Shelf Awareness: How would you classify Marisa's work in terms of genre? Do you think readers have certain expectations of this genre and how does that affect the way you work with Marisa?
Laurie Chittenden: Fellow writers from Harlan Coben to Jennifer Weiner have praised Marisa's novels. While her books have been embraced by reading groups and readers of sophisticated women's fiction, they have broad appeal and can be found in fiction sections.
Do you read Marisa's work in progress or as a whole when the novel is completed, and how does this inform the editorial process?
I've been Marisa's editor since her first novel, Love Walked In, and that book was acquired on a full manuscript. In that case, I knew the beginning, the middle and end when we started working together on that book. Since then, we've worked together on pages, chapters, half a manuscript or more. What remains the same is that by the time Marisa sends work to me, she has polished the language so that the images and observations--the line-by-line--is breath-taking. The poet in her is evident even in draft. It's a great treat for me to watch her stories develop, whether I'm reading work in progress or we are having a conversation about where a book is headed. When you read in progress though, you don't discover what comes next when you turn the page, it can be days or weeks before you know the answer to a cliff-hanger.
Falling Together is a careful exploration of the intricacies of family and friend relationships, but there is also a mystery at its center and a wonderful view into the people and scenery of the Philippines. How did you work with Marisa to keep all these disparate elements in such harmony?
Marisa writes with an amazing emotional precision. Her ability to create fully rounded characters that engage us from the start of a book combined with her exquisite and unique description of home are what have won her so many fans. Long before Marisa sends in pages, and I suspect long before she even starts to type, she begins to get to know her characters. Often when we talk in the early days of a book, she'll drop hints about a character or two so for me, it's like talking with a dear friend who then tells you about a new pal she's met. The Philippines is a very special place for Marisa, and from the start the beauty and the warmth of the people and place were on the page.
What would you most like readers to know about Falling Together?
If you have never read Marisa's novels, Falling Together is a wonderful book to start with. If you've read her books in the past, you are about to meet a new group of friends who you'll find easy to embrace and cheer on.