Interview with Michelle Mohrweis, author of THE PROBLEM WITH GRAVITY

 

Today's interview is a long one, both me and the author had a lot to say, but I believe that it is worth every second of reading. Today's author is Michelle Mohrweis (they/them)!! I absolutely loved their debut book, The Trouble with Robots!!!! So getting to read their next book and discuss both of those books and Kingdom of Pages is an absolute treasure and really truly helped to make this Pride Month an especially special one to me.

In this interview we talked about how Michelle likes to write their book, where they find the time to, what they want readers to find in their books, and some of the crucial moments in their books. This interview is probably one of my favorites because Michelle has very quickly become one of my favorite authors to read and to talk to! I plan on reading anything they put out in the future. At the very end of the interview you will find links to some local bookstores that you can order their books from as well as links to their social media sites.

So grab a snack and a drink, and I hope that you enjoy the interview!      

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When did you first start writing? What made you want to be a writer?

Oh I love this question! Though it’s also always hard to answer, because I don’t actually know. Writing has been a part of my life for as long as I can recall, much like reading and daydreaming. I remember skipping recess in elementary school to write more, writing in the margins of my notes during math and history class in middle school, even once writing out part of a story backstage during a high school drama club performance. Even most of my high school and college years were spent on roleplay forums where I wrote out elaborate stories with others in fandom settings.

When I get stressed, writing is the thing that helps me calm down, and I often feel I express myself better through the written word than anything else. Which is funny, because despite all that I had a really hard time actually focusing on and finishing the stories I wrote, at least until I realized as an adult that I could use dictation software to let myself pace while writing!

It’s one of my favorite questions to ask because the responses are so varied from people who can pinpoint that exact moment to others that just remember writing always being part of their life. I can still remember one of the first stories I ever wrote when I was like 10. I was also definitely like you in that I would just write all in the margins of my notes.

I never even considered how much using dictation software could help when you can’t just sit and focus on writing like other people can. I have no idea how you figured out that that worked for you, but that is so amazing! (Plus…it helps you write books and I get to read them so I’m very thankful that you figured that out.

So The Trouble with Robots and The Problem with Gravity feature science/STEM and neurodivergence. Two of my favorite things to read about, by the way. What made you want to write about and include those topics in your books?

The margins of notes were made for writing, though my former teachers might disagree with that!

Anyways, to answer your question, I just really love STEM. Growing up, I didn’t think I was smart enough for STEM stuff since I really struggled with math. But somehow I stumbled into it anyway. When I was a brand new 3rd grade teacher I started doing “Engineering Fun Fridays” to give my kids hands-on projects at the end of the week. Then a mentor of mine had me apply for a space educator group, which led to me going to a big space educator conference for the first time, which led to my absolute love of all things space. It got to the point that when I was applying for middle school teacher jobs I went into an interview for an English teacher position… and left the interview with an offer to be the Engineering teacher!

So anyways, I adore STEM. I also adore writing. Yet somehow I never thought about combining those things. In fact, I used to be sure I’d only ever want to write fantasy stories. Then COVID hit. I was lonely, scared, and missing my students so much. I missed my classroom; the familiarity and routines, the constant organized chaos of robotics, the 3D printers and learning moments and everything else. So I started writing a story about a group of robotics kids trying to save their team, and THE TROUBLE WITH ROBOTS was born.

As for the neurodivergent rep in my books, that was always there to a degree. As an autistic/ADHD writer, I think a part of me and my way of thinking will always sneak into my craft. However, I didn’t actually know I was autistic/adhd until a few years ago. Those covid lockdown days took away my routines, and the coping mechanisms I had built broke down on me. I ended up seeing a therapist for the first time, learned I may be neurodivergent, and eventually sought out a formal diagnosis. Having those answers was such a massive relief.

From there, I started reading books by other neurodivergent authors, and finally had books where characters actually thought like me! It meant so much. Then, after ROBOTS sold, I was working on edits and realized that I gave Evelyn a lot of my more internal autistic traits, in the way she thought and analyzed the world and everything else. So I asked my editor if I could overhaul the story and make it official; give her the knowledge she is autistic and the stims and external traits to match.

Now I always write neurodivergent characters, because it’s so so so important to me to know that rep is out there. I hope that my characters might help others feel not as alone, like other books helped me. Anyways… phew! That’s a long answer!

