Garrett Curbow

Garrett Curbow is the author of Whispers of Ink and Starlight and the Daughter of Light trilogy, which was short-listed for the Publishers Weekly Selfies Award. He lives in Savannah, Georgia.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I underwent a handful of title changes before reaching Whispers of Ink and Starlight. Because the story spans different themes and hopscotches across genres, I found it difficult to settle on a collection of words that summed up the entire book. How do I convey the magical realism? The romance? The mystery?

I arrived at my title during copyedits. As I was combing through the manuscript with the imagery of whispers and ink and starlight in mind, I knew it was perfect. Historically, I’m not a huge fan of formulaic titles, like Noun of Noun and Noun, but Whispers of Ink and Starlight evoked the exact feeling I had been searching for.

“Whispers” captures the intrigue of Nelle’s magical origin, the softspoken moments between her and James, and the overall quiet nature of the novel. This is a story about people facing human problems, not fantasy kingdoms going to war.

“Ink” is a major plot propellent from beginning to end. It is both the external conflict and the basis of the entire magic system. Having “Ink” in the title felt mandatory.

“Starlight” is pretty, it is romantic, it is hopeful. Throughout the novel, there are countless references to stars and making wishes. Whispers of Ink and Starlight is a novel about dreamers, and every title iteration has focused on that starry-eyed hopefulness.

Whispers of Ink and Starlight is a title that reflects the story, showing readers exactly the type of book they are getting into, and the feelings they can hope to experience from it.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

Honestly, I don’t think my teenage self would be very surprised by Whispers of Ink and Starlight. It is exactly the kind of book I would have read then (and now) and the kind of book I would have wanted to write.

He would, however, be surprised by some of the book’s content. I think my teenage self would be shocked to know that there are multiple descriptive sex scenes and almost every swear word in the English language in my debut novel. I imagine that, once he got over the shock, he would be proud of me for writing the story that needed to be told without any self-censorship.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

In my experience, endings are infinitely more difficult than beginnings. When I’m cracking open a story, it can go anywhere. Because I write first drafts chronologically, I can introduce any character, any plotline, and weave it into the manuscript. Nailing down the ending is nearly impossible.

There’s so much debate on how the Egyptian pyramids were logistically built. If they were building upward, it would be almost impossible to have all the sides line up in order to have that perfect point. One theory is that the Egyptians built up and then carved down, enabling them to create a perfect prism shape.

That is how writing an ending works for me. It is the last part of the book that I write, and once it is on paper, I have to go back and rework the entire novel so the ending makes sense. Rather than a neat finish, the ending, in my experience, is yet another starting point.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I don’t chisel off bits of my personality and assign them to my characters, but they are intrinsically a part of me. Instead of personality traits, I give my characters feelings that I experience, like anxiety or depression. The story I’m writing comes from my heart and soul, so naturally who I am as a person influences the characters in the story. Their dreams and wishes are reflections of my dreams and wishes, even if they are not carbon copies. I write to understand the world I live in and to put that understanding on paper in hopes that others will see themselves, too. The characters I create are vehicles for that, but more importantly, they are like children to me. They came from me, but now that they exist, they no longer belong to me. They will always be a part of me because of the DNA we share, but they are their own person outside of me.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I find inspiration in actors showing minute emotions, in the lyricism and emotional impact of songs, in the color grading of films. But the greatest non-literary inspiration I have found is the world. Stepping outside with the intent to get inspired, whether I’m in a city or in nature, never fails.

I look at social interactions between people, sidewalk bricks, trees and their spidery branches, birds searching for food, the ocean and its tides, and in all of it I find a sense of peace. Of clarity. Words come to me when I remind myself that I am a tiny cog in a big machine, and my only job within it is to write.

Visit Garrett Curbow's website.

--Marshal Zeringue