Big 4 with Bec: Jon Skovron

1. Jon, you say that you ‘write books for teens and the troubled at heart’ and that you’ve never felt that you’ve belonged. When you were a teen, how important were books to you and which books helped you through the tough times? Was writing also important to you, when you were younger?

I can honestly say that in middle school, there was nothing more important to me than books. I had spent my earlier childhood in a funky, liberal urban neighborhood downtown. I wasn’t the most popular kid by any stretch of the imagination, but there were other kids around like me and I had my little circle of friends. But then when I was in fifth grade, we moved to a conservative suburb. Suddenly I had no friends and not the slightest inkling how to fit in. The things that I liked were not only unpopular, but downright scorned. Reading was one of those things. For the next four years I was bullied mercilessly and frequently beat up. During that time, my only escape was books. I read voraciously anything I could get my hands on that had some element of fantasy, science fiction, or paranormal.

My favorites were The Belgariad by David Eddings in the fantasy genre, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams in the SciFi genre, and Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice in the paranormal genre. I also frequently re-read favorite series. For example, The Belgariad is a twelve book series, each volume weighing in at around 400 pages, and I read the entire series at least four times. I remember during those years wishing so hard that I could just slip into one of those worlds.

It was around then that I started writing. I guess to see if I actually could slip into another world, at least for a little while. My stories were mostly knock-offs of the authors I admired. Not the plots, but the voice. I would “try on” Douglas Adam’s style and tone, for example to see how it felt. I think that’s where a lot of artists start. Trying to emulate the masters. Like an apprenticeship, almost. And with each voice you “try on”, you learn something, you gain some aspect of the writer you will eventually become. Strangely enough, though, it never actually occurred to me that I could become a professional writer. That didn’t happen until about ten years later

2. Jael, the central character of your new novel Misfit, is a teenage girl. Why did you choose to write from the perspective of a female character and was that a challenge at all?

Actually, in its very first inception as a short story, the character was a boy. But it felt wrong for some reason. I just couldn’t quite get a sense of who the character was. I was getting pretty desperate and ready to give up on it, when it suddenly occurred to me that it should be a girl. Then everything fell into place and the story took off, rapidly becoming much bigger than a short. Early on in the drafting process, I made sure to have several women read it and tell me if there was any “guy thinking” sneaking in there. And there were some moments I had to rewrite because of that. But that got much better over time. Now I know her so well that I would never dream of slipping into “guy thinking” while writing her.

3. How crucial is social networking to your work? Given the fact that you often write for outsiders, or troubled young people, do you feel an additional sense of duty in terms of being accessible to your readership?

To my work? Not very. I do things like Twitter because I enjoy using them and always have. I’ve had some sort of website/blog since 2001 and have been on various social networks since around 2003 (anybody remember Friendster?) But yeah, I do know what you mean about feeling a sense of duty to be accessible to readers. Because during those middle school and early high school years, I felt utterly alone. I felt like there was absolutely no one who would or even could understand me. But of course that wasn’t really true. There was probably another kid just like me in the next city over. Possibly even in the next neighborhood.  And that’s something that social networking and other online communication venues can do. Bridge the gap from one misfit to the next until perhaps it even forms a community. If my work and I could in some small way be a connection point for a bunch of outsiders, that would be amazing. But even if it’s just reminding one lone misfit out there that they aren’t the only one, then I’m doing something worthwhile.

4. Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

Unquestionably, it would be Jael Thompson, the protagonist of Misfit. I may have created her, but it’s her loyalty, her kindness, her honesty, and her courage in the face of ridiculous odds that has sustained me through my own difficult times. A character like this, you don’t really understand how or why they came to you. You’re just grateful they did.

Read more about Jon here.