Author Q&A about

From the Nightly Shore

Give a brief description of your book, From the Nightly Shore.

On one side, it’s a contemporary story as Corbin White deals with the daily battles of living up to his father’s expectations and his struggles to make and keep friends. But on the other side, it’s this darker, paranormal story where he and his friends must hide their supernatural powers and survive attacks from the shadowy beings no one else can see. But there’s no wise mentor or secret organization to train them. All they have is each other and their own experience. So, at the story’s core, you have this sixteen-year-old boy who finally opens himself up to making friends only to have them betray him. Then, when he discovers he’s the only one who can save them from what’s coming, it would surprise you what he chooses to do about it.

What made you want to become a writer?

Well, believe it or not, I grew up loving stories but hating to read. That changed when I was about 8 or 9 when my older sister tricked me into reading a book on my own. I just couldn’t put books down after that. That’s when I first decided I wanted to be a writer. 

Is this book part of a series?

Yes, although, I did write From the Nightly Shore so that it can stand on its own. It has a strong conclusion and no cliffhangers, which drive me crazy. I have three more books planned in the White Raven Chronicles but I have some other novellas and short story collections planned to go with it as well. So, there are more challenges and adventures for Corbin and his friends still to come.

You wrote From the Nightly Shore in the form of a journal. Can you tell us more about this choice?

When I first read Dracula, I loved the idea of how it was a collection of journal entries, newspaper clippings, letters, and recordings that implied the story actually happened. But, believe it or not, I also have to give some credit to The Princess Diaries as well. The book was hilarious and had a great narrative voice, like a friend telling you about their day. That was something I wanted in my book, to give the reader a more human connection to the story but still tell a supernatural story that feels like it could’ve actually happened.

The supernatural world of From the Nightly Shore adds much to the texture of the story. Can you tell us about how you developed your magical setting?

Many contemporary fantasy stories have a hidden magical world with various explanations for why regular people can’t see or interact with the magic. I wanted to do a different take on the same idea and have a magical world that barely overlapped the real one, something close enough that it might actually exist. I also wanted it to have this contrast between the vibrance and darkness in the magical world, so I drew inspiration from things like auras, chi, leylines as well as night terrors, shadow people, and psychic vampires. What I didn’t want was a lot of explosions and collateral damage in the real-world side of things. When the magic does interact with the real world the characters have to live with the consequences.

The theme of friendship is strong in your book. What about that idea moved you?

I always had difficulty finding friends while growing up. It’s pretty hard to find a good friend that you really connect with and trust. I know a lot of people struggle with it too. Of course, when you do have friends you also have to deal with losing friends. One friend dates another friend and they break up and demand you choose a side. Friends move away. Friends turn on you or break your trust. Sometimes they just weren’t very good friends to begin with. And, sadly, sometimes friends die. But it can also be amazing when you really connect with someone. It’s a great theme to explore and is very relatable. Not everyone finds love in this life but I hope everyone can at least find a friend. There was a time in my life when the only friends I had were my books, and as hard as that was, they were enough to get me through. I hope my book will be enough to help other kids, too.

What was the most challenging part of writing this book?

Getting Corbin’s voice right was probably the most challenging part overall. But I’d also have to say that the first few chapters were the hardest for me to get right. Not so much what happens in those chapters but balancing the pace so it didn’t take too long for things to start happening but also not so fast to develop Corbin enough in the beginning. Another challenge was getting the journal format just right. When Corbin sits down to write, he already knows what happened, so he writes in the past tense, but he’s also processing those events as he writes so he’ll also switch to the present tense as he’s writing his current thoughts. I also needed to write enough description to take you into a scene and feel like it’s happening right now but still write it in a way that Corbin would write after it happened. So it definitely wasn’t a simple undertaking but I feel like I finally found the right balance.

What drew you to this particular story?

I tried to imagine what my absolute favorite book would’ve been when I was a teenager and then I set out writing it. 

What other books have inspired you?

I’ll keep it simple and just mention the books that influenced me the most when I was writing From the Nightly Shore. Winger by Andrew Smith, is definitely one, although I didn’t discover his books until after I had finished a couple of drafts of my book. I was always on the lookout for YA books with strong boy voices and I discovered Smith’s books early on. Also, Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card. I read the whole Bean series back in my earlier years writing the book which was a big influence on developing Corbin as a thinker/problem-solver type of character. I also have to mention The X-Files and Avatar: The Last Airbender even though they’re tv series. But, honestly, I could list a dozen more books that inspired me.

How did you come up with the title?

The title comes from a line in “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe. All four books in the series have titles that come from the poem, as well. The raven is an important image in my book but I also wanted the titles to reflect the magic in the story. That's why each one has a distinct connection to one of the elements.

What is your favorite part of the book and why?

It’s too hard to pick just one. It would have to be pretty much every scene with Corbin and his uncle, or Corbin and Jamie. If I had to pick just one, it would probably be the scene with Corbin and his uncle at the end, but as for why, I don’t want to say anything to spoil it, but trust me when you read it you’ll know why.

What aspects of your own life helped inspire this book?

That’s another hard one. I’ve drawn from many experiences in my own life, mostly little things and descriptions. Aside from it being an #ownvoices book, I don’t really base my characters on myself or people I know in real life. I do sometimes give my characters a little piece of myself or of someone I know but rarely so much for it to be obviously a person I know. The setting though is inspired by a real place. The city of Burke Pennsylvania is fictional but has some similarities to the town of Berwick Pennsylvania. There is no high school with a pillow for a mascot. But there are several good pizza places in town. Also, the Triangle is a real place near Berwick and has some urban legends attached to it, but the Tarman is a fictional element I added. I wouldn’t recommend going there, though, since it is private property.

I have to ask you about the preface of your book. It says, “at least one of Corbin’s experiences matches an experience strikingly similar to one of [your] own.” Could you be a bit more specific?

Sure, there is at least one supernatural part that is nearly 100% identical to an experience I had in real life. I do get that question a lot but that’s as specific as I’m going to be. Although, I will say that there were other witnesses present at the time, so it’s possible someone might make the connection someday. Oh, and it has nothing to do with the Triangle since I did say that is a real place so that might be your first assumption.

What can readers hope to learn from this book?

We all have choices to make and we can try to make the right choices but sometimes we still make mistakes or things don’t turn out the way we hoped. One of the greatest tests of character is what we choose to do after we’ve made a mistake and that’s another one of the themes explored in the book.

Tell us about your journey in writing From the Nightly shore.

I first had the idea for it in 2007 and started writing in 2008. It wasn’t my first book, I had another I wrote in 2006 that was truly awful, but by the time I finished my draft of From the Nightly Shore in 2010 it wasn’t much better. When I started my master’s program in 2012 I completely rewrote it as my thesis and it turned out much better when I finished in 2015. I spent the next three years sending it to agents and revising and improving it. But after 187 rejections without a single agent requesting the full manuscript, I knew my choice was either trash the book or self-publish.

So, I decided to publish it myself and move forward. I released it in January 2018 and then, only a couple of weeks later, I was in a major car accident. Simply put, that was the first in a string of major life-shaking events. It wasn’t until the fall of 2020 that my life had settled enough to try again and I decided to relaunch my book in the spring of 2021. I added a few new chapters to the end, added some images to enhance the interior, and made a new cover. I also began working on book 2 in the series, On this Desert Land and I’m hoping to have it out by the end of the year as well. So it’s been a long journey but it’s definitely been worth it.