Author Jennifer Niven has several adult novels under her belt, but she always had a young adult story brewing inside of her. It took two deaths for her novel, “All The Bright Places,” to become a reality.
The first death was a boy she had loved when she was young, and whose tragic story inspired the book; the second death was her literary agent, who urged her to write what she loved.
“He was my agent of 15 years and he died unexpectedly. I was thinking of the best way to honor him and I needed to pay attention to what he said to me, so I’m going to write the thing I’m burning to write.
“I kept thinking about this boy I loved years ago and I thought, what if I put it into a story, and ‘All The Bright Places’ was born six weeks later,” says Niven.
“All The Bright Places” isn’t your typical love story. It deals with a lot of dark themes and real issues, like teenage mental health disorders and suicide.
Inquirer Super sat down with Jennifer Niven, who was in Manila last weekend for a National Book Store book signing event, and talked to her about the book’s film adaptation, Finch, oblivious adults, and how her book became a beacon for teens with mental health issues.
In your author’s note, you mentioned that “All The Bright Places” was based on a boy you had loved who had met the same fate as Finch.
The overall story and ending are the same. Finch at first had a lot more of his characteristics, but Finch became his own character and he and Violet developed their own relationship. There are a lot of differences.
The book deals with some pretty hard stuff, and you mentioned receiving a lot of messages from teenagers going through the same thing. How do you deal with those?
It can definitely be hard. At first it was overwhelming because I was trying to respond to every single person, there were so many messages. To me, it was important that they were heard—one of the issues was that they’re not being heard in their lives—and what I try to do now is to respond to everyone, especially the ones in trouble or asking for help.
I’m not a counselor or a psychologist, but what I say to them is to please talk to an adult in your life who’s there, preferably a parent, and I have links to resources I send them. Emotionally, it’s hard to know there are so many people suffering in the world, but I tell them I’m here and you don’t need to go through it alone.
A big part of the book was Finch and Violet’s wandering through Indiana; were you able to visit those places as well?
I’m from Indiana, but I didn’t even know about the other places until I wrote this book called “Weird Indiana.” Since then I’ve gone to the world’s largest ball of paint and the backyard rollercoaster. I went there last year with my agent, some film producers and the director. They’re gonna use the actual rollercoaster, it’s really interesting.
Elle Fanning will play Violet; do you have a Finch?
We don’t have a Finch yet, and here’s why. The director (Miguel Arteta, “The Good Girl,” “Youth In Revolt,” “Alexander” and “The No Good Terrible Day”) once cast a male actor between the ages of 18 and 21 six months before the project, and two months before they were to start filming, like almost overnight, that kid looked like he was 30, because of the way guys just change so quickly. We’ve been talking to potential Finches, but we’re gonna wait ’til the end of summer to pick a Finch.
You’re going to be writing the screenplay, too. How do you know which scenes to keep?
It’s so challenging, because you do have to trim the fat and leave what’s essential. What I actually did was ask the readers on Instagram which scenes they absolutely had to see on the big screen, and which lines they wanted there. The director and I took that information, and we sat down and we made an outline based on their feedback.
What scenes were the ones that absolutely had to be there?
They definitely wanted to see all the wandering scenes, especially the rollercoaster; they wanted to definitely see the scene I’m most looking forward to, when Finch leaves his car by the side of the road and goes running to the nursery to take flowers. The blue hole.
The blue hole exists?
Yes. It’s real. Every single place they went to is real except the Bookmobile (the Bookmobile is a bunch of different trailers filled with books from different genres).
Have you been able to discuss Violet with Elle Fanning?
Elle had read the book and had fallen in love with it. I was so thrilled because she was who I pictured when I was writing it. The initial thing that grabbed her when she read it was the sister relationship, because she has a sister and they’re so close. She also said, “Thank you for not dumbing this down. Thank you for being honest and treating us like we’re smart people.”
Are we going to get a sequel to “All The Bright Places”?
I’m not opposed to it at all. I love reading fan fiction, I love what people have done with fan fic for Violet. So, never say never.
What are you working on next?
I have a new book out on October 4 called “Holding Up The Universe,”about a boy who cannot recognize faces and a very visible girl who feels invisible. It’s a story about figuring out who you are and learning to see others for who they are.
“All The Bright Places” is available at National Book Store. Shop online at www.nationalbookstore.com.ph and follow them on Instagram: @nbsalert.