NARC (Synopsis from Goodreads)
Seventeen-year-old stoner Aaron Foster was offered a choice: go to jail or turn undercover narc to find the dealer who's funneling drugs into Miami's Palm Hammock High School. But Aaron has never been good at getting close to people. He's human wallpaper, a stoner wastecase who's obsessed with video games and street magic.
With a cop from Narcotics breathing down his neck, Aaron gets himself invited to parties where the deals go down. To get close to the school's biggest players, Aaron lies to everyone--most of all, the cute but troubled Morgan Baskin. With the Everglades party on Halloween night--and a planned drug bust there--just days away, Aaron realizes that he's falling hard for Morgan . . . and trying to protect her could cost him everything.
Crissa's answers to my questions are below:
What made you decide to pursue writing, and where do you draw
inspiration for your stories?
When
I was little, I used to steal my dad’s pen out of his pocket. I’d try to “draw”
the story on notebook paper (stapled backwards to make a “book”). Today I still
begin every new story with doodles. As I sketch, I think about the characters
and listen to their voices.
Inspiration
strikes in unlikely places: riding my bike and finding a Santeria statue in the
woods, the old hermit’s chimney that sunk into Biscayne Bay, the suburban house
with an air boat rusting in the backyard. Miami is filled with ghosts and
secrets.
Great idea for character development--I'd try that too if I could draw!
NARC
has a very unique premise--where the idea for the book come from and what do
you want readers to take away when they're finished reading it?
Growing
up in South Florida, I heard stories about narcs planted in schools. I was
drawn to the idea of double identities. However, in my book, the main character
is not an undercover cop. He’s just Aaron Foster, “human wallpaper,” a
seventeen-year-old boy who has always been on the fringe of the social scene.
Now he’s in his senior year of high school. He is given a chance to fit in (by
faking his way into parties and pretending to be more extroverted). He grows to
like this new persona. Unfortunately, it comes with a price.
School
often feels like a battleground. Aaron believes that everybody is wearing a
mask. As he grows closer to Morgan and Skully, he learns that the popular girls
are sometimes the loneliest of all.
I love how Aaron's character develops--a great way to show the dangers of assumptions and stereotypes.
You
wrote a chapter in DEAR BULLY (2011, HarperTeen). What do you want others
to learn from your bullying experience? Did it influence your writing
in any way?
I
felt a lot like Aaron, the shy kid who hid in the library. My way of coping was
to look inward for answers. I spent a lot of time observing people and
scribbling notes in class. I promised myself that I would write about these
experiences…and I did. It’s all about finding a way to shield yourself from the
noise. For me, the escape was in writing.
What a great way to describe the microcosm of high school: noise. I'm sure your teenage readers feel the same way!
What
other projects are you currently working on?
Right now I’m working on more YA novels set in
Florida. I’m often disappointed by the way my city is represented in movies and
TV. It usually looks nothing like the place where I climbed banyan trees and
hid from wild boars. I want to keep telling stories about kids who are on the
outside. They’re the ones launching firecrackers on the rooftop, just waiting
for somebody to listen.
For more information about Crissa and her books, go to www.crissajeanchappell.com
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