The Nerd Daily recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Ben Philippe, author of the acclaimed The Field Guide to the North American Teenager and the upcoming YA coming-of-age novel Charming as a Verb. We got to ask Ben all our burning questions surrounding his writing, his own experiences and the neverending hustle!
Hi, Ben! Thank you so much for joining us! Why don’t you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
It’s frightening how much of my being these days you covered with “author of The Field Guide to the North American Teenager and Charming as a Verb.” Let’s add ‘red velvet cake enthusiast’ and, hmm, right-handed.
Let’s start things off with a lightning round: what books/movies/series/songs come first to mind when you hear the following words: ivy league, hustle, dogs, heritage?
Ivy League: ‘Gossip Girl’ (You’d think Gilmore Girls but no… I surprised myself there.)
Hustle: ‘Catch Me If You Can’ (Spielberg)
Dogs: ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ by Mark Haddon
Heritage: ‘Hamilton’
Now, tell us a bit about Charming as a Verb! What can readers expect from Henri Haltiwanger and his shenanigans?
I’m very bad at predicting the reactions of people to my characters.
Henri is a charmer who is very aware of his charm. I myself never quite trust those people but hopefully, readers will learn to trust and like Henri being in his head and all… Well, at least like.
Henri is all about the hustle – if you had to come up with a profitable idea for a side business on the spot, what would pop into your mind?
Dating app profile consultant. I’m not even kidding; I would kill at that job if I could monetize it. I love trying to turn a row of emojis and a blurry bathroom selfie into an appealing profile when friends let me edit theirs for them… No one ever pays me, though. Bah.
I love how you addressed the pressure teens are facing with concerning college applications and the prestige that some colleges have over others – did you draw from personal experience to pen Henri’s struggle with reconciling the expectations and dreams of his parents with his own wishes?
My mother would have been very happy if I had gone to college in Montreal while still living at home. I was the one studying for the American SATs and dreaming of ivy league colleges. Four words: College confidential dot com. That forum was my homepage for at least a few months.
It was hard for me to picture a world, a future, that didn’t start with an acceptance letter to my dream college. I got in, etc, but I do reflect on the intensity of that want now that I’m a grownup? Imagining that yearning from the perspective of someone like Henri was interesting.
There’s a moment towards the end of Charming as a Verb where Henri makes a misguided choice where I simultaneously wanted to shake him for doing what he does but also could completely understand why he did it even though he knew it was wrong (whew, this is hard without spoiling anything). How do you deal with wrong decisions or choices?
It’s really hard for me not to spoil, too! Hmm… I think I live a pretty reckless-free life these days, to be honest. I’ve retired with honors after my twenties.
I love writing those characters, though. Stove touchers. Two YA novels in, I think I figure out pretty early within a book what the worst thing the protagonist could do given their situation is… and then almost run towards that?
Charming as a Verb is your sophomore novel. How did the writing process differ from your first novel?
It suuucked… That’s a difference, right? Everything they say about second books is true, sorry to say! In some ways, my third book — which was emotionally draining nonfiction — was still easier to write than this sophomore rom-com. I’m still not sure why. I wrote a full version of the story that featured off-putting versions of Henri and Corinne before realizing it was the wrong take on the right story and that I had to start over. That was about 10 months and 86,000 words down the drain, ha.
What’s the best and worse writing advice you’ve ever been given?
Best: “Nobody needs to see this story that’s in your head. Nobody asked for it. For most of your first readers — classmates, friends, potential agents — it will be work. So, it’s only polite to make this unnecessary, unsolicited thing interesting.
Worst: “You’re shutting out a lot of readers by making the protagonist Black. Any race could work in a story like this.”
Every character in Charming as a Verb leapt off the page – did you have a sort of ‘fancast’ in mind while writing Henri, his parents and Corinne?
Thank you so much! No, I did not pre-cast this particular story… Henri is a cartoonishly good-looking black teenager. That’s about it. A few scenes are set at very specific spots of New York City and I drew a sketch of the actual school, FATE Academy, but nope, no actors.
With Charming as a Verb releasing soon, are you already working on another project? If so, can you share a sneak peek with us?
Sure! The aforementioned emotionally-draining nonfiction is a collection of personal essays and rants titled ‘Sure, I’ll Be Your Black Friend: Notes From the Other Side of The Fist Bump’. It’s in copyedits now and will be out Spring 2021 by Harper Perennial.
I know, I know: I’m now that insufferable 31-year-old who decided to write a memoir. I’m terrified of people reading it, to be honest, but it was something I needed to get out, I think. We’ll see. Gulp.
Last but not least, do you have any bookish recommendations for us?
‘The House in the Cerulean Sea’ by TJ Klune is a very good time! And I can’t wait to get my hands on Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam’s ‘Punching The Air’ next.
