I’m excited to have Courtney Summers on the blog today for a quick conversation on her newest release, All the Rage! Here’s more about the book in case you missed it:
All the Rage Published by St. Martin's Press on April 14th 2015
Genres: Contemporary, YA
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The sheriff’s son, Kellan Turner, is not the golden boy everyone thinks he is, and Romy Grey knows that for a fact. Because no one wants to believe a girl from the wrong side of town, the truth about him has cost her everything—friends, family, and her community. Branded a liar and bullied relentlessly by a group of kids she used to hang out with, Romy’s only refuge is the diner where she works outside of town. No one knows her name or her past there; she can finally be anonymous. But when a girl with ties to both Romy and Kellan goes missing after a party, and news of him assaulting another girl in a town close by gets out, Romy must decide whether she wants to fight or carry the burden of knowing more girls could get hurt if she doesn’t speak up. Nobody believed her the first time—and they certainly won’t now — but the cost of her silence might be more than she can bear.
With a shocking conclusion and writing that will absolutely knock you out, All the Rage examines the shame and silence inflicted upon young women after an act of sexual violence, forcing us to ask ourselves: In a culture that refuses to protect its young girls, how can they survive?
Interview with Courtney Summers
Hi Courtney! I’m excited to have you on the blog today – I’m your biggest fan ever, by the way! 😉
Aw, thank you so much, Giselle! I appreciate that and I’m a fan of yours too. Thank you for having me on your blog. 🙂
Writing about a subject such as rape has to be incredibly difficult, what was the biggest struggle while writing this book?
Just writing it was the biggest struggle for the exact reason you’ve stated—rape is an incredibly difficult and challenging subject to approach. When you write about rape culture, victim-blaming, how we fail victims and survivors, you want to be very aware of what you are adding to the larger conversation. It’s a lot of pressure. But that pressure is necessary—because you should be very conscious of the big picture so you can handle it sensitively and with care. So writing it was intense from start to finish.
Your characters are always so real and compelling, how do you go about character building? (Do you base them on someone you know (or yourself), do you use character profiles, journals etc?)
Thank you so much! I never base characters on people I know and I don’t often do character profiles or questionnaires. I tend to start off with the story idea, then I look for my main character’s name. Once I have that—after going through lists and lists until I find the one that feels right—I just try to get to know them as I write, and refine who they are as I revise. I try to make sure to hold nothing back.
Can you share a deleted/extra scene or a couple of your favorite quotes/scenes from All the Rage?
One of my favourite moments from All the Rage it toward the end of the chapter, because I think it sets the tone for what’s to come, and reveals a lot about how Romy feels about herself:
I close my eyes and listen to the soft crunch of soft soles on rough gravel.
Birds are singing.
The footsteps stop but the birds are still singing, singing about a girl who wakes up on a dirt road and doesn’t know what happened to her the night before, and the person standing over her, a shadow across her body that blocks out the sun. Maybe it’s someone nice. Or maybe someone come to finish what ever it is that’s been started. About a girl.
Don’t look at her.
Thanks for having me on your blog!
About the Author
COURTNEY SUMMERS was born in Belleville, Ontario in 1986 and currently resides in a small town not far from there. To date, she has authored five novels. Her first novel, Cracked Up to Be, was published when she was 22 and went on to win the 2009 CYBIL award in YA fiction. Since then, she’s published three more books–2011 YALSA Top 10 Quick Pick and White Pine Honour book, Some Girls Are, 2012 YALSA Quick Pick, Fall for Anything, and 2013 YALSA Top 10 Quick Pick and White Pine Honour book This is Not a Test. Her next projects are an e-novella, Please Remain Calm (a sequel to This is Not a Test) and a new novel, All the Rage, both out in 2015.
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