This blog post was written before I learned the news about how the NaNoWriMo organisation has protected a moderator and suppressed attempts to investigate their behaviour. NaNo events have been a huge part of my life for a long time, and I’m devastated to learn that minors have had a worse experience and that their abusers were sheltered. I will no longer be sharing any content related to the NaNo events or promoting the organisation.
It’s currently the camp version of National Novel Writing Month and, as I am tentatively participating this year, I thought I’d dedicate some time this month to my current project. This week I’m going to be doing the ‘Work In Progress’ tag, which I currently can’t find the creator of. If I do find them, I’ll update this post.
This story is one that I have been writing on and off since the summer of 2015, and I already have blog posts and videos in a playlist about it, so I’m glad to finally be updating that playlist for the first time in so many years.
Let’s begin!
What is the working title of your book?
The current (and hopefully final) title of the book is ‘There Will Be Other Summers’. The original title that I was convinced was going to be the final title was just ‘Heart’, which says absolutely nothing about the book except a metaphor that I never included, and I was set on it being the final title for the bulk of the years I’ve been working on the story.
During those years, I merged what I had of the story so far with another project I was considering working on but then abandoned, and that one was called ‘The Improbable Probability of Changing the World Tonight’, a title that is inconvenient but I am still awfully fond of, so there will be a reference to it and the idea that inspired it somewhere in the book.
Where did the idea for your book come from? Who or what inspired you to write the book?
I’m mashing these two questions together because they’re asking a similar thing.
This book is about a blind boy and a deaf girl who meet in a talking therapy support group and get partnered up in a team building activity, in extreme summary. I’m not entirely sure how all the pieces fell into place, but it started with thinking about how there was a surge of mental health representation in YA fiction five-plus years ago, but I still hadn’t read anything about physical ‘illnesses’ or disabilities. These stories are coming into the mainstream a lot more nowadays, but I hadn’t really seen one blow up across the book community back then. I decided I wanted to write about someone who was blind and how that would affect their life. I wanted to write about someone who was deaf and how that would affect their life. I wanted to put them together and watch them become friends.
I then put the idea on hold for a year or two (or three) because I soon realised I had a very black-and-white understanding of blindness and deafness, only really understanding blindness as zero vision and deafness as complete hearing loss rather than the full spectrums that they are. I took some time to read and watch diversely for as many perspectives – specifically OwnVoices perspectives – on the topic as possible to broaden my understanding, and to use my personal feelings towards my disability to add to the emotional side of it.
What genre is your work in progress?
‘There Will Be Other Summers’ is a queer young adult contemporary about the complexities of disability, discovering the wrong ways to be not okay, and how platonic soulmates can change your world overnight. There are romantic elements but no romance plot, and it’s heavy on the exploration of mental health and self-identity. There is OwnVoices asexuality, mental illness, and disability representation, although my specific disability is not represented on the page. Yet.
Choose the actors for your movie rendition.
Any actor I have in mind is too old. It’s a book about teenagers, and I’d want them to be played by teenagers, rather than just people in their twenties pretending to be younger. I live in a bubble and have no idea which teenage actors are about right now outside of the Percy Jackson cast.
Also, since I wrote the script for a hypothetical film adaptation of Paper Forests for my final university project, I’ve learned to not become too precious about parts of the film that it will be very unlikely for me to have any control over. I just need to write it, and hope for the best about anything that comes after.
One-sentence synopsis of your book.
Asher and Ryn are forced to form a bond after becoming partners in group therapy in a desperate attempt to bring some light into their lives, starting with writing letters to each other. No one expected a third letter.
However, my ‘elevator pitch’ line is something that I mentioned earlier: perfect for fans of Alice Oseman and Turtles All the Way Down, There Will Be Other Summers is a queer YA contemporary about the complexities of disability, discovering the wrong ways to be not okay, and how platonic soulmates can change your world overnight. And hopefully, that says more about the book than a sentence about the plot.
What’s your first sentence (or paragraph)?
Here’s the full first paragraph because why not?
“There are over seven hundred songs on Ryn’s iPod, yet he can’t find one that fits his mood. From the bench at the peak of the cliff, wind tears at his jacket while pop singers croon love in his ear or rockers disguise their anger with contagious guitar riffs that he will never learn to play. Out of seven hundred songs, not one of them manages to portray the overwhelming numbness that he feels. Not one song can replicate the feeling of being empty.”
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Traditional publishing continues to be the biggest dream of mine, but I still don’t think I’m ready. As much as I’d love this to be my first traditionally published book, I think the process of acquiring an agent and querying would take a while (if it does happen) and I’m too desperate to put this story out into the world.
There are a series of stories that I want to write before pursuing traditional publishing that are too close to my heart for me to relinquish any creative control – it’s important for me to be able to choose the title and the cover and design the interior of these ones. I also just…really enjoy Making books and doing more than just writing them.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I’m still in the first draft phase, but I’m hoping to complete the draft (or at least make a significant amount of progress) by the end of the year. I am a notoriously slow writer. My overall aim was to write 50,000 words over the year which averages out to something close to 150 words per day as I wanted small achievable daily goals – 150 words is around a paragraph for me. Small achievable goals also remove my fear of a deadline. I love deadlines until it comes to writing. I work great under pressure until it comes to writing. I love these things because they give structure to my life, but they just don’t work at all with how my brain works when it comes to writing.
What other books would you compare the story to?
In my opinion, it’s perfect for fans of Alice Oseman (in a ‘Radio Silence’ kind of way) and fans of John Green (in a ‘Turtles All the Way Down’ kind of way). There are similar themes and vibes. However, as this book idea was conceived around 2015, it feels appropriate to compare it to a few more books from that era that probably were inspiring in some way: ‘Undone’ by Cat Clarke, ‘Eleanor & Park’ by Rainbow Rowell, and ‘Our Chemical Hearts’ by Krystal Sutherland.
QUESTIONS -What is the working title of your book? -Where did the idea for your book come from? -Who or what inspired you to write the book? -What genre is your work in progress? -Choose the actors for your movie rendition. -One-sentence synopsis of your book. -What’s your first sentence (or paragraph)? -Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? -How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? What other books would you compare the story to?
TandeWrites 