An Inside Look with Jared Reck
(Author of A Short History of the Girl Next Door)
*This was a new feature I added to the blog during the summer of 2016. It was a shot in the dark that it would work, but much to my surprise; it took off and over first season I conducted 22 interviews with a variety of authors.
*It has been such an honor to connect with authors and "chat" about their novel, characters, and thoughts about the story.
*I ran a series of interviews for Season #TWO over the summer of 2017. It was great to get back to these conversations, that I decided to run Season #THREE during the 2017/2018 school year.
*Thank you to Jared Reck for being the THIRD author of the third season. I truly appreciate it.
*Here are links to the first THIRTY-FIVE interviews…
SEASON #ONE
*I read this novel over the summer of 2017. I received a copy of an ARC while at ALA in Chicago. It was a terrific young-adult read and I can't wait for others to read.
*Jared Reck was kind, gracious, and giving with his answers to the questions. It is an honor to post his responses with my "Inside Look" feature.
*Here is a link to my review of The Short History of the Girl Next Door
*Thank you Jared Reck for writing this novel for young-adult readers and taking the time to share your thoughts with us here on the blog...
A Short History of the Girl Next Door
by Jared Reck (Released September 26, 2017)
How did you come to know Matt?
I
teach 8th grade ELA, which I run as a Writing Workshop, and every
year we do a pretty in-depth unit on fiction writing. We always start the
process by developing a believable main character using a simple
questionnaire—about twenty questions answered in the voice of that character,
almost like you’re sitting down across the table from your character and
recording whatever he or she says to you. (I still start all my stories this
way, with about 20-30 pages of character responses before I ever try writing
the first chapter.)
About
seven or eight years ago, I’d finished my first short story with my students—a
30-page story about a dweeby 8th-grade orchestra member sitting in
in-school suspension—and I loved how it turned out. So when I sat down and
started a new character with my students the next year, I ended up loving this
kid even more: he was funny, and self-deprecating, and stuck inside his own
head all the time, and he lived and breathed basketball. He was Matt.
What do you think is Matt's most admirable quality?
I love that Matt is a good big brother. Little
Murray is quite a bit younger than Matt, and I think he handles the
teenager-to-pre-schooler relationship pretty well—taking him Trick-or-Treating,
even though he’s stuck in a humiliating costume in front of the girl he loves;
playing endless rounds of Candyland, even though Murray smokes him every single
time; concocting voices for Murray’s legion of stuffed animals. He does all
right.
Is there anything you wish Matt would have changed or done differently in his
story?
I know Matt would absolutely do some things
differently if he could, but in the end, I’m happy with Matt’s growth, despite
the enormous pain I put him through. (Sorry, Matt.)
What do you think Matt can offer to other young people that are experiencing
similar situations to what he went through?
I’m not sure there’s any right way to go through
what Matt goes through—if there’s really one way we all grieve. But here’s what
I hope readers take away from Matt’s story—that
there’s beauty and emotion and connection in particular, ordinary, seemingly
insignificant moments.
In the
book, that comes across as, “Any given moment just might be perfect.” Trick or
Treat traditions, favorite candies, neighborhood home run derbies and Candyland
with little brothers. Playing in the snow as kids. That stuff matters, you
know? That’s what we all wish we could get back once it’s gone. Little things.
How did you research Matt and the circumstances he found himself in?
Like
I said, I don’t think there’s any one way to grieve. But I did research the Kübler-Ross model, or the
five stages of grief, as I was writing, just to make sure Matt’s reactions and
responses were believable.
Do you and Matt share any similarities?
Matt is very much like me, especially as a
teenager. I lived and breathed basketball in high school, and I’m still stuck
inside my own brain a lot of the time, running the movie of how things should turn out, if only…
What was the hardest scene to write about Matt?
There are a couple scenes later in the book that
were really difficult to write (can’t name them without major spoilage,
unfortunately) because there were so many different people to try to include
and so much emotion. The handwritten draft in my notebook was a disaster of
arrows and scribbles and sidebar notes to myself to fix later.
In the first half, there’s a falling-out scene
between Matt and Tabby in Matt’s bedroom that took some time to get right,
because it was such an emotional rollercoaster for Matt.
Who do you think was Matt's biggest supporter and why?
Geez, one of the great things for Matt—even though
he doesn’t always see it when things get really bad—is that he has an
incredible support system. He has wonderful parents, a little brother who looks
up to him. Grampa plays a huge role for Matt throughout the story. His friend
Trip. Even Tabby, despite Matt’s feelings throughout the story, was incredibly
supportive. It’s really one of the things I love most about the book—Matt’s
family and friends.
In your opinion, why do young people experience loss in such deep and
profound ways; like Matt did?
I think young people experience everything in deep
and profound ways because it’s usually the first time, and there’s no personal
roadmap or playbook to handle it—first love, first major break-up, first public
humiliation, first devastating loss.
What do you think Matt is doing as this present time?
Shooting baskets in his driveway,
thinking about the upcoming season.
