Interview with Brian Sloan: On Reading, Writing and “Tale of Two Summers”
interview conducted by Kathryn Hueber
Brian Sloan is a writer, director, producer and professor currently active in these creative fields. He has written novels, short stories and screenplays, as well as nonfiction for the New York Times. His published works include “A Really Nice Prom Mess,” “Not the Only One” and the book featured in this interview: “Tale of Two Summers.” This June is the ten-year anniversary of when “Tale of Two Summer” was published. Our editor here at Ultimate YA had the chance to read “Tale of Two Summers” and speak with Brian about his novel, his writing and his future plans…
1. How did you begin your writing career?
I have been writing since high school, when I started journaling and working on my first (very) short stories. English was my favorite subject by far so I decided to be an English major at Boston College, and there I did a lot more writing in a bunch of different creative writing courses: non-fiction, fiction, screenwriting and writing for radio/TV news. I was most interested in fiction and screenwriting so I applied to graduate school at NYU, and then started making films and writing screenplays, the first of which was sold a few months after I graduated. And I’ve been writing professionally ever since.
2. You have experience with short stories and films as well as novels. Did your work in those categories influence your novels, or vice versa?
My film work has definitely influenced my short stories and novels. In fact, my first novel “A Really Nice Prom Mess”, actually came from a treatment for a feature film that was deemed somewhat impossible to make in the 1990’s as the lead character was a gay 17-year-old high school student. So I put it in a drawer and then rediscovered it when I had my first meeting with Simon and Schuster about writing some YA novels.
3. Where did you get the idea for “Tale of Two Summers?”
The idea for “Tale” actually came from my meetings with Simon and Schuster. After my first meeting with my editor David Gale, I sent along some short stories that been published and there was one story about a high school production of “Fiddler on the Roof” that he really loved. It was called “Villager #2” about a gay kid from the pit band who decides to make the leap into the cast for his senior year show and is tutored/mentored by a very handsome Tevye. They asked me originally if I could expand that into a novel and, after thinking about it for a while, I said that I couldn’t. There just wasn’t enough story there really. But I did say I could work on something else with a musical theater angle, and that’s how the idea for “Tale” originally got its start.
4. Can you talk about your decision to write this novel in the format of a blog?
When I wrote the book in 2005, my original concept was actually doing it as a book of letters. I had always dreamed of writing an epistolary novel and I thought this story of friends keeping in touch during the summer would be perfect for that. Then, at the same time, I was doing some high school programs/talks for my first novel “A Really Nice Prom Mess” and kept hearing about blogs from teenagers. I also asked them about letters and found out, to my dismay, that it would be highly unlikely for anyone under 20 to be corresponding via the U.S. mail. Sigh. So I had to adjust to the times a bit and put it in the format of a blog. But in the end, I think it made it better because there could be more real time back and forth. Of course, if I was writing the book today it would have to be done as a snapchat!
5. Is Hal or Chuck your favorite? Why?
Oh no! This was a question I often got at book readings and school events and could never give a good answer for. It’s really hard to choose between these guys because I find them both to be such wonderful characters, with both having good and bad qualities too. I guess I probably relate a little bit more to Hal because of the gay love story angle. It’s not my story really, as I never dated a hot French guy when I was in high school (I wish!). But his struggles with feeling awkward about being out are very real to me, and also very endearing too. But honestly, a lot of Chuck’s goofiness with girls is something I can relate to as well, though with me it was goofiness with guys. Not to mention his interest in musicals of which I am a huge fan—my current favorite show is “Fun Home” which I’ve seen twice on Broadway. I’ve always said my dream career would be as a chorus boy in a Broadway show. Unfortunately, I’m not much of dancer!
6. Do you have a favorite line or scene from it?
Oh wow—this is like picking my favorite character! I have so many scenes I like—especially between Hal and Henri, when they are getting to know each other. But I think one of my favorite scenes is when Chuck and Hal have their first big fight via the blog, with Chuck calling him and Hal eventually picking up and losing it. It’s an intense sequence but, in a way, it’s the key to the secret story of the book—the tale of their friendship and how it endures the big changes going on for both of them over the course of this crazy summer. I love how they are both honest and annoyed with each other in the way best friends can be. But in the end, when Hal is hurting Chuck obviously cares about him. And vice versa. Their unique friendship is really the core of the book and this is the moment in which it gets tested and fortunately passes that test.
7. What was the most difficult part of writing this story?
The hardest part was definitely the ending. It was actually fairly easy writing the vast majority of the book as it was like writing very long stretches of dialogue. Once I had a basic outline and a strong idea of the characters, it all just flowed out over the course of a few months of intensive, almost real-time writing. But when I got to the end, I probably spent as much time working on the last 40 pages as I did on the previous 200. But fortunately I had a great editor in David Gale and he helped me see it through to the end. But that extra work was worth it because I really love the ending. And I know it worked because I constantly get people asking what happened to everyone—I think that is always the sign of a good book, leaving the audience satisfied but wanting more.