I absolutely adore STEM and robotics and I’ve always been so disappointed that it wasn’t ever a class I could take in school, at least not until college. I would do anything to just have one of those VEX kits or something just so I can play around with building and coding robots. In other words, “Engineering Fun Fridays” sounds like an absolutely amazing idea and I want that for myself.
COVID absolutely sucks, but I am at least glad that it has ended up with quite a few amazing books being written and published.

I definitely get that though, with the neurodivergence. It seems like one of those things that, even if not intentionally, slips into the books that neurodivergent people write. I couldn’t imagine writing a book and not giving a character my type of anxiety. I’m also really glad that your editor allowed you to make those changes.

Those are the best reasons to write these types of books. Your love of a topic and your desire to give other people characters to relate to. It’s honestly inspiring.

Also, all my respect to you for being a teacher, especially during COVID. My mom is a teacher and I just respect the amount of endless patience that was necessary during that time and those challenges.

That kind of feeds into another question. So you’re an educator as well as a writer. How does that work for you? Do you have a set writing schedule or time period that you focus on writing?

I’m so glad my love of the topics shines through. I adore STEM stuff and hope my books can help other kids fall in love with it too! It’s just all so fun, from the problem solving to the trial and error, to watching students learn how to experiment and work with others.

As for my writing schedule, it’s kind of all over the place for me. I often did large bursts of writing during my school breaks and otherwise grabbed whatever time I could here and there. Teaching can be so rewarding, but also so exhausting, especially as an autistic adult. Many days I’d be too emotionally drained and overstimulated by the end of school to focus on anything. To be honest, not much writing happened during the school year, so instead I relied on those short breaks where I had a week or two (or a month over summer) to really dive in.

Now I’m no longer in the classroom and work in space education instead, developing curriculum and visiting classrooms as a guest to teach STEM lessons focused around space education. It’s both rewarding and exhausting in other ways, but I do have far more energy for writing at the end of the day.

Even so, I still don’t have any sort of set schedule. Sometimes I write daily, but sometimes I won’t write anything for awhile, then will do a big burst of writing all at once. Spring and summer are especially great for my writing since I like to incorporate movement into my process. I’ll hop on a bike and ride around, stopping at park benches to do writing sprints, or take my computer outside and pace around my yard while using dictation software. It works out pretty well for me!

Fair enough! Teaching looks exhausting from the outside, I couldn’t imagine actually doing it and then trying to write a book on the side. It’s nice that you were able to use those breaks to write then!

Ooh, that sounds so cool! I wish someone would have visited my classroom as a kid to teach space education based STEM to me. Jealous! Both of those jobs sound very rewarding but I’m glad you’ve now got a job that gives you more energy for writing.

Makes sense to me! I’m more surprised when someone does have a set writing schedule because strict schedules don’t work that well for me. I love the idea of biking around and doing writing sprints in between. That’s just so awesome!

How do you come up with the ideas for your books and your characters

That is a wonderful question, and if you ever figure out the answer, let me know! 😂 In all honesty, I have no clue. Ideas just kind of poof into existence.

For THE TROUBLE WITH ROBOTS, the idea came to me when I was searching for books about tournament robotics while stuck at home during the start of COVID. At the time, I could only find one middle grade book and one YA graphic novel, and the MG book was very fictionalized when it came to how robotics worked (which isn’t a bad thing, but wasn’t what I wanted). I was already missing my robotics class so much, I wanted a book I could someday use in my teaching, and I wasn’t finding it… so the next thing I knew I started plotting out my own story!

THE PROBLEM WITH GRAVITY, meanwhile, came to me as I was drafting ROBOTS. I started to wonder about the full story behind Mrs. Weir (the often stressed and overworked teacher from my first book) that I hinted at so much. Then one day I was reading the adorable MEOW OR NEVER by Jazz Taylor, and I realized I really wanted to write a sapphic first crush story that could capture reader’s hearts the same way that book caught mine. The next thing I knew, that desire to write a queer first crush story and the ponderings about Mrs. Weir came together in an idea about her daughter: Maggie Weir, the bi autistic girl who is grappling with her parent’s constant arguments, longs to someday be an astronaut, and has a massive crush on another girl that she must work with on a school project. From there the idea just flowed out on a wave of space engineering special interests, 3D printing, baton twirling, and other things I was dying to write about.

