Interview with Steven Salvatore, author of NO PERFECT PLACES

 

Today I am so excited to present this interview with Steven Salvatore (they/he). I read and fell in love with Can't Take That Away and I consider myself truly lucky to be able to talk with him about their recently released novel, No Perfect Places.

In this interview we talked about what their writing process looks like, how he developed the characters in No Perfect Places, and what the vibes of this book is like.      

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What inspires your writing?

I take inspiration from anywhere and everywhere. Mainly, I take experiences and feelings that I've had and fictionalize them as a way to process and work through them. Different books stem from different personal wants and needs. With Can't Take That Away, I was working through my own identity and complicated relationship with gender, while also exploring the history of some special, important friendships and familial relationships (and my love of Mariah Carey). With And They Lived..., I wanted to give my 18-year-old self the happy-ever-after that he never got to have with his first love, while also exploring a friendship break-up that mirrored one I was experiencing at the time. With No Perfect Places, I wanted to explore how having an incarcerated parent impacts a young adult, which is something that I experienced, though I had recently graduated college when my father went to prison. Still, it had a profound and lasting impact on me and my family, and that ripple effect is something I needed to work through in a hyper-fictional way.

That makes a lot of sense to use writing as a way to explore and deal with certain feelings and situations. It would definitely explain the emotional depth and impact that your books have.

What inspired you to take the leap to publishing your work and what was it like getting agented/published?

The path to publication is long--how much time do you have? Haha.

Honestly, I always wanted to be a writer. I was a storyteller for as long as I can remember, from writing The Lion King fanfiction as a small child to scribbling poetry, to creating my own cartoon characters with names and backstories, to filming my friends in school in a mockumentary-style in order to capture a story in video form. So when I realized through my undergraduate writing major that writing books could be something I could pursue, I decided to put all of my energy and effort toward that. It was a long path, too. I wrote my first book in 2006 as a college sophomore, but didn't start querying (with a totally different book) literary agents until 2009. It took ten years, one failed agent relationship, and six or seven other manuscripts to land my agent who sold my debut.

Haha, I'm always very interested in a deep dive exploration about someone's publishing experience. Also, I'm very interested in that Lion King fanfiction now! That's awesome though! That you figured out it was something you could do and that you did it!

What does your writing process look like?

Usually I'm dressed like a vagabond cross-legged on my recliner, covered in a blanket, drinking an iced cappucino and listening to a carefully curated playlist. That's the general gist of what it looks like. As far as the mechanics, each book is different, but they all start the same way: with character. Who is my main? What is his/their/her goals/wants/needs? What's their story? I usually will write a couple sentence breakdown of Acts 1, 2, and 3, and a general pitch. But I never outline. I just dive in head-first and let the characters dictate the rest.

I love that you're dressed like a vagabond. That's the perfect way to be dressed when writing. That sounds quite nice actually, not writing a full outline but rather a quick breakdown. I like that!

How do you come up with the plot ideas for your books?

Again, it usually stems from a need to explore something real to me, whether it was a set of experiences, emotions, or feelings. I like to write character-driven stories, so plot comes together more as I write.

That's amazing! It definitely comes across very strongly that you like to write character-driven stories. Your characters are amazing!

How did you create and develop your characters in this book?

In No Perfect Places, it all started with Olly, who wouldn't leave me alone. Olly wants to be a Hollywood filmmaker, and he's obsessed with Star Wars, and he's also dealing with his father being incarcerated and the baggage and trauma associated with that. Not to mention the biggest family secret of all time: That he has a secret half-sibling named Tyler. So when his dad orders him to keep it a secret from his sister Alex, Olly sees him as a Darth Vader to his Luke Skywalker. He wants to do right by his sister, but then their father passes away, and Olly is saddled with keeping it from his sister so as to not completely destroy her. So that inner and outer conflict, and the Star Wars parallels really drove the story and Olly's arc.

