Interview with Jeff Zentner, Morris Finalist!
So, Jeff Zentner’s THE SERPENT KING is up for the Morris Award, and I totally called it.
This aching, heartfelt coming-of-age story about three small-town Tennessee teens was nominated for the Carnegie Medal, was a Publisher’s Weekly Flying Start, and is currently sweeping the 2016 “Best Of” lists. Jeff is a musician in Nashville, and is also the author of the upcoming GOODBYE DAYS (spoiler: it’s breathtaking, and you will cry). I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to interview him as part of the annual William C. Morris Interview Series.
BA: Holy crap, Jeff. I’m just. This book is so beautiful and wise and gut-wrenching and honest, and I could not be happier about your Morris nomination. What was it like hearing the news that you were a finalist?
JZ: Thank you, Becky! It was funny, I thought that if I ever was a finalist for something like this, I’d hear it first from my editor or agent, but actually, someone I don’t even know tweeted at me to congratulate me, and I was like, “wait, what?!” My first instinct was, “if this turns out to be nothing, I’m going to be really bummed out.” But then he forwarded me the YALSA announcement email. So I ended up telling my editor and agent!
BA: You’re such a pro at authoring, it’s hard to remember that TSK only came out in March. How has your life changed since publishing your debut? What was the high point? What was something that surprised you?
JZ: I do a lot more traveling than at any other point in my life. I’ll go months where I don’t have a single weekend at home. But it’s wonderful. And the high point is closely related to that: the friends I’ve made among my fellow authors. In a very short time, I’ve made some of the best, most amazing friends I’ve ever had at any point in my life. Something that’s surprised me is how it’s never any easier to write a novel from the first one I ever wrote. In fact, it feels harder now. I’m more in my own head and I’m conscious now of my audience.
BA: THE SERPENT KING is told from three points of view, and one of my favorite things about this book is how distinct these voices are. Was that a challenge to get right, or did that happen pretty organically for you? Is there a little bit of you in each character, or are you most similar to one of them?
JZ: Before I sit down to write a character, I’ve made sure I’ve let them reside in my head for a good three or four months, wherein I sit and listen to them and learn to hear their voice. With THE SERPENT KING, I was interested enough in each character to write a whole novel with each as the protagonist, but I was too impatient to wait and write a novel about each one. So I jammed them all into the same book. To write the characters, I pretty much divided my personality into thirds and gave each character a piece. Dill got my general worldview and love for making music. Lydia got my curiosity and hunger. Travis got my loyalty and nerdiness for the things I love. All of them are some of me. None of them are all of me.
BA: I’m especially intrigued by Lydia, whom I find to be one of the most complex and relatable teen girls I’ve ever read. How did you pull that off?
JZ: I have been blessed to know so many amazing and brilliant women whom I so deeply admire. So Lydia has bits and pieces of all of them. Also, I’ve worked with teen girls at Southern Girls Rock Camp and Tennessee Teen Rock Camp, and I’ve seen their incredible intelligence and spirit firsthand, so it was really vital to me that I honor that to the fullest extent possible in the character of Lydia. It all comes from a place of the deepest respect and awe.
BA: I know readers have a wide range of opinions about how and if social media and pop culture references should be integrated into books. In TSK, we see some real media and some invented media, and it’s absolutely seamless. Can you talk me through the decisions you made about that?
JZ: When deciding whether to use real media or invent something, I ultimately tried to make a prediction as to what would best stand the test of time and not date the book too terribly. With music, for example, I know opinions vary widely on this, but I think it’s better to ask a reader to buy that teenagers love a real iconic music group that’s stood the test of time as opposed to a more of-the-moment real musical group that hasn’t stood the test or an invented musical group with whom readers can’t really relate.
The author, calling your girl.
BA: Lydia, Dill, and Travis come from really different religious and socioeconomic backgrounds, and I love that you show the complexities that sometimes arise from both. What sort of role does money play in the friendship among these three? What about religion?
