July’s most admirable quality is her belief in herself. July plows through life like she’s in charge, and she doesn’t have much time for regret. Like with Dino, her best quality is also her worst, because it can cause her to be insensitive and to hurt others. But I also think it pairs well with July’s second best quality, which is her capacity to grow. A lot of people probably won’t like July at first (heck, they may not even like her by the end!), but I think part of life is accepting that we’re going to screw up and being prepared to apologize and accept the consequences of our actions, and I think July does that by the end.
Is there anything you wish they would have changed or done differently in their story?
Been honest with each other! I drew a lot on my own friendships, and sometimes just being honest with the people you care about is the hardest thing in the world to do, but it’s almost always the
right thing to do. I lost a lot of time with my best friend when we were growing up because we had hurt each other but weren’t honest enough to say so. Those hurts festered and grew until they were almost too much to overcome. Dino and July could’ve saved a lot of pain and time if they’d just been honest with one another. Of course, then there wouldn’t have been a story to tell.
What do you think these two characters can offer to other children that are experiencing similar situations to what they went through?
I think they offer the ability to see someone else’s pain through their eyes. I initially had written the book through only Dino’s point of view, but I realized I needed July’s story if I was going to tell the whole truth. Things that Dino remembers as minor were massive to July, and vice versa. And I think that’s important to consider. I think, when dealing with another person’s hurt, we have to try to see how
they’re experiencing that pain. Something that might not be a big deal to you could be everything to someone else.
How did you research them and the circumstances they found themselves in?
I did some research on the funeral industry, though I took
a lot of liberties and creative license. Mostly, I drew on my own personal experiences. Many of the situations Dino and July found themselves in were from my life. The late-night trips to Walmart, running into a group of Rocky Horror Picture Show cosplayers late night at Denny’s. I raided my young adult life for a lot of their adventures.
Do you and these two share any similarities?
Dino and July’s friendship is primarily inspired on my friendship with my best friend of nearly 30 years. I had to compress decades into a much shorter time frame, but the core of who Dino and July are came from that. However, my best friend is more like Dino and I’m actually more like July. Not in the sense that I’m loud and aggressive, but in the sense that I sucked up a lot of the emotional oxygen in our friendship.
What was the hardest scene to write about them?
The end. But I don’t want to spoil it.
Who do you think were their biggest supporters and why?
I think they were each other’s biggest supporters, though it might not have always seemed like it. I’m sure a lot of readers will probably question why Dino and July were even friends to begin with, but that’s the funny thing about friendship. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense. Sometimes friendships end naturally, sometimes we have to end them because they’re toxic, and sometimes they endure even when it seems like they shouldn’t. The book takes a peek at one small slice of their friendship, and not the most flattering part, but I don’t think July would’ve come back from the dead for someone she didn’t care deeply about, and I don’t think Dino would’ve put up with July’s shenanigans if he didn’t love her.
Why do you think it takes “life and death” situations for humans to be real with each other, speak their truth, and come to peach with each other?
Because human beings, while often fascinated with death, seem wholly unprepared for it. We ignore it in our day-to-day lives, ignoring that each interaction we have with another person could theoretically be our last. That causes us to treat the people around us less carefully than we might otherwise treat them. It prevents us from really exposing ourselves until, often, it’s too late. And being truthful makes us vulnerable, right? Sharing the truth gives someone power over us. If we share the truth with someone who’s dying, they take that power with them when they go, and they can’t use it against us. But when we share the truth with someone who isn’t dying, they always have it, and that’s scary. But I think we have to get over that fear. What’s the point in being with people if we’re not going to be honest with them?
What do you think Dino, and maybe July, are doing at the present time?
Well, I think Dino’s probably hanging out with Rafi, being dragged to one volunteer project or another—and probably complaining about it even though he secretly loves it—and I think July is absolutely, definitely haunting Dino in the shower.
