Q&A: M. Evan Wolkenstein, Author of ‘Turtle Boy’

We’ve had the pleasure of sitting down with M. Evan Wolkenstein, whose debut middle-grade novel Turtle Boy releases in May. In our interview, we asked him all about writing, bucket lists and what he’s working on!

Hi, Evan! Thanks for joining us. Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

Thanks so much for having me! So, as you mentioned, Turtle Boy is my debut novel, but I’m a career educator — 16 years. Currently, I teach design thinking, comparative religion (Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity) and most importantly, Jewish studies at a school called JCHS of the Bay.  In my classes, I join with students to look at ancient texts through the lenses of psychology, sociology, and literature.

I love teaching, but I also have a lot of hobbies. I have a style blog called StyleForDorks.com and for a few years, I was even a personal stylist. I draw comic strips, play drums, record music, and most importantly, I’m a husband and dad (my daughter is 2). And when do I have time for all this? I get up at 4:45 every morning.

If you had the opportunity to sit down with three authors, past or present, to talk about writing books, who would you choose and why?

Truly, the author I want to talk about writing with is my wife, Gabi Moskowitz. I’d say that 60% of our daily conversations are about writing: how did your writing go today? What are you going to work on after lunch? Why can’t I get this sentence to sound right? Be honest with me…am I an impostor? Ooh…I like that scene…how the heck did you do that?!

So, Gabi is sitting at the table. We’re also sitting with Meg Medina, who wrote one of my favorite Middle-Grade books, Merci Suarez Changes Gears and also Burn Baby Burn, which is YA. Both books feature characters so real I can hear them, picture them, months after reading. I admire how she weaves Cuban-American culture into her books. I learned a great deal about telling culturally authentic stories from her, and I believe Turtle Boy is a better book, Jewishly, because of what I learned from her.

Finally, we’re joined by the amazing Onjali Q Raúf. I’m inspired by her books, her organization (Making Herstory), her public speaking…it’s all part of her larger vision about what it means to be an author who’s working to make the world a better place. I aspire to that.

Also, I’m realizing that I have three women authors at the table, which is great. As the only male here, I will be sure to provide the snacks, make sure our daughter is entertained, and do the dishes.

Turtle Boy is your first novel – what were some of the biggest hurdles you had to jump in your writing and publishing journey?

Turtle Boy is based on my own experience, growing up with a facial abnormality that became the swirling black hole at the center of my identity for a long time. In high school, I had a surgical procedure to correct the issue, but even in my 40s, it was still very much part of my “origin story.” (I even drew a comic strip about it, which became the seed of the Turtle Boy novel.) With that many feelings about the subject, I had to do something almost every author does: let go of my emotional need to tell my own story and instead, surrender to the mission to tell the story of a fictional character. It took a lot of work, letting go, and trusting the process.

Also, as I mentioned before, my wife is my writing-partner. She’s also a gifted “project manager” and communications maven. I knew all this long before I started writing Turtle Boy, but once I entered into that process, I needed to learn how to ask for her help — and not take it for granted, not simply take advantage of being in a relationship with someone that talented. I hope I’ve learned to be more considerate, more explicitly grateful, and more aware of how much space my own writing takes up in our relationship.

Turtle Boy also has gotten a beautiful cover – before seeing the final version, did you ever imagine a cover for your book?

The cover is beautiful! I teared up the first time I saw it. My editor asked for my input before it went to the illustrators, and I said I envisioned a boy in a sweatshirt with his hood up over his head, that sort of thing.

I had no idea how the art might convey mood, tone, and emotion — I left that in the hands of the artists. Ellen Duda, who did my design, nailed it — and one other thing. She drew Will with the strings of his hood drawn – both communicating his sense of loneliness but also obscuring the part of Will’s face he is most sensitive about. Since all illustrations are caricatures, it would have been emotionally jarring to see my facial abnormality illustrated – even in a mainly fictional alter-ego. Ellen, with great compassion for Will (and for Will’s author), showed what she needed to show, with great tenderness and sensitivity. I went back and wrote Ellen’s detail into the story.

RJ is such an interesting character and certainly stole my heart. Where did the inspiration for him come from?

My #2 all-time favorite movie is Karate Kid. I’m sure it has everything to do with being an awkward, dorky boy in the eighties, plagued by insecurity and a pervading sense of imbalance. Mr. Miyagi was firm but forgiving, clever and kind but also critical when necessary, wise in the ways of the world but with a sweet sense of humor — I wished I had someone like that in my life. And Mr. Miyagi needed something, too. He was lonely and isolated and far from the land he loved. Those things went into RJ. You can see a little bit of “Wax on, wax off” in how RJ teaches Will to play (and to live) one exercise at a time.

