I received this Advanced Reading Copy in an exchange for an honest review.
Take Me To The Cat is the newest novel from YA author Bryant A Loney. It's a psychological thriller, packed with dramatic twists and turns that will keep you hooked till the end and a little while after. I caught up with the author to learn more about how he feels about small town life, why he feels the tortured artist rhetoric is damaging and why LGBT rights and feminism are topics close to his heart. Read on if you're interested in discovering what inspires the mind of a YA author!
Can you summarise Take
Me to the Cat in three words?
Three
words? Identity. Friendship. Fanaticism.
The theme of nostalgia is really tangible in the book — was
there something in particular that made you want to explore it?
A
lot from my childhood has shaped me into who I am today. I went to five elementary
schools, for instance, and I’m also a child of divorce. So there’s a great deal
of What Ifs there for me. I’m a firm believer that writers should focus their
fiction on what bothers them, and these countless alternate universes in my
head of what could have been and what
should have been—that’s really what
fueled this novel. In writing Cat, I’ve
come to terms with the way my life turned out; had the bad stuff early on not
happened, then the good stuff later wouldn’t have, either. It’s all cause and
effect, and it’s this unhealthy desire for an unattainable past that led me to
this discovery. There’s a reason “nostalgia” is the first word in the novel,
after all!
LGBT rights and feminism are prevalent topics in the book.
Are they issues that you’re passionate about yourself?
Definitely.
The 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case of Obergefell
v. Hodges, and then the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, were both major
influences on the novel. Again, I like to write so I can work out my own
thoughts on contemporary issues, and the different responses I encountered
regarding these events left a lot for me to think about. The same with
transgender rights and restroom access, as well as the underrepresentation of
asexuality in our media. Feminism is also important for me. I’m a guy, but I
have a mother, a little sister, and friends who are women, so the advocacy of
their rights is a no-brainer for me. These topics aren’t what the novel is
solely about, but the first word that came to mind when describing Cat was “identity,” and our sexuality
and gender are a part of how we define ourselves. The stigmatization of LGBT+
people is abhorrent. The inequality shown to women is ridiculous. This novel is
me trying to help combat these dilemmas. It’s by no means perfect, but then
again, it’s more than I’d done before. So it’s a start.
The character of Troy has a personality bigger than the town he lives in. Is he based on a real person? If so, how often do you take inspiration from real people for the characters in your books?
Troy
is in many ways the realization of the more primitive and instinctive components
of our personalities. Or maybe just mine, anyway. He says a lot of what I
wanted to say in high school—he’s crasser, a bit rude and snarkier, and he
doesn’t care what most others think of him. But he’s also insensitive, and his
lack of a filter can sometimes get him into trouble. I’ve known a couple of
Troy-like people throughout my life, but he’s essentially the rebel in me. That
said, I occasionally do take inspiration from real people for characters. It’s
only natural—to write what you know. And hey, if people want you to portray
them in a more positive light, then they should have treated you better, right?
Just kidding. It’s all out of love.
Michael’s longing to escape small town life is definitely
relatable to a large number of young people — have you experienced this
yourself?
My
thoughts on this change constantly. Being landlocked, I’ve always wanted to
live by the sea, but now I’m thinking somewhere more arid in climate. A desert,
maybe. Oklahoma is home, though, and the four seasons here can be gorgeous. I’m
in no rush to leave, but a lot of my friends in high school were. I understood
where they were coming from; our lives are meant for exploration. I suppose I’m
not there yet. Someday, though. Someday soon.
I really enjoyed your previous books To Hear the Ocean Sigh and Exodus
in Confluence, so my question is, do you want each of your books to stand
alone or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between them?
Thank
you! I appreciate it. The idea behind my books is that they are indeed
standalone works, but they do complement each other. While they’re separate
stories, some characters may be referenced across books, or familiar locations
might show up in each, and so on. Stephen King’s worldbuilding definitely
inspired this longing for interconnectivity between stories. I like to believe
the decisions we make impact more than our own lives, and so I’ve attempted to
implement this over what I guess could be called the “Bryant Loney universe” of
sorts. Plus it’s one way of keeping me, the author, entertained throughout the
editing process—these little references that only I will ever catch. There’s a
method to my madness, I swear!
What would you say makes your writing style unique?
Oh,
I doubt I’m the best judge of this. I like to imagine I have a strong sense of
dialogue, so maybe that? I try to be as authentic to the characters’ voices as
I can, and because they’re mainly teenagers, that includes a lot of umms and
switching subjects mid-sentence and informal speech and the occasional
rambling, but only because that’s, well, that’s how we talk. Not the awkward
attempts at slang I’ve seen some older Young Adult authors go for. Oh, yeah,
and writing characters who are seniors in high school can also mean a lot of
F-bombs. Sorry, Mom. But honestly, what else are you gonna say when there’s a
maniac chasing you through the woods? “Oh, no, please, stop.” Pfft. As if.
Would you advise aspiring authors to read within their most
comfortable genre or expand their reading to books of all genres?
It’s
important to read in the genre you wish to write in so that you can keep up
with the trends—and to know which tropes to avoid or revamp—but you should
always read outside your comfort zone. For example, I often read Young Adult
books and contemporary fiction, but Take
Me to the Cat was inspired most by the farce The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, the meta and insane Idaho Winter by Tony Burgess, the
tragicomic Fun Home by Alison
Bechdel, the psychological thriller I’m
Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid, and more. These books provided me
insight into some nuances of storytelling I hadn’t considered, allowing me to
then borrow the techniques I felt worked for the narrative. So while we should
by all means read for pleasure, aspiring authors should challenge themselves as
well. It’s the only way to learn and grow as a writer. Read first, then write.
Is there any advice you would give to your younger writing
self?
You
do not need to be temperamental or upset to be a novelist. Don’t embrace the tortured
artist rhetoric that any life difficulties might serve to benefit and enhance
your writing. That’s damaging. Counterintuitive. Writing can be so incredibly
lonely, and when you’re alone with your thoughts for long enough to produce a
hundred thousand words of your own headspace, it can be scary. Suffering is not
good for your art. Mental health care is. So talk to someone other than your future
readers about the problems you are facing. Someone you know and trust. There is
no shame in asking for help.
Finally, if you could interview any author, alive or dead, who would you choose and why?
Nick
Miller, no question. He wrote Isn’t It
Pretty To Think So? which is my favorite novel, like, ever. I’ve read it
six times back-to-back and at least once every summer. I have so many questions
for that man, and the ending continues to haunt me on restless nights. One of
these days, Miller! One of these days.
Take Me to the Cat releases on June 27th, 2017 in print, audio, and eBook formats via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and more. Loney is also the author of YA novel To Hear the Ocean Sigh and novella Exodus in Confluence.
