Ann Dávila Cardinal: Just Finish the First Draft
KidLit Craft is back with another Snack-Sized Author Interview. In this series, we ask authors five quick questions that give us insight into their craft and process. Today we’re talking with author Ann Dávila Cardinal.
I first met Ann on a VCFA group call for prospective students, when she was working in the admissions department. She was full of wisdom then, both about the program and about writing. It has been such a joy to watch Ann’s career take off, publishing multiple young adult novels and multiple novels for adults. In whatever she does, Ann brings all of herself. And this interview is no different. I hope you enjoy learning from her as much as I have. –Anne-Marie
Welcome, Ann!
Question 1: What's your writing superpower?
Dialog! It's as if I can hear the characters talking, like I'm sitting in on their conversation! Well, that sounds disturbing, but I don't hear them all the time. Only when I'm writing (I'm making it worse, aren't I?).
Question 2: What’s an element of craft you explored in your latest project and what tips can you share with other authors for growing in their use of that particular element?
I'm a recovering pantser. It took a long time to get through to me, but now that I plot novels I no longer write myself into corners or waste time going on tangents. But it took a friend's model that involves narrative plotting, which makes so much more sense to me than a graph. I see graphs, I think math, and my brain shuts off. Now I have no idea how I did it before! And it goes much faster with less anxiety. If you're scared of plotting as I was, know that there are many methods, talk to your writer friends, ask what works for them, then find your own way.
Question 3: If you could travel back in time, what advice would you give yourself as a new author?
Just finish the first draft! Yes, it's going to suck, that's a requirement for first drafts, but just finishing one is going to be one of your favorite feelings! Remember, you are making the material with which you will then make the art. But you can't make the art until you have the medium in hand. You will eventually find revision fun, I promise!
Question 4: What inspires you as a writer?
Since I'm a speculative writer, I often tap things that scared me when I was young, or things that are iconically scary. But I'm very inspired by the myths and legends of my Puerto Rican heritage. My first book, Five Midnights, was based on the El Cuco myth, the Latine boogeyman.
But I'm also inspired by iconic monsters and tales, the ones that endure for generations. I like to wonder why, what is it about them that resonates with so many people? And then I reimagine them through my own weird-ass lens.
Question 5: What’s one book you think every kidlit author should read?
There are so many ways to answer this question. I mean, Charlotte's Web saved my life and became the book that made me want to write (BEST first line EVER) but I'm going to give you an answer I bet you've never gotten before: The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade. I actually teach it when I'm talking about pacing in YA. It's about a cheerleader who dies, becomes a ghost who can't move on, and the only one who can hear her is the outcast goth kid. Thing is, that cheerleader is hit by the bus on page 3! There's no "seeing her at dinner with her family" or "eating in the cafeteria." Teens want you to get right to the action, and this author does it masterfully in this novel.
An unconventional answer, I know, but a great lesson in moving the story forward for dynamic young adult writing.
Bonus Question: What can fans look forward to next?
EEEK! Thank you for asking! My YA horror comedy novel You've Awoken Her comes out from HarperCollins on June 17th! I'm SO excited about it. An ACE Puerto Rican protagonist from Queens who gets stuck going to The Hamptons for the summer and encounters a lovecraftian terror. It's about the breakup of a friendship (which is often more painful than romantic breakups), and it's a reimagining of a problematic author's traditional monster. I had a ball writing it, and it was fun to tell a story based in NYC where I'm from.
Ann Dávila Cardinal is a New England based author with an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her young adult novels include Five Midnights, Category Five, Breakup from Hell, and the upcoming You’ve Awoken Her. She co-wrote a middle grade biography of Latin trap artist Bad Bunny titled Hispanic Star: Bad Bunny. Her novels for adults include The Storyteller’s Death, which won gold in the International Latino Book Awards, and We Need No Wings. Ann is a part-time bookseller in Stowe, and lives in Vermont with her husband where she cycles, weight trains, and will get tattoos until her skin is too wrinkly to work on.
You can find her online on her website and on Instagram: @anndavilacardinal
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