Hey Worthy and Eager readers!
Everything I thought I knew by Shannon Takoka is the perfect Valentines day love filled, romantic Novel for even the youngest Young Adults to any elder person! A mix of Pacific ocean, motorcycles, California Coast, love and danger, surfing, more then a few mind tricks, a transplanted heart, waves of the mind and flows of hearts, a beyond philosophical, luck, bad luck, carving out wave tunnel into a marvelous and indelible story that will have all readers have all the feels in ways that will leave their hearts yearning or and discovering whats real within their own feelings. Maybe leaving more questions then answers for readers of all hearts. With all the possibilities, how much can we control? What is real? What is real love? Get your brain on board and read Everything I thought I knew before the waves go under!
1. Can you please introduce yourself and your debut book Everything I thought i knew in your own words?
Everything I Thought I Knew tells the story of a 17-year-old girl named Chloe whose life is turned upside down by a heart transplant, and it causes her to question everything about who she is and who she wants to be.
2. You talk in a few of your interviews about the struggles writing and completing the novel. What made your debut book so difficult?
Well, I guess like a lot of people who set out to write a book, I honestly wasn’t sure if I could do it! I’ve worked as a professional business writer for many years, but a full-length novel is an entirely different animal. So the entire process was a bit of trial and error for me. I’m more of a pantser than a plotter, so I discovered much of the story as I went along and it evolved a lot along the way. But that also means that sometimes I wrote myself into corners that I then had to find my way out of! Eventually, writing out of order helped get me unstuck. I ended up writing the ending before I had much of the middle and that was probably the best thing that could have happened since then I had something concrete to aim for. It was almost like putting together a puzzle. With my next book, I’m trying to reform my pantser ways a bit, so I have it a little more mapped out. But the best advice that I can give to aspiring writers is that there’s no “right” way to write a book – you need to figure out what makes the most sense for you.
3. How did you get your life, heart, mind and soul affirming story into a published novel?
I think getting a novel published is a combination of things. Hard work and persistence matter a lot – you have to be willing to keep at it, to keep trying and learning and perfecting your craft, even if it takes a few books to get there. But there’s also a degree of magic and luck. The magic is the story idea that takes hold and I honestly can’t quite explain how that part works – it’s just really cool when I’m able to channel it. And there’s also just plain luck involved. The book business is sometimes all about the right editor getting your manuscript at the right time. Which is why I feel so lucky to have found an editor and agent that really “got” my story and worked really hard with me to make it the best that it could be.
4. Chloe has so many struggles though out the book, which struggles from the book do you think readers can relate to most? which of her struggles relates most to you when you were her age?
I think Chloe’s biggest struggle in the story is one that we all grapple with: Who do I really want to be? She’s really thrown into a position where she has to re-think all her assumptions about who she thought she was, at an age – that transition between high school and what comes after, between teen and adult – when figuring yourself out can be a little overwhelming. And I think that it’s okay to not always be sure. You don’t have to have everything figured out at age 17. Personally, I feel like the question of who we are is one we ask and answer again and again throughout our lives. We are always learning and hopefully evolving, and being shaped by our experiences.
5. Fragility and drastic change are motivators and plot pivot points through out the book for our narrator Chloe. There are so many changes Chloe experiences in layered ways, why did you choose this theme? Is change still a current moving in your life? If change is the only constant how do we get better at it?
I think I wanted to explore the idea that so much is out of our control and look at how we live with that. Change -- big and small, good and bad – is a constant and I think learning to accept it as a condition of our existence is a pretty important skill. We often define ourselves by what we are doing and accomplishing, and I think that’s natural, but what happens when the rug gets pulled out from under you? Although that can be terribly painful, I do think everything that happens to us gives us an opportunity to really think about who we are and how we want to live our lives.
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| Shannon Takaoka author photo! |
6. In parts its hard to trust what is real for us as readers. Our dear Narrators heart transplant and the before and after is for some like me is more captivating and relatable then many books who have narrators with unchanged bodies. Why did you choose a heart transplant and What is it about the heart transplant that is most moving to you?
I once went to teaching hospital for my senior year Anatomy class and got to view open heart surgery and found it fascinating – the fact that humans have figured out how to transplant a heart or a kidney or a lung, successfully, from one person to another is such an extraordinary achievement, and the history and science behind it all is so interesting. But I’ve also thought a lot about the emotional side of transplants: What does it feel like to know that a part of you – a part essential to keeping you alive – once belonged to someone else? I read and listened to a number of stories about transplant recipients and was struck by how some of them reported feeling deep connections to their donors – and it feels especially poignant when it’s a heart because of all the emotional connotations we typically associate with hearts.
7. Everything I thought i knew talks about inexplicable symptoms, the unreliable truths of our bodies and other uncontrollable parts of our lives. What can these mysterious elements in your book reveal in the lives of your readers? If we experience many things we can't control what do we have to hold on to in such a world as we have today?
In the story, I wanted to explore the tension between attempting to control our destiny and accepting the reality of fate and chance. Chloe is the kind of person who wants to understand the why of everything all the time, but there’s also something to be said for accepting the fact that not everything happens for a reason and not everything has an answer.
8. The flow of her feelings and the gripping attachment and the tides of all the feels of her more then an ocean crush with Kai reminded me of several reasons why I love my wife. Can you explain the swells of attraction and tide pulling of their hearts despite drift at the start and the darkening seas with storms breaking?
Well there something very powerful about the ocean isn’t there? And I loved the idea of these characters being pulled toward one another by almost a gravitational force – the same force that acts on the waves.
9. Are there any themes or messages you hope readers will take from Everything I Thought I Knew? Anything else you want to tell your readers?
I hope they take away that while life can be fragile and hard and unpredictable, there’s also so much beauty not to be missed. And while there’s nothing wrong with having goals and plans, I think we can also get so wrapped up in what comes next that we sometimes lose sight of the fact that life is lived in the present.
10. Whats next for you and your work?
I’m working on a new manuscript right now and I’m kind of superstitious about saying too much about a story while it’s still taking shape. But I can say that this one will also have a speculative element involving alternate realities.
What can we control? I love how even with the literal change of heart in your book, there is often intentional space made for ambiguity of control or lack of control. over scheduling and business seems to be the way we live.
Share your love and all that you know!
Please buy the book at Books Inc https://www.booksinc.net/book/9781536207767
Thank you to Shannon Takoka
and to Candlewick
and to Books Inc