Christine Heppermann — Under the Green Willow

Christine Heppermann is the author of Ask Me How I Got Here, a novel in verse published by Greenwillow Books. In conversation with the blog, she reflected on the path that led her from poetry collections to long-form narrative — and why verse became the essential vehicle for the story she needed to tell.

A dark, low-key photograph of a writer's desk at night: scattered manuscript pages, a pen resting on an open notebook, and soft lamplight casting long shadows across the wood surface.

From Poetry to Novel in Verse

Before Ask Me How I Got Here, Heppermann was known for her poetry collections. The shift to a novel in verse was not a departure, she explained, but a natural extension. The compression and musicality of poetry allowed her to approach weighty subjects — identity, choice, and the unexpected turns of adolescence — with both precision and grace.

"Poetry gives you room to breathe," Heppermann noted. "A single line break can say as much as a paragraph. For a story about a young woman navigating something as layered as an unplanned pregnancy, that economy felt right."

Tackling Difficult Topics Through Poetry

Heppermann spoke candidly about the responsibility of writing for young adults on subjects often considered taboo. Rather than didacticism, she aimed for honesty. The verse form, she said, let her move between interior monologue and external action without losing emotional immediacy.

The novel follows Addie, a high school cross-country runner whose life shifts after she becomes pregnant. Heppermann drew on the rhythms of running — breath, stride, repetition — to shape the book's cadence. "The body knows things before the mind does," she said. "I wanted the language to feel that physical."

Readers and educators have found the book a valuable entry point for conversations about agency, faith, and friendship. Heppermann emphasized that she never set out to provide answers — only to ask the questions clearly.

The shift from writing individual poems to crafting a sustained novel in verse is a journey that relies on both discipline and a deep trust in silence between words. For Christine Heppermann, the poetic form was never an escape from narrative but rather its most concentrated expression. Each line in Ask Me How I Got Here carries the weight of decision, of what is spoken and what remains unspoken. The verse novel allows room for the reader to pause, to feel the shape of a moment as it passes. The pages become a place where language works like weather on stone, wearing away the unnecessary until only the essential story remains.

There is something of the changing seasons in how a book like this unfolds, moving through phases of growth, loss, and quiet transformation. The landscape of the story reflects a deeper geography of selfhood, one that readers recognize in their own lives. Heppermann's work reminds us that the most powerful narratives often come not from abundance but from distillation, from choosing the precise image or phrase that holds an entire world. It is a gift to find a book that trusts its readers to listen carefully, to read between the lines, and to carry the story forward into their own unfolding days.

A dark, low-key close-up of a single open book resting on a wooden surface, its pages softly lit from one side, with deep shadows pooling around the spine.

Discover more author conversations in the Archives.