Carolyn Meyer

Albuquerque-based Carolyn Meyer has written more than 50 historical novels for young adults, her most recent being The True Adventures of Charley Darwin (Harcourt Children’s Books, 2009, $17). Meyer, 74, tells Wolf Schneider that it was a grant from a Taos artists’ community considered “the Yaddo of the West” that brought her here.

Q: Your books are categorized as “young adult,” as are J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, yet yours aim for younger readers.

A: I appeal mostly to sixth- through eighth-graders. I don’t think that J. K. Rowling is aiming for an older age. I do agree with you about Stephenie Meyer, but let’s not go there! I am the other Meyer girl!

What are the differences in writing young-adult fiction versus adult fiction?

Emotional context—how you’d react if you were 13—and focusing on the age of the character. I start my characters off at 10 or so.

Tell me about your relationship with New Mexico.

I came here to the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos in 1978. I got smitten by New Mexico. I met a realtor and said, “If you ever get a cute little place in Santa Fe within walking distance of the Plaza for under $30,000, give me a call.” Within 10 days he called, and he had it—for under $30,000! I bought it. I went back to Pennsylvania and piled everything into a U-Haul. I arrived on one of the few torrentially rainy days, and the roof of the tiny house was leaking. I stayed five years, then Santa Fe became too exotic, so I moved to Albuquerque in 1984. I’ve stayed here since, except for when my husband got a job teaching in Texas. We had a five-year Texas exile. Now we live in a little Victorian near downtown Albuquerque.

Is your newest book, The True Adventures of Charley Darwin, an attempt to reach boys instead of girls?

Not instead of, but in addition to. I would guess my readership is 90 percent girls.

What’s your best seller?

Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess, Russia, 1914 (The Royal Diaries) [about Anastasia Romanov, youngest daughter of the last tsar of Russia]. It’s still selling [after being published nearly 10 years ago].

How much of what you write is true?

I’m very careful with the facts, but I do a lot of inventing. I have to imagine all the scenes. I’d say it’s 75 percent true. I never change facts, but I often have to fill in.

What makes New Mexico particularly conducive to being a writer?

Life is easier here than other places I’ve lived. You don’t have to spend your time shoveling snow. And the cost of living is helpful.

Wolf Schneider has been editor in chief of the Santa Fean, editor of Living West, and consulting editor of Southwest Art.

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