Brent Hartinger's Blog, page 9

So my latest book, The Thing I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know (about a gay 23-year-old exploring life and life in Seattle in 2014), is officially released! Check it out here.

Or see below for more info:

Why this book?

Brent Hartinger: Well, it’s 2014, and I’m gay and I live in Seattle. And both Seattle and being gay are undergoing these incredible, massive changes right now. With LGBT rights, historians say the pace of social change in the U.S. is basically unprecedented. And in Seattle, economists say that very few cities have ever become so prosperous and so influential so fast.

How could I not write about these things? And it made for a fantastic juxtaposition: Russel, my main character, is living in the Seattle boom-times, but he still has to deal with all the crap that comes from being just out of college and not having any real direction. And while it’s an era of marriage equality, it’s also a time of hook-up apps and HIV and PrEP.

In some ways, the incredible changes going on around him make things even more difficult for him.

This is your first “adult” book. Why?

BH: Technically, I guess it’s “new adult,” although I’m already tired of that term. But yeah all my previous published novels were either for kids or young adults.

The problem with writing for teens is that they don’t stay teens very long. Your fan base grows up! But I’m hoping that my fans will happily “grow up” along with my books. And of course the dirty little secret of young adult publishing is that half or more of your readers are adults anyway.

But mostly I just wanted to do something really different. I’ve always felt about my projects that if it doesn’t feel very different in some way, there’s no point in writing it.

(The truth is, that’s probably stupid advice for a career in publishing. Plenty of authors make a great living writing the same thing over and over. And more power to them! We all gotta eat.)

Was it hard to write explicit sex?

BH: It was remarkably easy, which I guess means it fit the project. Although the book really isn’t that graphic. I was hoping for “sexy,” not “prurient.” Not that a little prurience ever hurt anyone!

I did open with a sort of edgy scene where my main character is meeting someone for a hook-up. I guess the point was to declare: no, you’re not in Kansas anymore. I mean what I say when I say this isn’t a YA book.

How is this project is related to your previous books?

BH: The main character is Russel Middlebrook, the star a series of four previous books called the Russel Middlebrook Series, and also the lead character in the movie version of the first book, Geography Club.

But it’s really not part of that series—it’s not YA, Russel is no longer sixteen years old, and this is an entirely “stand-alone” book. You absolutely don’t need to have read the earlier books for it to make sense.

You could call it a “reboot,” but I’m sick of that term too. The plan is for it to be the start of a whole new series, about this character in his twenties.

So will each decade in Russel’s life be a whole new series?

BH: It’s very possible! The Russel Middlebrook Series has plenty of fans, which is extremely gratifying as a writer. But it was also exciting to me to have the freedom to jump genres—from YA to adult.  I’m sure that’s been done before, but I can’t think of any examples.

There is one other change between my earlier YA books and this one, one I’m really excited about. The first three books were originally written for HarperCollins, but that meant they had to be written three years before they were finally published—and then readers had to wait another year for the paperback. It was great to have the imprimatur of HarperCollins, but that meant it was impossible to be very timely. And with LGBT issues changing so quickly, that was always frustrating. I think I was pretty cutting edge at the time—writing about bisexual and non-white and disabled LGBT characters before most other people were, and also writing humor-based gay teen books at a time when other gay stories were mostly doom-and-gloom. But you can only be so forward-looking with that kind of time-lag.

With this book, I had a much faster turn-around. Maybe it’s a little like Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City books, which were originally written in serial form in the city newspaper.

Anyway, The Thing I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know is set in the summer of 2014. And it was also written (at least in part) in the summer of 2014.

That means I got to write about things that were happening that summer, including all kinds of things that were and still are on the minds of young gay people in Seattle and elsewhere.

A film version of your first book Geography Club was released last year. What was that experience like?

BH: It was fantastic. I highly recommend it for every writer! The producers treated me great, and I feel like I made a bunch of new friends.

And it was easily the best thing that’s ever happened to my career. It brought me a whole new level of legitimacy and visibility. If people liked the movie, I benefited, because I had written the source material. And if they didn’t like it, I got to listen to them say how the book was so much better than the movie. So it was sort of win-win for me.

One interesting thing I didn’t expect. The books got a whole flurry of attention when the movie was released into theaters and VOD, what with the movie reviews and everything. But the single best burst of PR came when the movie was released on Netflix. That was something like sixty million potential viewers, all able to watch the movie for free.

