Interview with Deke Moulton, author of upcoming release DON'T WANT TO BE YOUR MONSTER

 

Today's interview is with Deke Moulton (she/they) about their upcoming novel, Don't Want to Be Your Monster. I was honored to be able to do this interview because I've been itching for a chance to read this book since I first heard about it! It was an excellent read and I can't wait until it's released and everyone has a chance to dig into it.

In this interview we talked about the relationship between the brothers, what her publication process was like, and some of their plans when the book gets released. Information to follow them and preorder their book is included at the end of the interview! Let's go!      

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What made you want to be a writer?

This is a bit of a strange question for me, because I cannot remember a time when I didn't know I wanted to be a writer. I think, growing up, story time was always a safe time, when the family would gather and we would just be comforted and safe and me internalizing that as `I want to be able to do this for others.' But like, I remember making books out of construction paper and just drawing a story before I could write. It's always been something I wanted to do.

I get that! Sometimes even as a kid you know precisely what you want to do with your life. I'm also loving that you even made little books and stories!

Why vampires?

Ha! So, to be honest, I've always been more of a `casual' vampire fan. I never got into Twilight. I don't know what other huge fandom-producing vampires there are, but I never really fell into those fandoms. Honestly, I got the idea from a dream - I had this super-vivid dream that I was Adam, standing in the courtyard of my middle school, being accused of killing and eating someone that I totally didn't kill. It's funny because the book completely goes off on a different direction than that! But that idea utterly captivated me - having people accusing vampire-me of something I didn't do and trying to maintain friendships while someone thinks the worse of me.

Haha, okay that's definitely one of the more interesting ways to get a story idea! Sorry, I'm laughing a bit here. I love that...so much! Kudos to your subconscious for creating that dream for you so that we could have this book!

What was the publishing process like for this book?

It's been kind of fast! I wrote DON'T WANT TO BE YOUR MONSTER over four months, and accidentally sent a query out (I was drafting queries and instead of scheduling it, I sent it. and three days later, I got a surprise full request). I got a lot of requests, but a lot of passes. When I finally got an offer of representation, I had two agents - one thought the book was perfect as it was, and one who wanted me to completely rewrite the entire plot. I kept thinking of all the passes I was getting from agents, so I chose the one who wanted me to completely rewrite it.

I ended up rewriting the book completely twice! Once was a new plot - I only managed to salvage about 10k words from the original 55k manuscript - and again, to change the tense to first person present.

My book wasn't on sub for long. I think after three months I had my offer. So it's been really fast!

Wow! That does sound awfully quick. It sounds great and a little overwhelming at the same time. Also, I'm impressed you were able to rewrite the book twice! Kudos!

What's been your favorite part of getting this book published?

Other than `living the dream?' I think the community has been so much fun. It's great to jump online and chat with authors, making friends, being able to go into a book store and pointing to titles along the spines and saying `oh, I know that author!'

Yes!!!! Yeah, I love that feeling too!

How did you come up with the character designs, attitudes, and backgrounds?

Characters tend to pop into my head fully-formed, so this is kind of a boring answer of ‘I didn’t?’ I never wanted to do a “Dracula Junior” style vampire, so really it was just like, let’s have two kids, one wants to use his vampire powers to help, and the other wants to use his vampire powers to be cool. Like, a selfless versus self-centered dynamic, both thinking that what they are doing is best and butting heads over it.

Ooh, that's nice! Probably quite helpful that they come to you fully-formed. I do love the difference in how they want to use their powers because, yeah, I get it.

When you originally planned for this book, did you plan to have multiple POVs? If not, what changed?

Actually in my original draft, it was mostly Adam's POV up until about the 100 page mark where Adam gets in trouble (since deleted scene) and then it `dramatically' shifts to Victor's. Every agent didn't like it (lol at me trying to be clever), so it was eventually moved to dual POV with Victor coming in at chapter 3. I love it, because ultimately the story is a huge miscommunication trope, so writing these misunderstandings believably from each character while still keeping certain motivations hidden until the end was a challenge that I loved!

It's a shame because I do like the idea that you originally had! Don't get me wrong, I definitely think this fits a lot better for the story, but I think it would have been interesting to have trouble cause a switch in POV.

What was it like to write the relationship between Adam and Victor? Was it important for it to be portrayed in a certain way?

It was a lot of fun to write Adam and Victor, because here you have two kids who have grown up together, they're brothers, but they're both changing and testing to see where these changes will take their relationship. It's a test, of sorts. It was important to me that a reader could see how much they care about each other, and yet still believably portray each brother as not seeing where the other is coming from. I also really wanted to have a sibling dynamic where it's the younger sibling who is trying to branch out while the older sibling really holds onto the protective relationship he's always had. It's about returning, but also about letting go and trusting that love can remain during big life changes.

I love that! It's beautifully written and the relationship between the two brothers is ultimately one of my favorite parts of the book!

Are you planning on doing anything to celebrate the release of this book?

Oh my goodness, so much! I am fortunate to live close to multiple independent bookstores, so we are planning a main launch at one, and perhaps a more Halloween-y style launch at the other. One of the bookstores literally has the opening scene happening directly across the street so perhaps opportunity for a author reading!

Ooh, that all sounds really fun! Kind of making me jealous that I don't live anywhere near that so I can't come.

Are you currently working on any other books that you can talk about?

The one I can talk about is about Jewish werewolves - a friend suggested I look into the Jewish mythology of werwolves, of which I knew nothing about, and loved how vastly different it is from the standard European myth. The story follows a family of werewolves who operate a wolf sanctuary to allow themselves a safe place to shift, which comes under threat from a local rancher who would love to see it shut down - but also there's lots of anxiety rep, gay first crushes, and of course - a werewolf bar mitzvah.

YES!!! I need that book! It sounds absolutely amazing and I greatly look forward to getting to see and hear more about it in the future! (PS. If you or your publisher are ever looking for ARC readers please keep me in mind)

This was a great interview with Deke Moulton, all of my appreciation to them for agreeing to this interview! Thank you to all the readers who read her interview as well. I hope you all have an amazing day and consider preordering Don't Want to Be Your Monster.

If you like what I do, consider giving me a follow on my social media or consider sharing or donating my GCLS GoFundMe. I appreciate any help or shares that I can get! Every little bit matters. Thank you for reading!!

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You can find Deke Moulton on Instagram and Twitter.

You can buy Deke's books from Browsers Olympia, Deke's local independent store. When you preoder from there you also get preorder swag, trust me the swag is worth it!

If you can't buy her books but you still want to read it when it comes out, consider requesting them to your local library or suggesting them on Overdrive if available!