Author Matthew Quick, Movies and Boy 21

I'm so excited to welcome one of my favorite authors, Matthew Quick, to the blog today. You may remember when I gushed   talked about his first YA novel, Sorta Like A Rock Star,  which I read as an ARC back in 2009. That book totally blew me away and, for someone who reads dozens of books per month, that doesn't happen for me often.  So I started following his blog and found out that his debut (The Silver Linings Playbook - an adult contemporary) was not only optioned for a movie -  info here and here-  but it actually stars Bradley Cooper, Robert DeNiro, Julia Stiles and Jennifer Lawrence. AAAAHHHH! Can you say Oscar potential?? The movie wrapped recently; it'll premier in November. More on that below....

Matthew's third novel is another YA called  BOY21, which explores the friendship and lives of two teen guys in very different places. Watch the trailer here.  If Finley is anything close to Amber Appleton (the MC of SLARS) he's going to be one of my favs. 

1.  Let's talk about BOY21, which debuts March 5. It's about basketball, family, friendship and how tragedy brings two unlikely guys together. You said in another interview that the genesis of this story was playing pick-up ball with guys with whom you've since lost touch. In your observations, how does friendship between guys at this age differ than that between girls?

I'm not sure you can make a blanket statement about this. Gender issues are a lot more complex and individual than we'd like them to be. One thing I noticed when I was teaching high school was this: because we live in a culture that doesn't often encourage boys to speak about their emotions, I think many boys struggle to express their feelings for each other during the teens years. Ironically, it's the intense male friendships boys cultivate during the teen years that shape much of their identity. BOY21 explores this issue.

 2. Your target audience of teen boys can be a slippery one. What's your marketing plan to get these guys to give your book a try?

 BOY21 isn't a 'boy book,' nor is it a sports book. It's much more than that. It's a book for boys, girls, and adults too. That being said, I think there are a lot of teenage boys who are desperate to read about and discuss emotions, mental health, and the need to make their way in the world independent of their family history. BOY21 is about all of these things. I'm hoping that the book will speak for itself and find its audience. My publisher, Little Brown Books for Young Readers has a wonderful marketing team. They've done a tremendous amount of work getting Advanced Reading Copies to educators and librarians and mavens all over the country. They are a force; I'm very thankful for all their good work. I'll be doing a bunch of events too, which you can check out here.

 3.  How is publishing your third different from your debut? Do you get any more publisher marketing love - book tours? A private plane? Free hotel food? A plushy bathrobe? A case of bookmarks?

Ha! At the risk of killing my author mystique, I'll say it's a lot less glamorous than you'd think. No private planes yet. Although it's always nice to attend a conference or visit a new state, and I'll be doing both more than once. My publisher has done a great job getting my work and me out and about around the country. Sometimes when I am speaking to a room full of people I think, "Wow, you really are an author!" Those are nice moments. But then I go home and sit alone in a room for months growing a beard and trying to come up with the next book. That part doesn't change...ever.

 I was hoping you'd say that after the third book, the Good Idea Fairy sprinkles you with permanent best-seller dust. Or gives you a magic best-seller elixir. Now I am bummed.

 4. Talk about your revision process. What's changed as you've progressed in your writerly talents - does it take fewer passes to polish? Are you more aware of your strengths/weaknesses, etc? Do you need fewer betas?

BOY21 (my third published novel) was by far the hardest to write and required the most editing, so maybe I am regressing! Although, Alicia thinks BOY21 is also my best book. Each book is different. I think the biggest post publication change is that you know what's coming...the reviews, strange comments from friends and family members, how public publishing is. That and you also hear more voices in your head. All the positive and negative comments about your previous works want to yell at you while you write and revise--those voices want to write your books. All the Amazon reviews, everything you read on Goodreads, the bizarre asides at signings. And the praise can be even worse, if you take it too seriously. You have to silence those voices daily before you work, return to the writing place where only your voice exists, or else you're done. The more voices you accrue (and each books brings more responses) the harder this process can become.