I have a couple more movie projects in development now. Here’s hoping that was just the first of many film projects!

So what is the thing your character doesn’t know he doesn’t know?

BH: If I told you that, I’d have to kill you!

But rest assured, it is an actual “thing,” and it’s something of particular interest to people in their early twenties. I told some potential readers that title, and they said, “That’s a great title, but it needs to be an actual thing the main character discovers, and it can’t be disappointing!”

And I completely agree. When you promise something like that in a title, you really have to deliver. I’m pretty sure I did.

ORDER THE BOOK HERE
THE THING I DIDN’T KNOW I DIDN’T KNOW

By Brent Hartinger

New Adult

Paperback, $14, 978-0-9846794-8-5

E-book, $5.99, 978-0-9846794-7-8

December 15, 2014
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So here I am taking about my latest book, The Thing I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know.

 

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So I’ve mentioned before that my next book, The Thing I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know (coming December 15th), includes some fairly explicit (but tasteful!) sex.

Honestly, except for a free safe sex story that I wrote as part of the Real Story Safe Sex Project, I haven’t written a lot of explicit sex in my day. I always considered myself a “fade to black” kinda writer.

But when I was mapping out The Thing I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know, it quickly became clear that sex was part of the story. It’s about a 23-year-old gay guy looking for love; it just seemed dishonest not to include something about his sex life. I also liked the idea of doing something new and different — a writing challenge. (And, hey, I don’t mind if it sells a few books either.)

Maybe it’s because the sex is pretty organic to the story, but writing the sex scenes was actually very easy. Well, nothing I write is “easy,” but it was easier than I expected it to be.

The hard part? Worrying what people would think of me.

In the book, Russel Middlebrook does some somewhat “shocking” things (within the context of the story — again, all very tasteful). And Russel is at least a vaguely auto-biographical character.

Did that mean that people were going to assume I had done all the things that Russel does?

It turns out that erotica would be easy for me to write (because everyone knows it’s fantasy). Writing the sex life of a character that I hope very much with feel “authentic” is a lot harder.

But, of course, it’s exactly that authenticity that was how I knew it was so important that I write the sex. I won’t go so far as to say it can be “brave” to write about sex (because that sounds ridiculously pretentious). But it definitely felt right.

So am I still worried that people will make assumptions about me? Maybe a little. But hey, Russel is a fictional character; most people understand that. And, of course, my private life is my private life.

But mostly I’ve decided I just can’t think about that. It’s my job just to write the stories. I can’t control what other people think about them, or what conclusions they draw.

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So … I have a new Goodreads.com discussion group devoted to my books.

Check it out here!

 

 

 

 

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My tenth novel, The Thing I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know, will be released December 15! It’s about being young, gay, and living in Seattle in 2014.

Here’s the cover!

So a lot of people have asked me, “Is this another Russel Middlebrook book?”

And the answer is: yes … and no.The main character is Russel Middlebrook, the star of the Russel Middlebrook Series, and also the lead character in the movie version of the first book, Geography Club.

But it’s really not part of that series—it’s a book for adults, not teens. Russel is no longer sixteen years old. You also don’t need to have read the earlier books for it to make sense.

Hopefully, it’s all the things that people liked about the earlier books (funny, readable, relatable). But it’s different too—longer for one thing. Plus, it’s quite a bit edgier. Since it’s a book for adults, there’s some (ahem) hot sex, but it also deals with the issues that most folks in their twenties face: figuring out what to do with your life, money problems, the importance of friends, and the difference between hookups and love.

You could call it a “reboot.” The plan is for it to be the start of a whole new series, about this character in his twenties. I’m calling it Russel Middlebrook: The Futon Years.

The second book will be out in August 2015 with the third book out January 2016.

Coming December 15, 2014

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PREORDER FROM OTHER PLACES

(or get a signed copy)

(Pre-orders at Amazon are currently only available for the e-book, not the print version.)

Oh, and if you’re a book reviewer, respond to this email, and I’ll send you a review copy as soon as they’re available!

If you’re curious about the story, here’s the book jacket blurb:

The Thing I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know

I guess this was what they meant by a loss of innocence. Who knew?

