A Discussion With Rebecca Gardner
MTSU Write intern May Cannon interviews Rebecca Gardner, author of "Instructions for Burning the World."
If you’ve stepped into a bookstore recently, you’ve likely noticed it—YA fiction is still going strong. Since its golden age in the late 20th century, with works like J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter, the genre has only expanded. The early 2000s brought us The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, alongside the commercial success of series like Twilight and Divergent. Clearly, YA is more than just a passing trend. But where is the genre headed now? And why does it continue to captivate readers everywhere regardless of age? To answer these questions and much more, I sat down with Rebecca Gardner, author of the YA novel Instructions for Burning the World.
Before becoming an author, what did you do professionally? Did you have any background in writing before publishing Instructions for Burning the World?
“No professional writing background, no. I've been writing my whole life, though--short stories when I was a kid, then I waded into the waters of novels when I was in high school. Those early books will never see the light of day, thank God, but they were all excellent learning experiences. I've worked a wide variety of jobs, from theatre costume sewist to thrift store shift manager to human resources operations. The truth is that it's nigh-on impossible to make a living as a writer these days unless you're hustling hard with freelance work. I unfortunately don't have the energy for that, so my day job won't be going anywhere anytime soon!”
How did you come to publish with Manta Press?
“My good friend Jeremy Jusek, a poet based in Ohio, introduced me to Tim McWhorter at the Lit Youngstown Fall Literary Festival. I'd been querying IFBTW for a while but hadn't found a home for it yet. When I learned Manta Press was beginning to expand into [young adult and middle grade literature], I was excited by the prospect of being part of it. Fortunately, they liked my book as much as I liked their program!”
How does it feel then, to be shaping Manta Press’s expansion into younger literature?
“It feels really good. I feel really strongly about young adult and middle grade fiction, and I’ve noticed for the past ten to fifteen years, a lot of what the big publishing houses are mainly pushing in young adult [genres] in particular is more upper YA. Like, kind of crossover into adulthood, which I also enjoy and totally has its place. But it feels like the stories that are truer to the fourteen, fifteen, or sixteen year olds get lost in the shuffle. They’re still out there, but they’re not getting as much acclaim. It feels really good to be part of a small publisher’s effort to expand into that and to be able to fill in the gap that I’ve seen in the industry.”
Has publishing your work defied your expectations at all? What was the biggest surprise that came to you after getting Instructions for Burning the World out into the world?
“A friend gave a copy of the book to their teenage nephew, who apparently not only liked it, but said that the author "gets it." The highest compliment I can think of, to be honest.”
Have you ever received any other feedback from young readers that moved you or confirmed that your work had reached them?
“That’s really the only direct feedback I’ve received. Moreso I would say I’ve known people who have told me, ‘oh, my kid’ or ‘my friend’s kid’ or ‘my niece’ or whoever…really likes this kind of book, and they’re getting them the book for Christmas or their birthday or whatever. Even though I never knew what they thought of it or if they’ve even read it, the fact that someone can say ‘this sounds like the kind of thing this teenager I know likes’ is very affirming.”
You’re an author, so I figure you have a more unique perspective on this next question. It seems like there’s been a trend towards adult audiences and other older demographics reading young adult fiction. In your opinion, why is that?
“I definitely think there’s no one answer. It varies from person to person. Some things I think might be contributing are that sometimes I find that kid lit can feel more escapist to read as an adult. Not that there aren’t wonderful fantastical stories out there being marketed to adults. But there’s enough of a—I want to say—in YA there’s typically just enough of a removal from the responsibilities you have as an adult that, even if the characters are going through something incredibly difficult, there’s just enough separation that it feels more escapist. A lot of things in the world have, in some way, been getting harder in the past ten years or so. Finding escapism through fiction has gotten even more popular than it used to be.”
