In Talk (Frances Foster Books/FSG, 2005, $16), her latest young adult novel, writer Kathe Koja tells the story of gay male high school student Kit and his experiences in the drama club at Faulkner High School. Cast as Reed, the male lead in the controversial play Talk, Kit discovers that the acting skills he has honed by trying to act straight and not reveal his secret come in handy. But soon things that are out of his control force him to confront himself in ways he had never imagined. I recently spoke with Ms. Koja about Talk.

AE: Much of your novel Talk revolves around the theater department of a high school. Did you do theater in high school?
KK: I tried out for The Crucible, if that counts! No, I wasn't a real theater person in high school.

AE: In my experience, theater was one of the few places where gay and straight students mixed comfortably in high school. Would you say that is still true today?
KK: I think so. I'm sure the experience differs from school to school, but drama club is usually a welcoming environment.

AE: Talk is written from a couple of different points of view, including that of Kit, a gay high school student. What can you tell me about writing in the voice of a gay male teen?
KK: As with any character, I did my best to be as true to him--to the Kit I saw in my head, the boy who was funny, and hopeful, and kind--as I could be. Talk began with a mental picture, of this boy sitting in the theater seat with his friend, looking at the bare stage. Who was he? What was he doing there? I asked those questions, and Kit began to take shape, and answer them. I like all the characters in my books, even the bad ones--perhaps "like" is not the word; "understand" is better. If I didn't understand them, I couldn't write about them, I can't hope to make real what I can't see. But I do have favorites, and Kit is definitely one of them.

AE: Another fascinating aspect of Talk is that you crafted a play (called Talk) within the novel. What were the challenges involved in doing that?
KK: Many! I admire playwrights very much--their task is harder than a novelist's, I think: the playwright has to move live people around in actual space, in real time, where a novelist can put them anywhere with just a few keystrokes. Plus the language of a play versus the language of a novel--though both are "literary" in a certain sense--are very different: one is meant to be experienced silently, one aloud. It was a learning experience to be sure, and great fun, to pretend to be a playwright for one book. It was also the best way, I thought, to tell not only the intertwining stories of Kit and Lindsay as people, but as actors as well, and to pose some of the novel's central questions--about identity, fear, repression--in another way.

Page 1 / 2 - Next