I wanted to focus on not only the big “coming of age” events that most girls go through, but some of the smaller ones, too, like getting a key to the house, sitting in the front seat of the car, getting pierced ears. Right on the cusp of being a teen, but still feeling like a kid a lot of the time. MF: How did you come up with the plot for the book? Did it evolve out of 11 Birthdays at all? WM: I knew each of the “Willow Falls” books would focus on a girl’s birthday, and 12 is such a special age. But I also didn’t want to write a straight sequel, so FINALLY became a “companion” to 11 Birthdays, with some overlapping characters. Is there any particular reason you put Rory and her story in the same world/place as Leo and Amanda? WM: Writing 11 Birthdays was so much fun that I didn’t want to let the world of Willow Falls end.
MF: Your most recent book, Finally, is a sequel, of sorts, to 11 Birthdays. Now I think it’s the readers who inspire me to keep writing. At some point as a kid I decided to try writing my own stories, and then just never stopped. WM: Writing was just a natural progression from reading for me.
Then I build a story around the theme, with characters that wind up leading me through the book. MF: My daughter and I are curious: how do you come up with the ideas for your stories? WM: Basically I keep my eyes open for a topic that interests me (synesthesia, astronomy, candy!), and then I figure if I find it fun to learn about, then others will, too. There was only one way to find out, and the answer was: YES! Hooray for suggestions from daughters! She’s working her way through Mass’s other books, and when she finished Finally, she came to me and said, “Mom, you do interviews with authors, right? Do you think you could do one with Wendy Mass?”
She adores Wendy Mass, you see: she picked up Every Soul a Star (after M literally pushed it into her hands) and adored it.
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