What was the most surprising thing you learned in creating your characters? And she was right! Escaping into another world was more restorative than a nap. I remember my mother telling me when I was a new parent that I needed to find time for “fiction breaks,” even if it was only ten or 15 minutes. More selfishly, narrative is the only thing that absorbs my brain so completely it shuts out restless thoughts and worries. On the noble, humanitarian side of the equation, I think storytelling is a wonderful source of empathy – the old walking a mile in someone’s else’s shoes. Why is storytelling so important for all of us? Striking a balance between artistic growth and being true to your own vision is tricky!
There’s a tendency to think, “this time I’ll do everything right, and no one will have anything to complain about!” Which is a) impossible and b) not a fruitful creative mindset. The writing itself wasn’t more difficult but I did struggle to tune out the background noise of having a book in the world. Setting aside the universal answer (the pandemic), the biggest distraction for me while drafting BELITTLED WOMEN was second book syndrome. What was the single worst distraction that kept you from writing this book?
Beautiful prose, indelible characters, thrilling plots: the total package. I would love to have written one of Robin McKinley’s fantasies for young adults, because both THE BLUE SWORD and THE HERO AND THE CROWN are burned into my memory as some of the most intense, immersive, and transporting reading experiences of my life. If you could have written one book in history, what book would that be? When he told them that his aunt wrote it, one of them announced to the entire cafeteria: “Elias is low-key famous!” One day a couple of girls came up to him at lunch and asked if he liked that book, because they’d read it too. My first book has a very romantic pastel cover, so I was surprised when my nephew (who was in middle school at the time) put a BY THE BOOK sticker on his laptop. Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published. Professor? Reporter? Film critic? I was well into adulthood when I found the courage to pursue the ultimate dream of being a novelist. I knew from my early school days that I wanted to do something involving writing and stories about people, but it took a while to figure out what form that would take. When/how did you realize you had a creative dream or calling to fulfill? That I could make people laugh! In my extremely nerdy, Type A, pop-culture-referencing introvert way.
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