On that note, RJ has a bucket list of things he wants to accomplish before he dies that Will eventually helps him with. Do you think Will would also have a bucket list at some point? If so, what would be on his list?

The novel starts with a quote from They Might Be Giants: ow it’s over I’m dead and I haven’t done anything that I want or I’m still alive and there’s nothing I want to do. Besides being a great lyric about the existential paradox of having our precious time slipping away, on the one hand, while paralyzed by ennui on the other — it’s also a brilliant summary of RJ vs. Will.

The reason the two friends are so necessary for each other is that one has a bucket list – things he wants to do – and the other only wants to hide from life. In fact, discovering what’s on your bucket list is a key part of growing up… and then throwing it out (or crossing things off) and making a new list as you move through life.

However, since Will is a kind of distillation of my middle school self, I wonder if he might eventually develop a desire to pick up where RJ left off: playing drums in a band? Looking for love? Traveling the world? The amazing thing is that many things I’ve already crossed off my own bucket list would have scared the crap out of 7th grade me. That’s a good feeling. Every human deserves to feel like they’re accomplishing things that would have once seemed superhuman.

Jewish traditions and practices play a defining role in Turtle Boy and I learned a lot that I hadn’t known before! What was it like incorporating it? For example, the community project and the different Bar Mitzvah’s Will is forced to attend versus his own where he feels like he has found in his place in the community?

I once hired a career coach who, after 4 very expensive sessions, boiled me down to one, singular driving force: I have a need to transform people’s thinking, to flip things on their heads. I was like, wow! You get me! Along those lines, I wanted Will to go through a transformation from seeing his Bar Mitzvah as something irrelevant, thrust upon him, to a climactic celebration of the person he is becoming.

Likewise, I want my readers to encounter the Jewish material in my text as something at once familiar and yet dynamic, surprising, mysterious. The thing that caught me off guard, however, was how Will hijacked my usual process and created some of his own inroads into Judaism — reinventing prayers in ways that even practicing Jews would find surprising. I was typing scenes and saying, “Will. Dude. Where are you going?”

Coming full circle, Will was the one who transformed how I see things.

You explore self-imagery through Will in a very unique way. What would you like readers to take away from Will’s rocky journey to loving himself?

The takeaway is that wherever you go, and no matter how you change yourself, you cannot fix who you are through anything external. Rather, as Will’s Mom says, you need to learn to see yourself the way people who love you see you. This is not easy, and at times, you need to find crutches to get you there. But ultimately, as you pick your friends and your partners in life, allow yourself to be drawn to people who see you not only for who you are, but also who you can be. Trust them. Learn to be the you they see.

Could you see Turtle Boy being adapted to the big screen? If so, who would you dream cast as Will?

Since we’re dream casting here, I’d love to go back in time and get Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin from Stranger things) into that role. Dustin is much more charming and outgoing than Will is, but the enormity of his heart, and Gaten’s understanding about what it means to have a facial abnormality (himself having grown up with a condition called cleidocranial dysplasia) would allow me to trust him with the vulnerability of seeing my own condition re-created on screen.

With Turtle Boy releasing in May, can you tell us what’s next for you? Any projects you are currently working on?

Yes — while writing the book, I became very fond of Shirah, Will’s best friend. She’s strong and kicks butt and has a lot to say. I decided to write her story. It’s still in the early drafts, but I’m excited to give Shirah her own book.

Last but not least, do you have any bookish recommendations for our readers?

I had the incredible opportunity to record my own narration for Turtle Boy with Penguin Random House Listening Library and in preparation, I devoured audiobooks, paying special attention to the narrators and their ability to make books (which are already alive) come into a kind of fourth dimension. I was blown away by Jason Reynolds’ As Brave As You — narrated by Guy Lockard. The character’s inner world is so rich and funny and touching. Also very moving is Some Day We Will Fly by Rachel DeWoskin and Narrated by Jayne Entwhistle. Jayne channels the voices of so many characters – young and old, various nationalities and ethnicities; she is a master. Lastly, I highly recommend Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman, narrated by Cathleen McCarron. Eleanor is eccentric and burdened, like Will, but Gail creates such a funny, moving story — and the narration is so good — I was sad when it was over. That is the feeling I want my readers to have: gripped in the story, connecting to the characters, and when its over, missing the people they’ve spent 400 pages with.

Thanks for having me, Nerd Daily! You can find me on Twitter and Instagram.

Will you be picking up Turtle Boy? Tell us in the comments below!