I've heard via a NYT best-seller author-friend-of-a-friend that the instantaneous feedback on Amazon, etc. can get addicting. She's finding it hard to unplug and write amidst all the hoopla of her debut. However, still a problem most writers would love to have...

5. Let's talk movies.  You said in  a 2008 TV interview that the film rights to The Silver Linings Playbook  (Matthew's debut novel) sold faster than the US rights. Explain how it's possible that a film director can read your book before it's published and option it for a screenplay.

My search for a lit agent was long and arduous. I had one referral that went nowhere. I actually ended up befriending one of the agents who rejected TSLP, and she became a huge cheerleader/coach as I continued to submit and weather more than 70 rejections. Eventually the universe laughed and sympathized and TSLP was pulled out of a Sterling Lord Literistic slush pile. Doug Stewart fell in love with the manuscript and I signed with him. Little did I know that he had a partner in LA. Rich Green of CAA became my LA agent even before I knew I had representation in LA. Rich got TSLP into the hands of Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella, both of whom loved the novel and made things happen quickly for us in LA. The book actually sold at auction to an Italian publisher before the movie deal was done. And the US book deal came third, if I remember correctly. It was a wild few months. I was living with my in-laws and had been writing full-time without a paycheck for three years. I had reached the end of our bank account. The news seemed to arrive at just the right moment. Before the deals were made, all of this would have seemed very impossible to me.

I love these kinds of basement-writer-makes-big stories. And they seem to happen with regular frequency. Hmmm. Maybe I need to get a house with a basement.

6. From what I hear, film rights for novels are sold on a regular basis, but very few continue into development. Talk about that process from the author standpoint - do you have any control over it once the rights have sold? And what's it like to be on the sidelines watching your characters go through the Hollywood grist mill?

I've heard other authors say it's like doing a drug deal. You walk up to the Hollywood wall, throw your manuscript over, they throw a bag of money back, and then--keeping your mouth shut--you run away and never look back. Lucky for me, one of my storytelling heroes was tapped to write the screenplay and direct. I have always admired David O. Russell's work. I loved the TSLP screenplay and enjoyed my day on the movie set. I can't wait to see the film. When I met David we talked about how the book was my baby and the movie was his to raise up into final form, and I got that from the beginning. Film and books live in two very different worlds. I'm glad my characters will get to live in both.

David O. Russell's film credits include Three Kings (George Clooney, Mark Wahlburg) The Fighter (Christian Bale, Mark Wahlburg) I Heart Huckabees, and more.

 7. Most writers and readers dislike watching a movie based on a book - the plot wanders, the plot is unrecognizable, there are extra scenes or a character is ruined, etc. Did you have any control over how the screenplay was written, or any authority to nix something that didn't follow your plot?

David O. Russell is a master filmmaker. I love his work. I wouldn't want to exert my control over David. He's an artist. He needs to make the movie his way. And many of my favorite films were originally based on books.

That's because writers rule the world. 

8. Will you attend the November premier with your wife (the most awesome Alicia Bessette, a novelist whom I interviewed here)? Do you get to walk the red carpet and pose with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence? can I come?

I hope to attend one of the premiers. Of course, Alicia will be my guest. I have no idea what that will be like, but I'm looking forward to finding out. I met Bradley Cooper when I visited the movie set. He walked right up to me and said hello. I liked him and his take on Pat Peoples a lot. Unfortunately, you cannot come.

What?? You're not going to let a stalkerish virtual stranger attend this event with you? I'm stunned. *wipes a tear*

9. So, two YA books under your belt and one adult fiction. You've said you're writing an adult genre novel next. How long will it take you to finish?

Each book has a life of its own. Some books get written rapidly. Some feel like melting an iceberg with a hairdryer. I hope I finish the next adult book soon, but I know that it will be finished when it wants to be finished. Was it Thoreau who said you can't rush a sunrise?

