ReadWonder: An Inside Look #178 (Author INTERVIEW)

An Inside Look with Jeff Zentner

(Author of In the Wild Light)

*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)

*Season #NINE (Fall 2020)

*I'm excited to be back for season #TEN 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 Twenty-First interview in which I'm calling Season #TEN.

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

In the Wild Light

by Jeff Zentner

(August 10, 2021)

How did you come to know Cash?
Cash is born of the two loves that consumed me during the time I spent writing IN THE WILD LIGHT—poetry and nature. I wanted to create a character who embodied those loves.

What do you think is his most admirable quality?
His love for and loyalty to people, even people who are basically strangers to him. Also, Cash has a quiet, unshowy courage and steel that good people have.

Is there anything you wish Cash would have changed or done differently in his story?
Nope. His journey was his journey. Making mistakes and being imperfect are part of that journey. I don’t entertain regrets in my own life because I’m grateful for the lessons I’ve learned and the callouses I’ve developed from my own mistakes. I impart that to my characters.

What do you think he can offer to other young adults that are experiencing similar situations to what he went through?
He can offer an example of someone who finds hope and the opportunity for a drastically different life, and makes the courageous decision to take that opportunity, in spite of a lot of very valid reasons that he shouldn’t.

How did you research Cash and the circumstances he found himself in?
Cash’s late mother was an opioid addict. I’ve worked in both the criminal justice system and the substance abuse treatment field, and I’ve learned a lot about addiction and the ripples that flow outward to the lives of those who love an addict.

I also had to extensively research elite private boarding schools. I went to a small-town public school. It couldn’t have been a more different experience. I had my “private school consultants” for this book.

Do you and Cash share any similarities?
We both love poetry and our rivers. We love our families and friends. We try to do the right thing and fight for the people who need us.

What was the hardest scene to write about him?
Well, I’m not going to give any spoilers. So I’ll say that writing a scene with him; Delaney, his best friend; and his papaw in a hospital was the second hardest. There was a lot of kinetic and emotional energy in the scene that I had to try to render accurately and honestly.

When you read the book, it’ll be pretty easy to figure out the first hardest scene to write.

Who do you think was his biggest supporter and why?
Tie for first place between his grandparents, who raised him after his mother died, and Delaney, who’s been his ride-or-die best friend for years.

Why do you think some young adults, like Cash, are able to move beyond the difficult and challenging life circumstances, and create a positive life for themselves?
Because they’re able to be persuaded that they have courage left that they haven’t already spent surviving up until that point.

What do you think Cash is doing as the present time?
I think he’s in his last year of school at Middleford Academy, editing the student poetry journal.

Book Pages

Monday, June 7, 2021

An Inside Look #178 (Author INTERVIEW)

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