WHAT THE VALLEY KNOWS - HEATHER CHRISTIE
Millington Valley is a quintessential small Pennsylvania town: families go back generations. Football rules. Kids drink while adults look the other way. High school is a whirlwind of aspiration and rivalry, friendship and jealousy.
When smart and pretty Molly Hanover moves to town and attracts the attention of the football team’s hero, Wade Thornton—a nice guy with a bad drinking habit—longtime friendships are threatened and a popular cheerleader tries to turn the school against Molly.
The young couple’s future is shattered when Wade, drunk, wrecks his truck and Molly is thrown through the windshield. She wakes from a coma to find her beauty marred and her memory full of holes. As she struggles to heal, she becomes sure that something terrible happened before the accident. And there is somebody in the valley who doesn’t want her to remember.
MMW:
Today I’m excited to bring you an interview with Black Rose Writing author Heather Christie. She’s been a model, an actor, a flight attendant, a real estate broker, and holds a BA in Literary Studies and an MFA in Creative Writing — Heather, welcome and thank you for stopping by Martin Matthews Writes to share a little about your soon-to-be-released Young Adult crossover novel, WHAT THE VALLEY KNOWS.
Heather Christie:
Thank you, it's great to be here!
MMW:
Firstly, congratulations on the novel, you must be so excited to see your hard work be realized like this. How are you feeling about becoming a published author?
Heather Christie:
It's been a long journey. WTVK was a seven year project. So, I'm really excited to see it coming into the world.
MMW:
Sounds like a labor of love! So, what does the valley know, Heather? It sounds like Millington is a place full of secrets. Tell us a little bit about Molly Hanover. Who is she, and how’d she end up in MV?
Heather Christie:
Molly Hanover is a beautiful, seventeen-year-old bank geek. Her mother has taken a new job as a paralegal in Millington Valley and Molly finds herself the new girl in town in her senior year.
MMW:
I see, and this is where she runs into this Wade Thornton character? Sounds like he has some issues of his own. Can you tell us a little about him?
Heather Christie:
Wade is the big man on campus, a star football player . . . one of the cool kids, but he has a bad drinking habit. When he meets Molly, he falls hard.
MMW:
Sounds like Molly's going to run into some issues with this guy! But Wade's not bad, right? Just a guy with some demons?
Heather Christie:
Right, Wade is actually a really good guy. Something terrible happens to Molly (no spoilers here) and Wade still sees Molly's worth and loves her despite circumstances.
MMW:
Guess we'll have to read to find out what happens!
You grew up in rural Pennsylvania and Maryland surrounded by valleys and cornfields. How much of that childhood has shaped your current writing, and especiallyWHAT THE VALLEY KNOWS?
Heather Christie:
The fictional town of Millington Valley is the most autobiographical aspect of the book. Much of the landscape, and the sense of community, is taken from my hometown and a few of the surrounding areas.
MMW:
How about those characters -- Molly, Wade -- did your childhood and those experiences growing up help to shape those two?
Heather Christie:
Sure, there are bits of lots of people in Molly and Wade, but there are huge aspects of their characters that are completely made up, too.
MMW:
That's the wonderful thing about writing and character development, isn't it? So often we draw upon ourselves to create characters. I know in my own writing, I find myself adding parts of my own psyche to my protagonist or antagonist. How did the character of Molly come to you, and why did you feel the need to tell her story?
Heather Christie:
Molly's story came to me in a single scene: a girl (Molly) losing consciousness in the immediate aftermath of a horrific car accident. As she was slipping away, she had the urge to tell her boyfriend (Wade) a terrible secret she'd been keeping. That was all I had. And I wasn't quite sure what the secret was. On the first draft, I wrote the story forward from that point. The second revision, I wrote back in time. Many drafts later, I pieced it all together.
MMW:
And speaking of narrative, your novel is told from the point of view of Molly, Wade... but also Molly’s mother, Ann Hanover. It’s interesting that you’ve chosen to see things through an adult’s eyes in what otherwise is a young adult novel. What made you decide to use Ann’s perspective in your story?
Heather Christie:
This novel started out with six narrators: four adults and two teenagers. As I whittle away during revisions, three voices emerged: Molly's, Wade's and Ann's. Honestly, it made the book hard to sell to a big press. My agent got close, but in the end they passed because they felt the book didn't fit into the YA box clearly enough. Now that the early reviews are in, it's funny to learn that teen readers are really loving the mother's POV.
MMW:
I think that's great; as a YA writer myself, I think it's important to have impactful stories that do show the adults' perspectives.
WHAT THE VALLEY KNOWSis your first published novel. Will we be seeing more stories emerging from Millington Valley?
Heather Christie:
I hope so! I'm working on a second book that is also set in Millington Valley. The working title is AND THE VALLEY WEPT. The main characters change, but the secondary characters travel from book to book. I see a three book series and maybe a fourth Women's Fiction book in which the three teenage heroines grow up and are called back to the valley and find themselves as secondary characters, trying to help solve a mystery (VALLEY REDUX).
MMW:
You heard it here first, folks! Sounds like you've got your writing work cut out for you! Heather, it’s been great getting to know you and your book a little better. Thank you so much for your time. I want to wish you all the best in your book launch and your future writing.
Heather Christie:
Thank you! Good luck with your writing, too.
MMW:
Heather Christie’s debut novel WHAT THE VALLEY KNOWSreleases January 25 via Black Rose Writing. You can preorder now using the preorder code PREORDER2017 and save an additional 10-percent! Simply follow the links below.
You can find out more about Heather Christie and her writing at HeatherChristieBooks.com, and check out her Facebookpage.