2014 Debut Authors Bash: An Interview with Mary Crockett, Author of DREAM BOY!

Today I am very excited to help kick off the 2014 Debut Authors Bash, hosted by YA Reads! Check out the schedule to see all the other amazing authors being hosted throughout the rest of the month.

There have been so many absolutely incredible debut books and authors out there this year and I am so pleased to be featuring Mary Crockett on the blog today. Mary is the co-author, along with Madelyn Rosenberg, of Dream Boy, which hit shelves on July 21st from Sourcebooks Fire.

I’ve got an amazing interview with Mary, in which she states that she has the exact same favourite movie, guilty pleasure and book as I do, as well as choosing the coolest dream writing space I have ever heard. Read on!

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Dream Boy is obviously about dreams coming to life, and I know you love dream journals. How much of the book came to you while you were dreaming, and how did that work with co-authoring?

I do tend to tap into my subconscious while writing, but mainly I do that for poetry instead of fiction. It seems to me that poetry is the domain of the subconscious, but when you let too much of your subconscious out when writing fiction, it can get crazy really fast.

That said, I do remember on more than one occasion going to bed with a question about Dream Boy and waking the next morning with the answer. Sort of like my mind figured it out while I dreamed.

As far as the co-writing goes, both Madelyn and I feel comfortable x-ing something out or taking it in a different direction–even if what was on the page was inspired by a dream. We just tried to do our best by the story itself, and we let that be our guide.

In your debut year as an author, what is the most memorably inspiring piece of advice you have received on your road to publication that has turned you from a writer into an author?

A friend told me that a third of the people who read a book will love it, a third will be “meh” about it, and a third will dislike it. As a writer, you need to focus on the third who love it. They are the people who get what you’re trying to do; write for them. That seemed pretty smart to me.

What would be your ideal dream writing spot? Anywhere in the world.

Oooh! I would write in Bilbo Baggin’s kitchen.

If you had to chose one thing that would inspire your next novel, what would it be and why?

I have started something new, and it was started in response to a very upsetting, very senseless murder.

I’d rather be inspired by someone I love. Or some new technology that raises ethical questions. Or a letter to an advice columnist. Or pretty much anything other than a murder.

But there you have it. You don’t really get to choose what sets you to typing.

How have the books you’ve read in your life influenced your own writing? Which books pushed you into writing?

I started writing when I was so young that if I were perfectly honest, I’d probably have to name some Dr. Seuss titles. As an older writer, mainly poets influenced me. The poets Fred Chappell, Elizabeth Bishop and Adrienne Rich were all very important to me at various points in my writing life.

For fiction, I love long-dead writers best–Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, people like that. I see a strong connection between the energy and concerns of a writer like Charlotte Bronte and YA writers today.

E. Lockhart’s The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks probably nudged me toward writing YA.

Speed Round!

Favourite Movie?

Hmmm… Too many! Maybe Moulin Rouge

Favourite Book?

Jane Austen’s Persuasion (at least today — ask me tomorrow and the answer might be A Confederacy of Dunces or a collection of Flannery O’Connor’s stories or Cormac McCarthy’s The Road or–if I’m really lucky–something I haven’t read yet)

Dream Vacation?

A six-month rail tour of Europe. Plenty of time to wander about.

Reading curled up under a blanket vs. Reading laying out in the sunshine?

Curled up under a blanket

Favourite Book Boyfriend?

Mr. Knightley

Guilty Pleasure?

Eating ice cream out of the carton with a spoon

Vampires vs. Werewolves?

Werewolves

Contemporary vs. Paranormal?

Both!

Print books vs. ereaders?

Both!

Celebrity Crush?

Ewan McGregor

About Mary Crockett

Mary Crockett’s debut young adult novel DREAM BOY is about the aftermath of dreams and the desire to figure out how you fit into the puzzle of your own life. It’s also about cute guys, epic kisses, and the mystical power of a really awesome pair of shoes. A native of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Mary grew up as the youngest of six children in a family of misfits. She has worked as everything from a history museum director to a toilet seat hand model. In her other life, she’s an award-winning poet, professional eavesdropper, and the person who wipes runny noses. If you tweet at her, chances are she will tweet back.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook

About Dream Boy

Annabelle Manning feels like she’s doing time at her high school in Chilton, Virginia. She has her friends at her lunchtime table of nobodies. What she doesn’t have are possibilities. Or a date for Homecoming. Things get more interesting at night, when she spends time with the boy of her dreams. But the blue-eyed boy with the fairytale smile is just that—a dream. Until the Friday afternoon he walks into her chemistry class.

One of friends suspects he’s an alien. Another is pretty sure it’s all one big case of deja vu. While Annabelle doesn’t know what to think, she’s willing to believe that the charming Martin Zirkle may just be her dream come true. But as Annabelle discovers the truth behind dreams—where they come from and what they mean—she is forced to face a dark reality she had not expected. More than just Martin has arrived in Chilton. As Annabelle learns, if dreams can come true, so can nightmares.

Amazon | Chapters | IndieBound | Goodreads

Speed Round!

About Mary Crockett

About Dream Boy

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