The Vent with Kevin Christopher Snipes and DON'T LET ME GO
In Which the Author Explores Standing Up for Yourself and Standing Behind Your Work
You are in for such a treat with this Vent, author-passengers, as Kevin Christopher Snipes details the process of publishing his newest YA novel, DON’T LET ME GO (which releases today!). I so appreciate Kevin’s honesty here and his example on how to stand up for what we know is right for our book. Let’s dive in!
Jason June (JJ): When you started your writing journey, what was the biggest frustration you encountered as you tried to find an agent and/or went on sub to editors for the first time that you wish you could have vented about?
Kevin Christopher Snipes (KCS): I was exceptionally lucky in both of these regards. The second agent who read my very first book immediately offered to represent me, and not long after, she was able to sell that book to one of the Big 5 in publishing. And yet—the ALWAYS a “yet”—both of these great moments in my career almost didn’t happen. And that’s because of the interaction I had with the first agent to read my work.
To give a little context about myself, my background is in the theater. While I loved reading YA novels, I never thought I’d sit down and write one. That is, until I did. But even then, I had no idea if what I’d written was any good or if anyone else would want to read it. Because of my connections in the entertainment world, I sort of knew a literary agent at one of the big agencies. I sent the book to this agent, letting her know this was my first attempt at writing fiction and asking her if she thought I might be on to something. Her answer was a resounding no.
According to this agent, the book was a mess, it required too much work to fix, and she didn’t think I showed enough talent as a writer to take me on as a client. It was quite a damning assessment. But at the time, I believed every word she said. Why wouldn’t I? I was totally new to the world of fiction writing, and this experienced agent was an expert. I told myself that I’d greatly overestimated my talents and written something that I might enjoy but that no one else would. And since I didn’t want to embarrass myself any further, I decided that I wouldn’t send the book to any other agents and certainly not to any other publishers. I figured that my background was the theater, and that’s where I was meant to stay.
Luckily, at the same time that I’d shared my book with that agent, I’d also shared it with a writer-friend, who liked it enough to pass it along to his agent. This agent’s reaction to my book was quite different from the first. One of the first things this second agent said to me was, “I can sell this book in two months.” And she did. Now I’m a published author with two books under my belt, one of which is currently being translated into German so that readers in another continent can enjoy it. And none of that would’ve happened if I’d listened to that first agent.
Now to clarify, I don’t think that first agent was wrong to reject my book. Taste is subjective, and my work isn’t for everyone. But I’ve met so many writers who have had similar experiences of being told by someone in a position of power that their work is “unpublishable” only to have that work eventually find a publisher and an audience that adores it. In fact, this is such a common story among writers that I’m surprised and dismayed it keeps happening to us. Maybe someday agents (as well as editors and reviewers) will remember that just because they don’t like something, that doesn’t make it completely worthless. We all need to recognize that just because something isn’t for us, that doesn’t mean it isn’t for someone else. Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinions, but everyone is also entitled to their dreams, and the former should never come at the expense of the latter.
JJ: How about after you got your first book deal and continued on to publish multiple books? How did your frustrations (if you had any) change, and what would you have vented about or did vent about to author friends?
KCS: I’ve often heard authors say that writing their second book was so much harder than their first, and I would totally agree with that sentiment. Just coming to an agreement with my editor about what my second book should be took months and nearly drove me frantic. Part of the problem was that I didn’t know what I wanted to write because my artistic fuel tank was empty. And even though my editor was very patient and understanding, I still felt tremendous pressure to deliver another book as soon as possible.
This resulted in me pitching an idea that I only half-heartedly liked about a boy stuck in a time loop. Think gay Groundhog Day. My editor liked the idea, so I got approval to start writing, but after three months of staring at my laptop, I had nothing to show for it. I realized that I needed to pivot to an idea that I was actually passionate about, and my editor agreed. The next idea I pitched was a queer adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. I love the work of Jane Austen and was genuinely excited about reworking her classic for the 21st Century. Unfortunately, my editor was not passionate about this idea, and I was forced to set it aside. There were a couple of other pitches after that, but I seemed to be stuck in a sort of publishing Catch-22. Any idea that I was passionate about, my editor disliked. And any idea that she was willing to approve, I couldn’t muster the passion to write.
Eventually I hit upon the idea for Don’t Let Me Go, and after much persuading, my editor agreed that it should be my second book. Though to this day, I’m still not sure if she agreed to that because she genuinely thought it was the best of all my ideas or if I simply wore her down. Either way, I’m incredibly happy that Don’t Let Me Go is my follow-up to Milo and Marcos at the End of the World. So perhaps all that frustration and all those months of worrying if I’d ever write again were worth it.
