The Nerd Daily recently sat down with Tobias Madden, debut author of the upcoming YA contemporary Anything But Fine, a coming of age story about Luca Mason who loses his dreams of becoming a professional ballet dancer when he injures his foot. We got to ask Tobias all about his debut novel, favourite scenes and how to tackle tough topics in writing!
Anything But Fine releases on August 31st 2021 in Australia (pre-order here) and on January 25th 2022 in the US (pre-order here).
Hi, Tobias! Thanks for chatting with us! Tell our readers a bit about yourself!
Hello! Thanks so much for having me. Well, I currently live in Sydney with my husband, Daniel (who is performing in the Australian production of Hamilton) and our gorgeous Cavoodle, Ollie. I’m originally from a country town called Ballarat, which is where the story of Anything But Fine takes place. I studied music theatre at university, and spent about 10 years performing professionally in musicals around Australia and New Zealand, like CATS and Mary Poppins. I now work full time in publishing, and spend basically every minute of my spare time writing!
Lightning round: What’s the first book you can remember reading, one that left you speechless and one you wish you’d written?
The first book I can remember reading (not including picture books) was called Evie’s Magic Lamp. I ordered it from my school’s Scholastic catalogue, and I can’t remember anything about it except that it was about a magic lamp (surprise, surprise) and that it had super cute Roald Dahl-esque illustrations.
A book that left me speechless was All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. It also left me with tears streaming down my face on the train to work, so that was fun. It was just so honest and heartbreaking and, quite literally, breathtaking.
A book I wish I’d written is Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. It is one of my all-time favourite books, and it is mind-blowingly clever. I distinctly remember turning the last page and just staring off into the distance for a while, shaking my head at how utterly brilliant it is.
Now onto Anything but Fine! What can readers expect?
Readers can expect a hopeful and heartwarming story about what happens when your dreams don’t come true. If you love dance, complex friendships, present parents, swoonworthy romance, and authentic queer stories, I think you’ll enjoy Anything But Fine!
Luca is a ballet dancer who loses out on fulfilling his dancing dreams. You’ve worked as a performer for years and toured with some amazing musicals! What inspired you to write Luca’s story?
I wrote a short story for an anthology a few years ago that was set in the ballet world, and I had so much fun working on it that I decided to write a full length novel about a young dancer. The first line popped into my head fully formed (‘The second it happens, I know my life is over’) and the rest of the story fell into place around it. It wasn’t until I was pitching to publishers that I realised the process of writing the book had actually helped me deal with the end of my own career as a dancer. Our identities as dancers can often be wrapped up almost entirely in our vocation, and writing Anything But Fine really allowed me process my own loss, even though my situation was very different to Luca’s, and even though I had no idea it was helping me at the time!
I love how the story focused on what it means to be young and having all these dreams and aspirations and ultimately reaffirms that even if one dream doesn’t pan out, it doesn’t mean there won’t be great things heading your way in the future. What would you tell your sixteen-year-old self if you had the chance to give him some advice?
Haha I would tell sixteen-year-old me SO MANY things. But I would definitely tell him that the parts of himself that he tries to hide are the parts people will love about him most in years to come.
Anything But Fine deals with some serious topics like grief and navigating being out in public while you’re in high school, yet the story feels so approachable and upbeat because of Luca’s narrative voice. Were there scenes that were difficult for you to get right? If so, how did you approach those?
Honestly, the more serious scenes were probably the easiest for me to write. They came from a very personal place—drawing on my own experiences—so it took a great deal of vulnerability to put the words on the page, but I think that’s where all my training and work as an actor really came in handy. We’re used to wearing out hearts on our sleeves!
And speaking of memorable scenes, I have a few favourites, especially those between Luca and Amina (friendship goals!). What were your favourite scenes to write?
I’m so glad you liked the scenes with Luca and Amina—I had a lot of fun with those! My favourite scenes to write were the ones that involved some kind of confrontation or argument (possibly because I avoid confrontation in my own life at all costs haha). I also LOVED writing the scene where Luca meets Jordan in the occupational therapy waiting room. It makes me cringe in the best possible way haha.
My favourite parts of Anything But Fine were the relationships we get to explore. Luca has such a strong support system in his dad and Amina and even his interactions with Jordan were so emotional. Do you have any tips for fellow writers on how to nail characters’ bonds?
I think if you are very clear on who your characters are and what motivates them, the relationships will write themselves. Sometimes we try to bend a character’s will in a way that works for us as the writer, but I think that always ends up being super obvious to the reader and ruins the authenticity and emotion of a scene. In all the characters’ interactions with each other, you should be able to ask yourself, ‘Would they realistically do/say that in this moment?’ and if the answer is no, if you know—deep down—that you’re just making things easy for yourself, then you might need to rethink the scene.
With Anything But Fine releasing soon, are you already working on another project? If so, can you share a tidbit about it with us?
I am! I’m working on another queer contemporary YA novel, which has been so much fun to write. I can’t say much, but I can tell you that it combines my two greatest loves as a teenager: computer games and community theatre.
Last but not least, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
Way too many to list here, but some things I’ve read recently and LOVED are Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli, House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland, and the audiobook of Becoming by Michelle Obama.
