Today we’re bringing you an interview with Brooke Carter, whose novel The Stone of Sorrow, just recently published (only last week in fact), and trust us when we say you want to read it.
So, sit back and have a read of what we talked about!
You can, of course, also follow Brooke on twitter.
Related: check out five reasons you should read Brooke’s novel!
Let’s start at the beginning. How did you first get into writing?
If we go way, way back, I would say that at a young age I wanted to be an actor, or so I thought. The trouble is that I didn’t really like having people look at me. What I wanted was to pretend and make up stories and I wanted to explore characters without having to perform. It dawned on me that I was probably a writer sometime in the 6th grade when I wrote a story from the point of view of a lost raccoon in a kind of dystopian nightmare and my teacher made a big deal of it. The story was dark, detailed, and it really went there—I mean, I was truly obsessed.
So from then on I figured I was probably a writer, though I still had the sense that it was a largely impossible dream, and I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to write books or movies or how to do any of it. From that point I was very lucky to have several teachers in my life who encouraged me and pointed me in the right direction, from high school to college and university and so on. I’ve been writing for a living in some form since my early twenties, from freelancing to copywriting and teaching. It’s my trade.
What are your favourite genres to read and write?
YA, YA, YA, everything YA. I do read widely, but I’m continually drawn to young adult fiction, particularly contemporary stories and fantasy. I’m writing pretty exclusively in YA, too. I feel like the most exciting progress is being made in YA fantasy in terms of diversity and I’m super excited about all the LGBTQ+ books coming out.
And are there any genres or tropes you wouldn’t write?
I’m not a huge fan of books where a female-presenting character has all her problems solved by a man. And I don’t like it when male-presenting characters are portrayed as being “hard” or unemotional or unable to nurture others. I don’t wish to perpetuate toxic ideas, though I do constantly have to check my own work for those things.
I’ve made a conscious decision in my recent work to have as many female characters functioning in essential roles as possible. My upcoming book The Stone of Sorrow is mostly female, with one nonbinary main character and one male central character. My protagonist, as well as the antagonist and key players, are all female. It is a book about female empowerment, after all.
No shade to romance novelists, but I don’t think I will write any myself—I tried and I was terrible at it!
Do you have a writing playlist? And if you do, does it focus more on the lyrics or melodies, vibe of the songs?
Excellent question! Music is really important to me and to my writing process. I listen to a huge variety of music, and I think I go for a combination of “mood” and lyrics when I’m choosing tunes for a playlist. I tend to gravitate to a handful of songs, and then just listen to them on repeat while I’m working.
For The Stone of Sorrow I listened to a lot of dream pop and Scandinavian artists. Their music just struck a certain tone and pain that I was going for. My newest book is being entirely written to Chopin’s nocturnes. For some reason I just can’t listen to anything with lyrics for this one. It features battle scenes, so I think that has something to do with it. Like, I hear the piano crescendo and I see swords clanging together!
What’s your writing process? At what point do you let other people read your drafts and who are they?
My writing process is a very lonely, obsessive, and borderline unhealthy thing. I jest, but only a little. I amass ideas, snippets, and scraps, and then I work on a structure, slowly building on it until I have something that resembles a draft. I write in intense bursts and I don’t sleep much. I am ZERO fun to be around until I am done. It’s just suffering.
I reread and rewrite quite a few times. I should have someone read it at this stage, but my schedule right now doesn’t allow for any turnaround time, so it goes to my editor. We are generally the only two people who read it, then the copyeditor/proofer, then the world! That’s usually around the time I freak out—when I realize people will actually be reading it.
Summarise your most recent book in up to 5 words and a meme.
Will kill for my sister.
If (when!) your book(s) were to be made into movies, who would you like to direct them?
Greta Gerwig! She really has a handle on the voice of a young woman and I’d love to see her do an epic fantasy.
And for something that is also very important to us & what we put a lot of emphasis on when blogging. What does ownvoices LGBT representation mean to you?
As a teen all the fantasy novels I read featured the same characters, and there was little to no diversity within. It was hard for me to fully immerse into a narrative when I knew that I was not like the characters depicted. I didn’t look that way, or my feelings were more complex and harder to define. There is still that teenager inside of me that gets excited when I read a book that has LGBT characters doing normal everyday people stuff.
When we see ourselves represented positively in fiction, it reinforces the message that we have value and that we deserve love and respect, and that we are not invisible. I see that younger generations are being positively impacted by representation in books and media, and it’s fantastic. It gives me hope for the future.
All of that said, I think there’s a lot of work yet to be done, and I’m proud to be with a publisher that makes diversity a priority. I’m certainly still learning, and I think my voice isn’t the right one for all topics. The best thing I can do is keep writing about the things that are in my heart. When I have the chance to lift up an LGBT writer, or to offer them an opportunity, then I should kick open that door as hard as I can.
Rec us some great LGBT books you’ve read recently! One can never have enough recommendations!
Cub by Paul Coccia is a fabulous book about a chubby gay teen baker. Keep This To Yourself by Tom Ryan kept me awake for an entire night on my vacation because I just had to finish it. I’m way behind on my reading (because I’ve been writing so much), but I am really looking forward to all the books coming out in 2020!
What’s one piece of advice you would like to give your younger self?
Don’t dream it. Be it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brooke Carter is the author of several young adult novels, including the upcoming Icelandic fantasy THE STONE OF SORROW (RUNECASTER BOOK #1), which debuts on April 7, 2020 and is available for pre-order now.
Brooke is also the author of: ANOTHER MISERABLE LOVE SONG, LEARNING SEVENTEEN, LUCKY BREAK, and THE UNBROKEN HEARTS CLUB.
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