That’s how it is for a lot of my story ideas. Sometimes I’ll be in between projects and stressed because I’m not sure what to write. Then out of nowhere an idea pops into my head. Sometimes when I have a new idea, I dive right in to writing it. Other times though, I won’t be sure what to do with an idea until an opportunity for it shows up.

That’s what happened with my upcoming KINGDOM OF PAGES series, a trio of young reader books coming out in the UK in September. I had an idea about a young enby living in their aunt's antique shop and going on adventures, but couldn’t quite figure out how I wanted to write it. Then Collins Big Cat reached out through my agent, looking for proposals for young reader books with autistic rep, and I realized my idea would fit perfectly with what they wanted.

So yeah, there’s not really a way I find ideas so much as the ideas drop out of the sky and hit me like -insert new Zelda video game reference I can’t actually make here because it’s full of spoilers-.

Solid way of getting ideas though! As long as they come to you, that’s all that matters! Also, I got so excited when I realized that Maggie was Mrs. Weir’s daughter!!! I love books that are connected, even if they aren’t strongly connected. It just always makes me happy!

Write what you want to read seems to apply very strongly to The Trouble with Robots!! That’s awesome!

This is a bit of a two-pronged question. How do you figure out your characters’ personalities and how you want them to develop throughout the story? Do they just come to you or is it a journey?

100% a journey! There’s some things I know from the start (like how in ROBOTS Allie is grieving and lashing out as a result of that, or how Allie and Evelyn start not liking each other but end up helping push each other to better, or even how in GRAVITY the main characters and major side characters were all queer, with Maggie being rather shy and scared to talk to her crush) but things like actual personalities really form along the way.

I usually have a general idea for the personalities and how I want them to develop, but it’s very broad, and it’s not until edits that I start really fleshing them out into well rounded characters. My editor at Peachtree is amazing for that, because he is so good at poking at the spots that need just a bit more development and getting me to really think about how the characters come across. To be honest, when I look back at my writing I often feel that the characters in my first drafts read like caricatures of what they later become, if that makes sense! They start so flat and one sided and after many edits they end up much more rounded out and nuanced.

I think it also helps that as I figure out the relationships between each character, I can refine who the characters are. Like Maggie and Tatum have a queer first crush plotline going on, and as I wrote my very serious Tatum I realized that for her character to mesh with the shy and nervous Maggie I needed to soften her a bit and let her show more kindness. So I added in more gentle moments, more moments where she lets herself relax around the people she trusts, even as she grapples with this desperate need to achieve great things, be perfect, and win her parents' love.

That makes a lot of sense! It’s like the idea that the more time you spend with them, the more you truly unlock who they are. I love that! I also love that you just waved your hand over the GRAVITY characters and went “queer” because that’s the best kind of book to read for me. The more queer characters, the better!

It also sounds like you’ve been really blessed with a great editor! I’m glad that he helps make your books what they are!

On the idea of the main characters and major side characters in GRAVITY being queer: how do you decide (for lack of a better word) what each character’s identity is? And just as a quick secondary question: do you ever plan on writing another book with a nonbinary main character? Maybe even one that’s published in the US?

Exactly! As time goes on while writing and drafting, I’m really able to understand the characters better and tease out who they are meant to be.

To answer the next questions, it’s not so much a decision as it is writing what feels right in the moment. For example, as I was writing ROBOTS, I knew that Evelyn would be bi, even if her identity isn’t a major part of the plot. And I knew I wanted to include a subplot about Allie figuring out she is aroace, because I remember the awkward feelings of trying to understand myself at that age, and the pain of not having the right words for it. In fact, in the book there’s a conversation the two have about their identities, and that was one of the very first scenes that popped into my head as I brainstormed the plot. Just this beautiful moment of understanding and acceptance as their friendship slowly forms.

When writing GRAVITY, I knew from the start that it would be a sapphic first crush story, and then as I dreamed up the side characters it felt right for Jaden to be nonbinary. I can’t tell you how I knew they’d be nonbinary… it just felt right for their character. I try to think about what my own friend groups look like, and also write in the representation I never got as a kid. It’s so important for our queer youth to see themselves in books and to know they are valid however they are.

