Something about fall means “historical fiction” to me, so when I found out about The Reckless Kind, a YA historical fiction novel featuring characters who are both queer and disabled and also love horses, I was immediately excited! The author, Carly Heath, was kind enough to answer some questions over email, and I can’t wait to share their answers with you!
The Reckless Kind is available on November 2. Get your copy here!
Thanks so much for taking the time to answer some questions about writing, your author journey, and your upcoming debut release The Reckless Kind!
I’d love to hear about your path to publication. I’m especially interested in the “full circle” moment of not getting a mentor in PitchWars a couple years back, and now being a mentor in PitchWars, especially since we’re in PitchWars season right now.
Yes, I was very sad to have not gotten into PitchWars back in 2016 when I entered. After that, I applied to Author Mentor Match and also didn’t get in. So I dove into doing more revisions on my own throughout the end of 2016, but then I suddenly got an offer from an agent I had queried much, much earlier in the year with a rougher, earlier draft of the manuscript. That manuscript went on to become my debut and garner very positive trade reviews. So I can say for absolute certainty that not getting into a competition or mentorship program should absolutely not be internalized as any sort of reflection on the quality of your writing. Cold querying is still the most common way to get an agent, but do take every opportunity available to get feedback on your work and make revisions so your manuscript is the best it can be.
You’ve also mentioned that the agent who sold The Reckless Kind is your second agent. Re-querying seems like such a common experience in publishing, and yet we don’t talk about it very much. Can you share a little bit about what it was like to have to find a second agent?
Though going on sub with my first agent was unsuccessful and they decided to leave the publishing industry a year after representing me, I was grateful for a chance to connect with that person because we are still friends and they continue to give me feedback on my work and assist me in so many ways. Though I’d been warned that finding an agent for a manuscript that had already been on sub would be more difficult, I actually received a lot of agent interest when I requeried, and a month later signed with the agent who would go on to sell the novel.
The Reckless Kind sounds like such a fun and heartfelt story that features the types of characters who, up until recently, weren’t often the focus of historical fiction stories. What does your research process look like for writing historical fiction? Is there any difficulty in finding research around queer and disabled stories in history, not because they didn’t exist, but because they weren’t as well recorded?
I’m pretty chaotic when it comes to research, mostly because I’m just always researching random things that interest me. 99% of my research is going onto books.google.com choosing a time period (you can search by century or choose specific years, so for The Reckless Kind, I was doing a lot of research into the years between 1890-1905) and then searching for certain terms. Obviously words like “gay,” “homosexual,” and “asexual” wouldn’t be useful, but I found some words like “sexual inversion,” “uranism,” and “contrary sexual instinct” to lead me towards a lot of interesting/relevant content. One author who was incredibly useful to discover was Edward Carpenter, a 19th century socialist, vegetarian, and gay rights activist. He wrote a number of pamphlets and booklets on topics ranging from sexuality to paganism to social injustice. Those interested might want to check out “Homogenic Love: Its Place in a Free Society” (1894), “Sex-Love and Its Place in a Free Society” (1894), and “The Intermediate Sex: A Study of Some Transitional Types of Men and Women” (1908)—all written by Carpenter and with a rare positive look at queer identities in the early 19th/20th centuries. Additionally, the novel Imre (1906) by Edward Prime-Steve (writing as Xavier Mayne) is one of the first English-language gay romance novels that features a happily ever after. It’s truly delightful and shows that queer people in the early 20th century aren’t much different from queer people in the 21st century. Their meet cute even takes place while the protagonist is out getting an iced coffee—proving that iced coffee has been the official gay beverage for well over a century.
Finding positive and first-person accounts of historical disability representation has been a bit harder. I do love reading 19th century medical journals though and find them so intriguing and also troubling. Of course there was a great deal of backwards and problematic theories related to sexual health in the 19th century, and then the ideology of early eugenicists was beginning to take hold at that time as well. To unpack a lot of the historical perspective on disability, contemporary academic sources have been helpful. In particular, papers like “The Treatment of Disability in 19th and Early 20th Century Children’s Literature” (A. Dowker, 2004) delves into the common disability tropes of the time. Identifying these tropes is a good starting point for subverting and dismantling them.
You have several similarities to some of the characters. How has your own lived experience influenced your writing?
I wrote The Reckless Kind during a period in my life where I was experiencing a lot of horse-related injuries. Like the Fuglestads, I tend to take in the animals other people don’t want, and occasionally people are judgmental about that. I also experience chronic symptoms related to my injuries and allowed that experience to inform the reality of my characters’ day-to-day lives.
