I. Am. So. Excited.
Number one, 2018 is finally here! It’s going to be a jaw-droppingly good year for YA debuts. A veritable feast of contemporary, fantasy, sci-fi, and suspense. A literary debutante ball. You get the idea. I’ve spent the last few months gleefully tearing through early copies of spring 2018 debuts, and I can’t wait to showcase a few of my favorites here on Debut-to-Debut. (*Endless squealing!*)
Oh, and number two? See All the Stars comes out in August, which means this marks the first month of my own debut year. Pinch me now!
And third, today I get to share with you the very first 2018 interview in the Debut-to-Debut series! If you’ve been following along in 2017, you know what this series is all about: I chat with a debut young adult novelist each month, and then I share our conversation with you. You can find all the interviews in the series collected right here.
I recently corresponded with Rachel Lynn Solomon about her debut young adult novel You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone (S&S/Simon Pulse, January 2018).
From the jacket:
Eighteen-year-old twins Adina and Tovah have little in common besides their ambitious nature. Viola prodigy Adina yearns to become a soloist—and to convince her music teacher he wants her the way she wants him. Overachiever Tovah awaits her acceptance to Johns Hopkins, the first step on her path toward med school and a career as a surgeon.
But one thing could wreck their carefully planned futures: a genetic test for Huntington’s, a rare degenerative disease that slowly steals control of the body and mind. It’s turned their Israeli mother into a near stranger and fractured the sisters’ own bond in ways they’ll never admit. While Tovah finds comfort in their Jewish religion, Adina rebels against its rules.
When the results come in, one twin tests negative for Huntington’s. The other tests positive.
These opposite outcomes push them farther apart as they wrestle with guilt, betrayal, and the unexpected thrill of first love. How can they repair their relationship, and is it even worth saving?
KIT FRICK: You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone features two key elements I haven’t seen often in contemporary young adult literature: the impact of Huntington’s Disease and main characters from a practicing Conservative Jewish family. What drew you toward these topics in your debut?
RACHEL LYNN SOLOMON: I’ve always found Huntington’s disease especially devastating—and fascinating—because children of parents with HD can take a genetic test to learn whether they’ll inherit the disease. That knowledge of your own mortality, sometimes at a young age, is staggering.
As a kid, I watched the show Everwood with my mom, and one plot line focused on a character debating getting tested. It was an emotional and well-acted story that stuck with me for—wow, more than ten years. One day in 2013, I found myself in a Wikipedia rabbit hole (I’m almost embarrassed to admit my research began on Wikipedia—obviously I moved way beyond that as I got deeper into the story) and saw the statistic that a child of a parent with HD has a 50 percent chance of developing the disease. I had my what-if question that jump-starts so many books: what if sisters received opposite results? And the story grew from there.
You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone was my fifth completed manuscript since I “got serious” about writing. But it was my first with Jewish protagonists. Honestly, I think part of the problem was that growing up, I only saw Jewish main characters in Holocaust narratives. For the longest time, I assumed that was our only story to tell. But when I started writing YMMWIG, one of the first scenes took place on Yom Kippur, during which I explored the sisters’ divergent thoughts on fasting for the holiday. I was raised Reform, not Conservative—as a note, Conservative Judaism has nothing to do with conservatism in U.S. politics—but I’m not sure I was ready to write my own experience yet. And I wanted my characters to be much more observant than I had been, because it also gave me the opportunity as an adult to learn more about my religion.
KIT: Both twin sisters Adina and Tovah are such sex-positive representations of teen girls. (Adina draws confidence from her sexuality while Tovah explores sex and romance for the first time.) Tell us a bit about crafting your two protagonists and how their different relationships to sex and sexuality contributed to the development of their characters and storylines.