JZ: Money, or to be more specific, socioeconomic inequality, is a tremendous source of story conflict. Healthy economic circumstances give Lydia the ability to leave Forrestville—and Dill—behind, a source of great consternation to him. Dill’s dire financial circumstances are the driver of his hopelessness and his being unable to leave Forrestville for a better life, like Lydia. Travis’s less dire—but still not terrific— financial circumstances contribute to the abuse he suffers at his dad’s hands.
In writing The Serpent King, I really wanted to shine a light on class and privilege in America.
Religion plays heavily into Dill’s internal struggle and the way he comes into conflict both with Lydia and her desires for his life and with himself and his own desires. And religion is how Travis and Dill met and more indirectly, how Dill and Lydia met. Dill’s religion made him the sort of weirdo that Lydia was interested in knowing.
BA: What sort of reaction have you gotten from readers so far? As far as your fandom name is concerned, do you have a preference between “The Serpent Kingdom” and “The Zentnerds”?
I love Zentnerds because I used to get called that mockingly, and I love the thought of reclaiming it, like “now who’s laughing?” ;)
The reaction has blown my mind. I truly did not expect very many people to identify with a young adult novel about the son of a snakehandling preacher. So every time I hear from another reader, I'm just overjoyed. I came to writing as an exceedingly obscure musician, who might get a lovely message from a listener once a month if I was lucky. Now it happens several times a day.
A tweet from a fan.
BA: Talk for a bit about GOODBYE DAYS! What was it like writing it, and how did that process compare to your process for THE SERPENT KING? What’s been the biggest difference between the two experiences so far?
JZ: The Serpent King came from characters/people/stories that had fascinated me for years. I based The Serpent King on two songs I'd written years earlier. Goodbye Days, on the other hand, came from characters I'd only lived with for months. So I had to learn very quickly to be fascinated with the lives of relative newcomers to my mind. That's one difference.
Another is that I let my writing process breathe a little more. With The Serpent King, I wrote in a frenzy. I wanted to get published before I was 70. With The Serpent King heading toward publication, I let myself do things other than write. I allowed myself to read other books and watch TV shows. Both helped make Goodbye Days stronger.
BA: Both of your books deal with some really heavy moments, but there’s also so much joy in both stories. How did you navigate these extremes? Which parts come most naturally to you as an author?
JZ: It helps that I have a very, very dark sense of humor. So I'm able to see the humor in a lot of situations that might otherwise look pretty humorless. And I'm very conscious about keeping humor a part of the story. It's easy when you write southerners, which I do, who are a naturally funny and morbid people. I also believe deeply in hope, even in the darkest of circumstances. So hope is always interwoven into my stories, which adds to any sense of joy I achieve.
Lightning Round!
(in which Jeff was allowed to explain his answers, but was not required to)
BA: If Lydia, Dill, and Travis could each be given one BFF from another YA book, who would you choose for each of them?
JZ: This is not brown-nosing: when I read Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, I had the easiest time ever imagining Lydia and Simon as friends.
(ed. note: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Travis and Hagrid from Harry Potter would be besties, no question. They're both gentle giants.
Dill and Cassie O’Malley from The First Time She Drowned by Kerry Kletter would be besties. They're both sensitive and intelligent and they could bond over their awful mothers.
BA: Please summarize TSK using only emojis
JZ: I will defer to the amazing and brilliant Nic Stone’s summary:
BA: Now please summarize it using a single gif.
JZ: Several people recommended this one:
BA: What is your all-time favorite comment you’ve received on your book?
JZ: It was from my very first reader, Jarrod Perkins, who read it in manuscript form. I didn't even know he was reading it yet when I get a text from him that just said “you [expletive].” I was like “?????????” And he told me that he’d reached a certain pivotal scene. Jarrod is a very sophisticated reader and that's when I knew I might have a book I could publish.
BA: Golden Oreos or Classic? (If Golden, I actually will need you to explain this.)
JZ: I’ve always been a Classic man, but even more so in the age of Trump, when I’m not messing with anything golden.
(ed. note: hell. yes.)
Thank you, Jeff, for this beautiful interview and your beautiful books!
Order The Serpent King!
Pre-order Goodbye Days!
