Once Upon a Time in a Distant Galaxy

@ghostsofsweetvalley interviews me my about my first career

Ten years ago, on a trip to Prince Edward Island, I found the first book I ever wrote in Canada's smallest library!

1. You were the first editor for the Sweet Valley High series and acting editor on its popular predecessor, Sweet Dreams. How did you first get started with Cloverdale Press/Dan Weiss Associates?


I was one of those kids who read under the covers at night. When I graduated from Oberlin College in 1980 and needed a job, I made a list of interests to try to figure out where I wanted to focus. Reading was up at the top. I wound up working for Writers House Literary Agency for a year, where agent extraordinaire Amy Berkower introduced me to her husband, Dan Weiss, who was launching his packaging company.


At first, it was just four people—Dan and his brother Jeffrey, and their assistants—me and a woman named Barbara who worked for Jeff. We had an office in what was then the industrial neighborhood around the Flatiron Building. There was only one place to eat—the legendary Eisenberg’s Deli.


Cloverdale became successful quickly, and the business exploded, along with the neighborhood. Yes, Virginia, the Flatiron district was once a culinary wasteland, and Dan Weiss Associates (now Alloy Entertainment, I think?) was once a tiny start-up.


2. Many fans are unfamiliar with Dan Weiss and the role he played in creating the mega success that the Sweet Valley franchise became (as well as Sweet Dreams). What was Dan Weiss like and what was the experience like working with him?


Dan was a visionary. I didn’t realize it at the time. I was young and idealistic (now I’m old and idealistic) and I had a a pretty cynical take on the whole commercial book industry. Dan came out of NYU film school, if I’m remembering correctly. Young Adult fiction was barely a thing, when Dan first started his company. Sure, some folks were writing YA novels, but in terms of marketing, they were more or less rolled into the kids’ books category, or—in the case of something like The Catcher in the Rye—into adult books. There weren’t even sections in the bookstores for YA fiction. (As an aside, my YA reading consisted largely of adult Science Fiction novels. Ursula LeGuin was my favorite.) But Dan understood the stunning potential of the audience, and he brought his film school background to his work—let’s say he brought a little bit of Hollywood to the burgeoning Flatiron district. He was one of the instrumental forces behind the explosion of YA series fiction in the 80s and into the 90s. He was able to look at the classic series like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys—really the predecessors to today’s YA series—and envision how to make these sexy—with romance, soap opera, die-cut, foil-embossed covers, display racks, cover models who grew up to be superstars…


Dan was a great person to work for. He gave me agency and opportunities, and he had a welcome sense of humor. He hired people who were fun to be around and good at their jobs. It was a terrific work environment!


3. I am aware of 4 titles for Sweet Valley High ghostwritten by you (#15 Promises, #19 Showdown, Perfect Summer, and Saga: the Wakefields of Sweet Valley). Can you clarify your role and timeline with the Sweet Valley franchise- were you acting as editor and ghostwriting for the series simultaneously?


I also wrote another Super Edition called Spring Break. So I wrote two books in the regular SVH series, and three Super Editions, I think. I may have lost track of one or two. The Super Editions were more fun because I had some leeway with the plots, which functioned in a more stand-alone fashion than the regular series books. The Super Editions were also longer, which allowed for more subplot material (often the purview of the ghostwriter) and settings and characters of my own.


My timeline for the franchise went something like this: While working for Dan, I was the launch editor of the series, working with Dan and Fran and the editors at Bantam books and Pat Hill and Bob Luzzi on covers and of course the first series’ ghostwriters. Simultaneously, we were still doing Sweet Dreams, and I would have been the working editor on those, and we were launching other series—Choose Your Own Adventure comes to mind—and mini-series. In the early days of Dan’s business, I was his sole editor, so I usually had some sort of hand in the various projects.


I did a lot of line editing of the manuscripts. Obviously, some of the ghostwriters were more competent than others. Shout out to Eileen Goudge; when one of her manuscripts came in, I knew my work would be easy and fun. But some of the manuscripts from other writers required serious rewriting. At a certain point, I was working on something really messy, and thought, “Gosh, it would just be easier to start with a blank page.” That was the first time I considered writing one of these books.