8. Have you thought about writing a sequel? If you haven’t, would you consider it, especially given your readers’ interest in the characters’ futures?
I did think about it a lot a few years back, after the book came out and got such strong response, especially via email from teens who all wanted to know what happened to Hal and Henri. A lot of them wanted a sequel to “Tale” which continued the story. I had some ideas for continuing the story but, in the end, didn’t feel like they were going to add a lot more to what I already had in the original book. I think sequels can be tough because you’re always judged up against the original material (witness Star Wars!).
9. Were you ever summer pen pals (or blog pals) with a friend when you were younger like Hal and Chuck?
I had a number of pen pals growing up, usually friends from summer camp. I loved writing letters too. Then, after my freshman year of high school, I went to a summer arts camp and kept up a pretty regular correspondence with some of the friends I met there. In fact, I’m still friends with one of them on Facebook today! But my correspondence really took off in college when, in the summer, I would return home to Washington from Boston and then would keep in touch with all my college friends via letters. It was pre-Internet and long distance phone calls were expensive! I fortunately kept a lot of those letters and I re-read all of them when I started working on “Tale” and they were a great inspiration for my writing and the voices of both Chuck and Hal.
10. What piece of work, whether it’s this book or a short story or film, are you most proud of?
It’s probably a play I wrote in 2003 called “WTC View,” which then became a film in 2005 with the same title. [It was recently released digitally and is now available on iTunes and Amazon, with links on www.briansloan.com.] It’s quite a different piece for me in that it’s about life in New York after 9/11, and is somewhat more realistic and intense than other things I’ve written. It’s also probably my most personal piece of work because it’s based on a true story about how I put a roommate ad online for my apartment on 9/10 and then spent the strange weeks after meeting with potential roommate candidates. It features an incredible lead performance by Michael Urie (from “Ugly Betty”), who starred in the play as his first professional gig after graduating from the Julliard’s acting program. Anyway, it’s something that was difficult to write in the beginning but I’m glad I stuck with it as I always get amazing responses from people who have seen it. And the play is still being produced in cities and countries around the world—it premiered in Guatemala earlier this year.
11. Would you ever want to adapt one of your stories to film?
Actually, I have been working on adapting both of my YA novels as narratives. I have written a script for “Prom Mess” as a feature film which I think would be great—sort of a racier, sexier and somewhat dangerous John Hughes movie. For “Tale,” I tried to adapt it into a feature film a few years ago but there was too much to squeeze into a 90 minute script. The story has a lot going on and it’s very episodic too. So I started thinking about it as a TV/web show and have recently written it out as a series. We’ve been looking for financing on that so hopefully it will happen soon.
12. What’s the most important piece of writing advice that you’ve learned in your career? Is that the advice that you would give?
My standard writing advice if someone wants to be a writer is pretty basic; just write! A lot of people talk about being a writer but don’t actually write anything down—so that’s really the first step is putting it down without judgement…good, bad, whatever. Just get it out and then keep working on it, as rewriting is just as important as writing. But really, even more important in the end is getting your work out there by giving it to a friend to read, sending it in to a contest or submitting it to a publisher. It can feel like the most difficult thing to do so I would suggest starting small, with friends you trust to get good feedback/opinions on your work. But if your writing stays in a drawer (or these days on your hard drive), no one will ever see it and no one will ever realize what a brilliant writer you are. :) So you can write all you want but it’s really key to get your work out there, one way or another.
13. If you were stranded on an island, what one book would you want to have with you?
“The Mysteries of Pittsburgh” by Michael Chabon. It’s a book that really affected me when I was in college and truly inspired me, in a way, to be more honest in my writing about gay characters and their stories. Though the book is a great love story it is a great deal more than that too—with gangsters involved even! And it’s a perfect mix of funny and sad and emotional and real. It’s also brilliantly written, too. For a while, I was reading it every summer though that’s waned off in recent years. But I could read it over and over and still get a lot of satisfaction out of it. In actuality I’m a huge fan of all his books and “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay” is high on my list too. But this one is probably my favorite.
14. What are you working on now? Do you have any plans for future stories?
Currently, I’m working on a couple feature screenplays and a couple scripts for TV/web shows, one about living New York today and one that’s set in the suburbs during a different time period. I also have some ideas for stories and novels, but getting the time to get those out onto the page has been hard lately. Writing a novel or even a good short story takes a lot of time and, with these other projects and other freelance work I do as a writer, it’s hard to find time to make it all happen. But I guess it’s good to always have too many projects/ideas and, hopefully, I’ll get to them all eventually.
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