Ooh. I had no idea the MS had an opinion about deadlines. *vows to ask next time*

Thanks, Matthew! And another huge congratulations on selling your fourth novel, FORGIVE ME, LEONARD PEACOCK to Little Brown Children's. It's supposed to launch spring, 2013. Keep an eye out for it, people.

Have any questions for Matthew? Leave them in the comments.

Alicia Bessette and A Pinch of Love

 My introduction to Alicia came a few years ago, when I read Simply from Scratch, a novel about a grieving young widow who enters a baking contest. I loved the book and kept watching the library for Alicia's name to reappear in the New Books shelves.

Two years later, I was researching the guy who wrote Sorta Like A Rock Star, which I'd read an ARC of in 2009 and really, REALLY liked. I'd never written to an author before (cross my heart) and vowed at the time to send the author a note. I never did until one day, I was commenting on a blog that requested favorite YA reads and I wanted to recommend SLARS. Turns out that author is Matthew Quick, who is married to Alicia Bessette. *huge eyes*   Matthew's blog mentioned A Pinch of Love. I read the blurb and thought - HOLY COW! I remember this book but it wasn't called A Pinch of Love. (It's been renamed for the paperback version.)  The writing was soooo good. And Matthew is Alicia's husband?! How did so much awesomeness get in one family? (So that's where all the awesomeness went. I was wondering...) Anyway, I won a copy to re-read in about two days (still love it!), which encouraged me to cyberstalk request an interview on the off-chance Alicia was as gracious and classy as the characters in her book.
I'm not giving you my copy, which is autographed *holds onto it jealously* but I promise that if you buy APOL you will LOVE it. (Or you can send it to me for free.)

An article on your site suggests your husband's first sale was fuel for a total life-change - a move not only to a new community, but to becoming a full-time writer yourself. Talk about your thought processes then, and where you found the courage to quit your day job.

Yes, my husband and I have embraced several big life-changes. The first was in 2004, and it required the most courage. We quit our jobs, sold our home, and moved from New Jersey to Massachusetts, all in the name of becoming published novelists.
What fueled that change? Dissatisfaction. We were disappointed in our jobs and had no spare energy to fully pursue our shared dream of writing fiction. We decided that nothing would change if we didn't change it. Many people told us we were taking a risky and illogical step backward by forsaking our then-careers and moving in with my parents. But at the time there seemed to be no other alternative. While we both wanted to write, we couldn't afford for both of us to do that at the same time. So Matt entered an MFA program while I became a reporter for my hometown newspaper. Our plan was to switch places in a few years.
Which leads to the second big life-change in 2007, when Matt sold his first novel, THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK. We had enough money to move out of my parents' house, and I could join him in writing full time. At that point, no courage was required to quit my day job! Matt's success was all the impetus I needed. We missed Philly, so we returned to that area and rented a small apartment. My "office" was a desk and chair in the corner of the living room. It was there that I wrote A PINCH OF LOVE.
Our third big change came this year, when we moved back to Massachusetts, to be closer to woods and mountains, which fuel our creativity. We're homeowners now, and I have my own office -- a real room -- bliss!


Yay! I always pictured you in New England because the world you create in APOL is so vivid.
How did you snag your agent?

I found my agent with the help of agentquery.com. It's a very useful and informative website that I recommend to anyone seeking advice on querying, which can be a grueling process. (The first novel I wrote was not published, and was rejected by more than one hundred agents.) To any writers out there entering the agent search, stay hopeful; don't despair. Keep writing. Remember that every rejection gets you closer to the person who will become your agent. And, read this:

AgentQuery is awesome! So is QueryTracker...but I'm preaching to the choir.

Describe your writing relationship with your husband. Do you two talk about your work, or prefer to keep your professional lives as separate as possible?

