Interview with Author Debbie Rigaud

 

Welcome Back, Booklovers!

I'm back with another interview as a part of my author interview series. She's been around for awhile now having written for some notable magazines. Or if like me you were reading YA contemporary romance during the early 2000s you may have come across her debut.  Or maybe you're just hearing about her with her recent YA and MG books. You definitely want to keep Debbie Rigaud on your radar though.

What inspired you to become a writer? And what was the experience like writing for magazines like CosmoGirl!(a throwback), Seventeen, Essence, etc? 

 I’ve been writing for as far back as I can remember. It’s always been my impulse. In grammar school, I wrote laughably bad poetry about my friends. And I filled journal after journal, documenting my life. It felt like the most natural thing to do—to the point where I didn’t think of writing as a career. But when I got to my first magazine job, I felt like a lousy writer. Magazine writing allows for personal expression, but you have to still adhere to the brand voice. And for a while, I just couldn’t get that brand voice. My first drafts returned from my editor blood red. It wasn’t until I was assigned a first-person piece (from my POV) that I got to show what stuff my writing is made of. I think I just had been overthinking it, focusing on how different I was from my colleagues, feeling out of my comfort zone in a majority white space. It was hard to break through the cycle of those I’m-so-different thoughts.

Now, I recognize a big part of brand voice is a shared worldview. I also understand that back then, I was having trouble connecting to the particular worldview that bred that particular brand voice. Ironically, today, the first thing editors appreciate about my writing is the voice. That’s because now the brand is me and folks like me. Now the worldview I write from is my own and my community’s worldview. And even though I may not always love my first drafts, I am so much more confident in them.

It’s worth investigating our insecurities on a macro level as well as the usual micro level. That way we won’t be so hard on ourselves.

 

We’re seeing more Black books in mainstream YA now. What was your experience like when you were debuting your standalone novel Perfect Shot? For those who don’t know it was part of the popular Simon Romantic comedies series.

 

Yes, many people aren’t aware that I am not a debut author. Although, my time away from publishing stretched so long, I feel like I’m starting over again. When you told me you enjoyed PERFECT SHOT back in the day, I was delighted you knew about it. Yes, the climate was different when that book came out. I was the first Black author to publish in the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies series. And PERFECT SHOT was the first of the series to feature a Black protagonist. I was very proud to bring London Abrams, a Black sporty girl character to the cannon, and I felt embraced by the SPRC author community. But the experience followed a pattern that’s played out in my life. I thought back to my teens when I worked at a local women’s clothing store. One customer there complained that all the cashiers (who worked side by side on a tall, lighted, elevated platform) were white. In anger, my manager marched out to the floor—where all the Black and Brown girls worked—pointed right at me and barked, “Debbie, you’re on register!” I’m a smiley, friendly people-person so I was his safe choice. Maybe he thought I’d be the stereotypical whitewashed token. LOL. But you only have to spend time with me to know I love my people deeply and I roll deep spiritually. Whatever I do reflects that, and hopefully my people especially benefit from the elevated platforms I reach in my career.

 

Truly Madly Royally was very much inspired by Meghan and Harry’s relationship. What made you decide to write that story?

 

The curiosity and excitement surrounding Meghan and Harry’s engagement, and around the idea of a Brown princess was too good to pass up. From Black Twitter to Joy Ann Reid’s podcast, the aunties and sister-friends were buzzing about this royal romance, and I couldn’t get enough of everyone’s reaction posts. Happily, Aimee Friedman at Scholastic POINT loved my teaser of the inspired-by story I dreamed up, and she invited me to tell Zora and Owen’s story in full.

How would Zora and Owen deal with the current pandemic?

 

Without a doubt, Zora would be making sure the kids in her Walk Me Home program had everything they needed during quarantine. She’d probably be delivering meals and offering socially distant tutoring somewhere outdoors. Owen would be using this time to write short stories as well as to grow into his new student reporter role. Of course, Owen and Zora would be on marathon video chats. And I just know Owen would do a drive by in a Men-in-Black-chauffered car, just to give Zora flowers or deliver her favorite ice cream. 😊

 

Does your Haitian heritage often influence your writing?

 

It does if you consider the steady diet of oral storytelling I grew up consuming. My family are a lively bunch, and when they tell stories, they tell it with their entire bodies. From my grandparents to my aunties and uncles, everyone is quick-witted like you wouldn’t believe. Humor plays a huge part of their stories and their survival, and so my writing reflects that. Aside from the personal anecdotes, there are all these mythological and folkloric tales—so much magical realism, spiritual lore. And they spark so many of my ideas!

