Allison van Diepen is the author of six teen novels: Street Pharm,
Snitch, Raven, The Oracle of Dating, The Oracle Rebounds, and
The Vampire Stalker. Her novels have been named ALA Quick Picks
for Reluctant Readers and New York City Public Library Books for
the Teen Age.
Allison holds degrees in History and Education. She is currently
Head of English at an alternative high school, where her focus
is on literacy. She lives with her husband and son in Ottawa,
Canada.
When I was growing up, I preferred movies to books. I loved
dark action films like The Terminator or quirky comedies
like Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. I think my love of
movies shaped my imagination. When I’m writing a book, I
often see it as a movie playing in my head.
At age twelve, my sister gave me two teen thrillers as a gift.
I realized that reading could actually be…thrilling. I devoured
them and quickly read every book I could find by that author (the
late John Bellairs). That’s when I realized what I’m
always telling my readers: Everyone is a reader if they find
the right book!
It wasn’t always easy to find the right books, though,
so I started writing stories of my own. What could be more exciting
than making up the story yourself and deciding what happens next?
It wasn’t long before I got hooked on writing. In fact,
I’d find myself dozing in class in high school because of
my late-night writing.
Around that time, I started reading romance novels. That led
me to write romance stories for my friends. They would choose
their favorite celebrity, and I would write up a romance between
my friend and that celebrity. Like my friend Nina and Antonio
Banderas, or my friend Jamie and George Clooney. I would spend
hours on each one, and eventually I started charging. I kept the
first two dollars I ever made and taped it into my diary.
I knew that I wanted to be a published author one day. I hoped
it would happen before I was twenty—but it actually happened
eight years later. During those years, I was still writing, and
I also went to university, traveled, and eventually became a teacher.
Little did I know that teaching would set me on the path of writing
teen fiction—especially once I took my first teaching job
in Brooklyn.
Many of my students complained about the boring books they had
to read for English class. I decided to write a book specifically
for my students—a book that I hoped would entertain them
and that would depict the tough challenges they faced growing
up in Brooklyn. That’s when I wrote Street Pharm
and Snitch.
After three and half years teaching in Brooklyn, I headed back
to Ottawa where I was hired at an alternative high school. My
students in Ottawa faced different issues than those in Brooklyn,
but still compelling ones. Some of them struggled with family
problems, addiction, mental illness. It was those issues, and
the difficult truths among my own loved ones, that inspired me
to write Raven.
After wading in such dark material, I wanted to do something
different—something light, funny and whimsical. So I wrote
The Oracle of Dating and The Oracle Rebounds,
which were in large part based on my own dating experiences and
those of my friends.
My latest novel, The Vampire Stalker (June 2011), is
full of action, suspense, and romance. The idea for the book struck
me one day while I was watching the A-Ha video Take On Me
on YouTube. I thought about how we all dream that our favorite
characters are real. So I asked myself, “What if, somehow,
the characters in a book crossed over into our world? What would
happen then?”
Anyway, that’s how it all began.
I’ll let you know where it goes from here.
Allison