As for future nonbinary characters… heck yes! Cleo in my upcoming KINGDOM OF PAGES books is nonbinary, though it's a more subtle representation and their pronouns aren’t directly used in the text. Still, if you know, you’ll know and recognize the hints. Those young reader books release in the UK in September and will eventually be available to purchase in the US too. I also have several nonbinary/genderfluid main characters in the MG and YA stories I’m actively writing… but none of those have sold yet so I don’t want to talk too much about them and get anyone excited when their fates are still to be decided. 😅

I love that! I remember that conversation! It was such an amazing scene! Especially since I knew from one of your posts I believe that one character was bisexual and one was aro/ace but I was struggling to put together which was which at first! It was a lot of fun getting to see them have that conversation and just the sheer care and support in it!

It is such an important thing! And I just love seeing queer rep, but specifically for me nonbinary rep, in books! From main characters to side characters, I love it! It also feels like queer people kind of flock together because of that understanding between each other. Birds of a feather and all that.

Oh, I am so glad to hear that Kingdom of Pages will eventually come to the US!!! I need it!!! I’m also glad to hear that you have nonbinary characters in stories you’re writing, but I’ll try and temper my enthusiasm until they sell!!!

What is something that you always want readers to find in your books or things you try to convey in your books? Like themes or topics or feelings.

I love the enthusiasm! And I totally get what you mean about birds of a feather! We find the people we can be ourselves around, who understand us and who don’t make us feel unwelcome or out of place for how we experience attraction or how we identify.

Which actually ties in really well to the next question. The thing I always hope readers will see in my books is that theme of finding your people. Showing the lonely kids finding their people and getting to be happy, especially when neurodivergent and queer. I want to show friendships that form when the outliers find each other, to show lonely kids finding their people, and queer neurodivergent kids being able to be proud of who they are with friends who accept them.

In the neurodivergent communities I hear people talk about the experience of being a lonely kid a lot. That back and forth between liking solitary activities, but also wanting friends. That struggle of only ever having one or two close friends, and not being sure what the secret ingredient to friendship is that everyone else seems to understand. The fear of messing up social cues, or being unwelcome in a group and not realizing it. I’ve had it happen to me before, and it really hurts.

I wanted to show kids dealing with that, like in ROBOTS where Evelyn’s only friend has moved away and she doesn’t know how to open up to others, or in GRAVITY where Maggie is very friendly and nice, but doesn’t know how to mesh in with a bigger group at first, at least until she’s welcomed in. I guess it’s kind of like the beginnings of found family in a way, showing characters who finally find their people.

Yeah, exactly. Birds of a feather. Knowing or not. I know I grew up and then me and almost all of my friends came out.

Yes!! Yes!!! Yes!!!! I love that!!! I’ve noticed that theme in your books. People finding, or having already found, their people. The ones that love and accept them for who they are!!

Yes! I feel like that happens a lot. Just not knowing how to connect with people and being afraid of it, in my experience at least. That’s probably why your books resonate so much with me. I look at the characters and I get it. I see myself.

I’m going to try to be vague with this question because I don’t want to spoil the books for anyone who hasn’t read them. What would you consider to be the pivotal/crucial moments in ROBOTS and GRAVITY? KINGDOM OF PAGES too, if you’d like to share. Were those moments hard for you to write?

I’m so glad that my stories resonate with you! It can be so comforting to read about the things that we relate to, and can make it feel like we aren’t so alone!

And oh! That is a great question. For ROBOTS, it’s the moment that Allie and Evelyn get into a fight. Emotions brew over, anger explodes, and they have this moment where they just hate each other so much! It’s an event that could have—should have—sealed their hatred of each other, but instead it forces them into a place where they have to have hard conversations with the people that they care about, have to face the emotions they’ve been avoiding and really think about where they are heading, and those personal moments of reflection lead to them slowly, begrudgingly, working together.

After that there’s so many smaller pivotal moments, little moments of learning to open up and trust and let go of all the bottled up emotions, but I’m not sure any of those would have happened if not for Allie pushing the robot off the table and Evelyn turning into a literal fist fight.

In GRAVITY, it’s more of a series of pivotal moments, smaller ones overall but they build up into something big. Maggie and Tatum being assigned as partners for the school project. Maggie learning about the Young Engineers contest. Tatum deciding they should enter. There’s not really one big moment that changes everything (well, there is near the end but that’s a spoiler spoiler) but rather so many small instances that build up like their crush, becoming something bigger than they ever imagined.

