The Nerd Daily had the pleasure of sitting down with Vitor Martins, author of Here the Whole Time, a beautiful exploration of body image and self-love with a wonderfully diverse cast of characters. We got to ask Vitor all our questions around #ownvoices narratives, writing advice and so much more!
Hi, Vitor! Thank you for taking the time to chat with us! Why don’t you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello there! Thank you very much for having me. Since we’re about to spend some time talking about my book and my work, I think it would be fun to start off with some non-work related things: I am Brazilian and I live in São Paulo with my boyfriend and our two cats. I’m a huge Animal Crossing fan, I love everything about Spider-Man (films, games, comic books), and I’m also a huge Lego nerd.
Here the Whole Time is my debut YA novel, coming to the US this month and translated by the INCREDIBLE Larissa Helena. It’s a story about a fat gay kid named Felipe, dealing with all his body issues and his cute neighbor being a guest at his house for fifteen days.
You work as an illustrator and book marketer. How do you manage to juggle these jobs with writing? Any tips for people who want to become an author but struggle to find the time?
Well, I don’t know how it is in the US, but here in Brazil it is very hard to write fiction for a living. I have my day job at the office, my illustration commissions, and the writing happens whenever I have time. One thing that really helped me to get stuff done was to let go of that whole “writing mood” ideal. Sure, it’s great to write in the mornings with a fresh cup of coffee and a calm playlist but, sometimes, I’ll have to write on my way back home, during my lunch break, or in bed while fighting my urge to scroll through Twitter until I fall asleep. I consciously put effort into finding that “free time” because just waiting for the right moment or for the inspiration to hit does not work anymore. A very useful tip is to optimize your time and think about your story and plot points and characters when you’re not actually writing so, when you finally sit at your desk the ideas will be elaborated inside your head and you’ll spend a little less time staring at the blank page and thinking about what you are going to do next. Writing is a full time job even when you’re not writing. Make the most out of it!
The pandemic has of course impacted all of us. How have you been coping with the situation? Has writing helped you or has it been a struggle?
The struggle is REAL. At the beginning of 2020, when I had dreams and hopes, I was writing a rom-com about two gay boys fake dating and dealing with the pressure of starting a new job. It was a fun story, full of high energy. When the pandemic started to get serious here in Brazil (mid-March), I just couldn’t find the energy needed to write. It felt so unreal to create happy characters doing happy things when my own headspace was so messy and worried all the time. My own concerns were always in the way and, as I said in the previous question, the time I used to spend thinking about how to set up my scenes was being consumed by the horrible news spreading all across the world. Being in lockdown made me start to see my own house with different eyes and I decided to try something new and let the happy and fun characters rest in my WIP folder for a while. Right now, while I answer this interview, things are a little bit better. Not the ideal. Not “normal”. I think we’ll never see the world as it was, to be honest. But it’s getting easier to get used to this and I’ve been doing my best to keep writing.
Now onto Here the Whole Time. What can readers expect from this story?
Readers can expect a very fun and cute love story. I seriously had so much fun while writing it because the whole book basically happens inside one apartment and Felipe’s inner monologues. It’s a great read for people into Friends to Strangers to Lovers, awkward interactions, cool moms, characters with controversy yet brave opinions, and queer teens trying to figure life out.
Talk us through the process of writing Here the Whole Time. How long did it take you to write the book? What was the hardest, or most rewarding experience of watching this story be published (and now translated into English)?
Even though HERE THE WHOLE TIME is a short book, it took me almost a year to put everything together. It started as a short story that I decided, alongside with my Brazilian publisher, to turn into a novel. I was 26, unemployed, and questioning all of my life choices. The first step—actually sit down and write—was hard, but the more I crafted the way Felipe sees the world, the more I felt like I was going in the right direction. Being able to hear the feedback from readers will always be my favorite and most rewarding part of all this. Knowing that something you wrote all by yourself in your room had a positive impact on someone’s life is something that changes us, in a certain way. In HERE THE WHOLE TIME I talk about a lot of issues and body image insecurities that, when I was drafting it, felt so personal. It was hard to believe that another person could read that and feel the same way. And right now I am very excited, and a little bit terrified, about the English version. Felipe’s story is heading to a whole new group of readers, and I hope they enjoy the experience!
I loved your exploration of body image and societal norms in Here the Whole Time. Of course you explore this through Felipe but I also appreciated that, once Caio’s friend group appeared in the book, you tackled body positivity and body dysmorphia through Caio’s best friend’s girlfriend, which illustrated that body dysmorphia can affect literally anyone. Can you talk a bit about your writing process and what you want readers to take away from Felipe’s journey toward self-acceptance and self-love?
A lot of the body positive discussion talks about how you don’t need external validation to feel beautiful, to be beautiful. But for a lot of us, especially teens, this is such a hard place to get to. It’s hard to get to self-love. Sometimes, even when we are at this level, it’s not something that we can take for granted. It’s a daily battle with the media beauty standards, with the next social media trend, with ourselves… Talking about these topics from the point of view of a seventeen-year-old gay boy was very challenging and putting him in this mature headspace needed to feel genuine. That’s why he needs all the support and encouragement from other characters. Felipe is a very observing guy and he learns a lot during those fifteen days. Melissa is a character I decided to create to add another level of learning. I didn’t want, in any circumstances, to demonize thin people and to make them the “bad guys” in this story. I wanted to talk about how everyone can struggle with their body image even though the society will treat fat and thin people differently. As I said, it’s only fifteen days. Felipe will not have the Ultimate Answers to all his problems—to be honest, no one has those. He’s not about to switch a button and start loving his whole body. But this book represents a first step into that journey and this is what I hope readers can take from it: your progress is valid, your body is worthy of love, and you are beautiful. But if you don’t believe in this right now, you can always try again tomorrow. One day at a time.
