Hey guys!
Guess who's back??? I know I made a fake promise to you all that I am not going to take a hiatus because of my NYC trip, but I ended up taking one, because I forgot to schedule posts. I know I know, but forgive me, and I am back now, so let me treat you all with all the amazing posts hereafter! :D
Today on the blog, we have the author of one of my favourite reads of 2017, who's also one of the best human beings I've met - he's just so wonderful! So everyone, say hi to Cale Dietrich,the fabulous author of The Love Interest!
Describe your book in
5 words
First up: hey! I just wanted to say how happy I am
to be doing this interview with you! :D
So, five words. Ahh, that’s so few. Ermm how about:
Two spies fall in love!
What inspired you to
write The Love Interest?
So, the initial idea was pretty much “how cool
would it be if there was a training academy for the swoony love interests of YA
fiction”. This idea popped into my head, and I instantly thought it was super
interesting and funny, so I decided to write it. But I think TLI was heavily,
heavily influenced by my own experiences in being gay. I started writing when I
was sorting out my feelings and going through my first experiences in coming
out, which was quite tough for me. I remember this feeling that people were
dismissing me because I’m not straight, and I used writing TLI to sort out my
feelings about that. It was very therapeutic, haha.
I just love the twist
in the love triangle trope, plus how unconventional the book is, even going
forward to take a slight jab at popular YA cliches. Was all this intentional?
If so, how did you come by the idea?
Ahh thanks!! Do you mean the meta stuff? Yep, that
was totally intentional. It’s a fine line, but I never wanted to take a jab at
YA, or one at YA love triangles (which I am actually generally a fan of). I
wanted to write a YA version of, say, THE CABIN IN THE WOODS or COMMUNITY,
which are both meta, while still being examples of the types of fiction they
are meta about. I think it’s about the tone – I wanted it to be more like “oh,
he’s using that familiar trope now, haha” not “he’s saying that trope sucks and
anyone who uses it is the worst” if that makes sense? I think of it as lovingly
meta. I really hope I pulled it off!
On that note, what is
your favourite/least favourite YA trope? Or maybe a trope which you wish was
given a LGBT twist?
THE GAY BEST FRIEND TROPE NEEDS TO GTFO. I’m not
sure straight people even know how much damage this trope can do – there are a
lot of straight people who instantly think of gay men/boys as sort of
accessories because of it and it’s so gross.
Also, I’m not a fan of any trope where a
marginalised person is treated in a stereotypical or derogatory way. My
favourite trope would probably be anything to do with romance, because I love a good
old trope-ey rom-com. And as for LGBT twist, I basically would like any of
them, because I think we still need more LGBT books (especially ownvoices
ones!).
This is a million
dollar question……..Team Caden or Dyl? ( I know, I am cruel, my bet is on Caden,
though)
THIS IS SO CRUEL. Umm, I mean, Caden is the
protagonist, and he means a freaking lot to me. But I’m a huge fan of Dyl. So
argh I can’t pick, sorry! I love them both in totally different ways.
The boys’ sexualities
and romance is beautifully portrayed in the book ( especially Caden coming to
terms with his sexuality), was it hard to capture the self realization and
coming out experience on the page?
Aww thank you! Hahaha I mean, you already know this
from Twitter, but TLI is super personal. So not really! Writing it was easy.
I’m not saying Caden’s experience is exactly the same as mine, but I definitely
figured out my feelings through writing, so they’re linked in this weird
complicated way. Showing it to people was hard, but writing it was really easy.
What has been your
favourite aspect(s) of the entire journey of TLI?
It’s been such a whirlwind, it’s honestly hard to
pick a favourite! But I won’t ever forget the moment I saw the cover – I had
been anticipating it for so long and when it came it was so unexpected (I
thought it’d be blue) but I instantly loved it so much. That was a huge moment
for me.
What advice would you
give for aspiring authors, especially but not limited to queer teens?
Sure thing! I think the main thing I would tell
people is to listen to their instincts. It can be really hard to do, but yeah,
if you have that voice inside your head telling you that the book you’re
working on is the one, you should listen to that, no matter what anyone else
says. Also: network! Twitter seems to be the place now (when I was a teen I was
on Absolute Write). But yeah, find writer friends and critique partners – they
will teach you so much. And for queer teens, I don’t have advice per se, but
just want to ask them super nicely to write so freaking much, because it’s so
needed. Things are definitely getting way, way better, but I think the more
ownvoices LGBT books out there the better, so I just want to encourage those
teens to write as much as they can.
Can you share with us
what you’re working on next?
I
can’t give too many details yet, I’m afraid! But I can say it’s got a gay
protagonist, and I really, really hope I will have more news soon.
Thanks
so much for this! Answering these was super fun. :D
Title : The Love Interest
Author : Cale Dietrich
Release Date : May 16th 2017
Publisher : Feiwel & Friends
Synopsis :
There is a secret organization that cultivates teenage
spies. The agents are called Love Interests because getting close to people
destined for great power means getting valuable secrets.
Caden is a Nice: the boy next door, sculpted to physical
perfection. Dylan is a Bad: the brooding, dark-souled guy who is dangerously
handsome. The girl they are competing for is important to the organization, and
each boy will pursue her. Will she choose the Nice or the Bad?
Both Caden and Dylan are living in the outside world for the
first time. They are well-trained and at the top of their games. They have to
be—whoever the girl doesn’t choose will die.
What the boys don’t expect are feelings that are outside of
their training. Feelings that could kill them both.
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