The Nerd Daily had the pleasure of sitting down with Phil Stamper in December, the author of The Gravity of Us and the upcoming As Far As You’ll Take Me, a well-crafted story all about growing up and growing apart, falling in love, and finding your people. We asked Phil all our burning questions on his 2020 experience and his future projects!
Hi, Phil! Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us again! Why don’t we start this off with a bit about yourself? What was the last book you read and what was the most recent thing that made you smile?
The last book I read was The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed, which is a fantastic YA story set amid the 1992 Rodney King Riots that I’d definitely recommend.
The most recent thing that made me smile, as basic as this is, was that I was FINALLY able to get my first Peppermint Mocha of the season from Starbucks [in December]. It’s one of my favorite coffee drinks (sorry PSL!) and now that I don’t commute into the office anymore, I rarely pass Starbucks. But I made the trip today so I’d have something yummy to drink during this interview!
It’s been ten months since our first interview and though it’s been one hell of a year, talk us through your experience of 2020! How has life changed since the publication of your debut novel The Gravity of Us?
Oof, I read through our last interview and wow did that bum me out—I was talking about trying to stay hydrated during my upcoming spring tour (which got cancelled, of course) and I just want to go back and time and warn him about everything that was coming!
That said, 2020 was quite special in a few ways. The Gravity of Us was really a smash hit, and that’s important to me for two reasons: First, I’ve been able to secure other book deals and that means I get to keep doing what I love during this unstable time in the industry, which I’m so grateful for. But also, I’ve found that the more widely celebrated this book was, the more it found its way to the readers who needed it the most. Not everyone’s going to like every book, of course, but I still get so many messages from queer teens who fell in love with the book and (as bizarre as the story is) saw a part of themselves in Cal, or in his other friendships and relationships.
Now give us the elevator pitch for As Far as You’ll Take Me! What should readers know going into the book?
As Far As You’ll Take Me follows teen musician Marty Pierce as he moves to London to pursue his dream of being a professional oboist. Along the way, he grapples with his anxiety, finds friends who become family, & falls in love…with the wrong boy.
I took a lot of inspiration from my own life while writing As Far As You’ll Take Me, which is why it’s such a personal story to me. As a queer teen, I always felt like I needed to escape my conservative rural village, and I was able to do that in college, studying music, falling into a group of wonderful and accepting friends who became family. And, like Marty, I also dealt with a ton of anxiety as well as disordered eating while I found my place in the world.
Some of these themes are a bit heavier than what you find in The Gravity of Us, and readers should know that going into the book. That said, I try to present them in a way that still leaves the reader with a whole lot of hope. I also wanted this to stand apart from The Gravity of Us in that, while Cal knew exactly what he wanted and how to get it, Marty is a little more unsure. He has plans, but his plans change a lot through the course of the book. Through all the ups and downs, I wanted to show that there’s so much joy in the process of figuring life out.
This is your sophomore novel. How did the writing process differ from The Gravity of Us? Was anything in particular easier or more difficult after having been through the entire process of drafting and editing a book once already? And do you have any advice for aspiring writers who are struggling (*cough* me *cough) to put pen to paper with the world upside down?
Fun fact: I first drafted As Far As You’ll Take Me before The Gravity of Us. This was always the book of my heart—it was the first queer book I’d written, and it was the first time I’d really put my own experience on the page. I brought this old draft to my editor when we were discussing what my next published book would be, and I essentially said, “If you think there’s anything here, I want to work with this. I’ll completely rewrite it if I have to.” And… I had to fully rewrite the book! But my editor really saw something special in Marty and his journey, and she was able to guide me through edits to make this story exactly what it needed to be.
I wish I had better advice about putting pen to paper with the world upside down, but it’s something I struggle with even when I have deadlines pushing me along. (Even for my day job! Even for interviews like this!) I think it’s hard to do just about anything right now, and the first thing you have to do is accept that. Once you’re in the mindset of “I’m having a hard time concentrating, I don’t have any motivation, but I’m going to sit down, put on a good playlist, and try to write a few words” you can sometimes keep the productivity train going.
