The author and comedian calls 'The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science' a "story about maintaining hope in the darkest times"
Kate McKinnon's worn a lot of hats: sketch comedian, Saturday Night Live cast member, Weird Barbie, iguana owner. Now she's adding another to the stack: author.
Her first book, The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science, hit shelves Tuesday, Oct. 1 and is geared toward middle-grade readers ages 8-12. The first in a planned series, it follows the quirky Porch sisters in the snooty town of Antiquarium, where all the girls have to go to etiquette school -- until the girls get kicked out of the last one that would take them. That's how they find themselves under the tutelage of Millicent Quibb -- a mad scientist with worms in her hair and oysters in her bathtub.
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PEOPLE chatted with McKinnon, 40, in advance of her new book about her writing process, her "weird kid" childhood and the excitement of finally reading the book with real, live kids. But first, listen to a blooper reel of her reading the book, below.
Answers below have been edited and condensed for clarity.
How does it feel to have the book coming out in the world?
Kate McKinnon: I truly believe I did rewrite it conservatively 500 times over the course of 12 years. I mean, really. And it changed and evolved a lot over the course of that time. As I grew as a writer at SNL, I mean, I learned a lot about writing by being at SNL and being in the room while truly great writers were pitching and writing. And I could not have finished this book when I started it, which was before I got my job at SNL. And through the lessons I learned therein, I was finally able 12 years later to finish it. So that's cool.
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How did the story come about?
McKinnon: I just had the image of these three girls in little sad gray Victorian dresses, these little Edwardian, Tim Burton-type girls, one with hair very tall, one with hair very wide and one with hair very deep. And they were mad scientists in this snooty town at the turn of the century.
It began as an image and a vibe because I'm obsessed with Victorian everything. I love Victorian architecture and I love Victorian go literature, and I love Victorian clothes and I love all that stuff. And especially I love Victorian botanical and anatomical prints. And so I just was consumed by these images of this 1890s mad science milieu and these girls who were in that contrasted with the bright, beautiful turn-of-the-century town that Pollyanna grew up in.
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I love how this book feels so authentic to childhood.
McKinnon: To me, the contrast between that back-alley Victorian medical instrument bag filth and the prim and proper white starched collars of this town in Massachusetts where everyone has to study etiquette to me is what it felt like being 12. And I do believe that every single 12-year-old feels that way for one reason or another.
That's why I love this genre so much. I think this genre allows for such true humor and this wonderful blend of silliness and heart that is just how I feel about and experience the world. And so it's just suited to me and my goals, my ends.
That's childhood: feeling weird, trying to understand that everyone has something weird about them. I mean, when I was 12, I was in flannel and I had a perm, and I had a space between my teeth so large that people often asked me if I had lost a tooth. I had a pet iguana, and I was just so weird. I was in love with the world and with nature and science and art and I was also like, "Oh my God, how am I going to survive in this world?" Because I'm getting all these messages that I'm weird. And I had some adults in my life who just kept on encouraging me to be what I was, my parents chief among them. And I just think that a young person needs those kind of people and then to nurture their gifts. And then when they are adults, they have responsibility to pay it forward. And I guess that's what I'm trying to do.
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That's really beautiful, and reminds me that this book can resonate with adults, too -- especially us former weird kids.
McKinnon: It's just a story about maintaining hope in the darkest times. I love Pixar and Dreamworks and Disney and all of these stories about magic and identity and finding yourself and finding out what you can contribute to this marvelous world of ours. I think it's the most hopeful and life affirming genre. And so I just was drawn there.
And we need, God knows, some life-affirming hope in this wild world of ours, right now in particularly. So living in that space, putting your head in that space for however long it takes to work on this project, that's got to be something. And so I think you write what you believe in your core, and what I believe in my core is that people are good, and when they are given the space to develop their intrinsic gifts, they really can help the world.
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Are you excited for anyone to read it in particular?
McKinnon: I know a few young people who are in middle school who I am very excited to send it to. And most of the kids I know are too young at this point, so I'll give them copies for when they're a little older. But I'm going to some bookstores around the country, and I'm going to some schools, and I'm so excited to meet and talk to and encourage actual young people.
To put anything out into the world is terrifying. And this is no different. And so I'm praying that it connects. I mean, all I'm ever trying to do is to connect with people, Whether through comedy or writing. I just want to be understood.
I love sketch comedy because it's like you're presenting something that you've noticed about a person or about the way the world works, and if they laugh, it's like them saying, 'I know, isn't that weird?' And then we are laughing together because we have this common understanding, and there's nothing more gratifying in life to me than that feeling of mutual understanding.
And this, even if it's just one person in the audience, there's a connection has been made. And so I'm praying that the young readers understand what I'm talking about. And then there will be an exchange of ideas and of hope.
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