Related, the plot of the story hinges on a horse race, and you not only ride horses but also have a menagerie of farm animals! How does your love for animals and being around them affect the kinds of stories you tell?
Whenever I write stories set in the historical times, I do want to demolish the idea that people in the past used to be hardcore carnivores who didn’t have any empathy for animals. That myth is categorically untrue.
While veganism might seem like a very 21st century sensibility, that’s actually not the case. What we think of as vegetarianism (which use to be called Pythagoreanism from about the 6th century BCE to the 19th century CE) has been practiced by humans for thousands of years and the vegetarian movement in the west will be celebrating its 175th anniversary in 2022. Prior to the rise of factory farming in the 20th century, most humans on earth were vegetarian. Even in the West, where the spread of Christianity encouraged followers to believe humans had dominion over animals, many rural/ farm people felt a natural connection to the animals they lived with and came to vegetarianism on their own simply because they felt it wasn’t right to kill and eat the animals they’d grown attached to.
So, in The Reckless Kind, I wanted to reflect this historical compassion for animals in the Fuglestads. They are a family that had been practicing farriery for many generations and since they were both pagan and very connected to animals on a daily basis, it made sense that they’d reject the Christian idea that humans had dominion over animals and instead be vegetarian and devote themselves to helping animals.
Additionally, the Fuglestads employ a more enlightened approach to horsemanship where they use sugarcubes and gentleness rather than force to build their connection with their equine friends. The horse race itself is something that my characters are not a fan of—especially since the villain in the story seems to care more about his own glory than the welfare of the horses being raced. Though I don’t want to give away spoilers, the Fuglestads will not allow animal cruelty to go unchecked.
You’re also a visual artist, who does illustrations and graphic design. How does this different form of creativity interact with and affect your writing?
I minored in Costume Design when I was in college and learning about fashion history was one of my favorite topics. Probably a big reason why I chose the early 20th century for The Reckless Kind was because I love the aesthetics of the setting and time period so much.
I’m always curious about how stories have changed over the process of being edited. You mentioned that in addition to the editor who bought the book, you also hired a freelance editor. What’s some of the biggest (non-spoilery!) changes between the first draft and the final published version?
The very very first draft is unrecognizable from the published draft. It wasn’t even in dual POV back then and the first chapter was all about Gunnar’s mother—Sigrid Fuglestad. The second draft was when I decided to make it dual POV between Asta and Erlend (I think Asta was called Astrid in that draft). And then the first chapter went through about 20 different changes before I finally decided to set it in Erlend’s bedroom when they are just beginning theater rehearsals again after Gunnar’s injury. There was even an early version where Asta has a sister who comes to the cabin to live with them.
It’s been a weird year and half to be publishing a book during, much less a debut novel. Can you talk about some of the things that have brought you joy during the debut process, and some things you’re excited about after the book releases?
My favorite things have been getting notes from my editor (her feedback [was] hugely insightful and inspiring and made the book so much better), getting early reviews, seeing the book cover, and finding out who the audiobook narrators were going to be. The thing I’m looking forward to most is listening to the audiobook for the first time!
Finally, the two questions I ask all authors I interview:
What is your favorite writing resource? Book, podcast, Twitter account—whatever helps you improve or inspires you as a writer!
Story Genius by Lisa Cron is my favorite craft book and First Draft by Sarah Enni is my favorite podcast. And I highly recommend the Be Your Own Mentor blog by Rosiee Thor and Rachel Griffin.
Which character that you’ve written would you choose to go on a road trip with?
Definitely Erlend because he would pay for everything and probably somehow acquire the most luxurious car and outfit it with every imaginable comfort. We’d probably also stay in the fanciest hotels and there would definitely be no roughing-it.
Thank you so much for this opportunity! It’s been fun!
Be sure to get a copy of The Reckless Kind today!
Also follow Carly on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok!
Summary:
It’s Norway 1904, and Asta Hedstrom doesn’t want to marry her odious betrothed, Nils—even though a domestic future is all her mother believes she’s suited for, on account of her single-sided deafness, unconventional appearance, and even stranger notions. Asta would rather spend her life performing in the village theater with her friends and fellow outcasts: her best friend Gunnar Fuglestad and his secret boyfriend, wealthy Erlend Fournier.
But the situation takes a dire turn when Nils lashes out in jealousy—gravely injuring Gunnar. Shunning marriage for good, Asta moves with Gunnar and Erlend to their secluded cabin above town. With few ties left with their families, they have one shot at gaining enough kroner to secure their way of life: win the village’s annual horse race.
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