 

You also lived in Bermuda for a while. What was that like?

 

Yes! My husband got a job out there right after our wedding. Bermuda is gorgeous, pristine, welcoming. Bermudians are a proud people, and I was fascinated by their history and their heritage. Look up the gombeys to see a traditional dance that the island celebrates every chance they get. Of course, while we were living there, we had so many houseguests from home. Family, friends and even acquaintances came to visit “us.” Lol! I still can’t believe I used to live walking distance from a powdery, pink-sand beach and turquoise waters. Thinking of my time there reminds me of the lyrics to that Mary J Blige song, “You Are My Everything”—"You take me away from the pain/And you bring me paradise.” I lost my mom and grandparents and my soulmate of a godmother within the year I got married and moved to Bermuda.

 

You also co-write the Hope series with Alyssa Milano. What has that been like?

 

It’s been amazing. I love getting to work with a dedicated activist like Alyssa on a series centering a big-hearted, compassionate, smart character like Hope. Through Hope’s adventures, young readers can learn about how interconnected we are as citizens, and about our need to actively care about each other, our communities and of course the planet. I love that Hope isn’t perfect—she’s impulsive, makes mistakes, and she has a lot of fumbles. But she leans on her family and friends to untie the knots she gets herself into. In the back pages, we offer resources and tips. The next HOPE book releases October, and in it Hope runs for class president.

What is your writing process like?

 

I’m a mix of a pantser and a planner. I write a brief synopsis for the book, from beginning to end. The entire synopsis is about five to eight pages. I used to also write a chapter outline, offering a short (two to three sentence) summary for each chapter. But lately, my synopsis has been so detailed, I just use that as an outline. I also refer to notes I’ve written up about the character or the A and B plots. These are notes I jot down whenever inspiration strikes. They are usually notes that help me color the character’s personalities. Also, I write in bursts. I can’t write zero words for days straight and 2,000 words another day. I can’t say I’m one of those authors who writes daily and diligently. I’ve tried, and maybe I’ll keep attempting to be that writer. But for now, this is what I’m working with.

 

 

Who are some of your favorite Black writers?

 

Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of Middle Grade. Nnedi Okorafor, Jewell Parker Rhodes, Rita Williams Garcia and Christopher Paul Curtis. Now that I think of it, a lot of that those reads have been historical fiction. And it just so happens, Varian Johnson—another awesome MG author—wrote a great piece in the NYTimes about historical fiction that doesn’t center on Black pain, but uplifts even as it teaches hard truths about the brutalities in our history. I certainly felt uplifted reading these stories. I’m a big fan of Christopher Paul Curtis because he uses humor in the way I love.

 

What books have been your favorite 2020 reads so far?

 

In 2020, I’ve been reading lots of 2019 reads I needed to catch up on. My TBR list is so long because there’s so much amazingness out there. But for 2020, I’m bursting with pride for Leah Johnson’s YOU SHOULD SEE ME IN A CROWN and the YA response in this election year comes in the forms of RUNNING by Natalia Sylvester (great read!!) and Brandy Colbert’s VOTING BOOTH (my next read!). RAYBEARER by Jordan Ifueko is what’s in front of me now. As far as awesome MG releases this year, I loved KEEP IT TOGETHER KEIKO CARTER by Debbi Michiko Florence, GHOST SQUAD by Caribel Ortega, and FROM THE DESK OF ZOE WASHINGTON by Janae Marks.  

 

Are you able to talk about any upcoming projects?

Yes, I’m excited to shout about my upcoming YA rom-com, SIMONE BREAKS ALL THE RULES. I comp it as “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” for prom, but it’s getting lots of comparison to the Netflix series “Never Have I Ever,” which I love. It’s loosely based on my upbringing as an overprotected teen, and there is humor and cultural pride and cringe moments, plus a slow burn romance with a dreamy boy. I hope everyone loves meeting sheltered Simone as she and her similarly-screwed friends set out to create a senior bucket list as a way to win back independence from their families. It comes out summer 2021, and please look out for the cover reveal, because it is everythannnnnggg!!! It’s really wild that we have to be this excited every time a publisher is willing to put a dark-skinned girl’s image on a cover. But hopefully, with enough of these images on shelves every season finding a supportive general audience, it won’t be as unusual. 😊

Follow Debbie on Twitter @debbierigaud and purchase her books for the pre-teens and teens in your life.