We chat with author H. D. Carver about We Became Wild, which follows two girls who are reeling from the death of their best friend and hike the Pacific Crest Trail in her honor of her in this fierce young adult debut.
Hi, H.D.! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’m a writer who makes stories about complicated, morally gray girls trying to find their way in the world. I live in Southern California with my family of artists and two cats. I like spending my time evenly split between trails, libraries, and bookstores.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I didn’t actually discover a love for stories or reading at all until I was eighteen, when my senior year English teacher made me read The Catcher in the Rye. It was the first book I ever really enjoyed. Before that, I’d considered myself to be someone who didn’t like to read, but that book sort of opened the flood gates for me.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: It was a Baby-sitters Club book called The Ghost at Dawn’s House. The girls around me loved those books, and I wanted to belong, so I wanted to love them too. But trying to read them almost made me feel like more of an outsider, because I couldn’t see myself in any of those stories of girls with perfect-seeming lives. That wasn’t what my world looked like.
- The one that made you want to become an author: A lot of books made me want to become a writer, but the Twilight series was what made me think I could actually do it. It was my first real introduction to the YA space, and once I found that, I was like oh, this is where I belong.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis – that book really stuck with me.
Your debut novel, We Became Wild, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Raw, intimate, feral, unflinching, tender.
What can readers expect?
They can definitely expect a wild and emotional ride. On its surface, We Became Wild is about two girls, both carrying secrets, who set out on the Pacific Crest Trail in the wake of losing their best friend, Val. She was the glue that held them together, so without her, they’re at each other’s throats. But the deeper story is about surviving yourself when you feel like you’ve done the worst possible things, and about friendship that endures those worst moments.
Where did the inspiration for We Became Wild come from?
It really came from so many places, but mostly from the personal stuff I was working through while I was writing it, the fact that I was hiking every day to process all that stuff, and from having just read Wild by Cheryl Strayed.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Lottie was my favorite, but she was also really a challenge because she struggles with so much guilt and shame. She hates herself for a lot of the book, and she’s convinced the rest of the world should hate her too. I wanted to make that real. I wanted there to be times in the story where as a reader, you empathize with her but still find it really difficult to stay on her side, because she genuinely makes it hard. It was a tricky line to walk, and there have definitely been people who’ve found her too unlikeable, but my hope is that readers will have enough empathy to stick with her as she figures herself out, because I think a lot of us require that kind of empathy at times in our lives. That’s a big part of what the story is about, finding that empathy for someone even when they’re hard to love, including yourself.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
A ton. I think the biggest one I faced is the same one a lot of writers face when they’re still trying to break into the business, and that’s the constant voice in your head that keeps saying Why are you wasting your time with this? You’ll never get there. Overcoming that was a daily exercise of just pushing through and forging ahead anyway, but that’s never an easy task.
This is your debut novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
It was so long! I wrote every day for nearly eighteen years to get to this point. I got hundreds of rejections. I even tried to quit writing at one time, but it ultimately wasn’t something I could walk away from. I’m just not whole if I’m not doing it.
What’s next for you?
It’s still in the works, but it’s a contemporary YA set in LA that follows a disgraced ballet prodigy running from her past who clashes with a rising actress chasing her future. It centers on ambition and what we sacrifice to chase our dreams, and it takes a hard look at the harm we sometimes cause one another in the process and asks what we ultimately owe each other. I think the novel asks more questions than it answers, but those are often my favorite stories.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up? Any you’ve read so far this year that you’ve enjoyed?
I recently finished Betty by Tiffany McDaniel, which I really loved, and I’ve just started I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. I’m looking forward to reading Homebound by Portia Elan and The Celestial Seas by T.A. Chan.
