Author Chat with Jon Skovron + STRUTS & FRETS Giveaway Contest!

Hey all! Same rules. Think of a great sentence in comments using the cool phrase STRUTS & FRETS and the boy will pick the winner of the book! Example: “It’s as if the lizard struts & frets through his green-tailed life.”
Thanks for participating! Enjoy the interview and read this fantastic book when you get a chance!

Congratulations on your novel—what is it about?

Thanks! My quick pitch: A kid starting an indie rock band while dealing with love, friendship, family, and a grandfather with encroaching Alzheimer’s.

Where did you get the idea?

It all started with Sammy’s voice in my head, just saying: “One thing I new for sure, we were going to be famous.” I just followed it from there, like a detective.

Are you also a musician? What instruments do you play?

I play the guitar pretty well. I used to play the trumpet pretty well, but I’ve lost my chops from lack of practice. I also can play (but not well), drums, saxophone, flute, harmonica, baritone, piano, bass guitar, and accordion. You ain’t seen nothing till you’ve seen me rockin’ out on some polka!

Like your MC are you shy about singing in front of people?

I used to be. And like my main character, I figured out how to make it work.

Your cover is awesome. Did you give them ideas for it?

Nope, and I’m so glad because my book designer, Chad Beckerman, came up with something so perfect, I would have just gotten in the way.

The author and his book

Did you write the real songs that are in the book?

Not only did I write them, but I wrote them when I was in high school! I still have my old song books along with all my journals I’ve kept throughout the years. I was tempted to clean them up a bit, but in the interest of authenticity, I decided to just leave them in their beautiful imperfection.

I love the fully fleshed adult characters like the single mom and Gramps. How did you come up with them?

The way I create a character is to take two (or more) people that I know (either personally or a celebrity) and mash them into one person. Bam! Instant internal conflict! It’s something that I just did naturally when I first started out writing, then figured out after the fact. Now I do it a little more deliberately.

Do you have a musician grandfather?

When he was in college, my grandfather played piano and clarinet in a few local jazz bands. He also spent his summers on transatlantic cruise ships, going back and forth between New York and Paris, just playing jazz standards every night. But in the end, he decided on the infinitely more practical career of dentistry. He continued to play for the rest of his life, though. I have many happy childhood memories of sitting next to him on the piano bench while he played old Billie Holiday songs.

I’m nearly finished with this book and I love it. What I like most is that it seems SO realistic. I feel like I really know this boy and (or knew) and people like him. How did you stay so natural with your writing?

My number one goal in writing this book was authenticity. I didn’t want a single line to ring false or forced. As a teen, I had a really low tolerance for pretension and BS, so I was basically writing this story for my teenage self, checking in with him constantly to see if it set off any alarms.

I’m not saying that naturalistic is the only or the best way to write. Sometimes I love the fancy writing. But to tell Sammy’s story, it needed to be this real.

You used to be an actor, no? How does theatre background help with ‘staging’ a story so to speak?

As an actor, you’re always aware of what you are doing in the space. As a writer, I try to ground my characters in the setting in the same way. It’s not just floating talking heads. They interact with their environment.

Another way that acting informs my writing is in keeping it active. In acting (at least, in the way I was trained…there are other schools of thought on this), you try not to show, or indicate, emotion. Because when you do, it usually looks forced. Instead, you constantly ask yourself “What is my character doing in this moment?”You concentrate on the action your character is performing moment by moment. What do they want? What are they trying to accomplish? And if you are truly in the moment with them, the emotion comes all on its own.

Whose your favorite Muppet? I’m guessing one of the Electric Mayhem. Animal perhaps?

While I do love Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, my very favorite Muppet is Gonzo. They call him “the weirdo”, but if you watch those shows carefully, you’ll see that he’s actually an avant garde performance artist, and at times quite a brilliant one.

Hear you have some signings coming up to celebrate your launch. Where and when?

I’m participating in two group signings at Books of Wonder in New York City. On October 29th, I’ll be hanging with some other Abrams authors. Then on Dec 6th, I’ll be hanging with my fellow 2009 Debs, which I’m
sure your readers know is a group of Young Adult authors all with debut novels in 2009. I’m also going to be at NCTE in Philly for you english teachers out there.

What’s up next for Jonny Skov?

The story I’m working on now is very different. I don’t like to repeat myself. Some people might suggest that this is a bad idea for a newbie author just trying to make a name for himself. But I have to write where my heart is. It’s the only way I know how to do it.

Was there a real life Jen5 in your teenage life?

Jen5 is a composite of several girls I knew in high school, none of whom I dated, all of whom I have lost touch with. Sorry, that’s probably not the answer you wanted ;P

What are some of your favorite YA books/authors?

My gateway into YA was Neil Gaiman, China Mieville, Kelly Link, Cory Doctorow, and Michael Chabon. None of them specialize in YA, but all of them have written in the genre. Once I got sucked into the sparkly world of YA, I discovered marvelous authors like Holly Black, Gabriel Zevin, Markus Zusak, and David Levithan. I’m still fairly new to the genre so I’m discovering more all the time. And then of course there are my fellow 2009 Debs, all of whom are extremely talented and awesome people. I just finished SHADOWED SUMMER by Saundra Mitchell and it was the first time since reading Gaiman’s CORALINE that a book actually scared me. Sitting at the top of my to-be-read stack are SHINE, COCONUT MOON by Neesha Meminger and EYES LIKE STARS, by Lisa
Mantchev.

If you could cast your adaptation of your novel who would star?

Sammy actually muses on who he would cast in his own life and ultimately decides it would be best to cast unknown actors. I’d certainly be down for that, especially if I could push a few of my buddies from college into the cast somehow. When I saw Juno, I thought Ellen Page and Michael Cera had a nice vibe together that would work for Sammy and Jen5. In terms of looks, though, if Dakota Fanning is just the right age now. If she were willing to dreadlock her hair and toughen up a bit, she’d be a dead ringer for Jen5.

(IMHO that hair is WAY too pretty to dreadlock. However, Hollywood has a way of handling that.)

You also work full time and have two kids. How do you balance everything?

I swore off video games in 1999. That freed up a big chunk of time. I also don’t watch much television (I know this horrifies you, Heidi, but I don’t really like it). I also really get into all the productivity and efficiency stuff on places like Lifehacker.com, 43Folders.com, and Zenhabits.net. Ways to simplify your life and cut out all the unnecessary stuff that gets in the way of doing what you love.

And most importantly, where can we buy your book and learn more about you?

You can buy my book at just about any bookstore (B&N, Borders, Amazon, etc), although because I am a fan of all things indie (hello! indie music!), I strongly urge to buy from your local independent bookstore. If you don’t know where one is near you, find it on indiebound.org.

My site/blog/virtual everything is jonnyskov.com

My book site is strutsandfretsbook.com