By Guest Writer Holly Smith
A Cosplayer Welcome
As I sat down in the Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture to see a live interview with comedian Kate McKinnon about her new children's book The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science, I realized Jillian Holtzmann was sitting across from me. Well, someone dressed like her anyway. For those unfamiliar with her, Holtzmann is Kate McKinnon’s super-scientist character from Ghostbusters (2016). I chatted with the cosplayer briefly, and she told me she was a McKinnon superfan and had dressed up as Holtzmann—including a real prop from the movie—in the hopes of catching McKinnon’s attention. We exchanged some favorite McKinnon roles (her term on Saturday Night Live, her role as Weird Barbie, and, of course, her excellent performance as the ghostbuster). I felt relaxed. I had found my people at this event.
The event was sold out—a sure sign that I was far from alone in my excitement to see McKinnon and hear her talk about her middle-grade book. McKinnon soon took the stage, giving vehement thumbs-ups and delivering impressive side kicks. She explained she had just watched a video that told her when you feel nervous you have to move your body.
Joining McKinnon on stage was Kelly Leonard, Vice President of Creative Strategy, Innovation and Business Development at The Second City. He, apparently, had given her the simple advice of telling us she was excited instead of nervous. McKinnon then repeated her thumbs-up and kicks while saying “I’m excited!”
Hair and Voice: The Millicent Quibb School of Writing
When Leonard dove into questions about McKinnon’s debut novel, McKinnon jokingly shared, “There’s plot and then there’s theme and I can tell you both.”
The theme, she shared, is, “the thing that you think is weird about you, the thing you don’t think is good enough...is the thing that’s going to change the world.” McKinnon divulged that she saw metaphor and story as the most effective way to share meaning with others as people understand meaning more through those.
The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science focuses on three sisters: Gertrude, Eugenia, and Deedee Porch, in addition to their mentor Millicent Quibb. The three sisters have been kicked out of every other etiquette school, and land at the Quibb’s where they find a home. McKinnon said she first shaped these characters in the same way she shapes any character she jumps into: figuring out how they style their hair and how they sound.
Hair, McKinnon emphasized, tells a lot of the story as it’s a potent view of self-expression. Didn’t we all have a vision of a mad scientist with a very particular kind of hair, asked McKinnon. She shared an image of Millicent Quibb, the mad scientist mentor of the sisters. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun. Quibb came into being after the sisters, explained McKinnon. Originally, the book was just focused on three oddball mad scientist sisters, but as McKinnon reflected on her own childhood of oddness, she knew she always had adults to guide her and cheer her on, so she wanted that in her book too.
As McKinnon went through the sisters, she shared how they were different. Gertrude is the oldest, and she loves people and animals. While Gertrude yearns to help, her big ideas often go awry, and this causes low self-esteem. Eugenia, the middle sister, is more into rocks, and while she is very funny, she is also very cynical and always mad about something. Deedee is the youngest, is an ocean of calm, and speaks the language of machines. While the sisters and Quibb were fully fledged characters now, McKinnon shared that the book took her 12 years to write. She mentioned that she wrote the first chapter 500 times—stressing she was not exaggerating. However, McKinnon emphasized that each iteration taught her something or put a piece of the puzzle together. “There is no wasted writing," she explained.
“Writing is the worst activity. I hate writing,” emphasized McKinnon, but she continued, “You have to communicate and if you don’t, you wither on the vine.”
Leonard and McKinnon further discussed the overlap between McKinnon’s comedy career and her writing career. McKinnon said that sketch comedy and middle-grade fiction actually have a lot in common. Among other things, they share silly names, big characters, and a sense of hope. “I’m a sap,” she started, “I think there is hope. I think that young people are that hope.”
Embrace Your Oddness
Leonard discussed what McKinnon hoped kids would take away from The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science, McKinnon had a few thoughts.
She shared the need to give kids courage and confidence and books were one outlet for that. She went on to say that she has a love of science and of our planet. The Earth “must be celebrated and it must be protected,” McKinnon declared. This, she hoped, came through in her book.
“I just hope young people enjoy it,” she said. She also shared her hope that readers feel a part of the Porch sisters’ gang and embrace their own oddness. Finally, she said “I’m a proud Luddite” and she wanted her readers to be inspired to go out and build real-life adventures.
The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science is available at bookstores and through the publisher's website.
Holly Smith is a communications specialist with a history in publishing and the bookstore world. Now she tackles book and literary event reviews one at a time. You can read more of her book reviews at Holly Reviews, Bookman!.