Author Interview: Bill Elenbark

It may almost be the end of Pride Month but the content does not stop coming! Our interview today is with Bill Elenbark, whose debut novel releases in just a handful of days (and, yes, of course, that’s still plenty of time to get your preorder in).

You can also follow him on twitter.

Let’s start at the beginning. How did you first get into writing?

A long long time ago. In a galaxy called NJ. I’ve been writing stories all my life actually, and wrote a full-length (horrible) novel in high school titled (I kid you not) “When Society Kills” (it was not subtle). I continued writing in college and after college – I always had story ideas and always turned them into full-length novels – but went into an engineering career and set my love of writing aside. Later in life, about a decade ago, I decided to return to school for a masters in writing and that sparked the initial (very different) draft of my forthcoming novel I Will Be Okay.

What are your favourite genres to read and write?

So I write almost exclusively Young Adult and read almost exclusively YA as well. I used to read (and write) much more broadly but found a love for the genre (especially for writing in the genre) that cannot be satiated it seems. But my just completed next novel mixes in a horror story that I’ve wanted to write forever (back in college while working at the campus library I read a lot of Stephen King…)

And are there any genres or tropes you wouldn’t write?

I think I have no idea how to write a male/female love story even though a lot of the YA stories I read are boy/girl. It’s possible I am just turned off by grown adult straight romance as I typically fast forward through love scenes among opposite sex partners in movies.

How do you get inspiration for your books?

A variety of places. Real life experiences. Other books. Movies. TV etc. Just sort of living life and thinking of characters and events that might merge together to form a good story.

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. Yes most of my novels have a musical component baked in. I Will Be Okay for instance, the narrator is a huge fan of an indie rock band called The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die and their lyrics are sprinkled throughout (it’s the band’s music that forges the connection between the narrator and his crush).  So I listened to a lot of the band while writing it. I’d say it’s more the vibe of the songs than lyrics though, as it’s tough for me to focus on lyrics while writing. In fact I used to write exclusively to “post-rock” music (which has no lyrics) but with my more recent writing I’m okay with singing I just focus more on the melodies than lyrics.

What’s your writing process? At what point do you let other people read your drafts and who are they?

Another good question.  I have a few friends that I share scenes and/or drafts with but usually not until I’m done with a full 2nd draft of the novel.  I don’t share anything during the first draft and not until a very hard edit because I don’t want someone else’s ideas to influence my story too much.  This probably extends the process, as it takes longer for me to learn about a serious issue a reader has that I may have missed, but that’s the process I use.

Summarise your most recent/next book in up to 5 words and a meme.

Romeo meets Romeo with baseball.

Which three authors would you say influenced your writing the most?

Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give You the Sun was a huge influence. Also Michael Chabon and David Levithan.

If (when!) your book(s) were to be made into movies, who would you like to direct them?

Be happy with anyone 🙂  But Gregg Araki did my favorite gay-themed movie Mysterious Skin so he’d be first choice I think.

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?

For someone in his 40s, it’s been sort of a whirlwind of different experiences throughout my life.  I think when I was a teenager and in my 20s, if I had anything approaching the representation that exists today my life would have been much different and arguably better. I still remember when Ellen came out on her TV show as this big huge monumental event in my life because finally someone – anyone – relatively mainstream was coming out as gay.  It’s so different now and my life is so different now (living in NYC-area) that being gay is just accepted, it’s just life, but also I think it’s not that way for a lot of young adults in different places and family situations and even if it is more accepted, it’s also hugely important that all voices are heard in the arts and politics and all aspects of life, not just old white straight males.

Rec us some great LGBT books you’ve read recently! One can never have enough recommendations!

We Contain Multitudes by Sarah Henstra, Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro, What if It’s Us by Becky Albertelli and Adam Silvera, the aforementioned I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson (which I re-read for the 5th time recently).

What’s one piece of advice you would like to give your younger self?

Stop hiding in the closet!  Seriously, you are wasting your life not being true to yourself, no matter how hard it might seem to admit your truth.

If you could have dinner with one member of the LGBT community, dead or alive, who would it be?

Hmm… Rachel Maddow I think. I love her so much.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bill Elenbark wrote his first novel longhand in the empty pages of engineering class notebooks at Rutgers University. He went on to get an engineering degree but continued to write in his spare time and eventually fell in love with writing YA stories, particularly those with an indie rock theme or undercurrent. He has lived for the past seven years in Hoboken, NJ, with his partner Mike and their dog Elie.

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