I am so excited that I had the opportunity to chat with one of my favorite YA authors, Morgan Matson, about her upcoming novel! Take Me Home Tonight is told from three different perspectives; Stevie and Kat, who are separated during their day trip to New York City with the intentions of celebrating Stevie’s birthday and seeing their drama teacher’s performance, and Teri, who remains in Connecticut to cover for her friends but ends up babysitting and at gunpoint.
We chat with Morgan about inspiration, challenges, and all things Take Me Home Tonight!
Hi Morgan! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your new novel Take Me Home Tonight?
Hi Andrea! So excited to be chatting with you! I’m the YA author of 6 books (including TMHT). I’m originally from the East Coast (NYC and a town in Connecticut that Stanwich is based on) but now live in LA with my dog Murphy.
Take Me Home Tonight is set over one-life changing night for best friends Kat and Stevie. They sneak away from the Connecticut suburbs to spend a night in NYC, but almost immediately, everything starts to go wrong. Between family drama, phone disasters, irascible cab drivers and unexpected Pomeranians, the two girls will have to learn how to navigate a night they never expected in the city that never sleeps. But by the end of the night – and over a series of misadventures – they’ll have become closer to each other – and closer to a truer version of themselves.
What sets Take Me Home Tonight apart from other young adult books?
There were a few things I wanted to do with TMHT! I wanted to explore a best friendship, and I wanted to explore that moment, late in high school, when it feels like all your choices are so fraught. Both Kat and Stevie go to a competitive high school and both have been very involved in their school’s theater program. I wanted to show a little bit of that tunnel vision that can set in when you’re a teen and so involved with a program or sport or activity. I was one myself – I was a total theater nerd in high school. So I wanted to examine both the good and the bad that can come with that.
Why did you choose to set the majority of this novel in New York City?
My last few books have all been set in the same (fictional!) suburban town in Connecticut. And I really wanted to open up the world a bit for this book. Kat and Stevie are big fish in their small town pond, and I wanted to throw them into the deep end (that metaphor kind of got away from me, huh?). I always think that a really fun way to get characters to grow is to take them way out of their comfort zone and see what happens – which is certainly the case with Kat and Stevie!
And also, I just love New York! It was so fun to get to write about it in all its glory – bad theater and swanky hotels and the world’s best hot dogs and flirting in bodegas. There’s no place like it – and no place where everything seems so possible.
What is the main message that you want readers to take away from this novel?
I feel like the main message is that it’s okay to not have everything figured out. Both Kat and Stevie are putting pressure on themselves to have their path forward all sorted. And in doing so, that they might miss out on discovering things or parts of themselves they didn’t even know about. That there’s always room for change – in a friendship, in a relationship, in a life path.
How did you choose the names for the characters in this book (I am especially curious about how you chose the name for Brad the Pomeranian)?
Choosing names for characters is one of my favorite parts of writing! Kat and Stevie’s names came really quickly – Teri’s too. I’ve always loved the name Stevie for a girl – because of Stevie Nicks, of course. I also grew up with a girl who goes by Stevie and she’s basically the coolest person ever, so I wanted to give my Stevie some of that cachet. And you find out that Stevie (her full name is Stephanie) has been named after her father, Stephen. Since a lot of what Stevie needs to work through in the book is in relation to her dad, I thought that was a nice way to highlight that.
I also don’t know if I ever say it actually, but in my mind, Kat’s middle name is Amalia. So her name is Kat Amalia Thompson, which means her initials also spell out her name, because I love it when that happens.
Brad’s name was originally Gary! I thought Gary the dog would be fun. But there’s a character named Cary in the book, and so that was too close. It needed to be a name that sounded like a human name for a bit of a misunderstanding. But Brad as a dog’s name really grew on me! If I ever get a second dog, it’s definitely on my list now.
What five songs would be on Kat and Stevie’s New York City playlist?
- Welcome to New York – Taylor Swift
- Out on the town – fun.
- Ophelia – The Lumineers
- 100 Bad Days – AJR
- New York Minute – Don Henley
Some of the characters from your other books appeared in Take Me Home Tonight. Have any of your real-life friends or family members ever made appearances in your books, whether it be as a character or their traits?
Yes! I love putting little shout-outs to my friends and family members while writing. Stevie’s dad lives in the apartment building that I grew up in in Manhattan, and the Tom Cruise-themed dry cleaner is a shoutout to my friends in my movie club.
But in terms of characters, it’s more little quirks and moments rather than basing a whole character on someone. I need the freedom to fictionalize people who make lots of mistakes!
What challenges did you face while writing Take Me Home Tonight and how did you overcome them?
The structure of the book was definitely the hardest – feeling like I knew what was happening to each girl when, how they would overlap, where their nights would take them. It took a while to get that mapped out – and then when it was done, I felt like I could really jump into the book. But I had to have that solidly done first!
What are some things that you do to cheer yourself up when you are feeling down?
I love watching a good, stupid comedy, going on a hike with a friend, playing with my dog, or chatting with a pal.
Lastly, what was the last book you read?
I just read Anna Carey’s This is Not the Jess Show and loved it!