You mentioned in our last interview that you got a degree in music – any chance Marty’s story was inspired by your own experience with studying music?
Yep! I touched on this earlier, but so much of Marty’s story is based on experiences I had. Growing up gay in my queerphobic hometown was really awful, but once I went to college I immediately made lifelong friends in the ensembles I joined. There’s something special, almost spiritual, about playing music on your own or with a group of friends, and I thought that was the perfect salve for Marty, who was a little lost when it came to friendship, love, and religion.
I remember asking you in our last interview how you would encapsulate Cal’s (the protagonist of The Gravity of Us) essence in one word and one song. Let’s do the same for Marty!
One word: Hope.
One song: Ease My Mind by Ben Platt.
While we’re on the topic, Marty was such a loveable character. I had a hard time putting the book down because Marty deals with a lot in a really short amount of time, and it was addictive to read. Without spoiling too much, can you talk a bit about his journey and especially his experience with anxiety (which was so relatable)?
I learned a lot about my own anxiety while writing this story. I’m on an effective treatment plan right now, but I really wasn’t when I first drafted this. In that way, my only “therapy” was in how I wrote Marty’s experience. Putting his anxiety on the page was important to me, because I wanted teens who experience anxiety to see themselves in his story.
I also made sure his anxiety wasn’t one-dimensional. Anxiety touches every part of his life—why does he cling to Pierce so quickly? Why does he feel the need to change himself through disordered eating to hold onto what he assumes is love? Why is he closed off from his friends and family back home at the beginning of the story? Every choice he makes is tinted with the anxiety that he’s learning to live with, and that’s a journey I think so many of us who experience anxiety can relate to. It’s that particular facet that makes Marty’s character growth throughout the book so special.
You address quite the range of topics in this novel (eating disorders, toxic relationships, religion etc.). What was the hardest to write about and to get just right?
We have a few toxic relationships within this book. Marty’s not on great terms with his parents, who seem to care more about their religion than they do about his needs; his best friend has a terrifying amount of power over him that she tries to exert even as he’s halfway across the world; and then there’s Pierce.
It’s hard to write toxic relationships or situations without making them into comical villains. Pierce was the character who changed the most throughout drafts. In some drafts he was the perfect dreamboat, in other ones he was actively shady, and I had such a hard time nailing down what I wanted to say with Pierce’s character. Ultimately, you’ll see where I landed, which is somewhere in-between. In some ways, he’s perfect for Marty; in other ways, he’s bad for Marty. And I think a lot of readers can relate to that.
I confess, I really got swept up with all the descriptions of London in your novel! Have you ever been or did you research all the great bits and pieces Marty gets to experience in England’s capitol?
I lived in London while I was in grad school, actually! Once I moved back and started writing an early draft of this book, I thought that writing about our travels (Florence, Cardiff, all around England, etc.!) would be a great way to remember the great places we’d visited and provide a realistic, exciting backdrop to Marty’s story.
There are quite a lot of jam sessions in the book as well. If you could sit down and jam with any musician, alive or dead, who would you choose and what songs or classical piece would you go for?
Honestly, I’d love to have a jam session with a couple of my college friends again! So much of my time in college was taken up with classes and performing, but we’d always blow off steam by playing music that brought us joy, and that’s something I really miss.
One of my senior recital pieces was Sonata for Trumpet and Piano by Eric Ewazen, which I got to perform it with one of my best friends in college. I’d love to play that one again!
With As Far as You’ll Take Me releases this month, are you already working on your next project? If so, can you share a bit about it with us?
After the launch of As Far As You’ll Take Me, I’ll be talking a lot more about my third YA novel, which comes out in early 2022. It follows four queer teens, lifelong best friends, who are spending their first summer apart to try and figure out their lives after high school. The best part is that it’s a YA contemporary duology! So, these lovely characters will continue their story in early 2023, and I can’t wait for everyone to meet them.
Last but not least, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
Always! Some of my recent faves have been You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson, Surrender Your Sons by Adam Sass, and Be Dazzled by Ryan La Sala. One book you should definitely keep on your radar for early 2021 is Can’t Take That Away by Steven Salvatore!