“And I think that it [also] has to do with the reading level, honestly. Because a book written for teenagers generally is written a little differently in terms of the prose itself compared to something written for adults. Not that it’s dumbed down, just that the way it’s constructed is different. That and the fact that YA books are expected to be shorter, the pacing is a little quicker, they can be easier reads just in terms of the mental effort involved in the reading process. With external stressors and pressures and our attention being divided by so many things, having something that’s a little easier to read is appealing to a lot of people. I know for myself that when I’m in a reading slump and I’m having trouble getting through a book because my brain is fried, reading something that is young adult or even middle grade can be really refreshing. You can move through it more easily and it makes you feel a little more confident, and it helps you build yourself up to your usual reading habits that way.”
Your website says you write “stories for big-hearted teenagers and adults.” Would you say that this describes you as well? To put it another way, do you think your younger self would have appreciated a book like the one you've now made yourself?
“I believe firmly in writing the stories you want to read. It keeps your work true to you and, in my opinion, results in a better end product. That includes books for younger readers. I'm deeply inspired to this day by the books I read as a teenager, and I think my own teenage self would love curling up with my stories. I'm still a big-hearted, sentimental person, but in the throes of teenage turmoil was even more so. My YA writing is for kids just like that.”
Every writer has a litany of authors that they love and feel influenced by. For Instructions for Burning the World, who or what would you say inspired you the most?
“The Animorphs series by K.A. Applegate is one of my biggest influences, both in general and for this book. Applegate's grasp of stakes, dialogue, and complex characters are hopefully echoed in IFBTW. The other huge influence was Sailor Moon, an anime from my childhood about secret superheros in which love can quite literally save the day. I'm still in love with that kind of story!”
Both of those series have pretty intricate writing for children's media. Beyond tone and storytelling, did either of them shape how you approach character development or world-building?
“Well when I first conceived the idea for this book, I pictured it as having a more ensemble cast like Animorphs. Where you have a character who’s kind of the leader and is slightly moreso the focal character, but it’s still very much a group story. But as I was starting to get into who the characters were and what they were about, I realized that Katie was the character who had the greatest conflict baked into her. The very first idea I had that was baked into the story was that it’d be cool to write a story where all the kids have elemental powers, because I love those kinds of stories. The first specific thought I had was “what if the character who gets the fire powers is afraid of fire?” So that was always there.”
“As I was developing the characters a bit more, I realized Katie had the most story potential on a character level. So that’s how she became the focal character, and everything branched off from that. What I love so much about those ensemble stories, even when they have a main character, is that richness. The way that the characters feel like complete people. It took a few passes for me to feel like all of the kids in particular felt like they were coming through on the page. I knew in my head the full detail of them, but I needed to translate that into the text.”
Is there any particular chapter or scene from Instructions for Burning the World that's especially meaningful to you personally? If so, why?
“Without giving away too much, the scene where Katie and Nyth argue and really let each other have it stands out. I love these characters and their friendship, and it took several rewrites before I let them be actually mean to each other. It's a tightrope-walk of a scene because while Katie's feelings are real, understandable, and sympathetic, Nyth's points are also true. It's a touchy subject with no single clear answer, but it's vital for anyone struggling with their mental health to find the balance between self-care and not hurting others because of your own hurt. That's a lesson I learned a long time ago from personal experience.”
If you had to describe your writing style in one word, what would it be?
“Tactile.”
Do you want to elaborate on that?
“This was one of those things where it was the first thing that came to my mind, and then I started asking my friends ‘what would you say?’”
It’s a very unique answer, but it ties into what you were saying I think. Stories like these are very granular in their construction.