Looking back 40-some-odd years, I can’t believe that I would just quit a good job to try writing, with no guarantee I could pull it off, and no real training as a writer—what insanity, what delusion… but that’s what I did! There were plenty of jobs around for freelance editors in those days—I hired and oversaw lots of them at Cloverdale—so I guess that was part of my plan. In the years that followed, I did write—Sweet Valley and many other books, I did editorial work, I packaged series, I wrote plots, I wrote my own series, I wrote novelizations of movies… In the early Wild West years of the internet, I moved from print publishing to digital publishing, making content and doing editorial work for early Web sites. I was the Editorial Director at zoggle.com, one of the first Web sites for teens. I also had a side gig for a wonderful organization called Teachers and Writers, that sends writers into schools to teach creative writing. It was through Teachers and Writers that I discovered my passion in the classroom, and left the publishing world to teach.


4. Perfect Summer was the first young adult novel to land on the New York Times bestseller list (before there was even a ya section). What was it like to see a book you ghostwrote have that level of success?


Sigh. Lots of my pals made a big deal of it. But I was so insecure, so contemptuous of what I sometimes called my typing projects or my soup cans, that I hardly understood the fuss. Over the course of a long life of reading and writing and teaching young people, I learned the beauty of pure, fun entertainment. But it took way too long. I come from a high-art snooty family. I love high art. But let’s hear it for popular entertainment, too. I wish I could go back and school my young self.


5. When did you learn “Perfect Summer” was dedicated to you? What was your reaction to that dedication?


The editor over at Bantam Books, the series publisher, was a close friend of mine, Lisa Novak (RIP). She sent me an advance copy of the book with a note attached to the dedication page. It said, “To the real writer of Perfect Summer.” That resonated. I’d written this book, yet Fran controlled the dedication page. It’s a funny thing, to ghostwrite. I credit Fran and even more, I credit Dan for my youthful success. But the ghostwriting business does involve a play of egos.


6. You created the character Bill Chase, naming him after your then-husband Bill and his roommate Chase. Do you recall any other plots or characters that you wrote for Sweet Valley?


@ghostsofsweetvalley, we’re talking over forty years ago! I foggily remember using my beloved Wellfleet, Massachusetts, where I’ve spent most summers of my life, for inspiration and fun. I think there’s a place called the Dairi-Burger in SV? That came from PJ’s Dairi-burger in Wellfleet. I used a hiking trail in Wellfleet’s National Seashore for some setting or other, with maybe some honorific nod to the local native tribe, the Wampanogs? There was a professor Yarowitz in the series, somewhere. He was named after an old friend of mine who is a philosophy professor. I’d have to get my box of books down from the top, back of my coat closet and reread to give you more details.


7. Sweet Valley Saga: the Wakefields of Sweet Valley is the first (and I believe only) feature of a Jewish character in the franchise. I always hoped to get a Hanukkah book and wondered with so many ghostwriters connected to Judaism (apparently Francine Pascal too), were any plotlines proposed behind the scenes of holiday special that were not Christmas? 


I don’t know. I worked for Dan as the series editor through maybe SVH #12, before any holiday specials. The other series editors you’ve interviewed seem to have far better recall than I do and would have been privy to any plot discussions. I don’t remember details about most of the books I wrote in that part of my life. Who was the Jewish character in the Saga? I will bet my retirement savings on that being modeled after someone in my family or my life. I do remember having a rollicking good time with the Saga because I was able to roll in so much history—an area of interest for me—and to include my own perspective on it. I’m guessing there were plenty of flower children in the 60s part of the Saga? I need a reread, hahahaha! Those flower children would be little me. Maybe Elizabeth and friends attended an anti-Vietnam War protest? Wore bell-bottom jeans with tiny silver studs in them?


8. In 2021 Challbeat published your essay “Before becoming a teacher, I was a YA author. My books normalized whiteness.” After reading your essay, I wondered about the many failed attempts to adapt the Sweet Valley series for television over the last 20 years. What do you think it would take for Sweet Valley to land with today’s audience? What would you like to see in a Sweet Valley reboot? Are there any memories or stories of your time with the Sweet Valley franchise that you can share?


