ReadWonder: An Inside Look #149 (Author INTERVIEW)

An Inside Look with Rob Harrell

(Authors of WINK)

*Welcome to my favorite feature of my blog.

*Season #ONE (June of 2016 to March of 2017)

*Season #TWO (Summer of 2017)

*Season #THREE (School Year 2017/2018)

*Season #FOUR (Summer/fall of 2018)

*Season #FIVE (School Year 2018/2019)

*Season #SIX (Summer 2019)

*Season #SEVEN (Fall 2019)

*Season #EIGHT (Winter/Spring 2020)

*I'm excited to be back for season #NINE with brand new interviews/authors.

*It has been such an honor to connect with authors and "chat" about their novel, characters, and thoughts about the story.

*This is the SIXTH interview in which I'm calling Season #NINE.

*Thank you to Alyssa for being the One-Hundred Forty-Eighth author I've had the pleasure of interviewing. I truly appreciate it.

*Here is my Review of the Novel...

Wink Review

Wink

by Rob Harrell

(March 31, 2020)

How did you come to know Ross?

As a character, he was an interesting one to figure out. He was based largely on me - both the me I remember from middle school, but also the me that went through cancer as an adult. But at some point, during the countless rewrites, his own personality took over. I was a fairly quiet kid like Ross, so to rise up the way he does and play at the talent show, etc, would have been a fairly tough go for me. So I'm proud of him.

What do you think is Ross’ most admirable quality?

His resilience. Time and again you see him get beaten down, and yet he finds a way back up. That's not to say that he doesn't get super sad, or angry at times. He has moments where things overwhelm him. But he learns to lean on his friends, his interests, his humor... and he uses those as a toehold to get back in the fight. A close second would be his sense of humor. That gets him through a lot of horrible stuff.

Is there anything you wish he would have changed or done differently in his story?

I have to say I'm pretty happy with how this book turned out. We (my agent and editor and I) did a LOT of fixing and rewriting until it felt right. In particular, the humor had to feel right. I never wanted the laughs to feel forced or flippant. Cancer is a horrible thing, so I wanted to make sure any humor felt authentic to Ross' experience, and to ring true for people who've been through it. Hopefully we got there!

What do you think Ross can offer to other children that are experiencing similar situations to what he went through?

I think one of the main lessons in the book is about empathy. Having empathy for those that are going through a hard time, empathy for those that have a hard time with knowing how to act around that person. Ross develops some better understanding of his dad and his stepmom, Linda. He even comes to see another side of Jimmy, the 'bully'.

But specifically, when a classmate gets sick, hopefully kids will get a better understanding that it could just as easily be them. And how would they want to be treated. It's easy to just avoid someone if you feel awkward about talking to them, but hopefully Wink shows how much it can mean if you conquer that fear and reach out.

How did you research Ross and the circumstances he found himself in?

Well, I lived it. :) I mean I survived middle school, and later - as an adult - I survived the same cancer and treatments that Ross has to deal with. So for me it was less about researching and more about letting my mind go back to 2005 when I was diagnosed, had my surgeries and went through the proton radiation treatments. I had squashed a lot of that stuff into the back closet of my brain, the way most of us do with really unpleasant memories. But for this book I spent quite a bit of time remembering. Talking with my wife about the timeline, and the emotions, and then just sitting in those thoughts. It wasn't a lot of fun at times, but I actually think it was therapeutic. At the time I was just trying to get through the days. In hindsight you can hold tour thoughts and feelings - even the weird, funny, awkward ones - up to the light and study them. Wow, did that sound pretentious and writer-y? I didn't mean it to. It's just... you have some really bizarre thoughts going through something like cancer, and it's nice to be able to go back when the immediate danger isn't right on top of you and take some time with them.

Do you and Ross share any similarities?

Oh, yeah. Obviously I like to write and draw and tell stories. And I play guitar, though not nearly as well as Ross. And we're both very into music. And our sense of humor. And we both draw Batpig!

What was the hardest scene to write about him?

There's a scene where he gets overwhelmed by it all. He's known all along that things could go really bad or he could even die, but he has a moment where it really sinks in. He feels it, and the floor seems to drop away. That was based on a moment I had where it all sort of landed for me. And that feeling of the floor vanishing was as real and scary as when you go down that first big hill on a rollercoaster. So reliving that, and thinking how to put it in words was rough. On the flip side, writing the talent show scene was just an absolute blast. I'm not sure I've ever typed that quickly. It just felt so good and right. Hopefully the reader feels that

good when Ross gets that cathartic moment. By that point he's more than earned it.

*Here are links to the One Hundred Forty-Eight interviews...

SEASON #ONE (2016-2017)

Interview #1 with Elly Swartz (Author of Finding Perfect)

Interview #2 with Jeff Zentner (Author of The Serpent King)

Interview #3 with Nora Raleigh Baskin (Author of Nine, Ten, A September 11 Story)

Interview #4 with Cammie McGovern (Author of Just My Luck)

Interview #5 with Kate Messner (Author of The Seventh Wish)

Interview #6 with Paul Griffin (Author of When Friendship Followed Me Home)

Interview #7 with K.A. Holt (Author of House Arrest)

Interview #8 with Abby Cooper (Author of Sticks and Stones)

Interview #9 with Melanie Conklin (Author of Counting Thyme)