University of Montana-Missoula.

The Girls of No Return, published this month by Arthur A. Levine Books / Scholastic, is her first novel and has already received two starred reviews: Kirkus Reviews called The Girls of No Return, “[R]ichly rewarding” and “[A] smashing debut.” And Booklist raved, “So much more than a typical problem novel, this psychological mind-bender is raw, gripping, and deftly rolled out by a writer-to-watch.”

Erin joins OOM today with an exclusive interview!

The Girls of No Return takes place at a school for troubled girls—are any of the characters based on you? Where did you draw inspiration from?

None of the characters are based on me, though I wish I could say I’m as tough as Boone! But, I’ve always been fascinated with the friendships that girls in particular form—especially in high school—and the way that, at a time when we’re still trying to figure out who we are and how we want to define ourselves, the line between ourselves and our friends can blur, and it can be hard to distinguish between our own and our friends’ motivations and desires.

How did you come to write this story specifically? And why did you decide to write a young adult novel?

I have always loved to read YA fiction. When I was in college, I was in a creative writing course with another student who read a story of mine and said, “Erin, you should really write a book for young adults some day.” Then, after graduation, the same student wrote to me in West Africa, where I was a Peace Corps Volunteer, and suggested again that I write a young adult novel—but this time, she suggested that I send it to her when I was done, since she was now an editor at Scholastic. So, it was always in the back of my mind, but I didn’t get around to starting it until after graduate school, about six years later. Now, that same student who first suggested that I write for young adults is my fantastic editor, Cheryl Klein.

The book began as a short story in my first graduate school writing workshop. I had so much fun writing it at the time, but it felt like there was so much more to say about the characters, the school, and the wilderness. I set it aside until I was done with graduate school, and then I dusted it off and began to expand the story into a book.

Did you have a soundtrack in your head as you wrote?

A soundtrack! I wish I did. That would make me a much cooler writer than I am. But, it would be easy to think back to what I was listening to around that time, since my musical tastes only change once a decade or so. I listened to a lot of Neko Case and the Magnetic Fields back then. When I needed to feel a little bit country, I turned on some Merle Haggard. That being said, I generally don’t listen to any music at all, in my head or on my stereo, while I’m writing. The danger is, of course, that you’ll write down a song lyric and will truly believe it’s your own. No one wants to think they’ve come up with the greatest dialogue in the history of humankind, only to have their editor read it and say, “Huh. ‘Who do you think you are…Collecting your jar of hearts.’ That sounds familiar.”

What were your favorite books when you were a teenager? Who are some of your favorite authors today (YA or adult)? What are you reading now?

When I was a teenager, I went through some pretty specific reading phases. There was a fairly dedicated “Period Piece” phase (ushered in by Jane Austen, it expanded to include Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and any other authors whose books had been adapted as BBC mini-series); a “Rediscovered Favorites” phase (including The Westing Game and Behind the Attic Wall, as well as The Dark is Rising series); and a “Toni Morrison” phase (which is pretty self-explanatory). Now, my favorite YA authors are John Green and Francisco X. Stork. I’ll read anything they write. Other favorite authors include Lorrie Moore, Deborah Eisenberg, and Jeffrey Eugenides—in fact, I’m reading The Marriage Plot right now.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on two novels. One is more in the adult lit camp, and takes place at a homestead in rural Montana. The other is a YA novel that features, among other things: mini-vans, dentures, and nasty break-ups.

Want to hear more from Erin?  Be sure to visit the The Brooklyn Arden for an interview with Erin and her editor, Cheryl Klein!

And now we want to hear from you, readers…Are you excited to read The Girls of No Return?