As for the KINGDOM OF PAGES books, many of the crucial/pivotal moments come when the characters realize they need to rely on each other, when they have that moment where they just can’t do it alone. There’s a powerful friendship in those books, with Cleo and their friends bonding not just over the adventures they have been on, but also the times they need to lean on each other, and I think it’s so cool. Dante, the artist, did an amazing job bringing those moments to life, and I love how they shine so strong through my writing and their art, even in such short books.

It's always great to be able to relate to something! I love when I encounter that in the books I read!

I had a good feeling that that moment from ROBOTS was going to be included! It was one hell of a scene!

I also love the idea that GRAVITY wasn’t necessarily a huge moment that pushed the two together, but rather a series of small events that got them talking and bonding together!

Just what you’ve said there about PAGES makes me really invested in that story and I can’t wait to read it!

How did you come up with the titles for your books?

So with THE TROUBLE WITH ROBOTS, I couldn’t think of a title. But since the kids compete in tournament robotics and get into trouble throughout the book, I was like… this. I’ll make this a placeholder title and change it later. Except, the ‘change it later’ part never happened. Over time the title grew on me, my agent and editor liked it, and so it stuck!

Meanwhile, THE PROBLEM WITH GRAVITY started out being called Young Engineers, because it was about young kids who do engineering. My publisher wanted me to make it something a bit more in line with ROBOTS though, to better symbolize how it’s a companion story. Since I wasn’t very attached to the original name, I was happy to change it. After brainstorming for a short while, we came up with GRAVITY, which I absolutely adore as a book title.

Meanwhile, the KINGDOM OF PAGES series is named after the adventure and quest filled kingdom where the books take place. From there, the individual titles each describe a bit of the books. THE LOST PRINCE deals with a lost prince who wanders into the antique shop where Cleo works, THE HIDDEN GEMSTONE involves Cleo searching for a rumored gemstone in a magical forest, and THE WANDERING WATCHERS involves Cleo and their friends helping a group of famous adventurers… aka the Wandering Watchers!

I am nothing if not very literal with my book titles.

I love when placeholders name just stick!! And I was really excited about GRAVITY’s title and how it kind of matched ROBOTS, I just thought it was really cute!

Solid naming for KINGDOM OF PAGES. Straight to the point there!

When you’re looking for a book to read, what do you like to read? Are there any specific themes or ideas that make you immediately latch on to a book?

Depends on the book and what I’m feeling! I’m a huge fan of scifi and fantasy. Since Young Adult scifi isn’t super common, I get so excited when something new comes out there. I also really enjoy contemporary books in both YA and MG. Growing up, I didn’t think I liked that genre since I read as an escape and those books are so close to our own world… but then I accidentally befriended a bunch of contemporary authors, started writing it myself, and realized I adored it!

As for themes, I always fall for found family books, or books showing unlikely friendships that become so incredibly strong. Characters who will cross the world and face down anything for each other. Or characters who must face down the most unlikely of odds or difficult situations to protect those they love. Throw in queer rep or neurodivergent characters, and you can bet I’ll be giving it a read!

That said, I don’t read as much for fun as I used to. My day job has me reading and writing a lot and I also spend so much time editing my own work, so often my eyes are just too tired to handle reading at the end of a day. So, one other thing I appreciate is a well narrated audiobook. Much of my reading now is through listening to audiobooks, and when a narrator can really draw me into the story with an engaging performance, that’s always nice too!

Found family books, especially with queer characters, are absolutely amazing!!! There's something about that shared experience, even if it's not the exact same. I love it so very much!

I am very thankful to Michelle for taking part in this interview! I honestly probably could have asked them many, many more questions but I really needed to set a stopping point so I could get this interview up this month. If you've not read The Trouble with Robots yet, you should! Plus keep an eye out for The Problem with Gravity which is absolutely amazing!!!!!!

If you like what I do, consider giving me a follow on my social media, consider supporting me on Ko-fi, or consider sharing or donating my GCLS GoFundMe. I appreciate any help or shares that I can get! Every little bit matters. Thank you for reading!!

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You can find Michelle Mohrweis on their website, Tiktok, and Instagram.

You can buy/preorder Michelle's books from Poor Richards, Tattered Cover, and Westside Stories. All three of these are local queer friendly bookstores for Michelle. You can also order from Changing Hands an amazing Arizona local bookstore.

If you can't buy their books but you still want to read them, consider requesting them to your local library or suggesting them on Overdrive!