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A spirit that is not afraid

Love, Simon novel author delights fans with stories, signatures at public library

Writer Becky Albertalli shared some insightful background on creating her stories and her hand in Love, Simon’s development among other topics.

<p>Matthew Epperd (left) and Becky Albertalli (right) chat during a book signing at the Auburn Public Library on Aug. 26, 2018 in Auburn, Ala.</p>

Matthew Epperd (left) and Becky Albertalli (right) chat during a book signing at the Auburn Public Library on Aug. 26, 2018 in Auburn, Ala.

Those visiting the Auburn Public Library on Sunday afternoon were treated to a special guest whose debut novel, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, was cast into the spotlight earlier this year as the breakthrough film Love, Simon.

Author Becky Albertalli conducted an Q&A session among an estimated 90 visitors to the event, followed by a book signing with any of her three novels available for purchase on site with Oreos available as snacks, a staple food in the story.

The plot of the film and novel chronicles the titular Simon, a gay high school senior in Atlanta who struggles with the thought of coming out to his friends, and in essence, the whole of Creekwood High School. Through correspondence with an fellow student who admits his sexuality anonymously on a public online board of the school, Simon becomes more comfortable with the idea of revealing himself, until another student, Martin, happens upon the emails. By threatening to reveal Simon’s messages to everyone, he blackmails Simon into being the wingman for an attempted relationship with his crush and Simon’s friend, Abby.

Albertalli shared some insightful background on creating her stories and her hand in Love, Simon’s development among other topics, interviewed by her assistant, current Auburn senior Matthew Epperd (who features in the movie in a small non-speaking role).

Beginning with a mention of her brother, a previous Auburn law grad, the writer expressed enthusiasm for being invited to the library before moving onto questions from Epperd as well as several from the audience.

Crediting fan-fiction tales from her earlier years and the Harry Potter series (with a quilt of scenes from the stories coincidentally hanging from the wall in the same room, much to her and the listeners’ amusement), Albertalli conceded that writing was her second occupation and was motivated to pursue it because of a desire to capture a certain voice she felt novels have.

She later noted that the process of completing Simon vs. was no easy feat, requiring seven different major revisions before she found the version she was satisfied with, which took around six months total.

The novelist also offered advice for aspiring writers, such as admitting that it’s okay to be unsure of where one is going with a story and that she found it easier to get her books on store shelves through major publishing houses rather than self-publish, since this granted her with a literary agent and not as much focus on distribution and cover design.

Giving a very specific tip, she suggested, “If you happen to be writing a realistic contemporary story in our world over a short period of time, outline it.”

Regarding the cinematic adaptation of her story, Albertalli noted that she was overall impressed at its screenwriters’ delivery of the complex interactions between Simon and his classmates, calling it “pretty close to perfect,” but acknowledged a few hiccups along the way. One such error was the confusion of the writers, who, being from Los Angeles, had the characters ordering items at Waffle House that didn’t exist there.

“I did tell them to add more Oreos,” she remarked in response to being asked if there was anything from early drafts she felt should be altered.

I also had the pleasure of briefly sitting down with the event coordinator, Ashley J. Brown, who first encountered Albertalli at the Atlanta Writers Conference last year and extended a proposal to the author to hold the signing, the date for which was finalized earlier this month.

Brown seemed to consider the event a success, telling me she had overheard that attendees flocked from as far as Mobile to get the chance to meet Albertalli.

This fall sees the release of What If It’s Us, which Albertalli will be co-authoring with Adam Silvera, whom she met due to the two having the same literary agent and the book having come about when both writers left an impression on each other in discussing their past dating experiences.


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