Charles Benoit
Get to Know Charles Benoit
Who’s the man behind the young adult thrillers You, Fall From Grace, and Cold Calls? He’s the same guy who works for an advertising company by day, plays sax in Some Ska Band by night, and MCs the opening author panel at the Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival each spring. Read on to learn more about this author who wears many hats!
Q. Hi Charles. Thanks so much for chatting with me. What three things would you like readers to know about you and your writing process?
I write stories in which teens make a few bad choices at the start of the book and then spend the rest of the book dealing with the consequences. They’re part thrillers, part mysteries and part warnings to others. I write every night for 90 minutes or 500 words, whichever comes first. I’m a slow, slow writer and a lifelong two-finger typist.
Q. What advice do you have for kids and teens who want to write professionally? What advice do you have for their parents?
If you want to write because you love to write, then start writing. If you want to write because you want to make a lot of money, start learning another skill. There’s money to be made as an author—sometimes lots of it—but if that’s why you’re getting into it, you’ll be disappointed. As for parents, encourage your kids to follow their dreams. And if you truly believe that, be willing to wait as long as it takes.
Q. You have been a featured author at the Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival (www.teenbookfestival.org) for four years. Tell us why you keep going back.
I’ve attended book events across the U.S. and in several other countries and there’s nothing like TBF. Authors are rock stars, kids are royalty, hundreds of voracious readers all there to talk books—it’s crazy and loud and so much fun. If you’ve got tweens or teens, get them to TBF. It’ll change how they think about books.
Q. You (the novel) was the featured title for the Monroe County Library System’s Greater Rochester Teen Read in October 2014, and you (the author) were the featured speaker. What was that like?
Humbling. The quality of the writing and storytelling in YA novels is extraordinary, and it seems librarians have read it all. And still they picked me. Unless I win a Pulitzer, it’s the highest honor I’m ever going to receive.
Q. How does being a musician influence your novel writing? How does your novel writing influence your work as a musician?
I start writing a book by picking a theme song, not for anything the song says but for how it makes me feel. I’ll listen to it 5-6 times a day and a couple times before I start writing each night, just to get my head in the right place. My band will tell you that every song I write has to tell a story. They’ll probably also tell you I should stick to books.
Q. I heard that your next young adult novel takes place in Greece, NY in the 1970s. Why did you choose that time and place for the setting? What else can you tell us about this book?
I wanted teens to see that their parents (and other adults in their lives) were just as messed up back then as teens are today. Plus, parents today are more informed, involved, understanding and—the big one—forgiving then they were when I was young. Good for kids, bad for novelists. The late 1970s had the kind of parents I needed for my book.
Q. What are you working on after that book?
Did my editor tell you to ask me that? Because that’s what she wants to know, too.
Q. Favorite book(s) read as a child? How about favorite recent read(s)?
As a teen, anything with swords and dragons and magic spells. The first “adult book” I read was The Godfather. That changed everything. I just finished Bluff City Pawn by Stephen Schottenefld and just started the YA novel Stay With Me by Paul Griffin. And for my ska obsession, I’m reading Pauline Black’s memoir, Black by Design. To borrow a standard ska phrase, pick it up, pick it up, pick it up!
To learn more about Charles Benoit, visit him on the web at charlesbenoit.com, on Twitter @BenoitTheWriter, on Facebook (www.facebook.com/AuthorCharlesBenoit), and at the Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival on May 16 at Nazareth College .
Deena Viviani is a Rochester-based Young Adult Services Librarian. Read her book reviews at www.deenaml.livejournal.com or send her a note at De**********@*****il.com – she loves to hear from readers!
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