I just have to talk about Felipe’s mother for a second because she was such a supportive angel. Her and Felipe’s relationship reminded me a lot of the Gilmore Girls. Where did you draw inspiration for her character and their special bond from?
I love her so much!!!!! While writing the book I was always thinking about ways to put Rita in a scene to say something fun and cleaver and then leave. Most of the inspiration came from my own relationship with my mom. My parents are divorced and my older sister got married when I was still very young, so during my teenage years it was only me and my mom. One of my favorite artists ever, Adam J. Kurtz, once said: It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, but a good amount of it actually is. That’s my relationship with my mom. And to create Felipe’s mom, I took all the good parts and put it into the one relationship I wish I had and I hope teens these days can have. We are used to seeing these kinds of dynamics with mom and daughter narratives like, as you said, Gilmore Girls or, my biggest inspiration for this book, Mia and her mom from The Princess Diaries. But the mom and gay son often have so much in common with this that I simply just had to do it for Felipe. I needed to give him a safe and healthy home, an open and honest bond, and a very cool mom.
Felipe has my whole heart. He is such a shy and introverted boy but beyond that exterior is a sensitive, funny and kind boy that deserves the world. Where do you see Felipe after the book has ended? What’s he up to? How is he doing?
Sooooo… In 2018 I published my second novel here in Brazil, Um milhão de finais felizes—A Million Happy Endings in a very literal translation—and decided to put a very quick Felipe and Caio cameo in this because I just needed to give the readers, and mostly myself, a little glimpse of where they are now. Sometimes I catch myself thinking about stupid stuff like “What would be his favorite Chromatica songs?” or “What would he think about Robert Pattinson as Batman?” But, when the book ended, Felipe was headed to a very happy moment in his life, and I hope he’s making the most of it.
After some very light twitter stalking, I saw your Harry Styles header (and might have grinned like a Cheshire Cat). If you had to describe the main characters (Felipe, his mom and Caio) with one Harry Styles song each, which ones would you choose?
OMG I put so much effort into this answer!!!!! Here we go:
For starters, Harry Styles has a very special place in my heart and in this book, specially. Here the Whole Time came out in Brazil in June 2017. Harry Styles first solo album came out the month before. So most of my memories of my first signing events and book panels as a published author have this album as a soundtrack. He’s a really important artist for me and I am very DELIGHTED with this question.
For Felipe it is DEFINITELY Treat People With Kindness.
This is the sweetest Harry Styles song, with an optimistic message and a chorus that is impossible to sing
without smiling. But for me the “Giving second chances / I don’t need all the answers / Feeling good in my skin / I just keep on dancing” part makes me think about how Felipe can relate to that.
For Caio I choose Sunflower vol. 6.
This is such a tender song about how we can find love and see beauty in the small things. It’s a very intimate and awkward love story—the way Harry mentions dancing in the kitchen and a mouth full of toothpaste makes me feel like this is all happening inside Felipe’s apartment.
For Rita, Felipe’s mom, I choose Sweet Creature
This sounds and feels like a romantic song, but it’s also a song about protecting someone you love very much. Someone that makes you feel safe, like home. And Rita is a very caring and thoughtful person, doing her best to be a supportive parent for Felipe and always worried if Caio is feeling welcomed. She’s is, in fact, a sweet creature.
(Lmao at the fact that THIS is the longest answer in this whole interview please don’t judge me!!!!!)
Since NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is still going strong, can you tell us the best and the worst writing advice you’ve ever been given? And, if you want to, give our readers a bit of advice or encouragement yourself!
Best advice: We all have a lot of bad writing inside of us and we need to get it out to make room for the good writing. It’s okay to not love everything you write at first. To be honest it is quite normal. There is no great book that started with a great first draft so just write now and edit later.
Worst advice: “Write what you know.” This is kinda tricky though because writing what we know is what makes good #ownvoices stories, but writing only what we know puts us inside a dangerous comfort zone. Talk to people, observe the world, read about different experiences and then, write what you learned.
NaNoWriMo can look frightening at first sight. It’s a huge challenge if writing is not something that is already in your routine. But, at the end of the day, this is just an internet challenge and it has the importance that you give to it. I am a terrible person to talk about this because I am extremely competitive and obsessed with winning!!!! But in things like NaNo—this may sound cheesy—you are already a winner for trying. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself. Don’t let your productivity determine your worth. Make pauses. Stretch your back. Drink some water. And go back to writing.
With Here the Whole Time just released in English, are you working on any other projects at the moment? If so, can you share a tiny sneak peek with us?
Yes!!! I am getting close to the end of the first draft of my third YA novel. It’s something different from everything I’ve done so far. It has three main characters, one unique and fun narrator, and it takes place in the same house during three different years. It’s too soon to say anything more about this WIP, but I am very excited about it!
Last but not least, do you have any bookish recommendations for us?
I’ll always recommend Where We Go From Here, by Lucas Rocha, also a Brazilian author published in translation by Scholastic this year. It’s a great book with very remarkable characters, a fun plot, and lots and lots of information about the stigma of HIV. Lucas did a great job on this one.
In my 2020 favorite books list you’ll also find Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo; The Fell of Dark by Caleb Roehrig; Camp by L.C. Rosen; and How it All Blew Up by Arvin Ahmadi.
