Today, Winged Pen is thrilled to spend time with the (fabulous) debut author of the YA book, THE FIRST TIME SHE DROWNED. Kerry Kletter is in the house! I’m especially excited to get to know Kerry better, as we not only have the same agent, but also share a country and a coastline! Yay! Thanks for being here, Kerry.

Kerry: Thanks for having me on Winged Pen!

Gabby: Okay, can you tell us about the best writing advice you ever got?

Kerry: A fellow writer, Jen E Smith told me very early on in my career to study screenplay structure. Life-changing advice.

Gabby: What was your favorite book as a kid?

Kerry: Blubber by Judy Blume. I also wanted to be Harriet the Spy for many years. Still do, actually.

Gabby: How about your favorite book this year?

Kerry: In adult lit, the nonfiction book WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR by Paul Kalanithi, which is profound, extraordinary. In YA, THE SERPENT KING by Jeff Zentner which I think is destined to be a classic. I’m also reading a book of poetry called NIGHT SKY WITH EXIT WOUNDS by Ocean Vuong, and it is so beautiful it physically hurts to read.

Gabby: I loved THE SERPENT KING too. Tell us about which writers inspire you.

Kerry: I am most inspired by beautiful language, so Elizabeth Strout, Tobias Wolff, Jo Ann Beard, Pat Conroy, Frank Conroy, Emily St. John Mandel, Donna Tartt, Jennifer Egan etc. I could go on and on. Give me a book with beautiful language, and two sentences in I just want to start writing.

 Gabby: Can you talk about your most difficult craft hurdle?

Kerry: I am not a big fan of plotting. I find it a necessary evil. But it tortures me. It bores me.

Gabby: What is your work/writing schedule?

Kerry: I pretty much write every second I get. Which is not to say I produce a lot. I’m a very slow writer.

Gabby: THE FIRST TIME SHE DROWNED is your debut novel. What about the process has been surprising?

Kerry: I think what’s surprised me most is how supportive people are, friends, family, the writing community. It has blown me away.

Gabby: Tell us about the book. What inspired it?

THE FIRST TIME SHE DROWNED is about a girl who is committed for two and a half years to a psych ward by her mother for something she says she didn’t do. When she turns 18 she signs herself out against medical advice and attempts to start over but her mother reappears in her life, throwing everything she knows about her past and herself into question.

The inspiration came from a variety of places. I’ve always been interested in complicated family dynamics and trauma—and how these things tend to get passed down from generation to generation, playing out in very predictable ways within families. I also wanted to examine what can happen when mental illness is undiagnosed and untreated within a family—how difficult it can be to determine where the sickness actually lies—who is acting and who is reacting and how fine the line between them can be. And at the end of the day, I think I just wanted to write a book that speaks to people, both teens and adults, who have felt unloved by a parent, who have struggled with the identity issues and the emotional wounds that accompany that. I wanted to hold up a validating mirror to that experience and I wanted to write about going on and being okay.

Gabby: What next? What can you tell us about what you’re working on now?

Kerry: I’m finishing up an adult novel right now. I’m too superstitious to say more than that!

Gabby: Do you have any strange writing habits?

Kerry: Not really. Or if they are strange, I am unaware of them being so! I do type with two fingers which is a habit born of my failure to learn typing in high school.

Gabby: Ha! I love that. So…if you had a super power, what would it be? Don’t say typing.

Kerry: LOL. I’d pick the ability to end suffering.

Gabby: Okay – here’s comes the lightning round. *hands Kerry a cookie*

Kerry: I’m ready.

Gabby: Coffee or tea?

Kerry: Coffee

Gabby: Sweet or salty?

Kerry: Sweet

Gabby: Dog, cat, or other?

Kerry: Dog

Gabby: Plotter or pantser?

Kerry: A little bit of both.

Gabby: Whew! Alright, last question. Any advice for all those aspiring authors out there?

Read as much as possible. Learn to accept criticism and always strive to be better than you are. Enjoy the process. Support other writers. Expect rejection. Expect that it will be hard. If you truly love it, do it anyway.

 Thanks so much for joining us at Winged Pen, Kerry. We wish you all the luck in the world.

— Gabrielle Byrne lives in rainy wilds of the Pacific Northwest, and writes dark and twisty tales for middle graders. She is represented by Catherine Drayton at Inkwell Management. Find her on Twitter.