We've built our marriage around fulfilling personal potential, so topics related to myth and reality, success and failure, meaning and meaninglessness, writing and editing, character development and plot, movies and books, frequently work their way into our daily conversations. Our professional lives and our personal lives are closely linked.

Your site mentions you're an accomplished pianist. Does your music encourage creativity at the computer keyboard? If so, how?

A friend participating in NaNoWriMo this month told me she wrote more than 2,000 words while listening to one of my CDs. I was so happy to hear that!
I usually listen to music when I write -- but I never listen to my own music, because all I hear are mistakes, places where I could have been either more or less subtle, both in performance and in songwriting. My mind becomes so preoccupied with my own perceived shortcomings that I can't focus on anything else. (For the same reason, I've never read A PINCH OF LOVE beginning to end in book form.) I'm very self-critical. That quality can be crippling, but it also can be a boon, especially when it comes to revision -- at the piano and at the computer.
That said, my writing breaks frequently feature me at the piano!

How do you balance life as a professional musician with life as a writer? Do you set practice time limits on both or set whole days aside to pursue one or the other?

I'm a hobbyist musician and a professional writer, and the two pursuits seem to balance each other out naturally. I made my two full-length CDs (with the help of an old friend who is a hobbyist music producer) during times when I wasn't writing much fiction. After Big Life Change #2 described above, I was separated from my piano -- it didn't fit in the apartment. That's when I really dove into fiction. Now, in our home in Massachusetts, I'm reunited with my piano. I'm playing and writing. It's a gift.

BTW, you can listen to some of Alicia's recordings here.

Your MC in APOL is a widow. I'm guessing you had to imagine yourself as a widow to get into her head. Was that hard? Did it make you view life any differently?

Instead of imagining myself as a widow, I imagined Zell, my narrator, as a widow. I got to know her entire personal history, from birth to now, in order to get inside her head as much as possible -- and out of my own. What about the grieving process is difficult for Zell in particular? Which of Zell's personality traits help her to cope, and which of her personality traits sabotage her healing? Those were my guiding questions in creating her voice and her world.
Writing a book -- especially a book that centers around grief and recovery -- is an emotional journey. I do view life differently after having written it, in the sense that perhaps I'm generally less judgmental of other peoples' complaints. Life is hard for everyone. No one is immune to pain.


What's the most surprising thing about being a published author?
How many people have participated in getting me here. No book is the result of one person working in solitude. So many people helped create A PINCH OF LOVE: first readers, agents, agents' colleagues, editors, editors' assistants, proofreaders, copy editors, publicists, marketing professionals, artists, and the list goes on. Not to mention my mother, who gave me a lined journal to write in for my eighth birthday; my fourth-grade teacher, Mr. Moran, who made reading absolutely magical for me; and my creative writing teacher in high school, Mrs. Rubenstein, who took a special interest in me during a vulnerable time in my life.

Where are you headed in your next WIP - a sequel, a new setting or genre?? (hint: SEQUEL.)Many readers have asked if I'm working on a sequel to A PINCH OF LOVE. Right now, I'm not ... but that doesn't mean I won't ever be! Regarding my current work in progress, I'm too superstitious to discuss it in detail. But I have high hopes.

Hmmm...future blog post alert. What is up with super-secret WIPs? Foment your brains, people, and come back Monday to share your reasons for staying undercover.

Fast five ...

Cat or dog?
Dog. (Cat is a close second.)

Ocean or mountains?
Mountains. (Ocean is a close second.)

Favorite swear word and time/place you use it most often.
 The F-bomb. I use it all over the place.

Mine is g.d. I use it in the car all the time, ALL the time.  Each of my kids' first word was dammit which they said in the car.  (Not my finest mom moment. Dammit.)

First thing on your Christmas wish list
World peace. (Second thing: a red Le Creuset skillet.)

I'd like another pair of fuzzy socks. The kind with aloe vera in them?? They rock.

Thing you do that you know is annoying but you just can't stop.
 Hum.

Thanks for stopping by, Alicia!