Russel Middlebrook is twenty-three years old, gay, and living in trendy Seattle, but life isn’t keeping up with the hype. Most of his friends have a direction in life—either ruthlessly pursuing their careers or passionately embracing their own aimlessness. But Russel is stuck in place. All he knows is that crappy jobs, horrible dates, and pointless hook-ups just aren’t cutting it anymore.

What’s the secret? What does everyone else know that he doesn’t?

Enter Kevin, Russel’s perfect high school boyfriend. Could rekindling an old flame be the thing Russel needs to get his life back on track? Or maybe the answer lies in a new friend, an eccentric screenwriter named Vernie Rose, who seems plenty wise. Or what the hell? Maybe Russell will find some answers by joining his best friend Gunnar’s crazy search for the legendary Bigfoot!

One way or another, Russel is determined to learn the all-important secret to life, even if it’s a thing he doesn’t even know he doesn’t know.

Author Brent Hartinger first made a splash writing books for teens. The Thing I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know, Hartinger’s first book for older readers, is just as much of a page-turner as his earlier works, with plenty of his trademark irreverent humor. But now his books have grown up along with his readers, exploring the issues of new adults, especially the complicated matter of love and sex.

Coming December 15, 2014

PREORDER FROM AMAZON

PREORDER FROM OTHER PLACES

(or get a signed copy)

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So my next book, The Thing I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know (out December 15th), is a book for adults, not teens. Technically, it might be called “new adult” — a new-ish genre that describes books that are sorta kinda like YA, except the characters are older, in college or beyond. The content is also edgier and more sophisticated. Plus, there’s often sex.

When I decided to write The Thing I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know, I did so because it felt interesting and different — an exciting writer’s challenge. It also felt like the right move for this particular character (it’s Russel Middlebrook from the Russel Middlebrook Series, but older, just out of college). It was time for him to make a major leap forward.

It wasn’t until a few weeks ago, well after I’d written the book and was putting the finishing touches on it, that I noticed something interesting: about eighty percent of my fan mail lately comes from people in their early to mid-twenties.

“Why is that?” I thought. Much of my email used to be from younger folks — people in high school.

Then it occurred to me: my readers have grown up! People who first read Geography Club in middle school are now adults, in their early to mid-twenties. After all, that first book was published in 2003!

I wish I could say this was brilliant marketing on my part — that I saw a trend and I jumped right on it.

Alas, I’m not nearly that smart. I just followed my muse (and I know for a fact based on, ahem, previous projects that she couldn’t care less about marketability!).

But in this particular case, it seems to have worked out great. I’ve written the book that (potentially) my readers most want to see. A nice synchronicity, no?

(The Thing I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know should be available for pre-order later this week!)

P.S. Yes, there’s some sex in the book. My beta readers have all been shocked by chapter 12 (in a very good way). But it’s all very befitting the characters and situations!

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So in my latest Media Carnivores podcast, we discuss book launches and book publicity in general. (As chance would have it, I’m currently launching a new book, The Thing I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know!)

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You thought I was going to “yourself,” didn’t you? That’s actually not who I have in mind.

Nor is the person you most need to please as a writer “the critics,” or one particular critic. Or even your editor!

The person you most need to please is … your reader. Basically, your fans. The people who actually pay for your book?

I know. What a concept.

Critics are kinda sorta important, because they can help connect you with your readers. But in an era of ebooks and GoodReads and social media, critics aren’t NEARLY as important as they used to be. You used to need good (early) reviews to get into the chain stories (and even into the indies). And, of course, good reviews always help you with your editor, who uses them to bolster support for you at your publishing house. They make everyone feel good.

But good reviews don’t necessarily lead to sales (and they never really did). I just finished what may be the worst book I’ve read all year, and I turned to Publishers Weekly, because I was curious to see how it was reviewed.

To my shock (and annoyance), they raved and gave it a starred review. But it didn’t surprise me at all to see the reader ratings on GoodReads and Amazon are quite low, and the book doesn’t seem to be selling (despite a very commercial topic).

Increasingly, I think readers want to make up their own minds. At the very least, they listen most to referrals from people they know and trust, not reviews. (I know that’s what I do.)

But your readers? Your fans? If they don’t like your book, you are DOOMED. It doesn’t matter what the critics think. Most people aren’t even aware of those reviews anyway.

I’ve listened to all the arguments about whether the publishing industry is better or worse now than it was five or ten or twenty years ago.

