Welcome to BookView Interview, a conversation series where BookView talks to authors.
Recently, we interviewed Stacy R. Ward about her writing and recently released book, Too Deep to Drown, a deeply affecting coming-of-age story that intertwines personal resilience with the fragile beauty and wounded reality of the ocean (Read the review here.).
Stacy Rogers Ward is a small animal veterinarian with fifteen years of experience as a marine mammal stranding veterinarian. She cared for whales on local beaches, many of whom had ingested plastic. Currently, she serves on the board of the Coastal Studies Institute in Manteo, NC. She has been writing for over a decade.
Stacy lives in Wilmington, NC, with her extremely patient husband and young adult children who do as they please and generally make a big mess. She has too many dogs, a couple of very obnoxious cats, and a giant but thankfully quiet tortoise named Lewis.
What sparked the idea for Too Deep to Drown?
Book ideas usually occur to me as a setting and they narrow down from there—a landfill in a box canyon, a summer camp, a research vessel.
Ocean pollution and the tons of waste that humans produce in what has become our normal or expected way of living is a constant, daily worry for me. I have trouble letting go and having fun sometimes because of it (just ask my poor husband!). So once I had the idea of the setting of a novel at sea the other aspects started to take shape around that boat.
Why did you choose an engineering and ocean-research setting for Meg’s story?
Fiction foundationally is the push and pull between a main character’s wants and needs. Meg wants the control that engineering can provide her—the ability to fix something. The ocean is a place where none of us are really in charge. It’s one of the last wild places on the planet and out there control is truly an illusion. Meg needs something that the only the ocean can teach her (no spoilers :)).
How did you approach writing a STEM-minded heroine, and why was that important to you?
Like a lot of people who grew up in the 80’s , A Wrinkle in Time was one of my favorite novels. Madeline L’Engle was one of the original STEMinists, even though she was a writer and educator not a practicing scientist. A Wrinkle in Time combined my favorite tropes—coming of age, science and adventure. A book had never grabbed and touched me like that one. It guided my future—I wanted to be like L’Engle’s Meg.
The world is in great need of scientists and people who are interested in and supportive of strong scientific communities (research, conservation, medicine—human and veterinary). It was important to me that my protagonist be a smart go-getter even while harboring hurt and trauma. I want young women to know that there is nothing wrong with high career aspirations and passion-driven ambitions. I hope my Meg’s story will touch a reader and shape her future in some way.
The ocean carries so much symbolism in this book. How does it function as a metaphor for Meg’s grief and healing?
It’s not uncommon for people to turn to the ocean for peace. Meg sees the ocean as an escape from her chaotic life—like ‘out there’ she is leaving all that behind her. But just like the horizon, that idea is an illusion. Grief comes for you in waves that can’t be held back. There are unexpected currents in life that can sweep you under very suddenly. You have to learn to live with the things you can’t control. Learn to swim.
What do you hope teen readers, especially girls interested in marine biology or STEM, take away from Meg’s journey?
If there is a will, there is a way! And other (older and possibly wiser??) STEM queens are here to help—I love mentoring young women interested in my field of veterinary medicine. Nothing will be handed to you, but if you seek help and mentorship, you can find it. You can do it (whatever that IT is for you!).
What does literary success look like to you?
Success to me is my story touching people–staying with them. Ideally, my story would make people think about ocean health. I would love for a young reader to feel empowered by Meg’s story and believe that she can make a difference in a big, messy world—maybe choose a career that benefits ocean health.
What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?
Self-doubt, aka critical interior monologue. Words from rejections can stay with you. They can play on repeat, freeze creativity, and stall fingers on a keyboard. ‘So what?’ ‘Who is this for?’ ‘What are you really trying to say?’ ‘Is anyone ever going to read this?’ ‘Does this matter?’ These are important questions that writers should be able to answer, but they can also slow my writing process before I can dig down and find them deep in the 999th revision.
In your view, what makes Too Deep to Drown stand apart in today’s YA landscape?
Right now, fantasy stories are pretty dominant, which I totally get because they are great escapism—I love them for that reason. But I still love contemporary coming-of-age adventures, and I believe that the STEM-focused aspect of this novel, and especially the setting on a research vessel, make the novel unique.
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BookView Review 
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