I am beyond thrilled to be able to share this book with readers. I don’t just think this is a good book, I think it is an important book. Let me tell you why: This book looks at a high school murderer, a shooter, a messed up kid, a loner, a protector, a friend, a son and a brother.
Written by seventeen authors, each chapter tells another side to the story of a school shooting, but never one from the perpetrator’s perspective. We get to see the repercussions of the shooting from the perspectives of those around him. I will be featuring questions and answers from the various authors all of this week. I hope a lot of people will read it.
We start with Chapters 1 and 3:
Miss Susie, written by Steve Brezenoff
A: So, I should start by saying I had exactly zero to do with where this chapter would go in the final anthology/novel. But I will say that I suspect Shaun and the book’s editor at Pulse went with “Miss Susie” to open the book because it takes place well before any of the other stories the other authors submitted. But more than that, I think it also sets a pretty strong theme that will move through the rest of the stories: bullying, violence, guns, death–and just the way all of those things can affect interpersonal relationships, maybe particularly among school children.
Chapter 3–Survival Instinct, written by Tom Leveen
Q. Why was it important that Gabriel, the future soccer store, was the one to find her.
A. As we collaborated on our notes, I saw that Gabriel was likely being built as a typical jock, or was at least viewed as one by students not in his circle of friends. One of the things I enjoy playing with in my novels, particularly with PARTY and RANDOM, is turning the tables on our expectations; showing characters and readers alike that for all we think we know about someone, there’s always another side to the story. People are not two-dimensional. They are like diamonds that have to be held up and examined from a multitude of angles before getting even a close composite of who they are. While Gabriel was not going to feature in a major role in my chapter, I wanted to use the idea of the entire novel — that there are many sides to Kirby — in a supporting way by giving Gabriel this moment to shine as a multidimensional person. I’ve learned in my years of theatre that giving a “minor role” more than one function or personality lends weight to the entire show. Likewise, Gabriel’s minor role in my chapter I hoped would help lend dimension to the entire novel. I hope that’s what happened. That’s kind of what the idea behind the book was: let’s all get together and build someone (Kirby) from all our collective experiences and see what happens. My rendering of Gabriel was meant to be an echo of that concept.
The most intriguing part of this chapter, along with the horrible abuse, is the fact that even at the end, Zach is unaware of the school shooting. Why did you do this in this way?
Our instructions from the beginning were to reveal Kirby as a human being, good and bad, and as a result I didn’t feel a need to focus on the shooting as a plot element in this chapter. I wanted readers to leave the chapter knowing there was this girl out there who Kirby was trying to help. I also wanted to leave with a cliffhanger of sorts; it didn’t feel like my place to announce the shooting. In a way, Zach will always think of Kirby as a friend, as someone who cared about her, because her story fades to black before she learns the truth. As long as “we” don’t show her the shooting or its aftermath, she can cherish that memory of him. It’s kind of a “let’s not ruin the moment” moment. Other characters will have their take on Kirby, and that’s fine; if I as the creator-god of Zach’s story tell her about the shooting, then Kirby loses his place in her heart and mind. I thought it might be important to have a character who could represent the memory of the good Kirby…if that makes any sense at all.