“Thank you. Atmospherics in writing are something that I have loved both as a reader and a writer. I love being able to sink into a really atmospherically written scene. I like to be able to feel the place and the feelings and everything. One of the hard lessons I had to learn in the editing process was not going on too long with those sorts of things, because YA is a lot more tightly paced than an adult literary novel. It’s not that you can't have those things, it’s just that you need to approach them differently. It made me want to deliver that atmospheric, immersive feeling in as tight of punches that I could. So that’s where the “tactile” comes from. I like that atmospheric quality and I like tiny little details that grab you in the gut with how real they feel. The smaller the better. Just having those sprinkled through the whole thing is what gives it that quality. No matter how fantastical the story may be, no matter if the character is going through things you can’t personally relate to, there are these textures that are so real and relatable and grounding that hopefully pull you into the story and into that moment with the characters.”
Speaking of a tighter pace, do you think there are any unique challenges to writing YA compared to standard fiction?
“Nothing that I personally find difficult, but there are definitely different expectations. When you’re writing kid lit at any stage, you’re trying to ensure that the story that you’re telling is appropriate for the developmental stage of your readers. And that takes a lot of backend work if you’re not a child development specialist, which most of us are not. But YA in that teenage range has a lot to do with the classic coming-of-age tropes and concepts, learning who you are separate from your family or your friends. You know what you’re like and the things you like, but figuring out who you actually are and that kind of process tends to be baked into YA even if it’s not the main draw of the story.”
“Also, kind of in the same realm as pacing, but I mentioned the prose itself is a little bit different. Again, because you’re writing for an audience that’s—and none of this is meant disparagingly—less experienced. Has not read as widely just because they’ve spent less time on Earth, not because they don’t read. Also you’re writing to an audience that…teenagers are so smart and they’re so emotional, you want to make sure that, in my opinion, that emotionality is authentic on the page. That it’s not too over-intellectualized. Because while they’re smart, they’re also very…you know, as we get older, [we learn to] analyze our own emotions. I can still remember how intense everything was [as a teenager] so you don’t want to over-intellectualize the emotion too much. It’s all so real and raw at that point of your life. Those are just some of the differences, for me the pacing’s probably the most difficult thing just because if left to my own devices I will go on and on.”
This one's a bit of a long-winded one, but I promise it wraps up cleanly. In an interview with CEO Tim McWhorter, I asked him what Manta Press does to cultivate a creative space for authors, since one of the stated strengths of the business is that it is author led and owned. In your own experience with Manta Press, what is something you feel has been especially helpful or notable?
“It's a simple thing, but being treated like a person instead of a commodity has been amazing. I've dipped my toes into mainstream publishing, without success, and have several friends currently working in mainstream publishing. It's got plenty of benefits, don't get me wrong, but it's also a meat grinder in many ways. It's been a lovely experience to never doubt that I'm valued by my publisher.”
MTSU Write’s mission statement is to reach out to aspiring writers who feel like they’ve missed the opportunity to publish their own work and to build a literary community so that they can achieve their goals. Do you have any advice to anyone out there who’s trying to become an author?
“I think my biggest advice is to find other writers who are at a similar point of their journey as you are to have community with. Even when everything is going as great as it possibly can in publishing, it’s still a very emotional and vulnerable process to take this thing you wrote and hand it over to someone to tear it to pieces. It can be very emotional in good and bad ways, and all of that is very normal. The more writer friends I made, the more I realized “oh, this is really normal.” But if you don’t have that community it can feel like something’s wrong with you. Even when wonderful things are happening you can feel kinda terrible about it sometimes, and you might feel like ‘why am I not grateful?’ Because it’s really stressful! It’s a lot.”
“I have many friends who are published through traditional publishing, some of whom have had great success. And they have just as many doubts and stressful nights as people who are trying to get published. Finding that community where you can vent to each other and share experiences and share resources is really important. Whether you are self-publishing or going through a small publisher like Manta Press or even aiming for Penguin Random House. Whatever stage or level of the process, it’s a rollercoaster and it’s tough. Having people who understand what you’re going through is invaluable.”
Rebecca Gardner's first-ever published novel Instructions for Burning the World is available for sale in physical copies on Manta Press's website at https://www.mantapress.com/ as well as in audiobook and ebook form on Amazon.
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