RACHEL: This is one of my favorite things to talk about, both with regard to this book (and hopefully my future books!) and YA in general. Part of the reason I write YA is to contribute a sex-positive narrative I didn’t have growing up. (Sensing a pattern here, ha.) In the books I read as a teen, the girls always pushed their boyfriends away. The guys always wanted sex—a problematic portrayal, too, of showing males as slaves to their desire—but the girls rarely experienced desire, rarely even acknowledged it. It instilled in me this idea that girls weren’t supposed to have those kinds of desires.
Even before I started researching Huntington’s for this book, my first idea nugget was that I wanted to write a sexually confident, even aggressive, female protagonist. Someone fully in control of her body, who knows exactly what kind of power it wields and the effect it has on people, who might learn over the course of the book that her body is not all she is. This became Adina. To contrast, I wanted her sister to be shyer about her body and all of the complexities that come with living in a female body in our society. Throughout the book, though, she gains the confidence to express desires she’s kept quiet about.
In short, one storyline is about realizing “sexuality is not all I am” and the other about discovering “sexuality can be part of who I am.” So in a way, I like to think the girls end up in similar places.
KIT: Tell us something about You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone that isn’t apparent from the book cover or flap copy. We want the inside scoop!
RACHEL: This is such a great question! My first chapter is almost exactly the same as when I drafted it four years ago. It’s probably my favorite first chapter I’ve ever written, and it’s such a great introduction to Adina, who’s in the middle of a private lesson with the viola teacher she’s convinced likes her the way she likes him.
KIT: What gives you the most joy about your life as a YA writer right now? What’s bringing you satisfaction at this moment in time?
RACHEL: Hands down, the reactions I’ve had from Jewish readers so far. I’ve seen a few reviews and tweets that mention connecting with the characters on a deep level. Some readers are even seeing observant Jews in a contemporary novel for the first time. I’m floored that the book is resonating with people. #Ownvoices is truly a powerful thing.
KIT: The publishing journey is unique for every author, but it’s safe to say that the road to book publication is filled with surprises, twists, and turns for all of us. What has surprised you most about the process of putting a first book into the world?
RACHEL: I’ve been surprised by a lot, for sure … what comes to mind right now is this feeling of “done-ness” regarding my book. It’s final—no more changes, no more, “let me just tweak this one sentence.” There are so many version of it that exist in my mind, but only one that readers will ever know. It’s surreal and terrifying and wonderful.
KIT: Drawing from your own unique experience, what advice would you to give to future young adult debut authors, or debut novelists in general?
RACHEL: Make friends with fellow debuts. You’re going to want people who understand exactly how you’re feeling at any given time. Plus, promo is hard, and no one wants to be that person whose feed is full of self-promo and nothing else. Promote your friends because you love them and their books, and you’ll find that same love come back to you. I adore this community, and I so value my relationships within it. (Like the one I have with you, Kit! 🙂)
Photo credit Ian Grant
Rachel Lynn Solomon is a Seattle native who loves rainy days, her tiny dog, tap dancing, old movies, red lipstick, and books with flawed, complicated characters. In high school, she sang in a riot grrrl band, and she was once part of a group of people who broke a Guinness World Record for the most natural redheads in one place.
She has written for newspapers, produced a radio show that aired in the middle of the night, and worked for NPR. Currently she works in the education field.
Rachel’s young adult fiction is represented by Laura Bradford of the Bradford Literary Agency.
Website | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | Goodreads
Kit Frick is a novelist, poet, and MacDowell Colony fellow. Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, she studied creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College and received her MFA from Syracuse University. When she isn’t putting complicated characters in impossible situations, Kit edits poetry and literary fiction for a small press, edits for private clients, and mentors emerging writers through Pitch Wars. Her debut young adult novel is See All the Stars (Simon & Schuster / Margaret K. McElderry Books, August 2018), and her debut full-length poetry collection is A Small Rising Up in the Lungs (New American Press, fall 2018).
You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone is out now! Allow me to recommend your local indie, in addition to Barnes & Noble and Amazon.
Stop back soon for future posts in the Debut-to-Debut Interview Series. I’ll be chatting with Gloria Chao in February, then more fantastic authors throughout 2018!