JJ: Tell us about your latest book! And (I bet you know where this is going) what’s the biggest vent you’ve got about the process of creating this novel?
KCS: Don’t Let Me Go is an epic queer love story that follows two boys who are trapped in a cycle of reincarnation that spans two-thousand years and five countries. I’ve absolutely loved writing this book, mainly because it gave me the chance to explore the struggles of queer teens and to show the resilience of queer love from a sweeping historical perspective.
Now, given that this is a love story that spans several centuries, it made sense to me while drafting the book that at some point in their millennium-spanning relationship, the main couple might have sex. Maybe even more than once. Yet when I put a couple of sex scenes into the book, the amount of pushback that I received from my editor really took me by surprise. To clarify, the sex scenes I’m talking about are primarily PG-13 moments where two people fall into bed while kissing and taking off their clothes while the metaphorical camera fades to black. Yet my editor responded as if I’d written Fifty Shades of Grey and was quite insistent about cutting these scenes.
Even more baffling was the reason she gave, which is that there are NO sex scenes in YA. This is verifiably untrue, and anyone who regularly reads YA knows this. Yet my editor repeated this statement with such authority and relentlessness that at one point I started to wonder if she was right and if I was crazy. Thankfully, I happened to be reading a YA novel at the time that contained one of the longest and most explicit sex scenes that I’d ever come across, and this reality check gave me the courage to ignore my editor’s gaslighting and sex-shaming and to write a book that I feel more authentically explores the queer experience.
JJ: Any words of wisdom you have for writers whether they are at the beginning of their journey or multi-published?
KCS: I’ve rambled on quite a lot already, so I’ll keep this last answer short. To quote Deirdre O’Connell when she won the Tony Award for her performance in Dana H on Broadway, “Make the weird art.” We’re currently living in a dangerously conservative time when blind conformity and weaponized ignorance is being rewarded, so it’s incredibly important that we use our voices and our stories to push the boundaries of what is possible in life, art, and politics.
JJ: Thanks so much for joining us aboard the Ventorship, Kevin! Author-passengers, read below for more info about Kevin and DON’T LET ME GO!
About DON’T LET ME GO
Out and proud, Riley Iverson knows there’s nothing more cringe than crushing on a straight boy. But from the moment that Jackson Haines walks into his life, Riley can’t help but feel an undeniable connection. Mainly because Jackson is the spitting image of the boy who’s recently appeared in Riley’s dreams—dreams set in another time and another place where he and Jackson are desperately in love. At first Riley tries to dismiss the coincidence, but as his friendship with Jackson deepens into something more, the dreams prove harder to ignore. Especially as the dreams always end in the boys’ deaths.
As it becomes increasingly difficult to view their dreams as anything but warnings, Jackson and Riley are forced to consider the possibility that their burgeoning relationship might be propelling them headfirst into their own tragic ending. But is it worth staying apart to save their lives if the price is forsaking a love that has defied not only time and space but even death itself?
About Kevin Christopher Snipes
Kevin Christopher Snipes is a New York based multidisciplinary writer who spent his early career in the theater writing such plays as A Bitter Taste and The Chimes. Later, for Gimlet Media/Spotify, he created the queer fantasy podcast The Two Princes, which The Guardian named one of the Best Dramatic Podcasts of 2019. His poems and short stories have been published internationally, and his debut novel Milo and Marcos at the End of the World was an official selection of the NEA’s 2022-23 Read Across America program.
Website: www.kevinchristophersnipes.com
Authors, the Ventorship is looking for traditionally published writers to be featured with their latest book release in a future edition of The Vent! Email me at heyjasonjune@gmail.com with the subject: THE VENT to let me know you’re interested. All you’ll need to be featured are answers to the same four questions asked above, as well as an author bio, cover image, and book description.
If you’d like to vent about anything author/writing related, write to me at heyjasonjune@gmail.com with the subject: VENTORSHIP. I’ll give you my take in a post, and we’ll crowdsource author opinions in the comments. You’ll remain anonymous, and any haters will be thrown overboard. Ultimately, I think you’re going to be buoyed up by author love and support as we realize we really are all in the same boat 🛳️
NO SEX SCENES IN YA JFC READ A BOOK. Signed, someone who published a queer YA with a graphic sex scene in 2015 and was absolutely not the first. This killllls me.