But in this respect? The fact that readers have access to many, many, MANY more books now, and much more say is how those books are generally received?

I think this is a thousand times better than the way things use to be. After all, the way I see it, the point of “books” isn’t so some faceless reviewer or contest committee can decide for the rest of us which books are “good” and which aren’t. The point is literally for all of us to decide for ourselves.

But getting back to the bigger question: if you want to be a successful writer, how do you do it? Under any business model — either traditional publishing or self-publishing — the way you get to keep writing is by selling books. And the best way to sell books is to please the people who buy them.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But in the insane world of publishing, it’s very easy to forget.

P.S. For the record, I’m all for pleasing yourself with your books too. But honestly, I’ve found that what I like about my books is generally the same thing that my readers and fans seem to want and like. So I’m all good.

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So my next novel, The Thing I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know, comes out in December. Here’s the blurb:

 

I guess this was what they meant by a loss of innocence. Who knew?

Russel Middlebrook is twenty-three years old, gay, and living in trendy Seattle, but life isn’t keeping up with the hype. Most of his friends have a direction — either ruthlessly pursuing their careers or passionately embracing their own aimlessness. But Russel is stuck in place. All he knows is that crappy jobs, horrible dates, and pointless hook-ups just aren’t cutting it anymore.

What’s the secret? What does everyone else know that he doesn’t?

Then Kevin, Russel’s perfect high school boyfriend, reappears. Could rekindling an old flame be the thing he needs to get his life back on track? Or maybe the answer lies in a new friend, an eccentric older woman named Vernie Rose, who seems to possess more than a bit of the wisdom of the universe. Or what the hell: maybe Russell will find some answers by joining his best friend Gunnar’s obsessive search for the elusive, legendary Bigfoot!

One way or another, Russel is determined to learn the all-important secret to life, even if it’s a thing he doesn’t even know he doesn’t know.

Author Brent Hartinger made a splash writing books for teens. The Thing I Didn’t I Know I Didn’t Know, his first book for adults, is just as much of a page-turner as his earlier books, with plenty of Hartinger’s trademark irreverency and humor. But now his books are growing up along with his readers, becoming edgier, more contemporary, and often dangerously sexy.

“This book is so good I crapped myself!” — Famous Author Who I Hope Will Blurb Me

 

What do you think? Would you read this book? Have suggestions for improvement? I’m all ears!

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So here’s what I think makes a good ” mystery” book or movie: an intriguing question is asked at the beginning of a story (typically about a murder, but not always). Over the course of that story, the main character gathers clues. Some of these clues may be dead-ends, but even they help the character get closer to the truth — and also probably help him or her learn some personal truth.

At the end of the book, the main character puts all the pieces together in an “Aha!” moment and finally figures out the mystery. At this point, he or she somehow answers the question posed at the beginning of the book. That answer is extremely satisfying because: (a) It’s totally fair, not relying on plot-cheats or contrivances.  All the clues were right there for me to piece together just as the main character did. (b) It’s totally unexpected. Yes, I the reader could have figured out the ending, but I didn’t, mostly because of some clever misdirection on the part of the writer, and some clue that I totally missed.

Guess what? I didn’t just describe a successful mystery: I described one way to write a successful story, mystery or not.

In my latest book (due in December 2014), tentatively titled The Thing I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know, Russel Middlebrook is now 23 years old, post-college, and living in Seattle with his best friends Gunnar and Min. These are the mysteries I set up at the beginning of the book:

(1) Russel saves the life of an older eccentric woman who becomes a sort of mentor to him, and she later has a dream that predicts she will save his life in return. Will she? How exactly?

(2) Everyone around Russel seems to have direction in life, but he doesn’t. Will he find it? What will it be?

(3) Russel’s high school boyfriend, Kevin, is back in his life again. Will they end up together?

(4) Finally, what about the title? What is “the thing I didn’t know I didn’t know”? It’s a very specific thing. How will Russel figure out something he doesn’t even know he doesn’t know?

All these questions are asked in the first three chapters of The Thing I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know – and they’re all answered by the end of the book, but hopefully not in ways that you’ll see coming or be able to predict.

What do you think? Is my Every Story is a Mystery theory a good way to think of all books and movies? Do you other writers write this way, consciously posing questions to your readers (and yourself) while outlining or writing the first draft of a project?

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