What inspired you to write Charlotte?
I wanted a female protagonist who was tough just by nature, not because something terrible happened to her. Most strong women in fiction are also damaged. I wanted to break that trope. Also, I wanted a tomboy who unabashedly liked and was liked by boys. This was my experience and I don’t easily recall seeing girls like that in fiction.
Is verse your favorite format to write in?
My preferred format depends on the story I want to tell and its intended audience. I do think the verse format is perfect for our current era. It allows you to get very quickly to the emotional heart of each scene. It also gives you the license of true poetry, which lets you cover a lot of ground using things like metaphor, intentionally dualistic language, or using feelings rather than strict narration to cover time passing.
It’s a form that also makes for a quick read, which—given how overcommitted we all are these days—presents readers with a nice opportunity to read something of substance and consequence in sometimes (if we’re talking about a chapter or two) under a minute.
Since completing this novel, I’ve found myself incorporating verse into longer, traditional prose work for adults. This blending seems to be popular with my readers.
Is there a person, poem, or book that inspired you to become a writer?
I’ve always been a writer. It’s a weird trait that can also be a curse, like having a sixth finger or a really interesting and obvious birthmark.
The first writer I tried to emulate was probably Jack London, though I tried to tell his type of story from the POV of a wolf. After that, probably William Burroughs. He has a blunt style that I appreciated early on. (Probably too early on given his subject matter lol.) Also Tom Waits, who is a musician but also a storyteller, and the way he tells stories could definitely work as a verse novel.
If you could go to dinner with one author, living or dead, who would it be?
This is a question used by interviewers to drive authors to madness, I swear. Let’s say Tom Waits. Though I’d really like to meet both Judy Blume and Jerry Spinelli. But also S.E. Hinton, and Rebecca Stead, Carl Hiaasen and Rainbow Rowell, and, and, and…. See? Madness.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtUEhxtnW7u/
In the movie adaptation of Little Pills, who would you envision playing Charlotte and Mia?
I honestly have a hard time picturing it as a film…I guess if pressed, I’d love Sadie Sink or Willow Smith as Charlotte, and Makenzie Moss or Katie Silverman as Mia.
What’s next for you?
I’m currently working on another YA verse novel. I’ve also got a comedic series about a ghost hunting team in the works, and a speculative fiction book about a guy who starts his own country on a decommissioned oil rig.