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| Photo provided courtesy of Rex Ogle |
Written by Ava M.
Grade 8
Welcome back to a new round of 5 Questions With, where members of the Teen Book Guild have the chance to ask five questions of a favorite author. Recently, I had one amazing opportunity to connect with Rex Ogle, author of Road Home, a memoir, When We Ride, a YA novel written in verse and many more! He writes many different types of books such as graphic novels, memoirs, books in verse and of course YA!
1. When you first decided to pursue a writing career, what was the most difficult thing to overcome?
REX: The amount of people saying "NO" that I wasn't prepared for. And actually, there were a lot less "NO's" than just agents and editors never replying. Or even replying and then ghosting me. But now I believe that is par for the course when choosing artistic endeavors. It's so hard to break in, but once you have one, it's easier to get another and another and so on. But that first one? That's the hardest. Though it took me a long time to realize I shouldn't think of a "NO" as defeat but instead as a badge of honor because I put myself out there. And if you never take a swing, you're never gonna hit the ball.
2. When creating the characters of Diego and Lawson, were any of the character elements based on people or events from your own life?
REX: I'd say the book is about 70% based on true life events. My senior year, my best friend was in fact a drug dealer, and there were times when i drove him to drug deals and did my homework in the car. They say "write what you know". I always found that difficult when i wrote fantasy and sci-fi and horror, but for this book it came quite naturally.
3. If someone reads your novel When We Ride, what message would you want them to take away after reading it?
REX: My main focus is that they realize kids who do bad things aren't bad people. Teen drug dealers aren't failing society. Society is failing them. If they hadn't been put in a situation where they have to help their parents pay bills or provide food, then they wouldn't be doing something dangerous to earn money. Sometimes good kids do bad things for good reasons. We shouldn't look down on them.
4. Are there any details in the novel that a reader might overlook but that play a crucial role in the plot's development?
REX: I can't think of any. Writing in verse, there's so little to read, which means the story itself is delivered in a very concentrated format. There are fewer words, so each one means so much more.
5. This book is told mostly from Diego’s perspective, with Lawson’s perspective appearing at the very end. If you could write from another character’s perspective, whose would it be?
REX: Every character in everyone of my books has a larger story. But I always choose who I think would be best to tell the story. In this situation, it has to be Diego. If it was told from anyone else's perspective the story would be completely different. If I had to choose one though, it would be Lawson. It would be intersting to see his perspective. But I always think it's wonderful to see circumstances through different eyes. It helps all of us develop empathy that is much-needed in our world, especially now.
A huge thank you is in order to Rex Ogle! We highly appreciate all of your considerate responses.
You can check out When We Ride and more of Rex's work at the Winter Park Library!