When the book opens, which is dual point of view between Olly and Alex, their father is already in prison for embezzlement. So we start with Alex and Olly having already lost everything: their house, their college funds, most of their friends, and even their mother, who's so focused on making ends meet that she's never around anymore. The only thing they can count on lately is each other. But when their father passes away, Olly and Alex fracture. Alex is spiraling, skipping classes to spend all of her time drunk or high. And Olly is struggling with the secret of his father's secret child. Then Tyler shows up in their lakeside town for the summer, and Olly's lies begin to snowball. Navigating those complex relationships was so fun, but very taxing as a writer. It was a great exercise in flexing my writer muscles, that's for sure.

That's very well said. I definitely can see the conflict that Olly has to deal with in that situation just by how you worded it. And the tension with Alex and Alex's own feelings. It sounds like a lot, I can definitely see that being very taxing.

Your newest book, No Perfect Places, has just been released. What was your favorite scene to write in this book?

My favorite scene to write in the book is toward the end, where Olly and his boyfriend Khalid are on a date in a hot air balloon. So much of the book is full of really heavy, dark, traumatic family drama, but Olly's relationship with his boyfriend Khal is the one place where there is zero conflict or tension, and it was important for me to showcase a loving, healthy gay relationship in that way. And that particular scene/chapter is just so lovely and loving and captures a very specific feeling for me personally.

I love that! I love that it's just this healthy relationship and that it seems so lovely. It sounds so nice!

If you could meet your characters from No Perfect Places, what would you tell them?

I would tell Olly and Alex that it's perfectly okay to be messy and make mistakes. But be kind to each other. Love each other, forgive each other, and be there for each other because your relationship is what truly matters.

Yes! That's honestly such an important message! Life and people get messy sometimes, but that relationship is the most important part sometimes.

Can you describe the vibes of No Perfect Places?

No Perfect Places has big messy, chaotic, "it's complicated" vibes. It's raw. Emotional. But also kind of fun, if you can forgive the characters their mistakes. It takes place on a lake in the Adirondack Mountains, so it's very summery and warm, despite the drama.

That sounds...emotional and amazing all at the same time. Like the kind of book that I'll read when I need a good emotional hit.

Where do you get your book titles from?

The title for No Perfect Places comes directly from a Lorde song. Alex is obsessed with Lorde, so there are a bunch of song references throughout, and Lorde's song "Perfect Places" succinctly sums up the vibes of the book. There's a line in the song that chorus that goes, "All the nights spent off our faces, trying to find these perfect places, what the fuck are perfect places anyway?" really sums up the thesis of the book-that there are no such things as perfect places, even though we're constantly searching for a perfect place to exist and rest our heads.

Oh, I didn't know that! That's so awesome!

What are you currently working on?

I have some potential young adult books in the works that I'm really excited about, so cross fingers! I do have a two-book adult romance deal, the first book of which, titled The Boyfriend Subscription, which is a gay retelling of Pretty Woman with a financial flip where the sex worker has all the money and power. That book is slated for publication in March 2024 from an exciting new diverse line at Harlequin! I'm also trying to promote my editorial services on Queerative Writers, my new business venture focusing on engaging with and teaching queer aspiring writers.

Ooh, I love that title! I am already extremely on-board for that book! I'm excited to see what else you put out. I hope that new venture goes well!! It sounds really awesome and I love the name Queerative Writers! I hope for the best for you.

All my thanks to Steven Salvatore for taking part in this interview and to all of you for reading it. If you're interested in his books, make sure to check them out! If you've already read a book by them, I'd love to hear your thoughts about it!

If you like what I do, consider giving me a follow on social media or donating to my Ko-fi. Thank you for reading!!

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You can find Steven Salvatore on their website, the Queerative website, Instagram, and LinkTree.

You can buy Steven Salvatore's books from Barnes & Noble, but you can also see about picking them up from your local independent bookstore. UseIndieBound to find it!

If you can't buy his books but you still want to read them, consider requesting them to your local library or suggesting them on Overdrive!