Publication Date: March 17, 2015
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
SYNOPSIS
And what if there hadn’t been an accident? Meet Fi Doyle. Fi is the top-rated female high school lacrosse player in the state, heading straight to Northwestern on a full ride. She’s got more important things to deal with than her best friend Trent McKinnon, who’s been different ever since the kiss. When her luck goes south, even lacrosse can’t define her anymore. When you’ve always been the best at something, one dumb move can screw everything up. Can Fi fight back?
Hasn’t everyone wondered what if? In this daring debut novel, Moriah McStay gives us the rare opportunity to see what might have happened if things were different. Maybe luck determines our paths. But maybe it’s who we are that determines our luck.
Why is this book included on my list? Initially, the book cover caught my attention which lead me to check out the synopsis of it. Now, I am very curious how this book will be written and how the story will flow.
GOODREADS
Pre-order links: Amazon | B&N | iBooks
Pre-order links: Amazon | B&N | iBooks
Q:
Before I proceed, I shall ask you first a little bit something about yourself. What’s
your favourite food? Favourite color? Favorite TV show? Pet peeve/s?
A: Fave food: Stuffed pizza from Bacino’s in Chicago—spinach,
no mushrooms. Fave color: Orange. Pet peeve: Pointless quotation marks on
billboard ads.
Q:
Who’s your favorite author and what is your favorite book? How did this
particular author and book influence you as a person and as a writer?
A: This changes all the time. Right now I love David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas, Bone Clocks) because he’s
just a brilliant, awe-inspiring writer. Growing up I read lots of classics, and
Jane Austen was probably my favorite. I’m a sucker for a love story.
Q: Have
you really dreamt of becoming a writer? Who or what inspired you to become one?
A: I wanted to be a writer ever since I was a teenager, but I
forgot about it in my twenties (I know--weird.) Children’s books helped me finally
rediscover the love of writing. Being a mom, I read great books to my kids--Harry
Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, Mysterious Benedict Society, Roald Dahl, so many!
That’s when I started thinking, “Maybe I can do this, too.”
Q: When
you aren’t writing, where would we most likely find you? What are your hobbies
aside from writing?
A: I love yoga—I finished my teacher certification in
2014—walking my dogs, getting coffee with friends. Reading! Outside of writing
and time with family, I don’t have time for much else!
Q:
Can you give me an idea on how you
came up with the story line for Everything That Makes You? How did you get started with writing
it?
A: When I was little, I was in an accident that left me blind
in one eye. You can’t notice much now, but at the time it felt significant.
People could tell. I got lots of questions, couldn’t play sports, had to wear
big glasses. Later on—in high school and college—I began to wonder which parts
of my personality that accident shaped. If it never happened, who would I be? I
thought a book looking at one particular event, and its impact would be an
interesting project.
Q:
What’s your favorite and least favorite part of the writing process for
Everything That Makes You?
A: The dual story lines—over a three year span—was both really
fun and a logistical challenge. Each girl needed plot points at pretty much the
same time to make it work. Figuring it all out was satisfying and maddening.
Q:
Cover Art Talk. I love how artsy and unique the cover for your book looks. Were
you involved in the choosing process for the cover art? How were you able to
come up with this one?
A: Isn’t is great? I feel like I lucked out with this. It’s not
what I envisioned at all—I actually didn’t want
a girl on the cover. But Erin Fitzsimmons—the art director at HarperCollins who
designed it—did such a fantastic job. She gets all the credit. The hand
lettering of the lyrics on Fiona’s side of the face is all her work. She ripped
out a moleskin page and worked on that, to make it the most authentic.
Q: Is
there a character in Everything That Makes You that’s based on someone you know
or loosely based on yourself? Are there certain scenes in the book that’s based
on your experiences or of your friends?
A: In the beginning, Fiona was based loosely on me—or my
emotions, maybe. I identify with the ways strangers relate to her. For example,
there’s a brief scene where she and her mom are shopping for a prom dress, and
the clerk talks to her like she’s disabled. I can empathaize with that. That
said, she’s not me at all. I don’t have stage fright, I never pined for the
hunky guy from afar. I was always much more likely to just go talk to him! Mrs.
Doyle is like my mom in the sense that she’s maddeningly beautiful and loves to
decorate, but Fiona’s issues with her mom aren’t my issues. My mother never
once made me wear pink.
This is cut from an early scene in the book. Fiona and her brother Ryan are talking in her room. It’s February 27, the anniversary of the childhood accident that left Fiona badly scarred on the right side of her face. This part starts with Ryan saying he’d be mad about the accident, if it happened to him:
“I’d be pissed.”
“Waste of energy. I can’t change anything.” She grabbed a Moleskine
notebook off her bedside table. She’d been keeping these notebooks since
seventh grade, around the same time her mom finally let her quit piano for
guitar lessons. They weren’t diaries, or songbooks strictly. Most of the back
pages were covered in rhymes. She’d pick a word, make syllable count columns,
and see what matched with it. Pride.
Divide. Bona Fide. Jekyll and Hyde.
She flipped pages until she found a blank spot, jotting down some
more words to add to the rhymes and lyrics scrawled everywhere—not to mention
her goofy hearts and Trent McKinnon’s name.
“I can’t change that I’m short,” Ryan said. “It still annoys the
hell out of me.”
Fiona moved between guitar and notebook, playing through chords
and writing them down next to the words. “You’ll grow. Dad’s six two.”
“But I’m short now. Most girls want to be taller than their
dates.” Ryan leaned over, trying to get a look at her writing. “When are you
going to let me hear one?”
Fiona’s pen stilled against the paper. She stared at the words
she’d written—raw, aching phrases that explained her to herself, unfinished
songs about unrequited love with Trent McKinnon. They told about her fears,
which were many, and her hopes, which were unlikely. The words laid out her
insecurities, her self-disgust, and, inexplicably, her pride.
Simply put, they were True. No way was she sharing them with
anyone.
“Nothing to hear yet. Just scribbles, really.” She changed the
subject back to Ryan. “Dad said he didn’t have his growth spurt until college.
Freshman year he was five seven. By that summer, he’d grown five inches.”
“I didn’t come in here for you to solve my problems.”
“Your problem has a solution.”
“Yours might,” he said quietly.
I listened to a lot of Neko Case and Cat Powers when I wrote
Fiona. They’re artists I think she’d listen to. There’s this one song by the
Mynabirds—We Made a Mountain—that Fiona and Fi would play for each other, if
they could.
You know, I’m so honored that people are talking about ETMY,
that it’s struck a chord. I’m a member of the Fearless Fifteeners and
Class2k15, both debut groups for middle grade and YA authors, so I know how
many awesome books there are to pick from. And if folks choose to spend their
money on mine—it’s humbling, really. I hope all my readers enjoy it as much as
I loved writing it!
No comments:
Post a Comment