I feel ill-qualified to weigh in, as I never watched any of the SV TV shows and don’t know what kinds of reboots were attempted or why they failed. I did watch the publishing industry go from normalizing and centering whiteness to opening up a bit to more diverse books… and now, in these difficult times, losing ground. As a lifelong educator, reader and writer, reaching across divides through sharing our stories has always been the name of the game. I’d hope for any reboot to have all the spice and fun of the original Sweet Valley, and a richer range of characters—the better for a wider audience to see themselves, and to step into other shoes. That would also open up some great plotlines!


9. Ann Martin was a freelance editor for Cloverdale Press/ Dan Weiss Associates before she became a published writer. She also ghostwrote the first title for the Sweet Valley Twins series. Did you work with Ann? Are you aware of any other books she ghostwrote for Sweet Valley?


Ann’s first job as a freelance editor was for me. She did fantastic work. No surprise that she went on to have a stellar career with her own books. (Not sure what she ghostwrote for SV.) It really was a small world. My agent, when I was writing, was the awesome Merrilee Heifetz, at Writers House—the same agency where Dan’s wife Amy was an agent.


10. You previously mentioned going to Pat Hills studio- were you present for the infamous Sweet Valley covershoots? What were they like? Do you recall who any of the cover models were?


I was at most of the Sweet Dreams shoots. And maybe the first few SVH shoots. It was a fun time at Pat’s studio—snacks, good tunes, a big, sunny loft. Pat had been a model herself, was great at her job, and it was a pleasure to watch her in action. I know from your interviews with other editors that some of our cover models hit it big… but I wasn’t really tuned into that after I stopped working for Dan.


11. You ghostwrote for several other popular series- including a Nancy Drew novel that you wrote in 10 days?! There was a high demand for quick turn around in packaging popular series in the 80s and 90s. What boundaries and support do you think writers today can use to avoid the burnout many experienced in the industry in the 80’s and 90’s?


That’s a great question. Because my deadlines were so tight, I sat down, banged the things out and often didn’t reread a word. As someone who went on to become a writing teacher, it’s shocking!


I learned to write as I was teaching my students to write. And I became a very slow, organic writer, experimenting, writing multiple drafts, going back into my work many times. Probably to a fault. At some point, you need to get your writing off your desk. And I’m not very good at that. I spent my teaching decades mostly writing inconsistently—sometime I wrote and sometimes I didn’t—and putting things away in my electronic filing cabinets without sending them out. I’m equally insecure about my work now, as I was in the fast and furious YA potboiler days. There’s a happy medium between commercial and literary, I suppose. I’m trying to find it now, at this late stage. I had one big feather in my writing cap—a Pushcart Prize-winning personal essay that made me briefly think that maybe I was a real writer. That moment passed!


But I’ve supported generations of writers—that’s been a far bigger part of my career than my own writing. I supported my YA and middle grade writers back in my early career as an editor, I supported my students’ writing—my preteen and teen students in the two decades I taught middle school, and most recently, my college writers, and I support teacher-writers through my little organization, Leaf and Pen, that runs writing retreats for educators. Folks need time and space to create, time to wander and wonder and imagine, but they also need structure and deadlines and people to read their work and comment honestly. All of that is hard to do when your bottom line is sales and profit, and your deadlines are so short. I wonder if AI, which is okay at stock formula writing but terrible at more textural, interesting, vibrant work will shift the picture. What will AI’s role be in the future, and what will writers be free to do?


12. You are a busy professor but I’m dying to know, do you have plans to publish more of your writing?


I retired in the fall, actually, and am trying to find that happy medium I mentioned. I may or may not be writing a novel tentatively titled Bad Choices. It’s about an older woman who is single for the first time in her life. I want to write with the tartness and humor that tends to show up in my off-the-cuff blogs, the entertainment factor of my long-ago YA novels, and some more serious backbone that I admire as a reader and that I’m still trying to teach myself at a very late age. I’ve written about fifty pages of it… and it’s a mess. We’ll see if I can whip it into shape or what else I wind up doing.


I want to thank you, @ghostsofsweetvalley, for the walk down memory lane, and for doing such a great job of being the series historian! I love reading your interviews and posts!