Authors: Stephen Emond

Bright Lights, Dark Nights (37 page)

BOOK: Bright Lights, Dark Nights

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BRIGHT LIGHTS, DARK NIGHTS wasn't the book I set out to write three years ago. It was a much simpler story originally. Some things remained; in fact most of the characters in the book now were there from the start. Naomi was there, Jason was there, Walter had a different name but he was the same kid. Their relationship was central to the story but the fact that one was white and one was black wasn't ever supposed to be an issue.

My projects tend to be very personal. I write about what I've gone through, how I think and feel. And while I certainly kept to that, this story was bigger. An image I kept coming to while working on this was of a couple looking deeply into each other's eyes, while we slowly pull back and see the rest of the world around them. This was my first outward-looking project.

The inclusion of the world at large opened a lot of doors for the story. Once I made the decision to bring up an awareness of color in the book, things fell into place almost immediately. The tone of the book made sense, the characters' motivations suddenly popped. The universe seemed to be frequently commenting to me that I was on the right path.

There were times I thought it was silly to even write about it. There are TV shows with interracial couples with lead characters, there are celebrities that date outside their race and people are all for it, right? But that's not really accurate, not everywhere at least. If you spend any time online, you've seen your share of racism. The Internet has given racists a voice and peers.

This was one of the things I wanted to tackle with this bookâwhere is racism today? What does modern racism look like? It's changed, it's a little mysterious, and it's a little faceless. Sometimes it's not even intended or expected, but views and ideas are ingrained and come out even in friendly well-intentioned places. And other times, it's just rude and in your face.

Like everyone, I have my thoughts and opinions, but I'm a fairly non-confrontational person. I don't like to argue, I don't like to force my views on anyone, and I don't ever intend to persuade anyone to think any way. Books work best as a conversation, not a monologue. Once the topic is presented, I want to converse through the characters, I want to talk about it from each point of view.

In this story, Walter comes to terms with his own racism, and that's as someone who is dating a black girl and listens to hip hop and considers himself young, cultured and open-minded. And yet he still struggles with his heart and his head and some deeper rooted fears he's barely aware of.

I really enjoyed my time in this city of East Bridge. I can't say for sure if I accomplished every goal I had. I've never written anything like this before, but I gave it my best and it's time to pop the bubble I've worked in and let it out into the world. Hopefully, you love Walter and Naomi as much as I do.

Acknowledgments

Pretty much any acknowledgment I attempt to write has to start with my editor, Connie Hsu. This is our third book together, and she read this story over and over, watched it evolve, she knows this world as well as I do if not better. She saw what this book was before I did and she helped me see it, too, as long as it took. It sounds weird that someone could read your work and say “Do you see what you're actually writing here?” but that's what happened. She looked through the cracks, saw the real story that was bursting to get out, and it took a long time, breaking down a lot of walls piece by piece and doing a lot of cleanup after, but we got there. I don't think this book would exist with anyone else on board. She astounds me with the things she picks up and kept me on track like a mouse in a maze. She sounds like an evil overlord when I say it that way, but that's not how I intend it. I'll leave it in regardless.

I want to thank my agent Kirby Kim, who had a lot of patience as I pestered and pestered and pestered him. It's been a long road but I am glad we're still on it together.

There's a whole ton of people in the book industry I want to thank, a massive team of people that have their fingerprints on this novel, from test readers to designers to sales people and copy editors and foreign market teams. Every time I visit Connie, she's introducing me to people that have done crucial things with my book. Full disclosure: I have very little business sense, that's why I write and draw all by my lonesome, and without these people this story would be a stack of papers in a storage bin somewhere instead of a physical book sitting on shelves in stores.

I would like to thank those who championed my book through acquisitions (Alvina Ling, Victoria Stapleton, and Simon Boughton), the early readers who helped make the book what it is today (Allison Moore, Leslie Shumate, and Zoey Peresman), and the team who turned the final manuscript into a book (Christine Ma, Jill Freshney, and my designer Beth Clarke).

I want to thank my family, of course. Without them there's no me, everything I think or feel or believe in stems from my upbringing, who I am comes from who I was. So thanks to my parents, brother, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, dogs, cats, bunnies, and babies. A special hi to my buddy Aria.

Cori gets a big thank-you for being the friend who read the whole book in an early stage and offered her advice. She's heard me talk about this book more than anyone not on my book team, and always listened and offered her thoughts and excitement and encouragement. If anyone was sure this book was going to get finished and be great from the get-go, it was her.

More thanks:

Takarra, some things you said to me and probably don't remember helped lead to this book, and I'm sure bits of silly conversations we've had have slipped in somewhere in these pages. Carly, you were a sign that I was on the right path with what I was working on and I had you in my thoughts as I worked through it. Thanks to Sara Rhine for listening to me talk about this book, thanks to Elaine, Briana, Ben Kowalsky, The Bob, CD for inspiring, and, last but never least, thanks to the wider book-reading world, anyone who's sent me an encouraging e-mail, bought or read one of my books, librarians, booksellers, book lovers, fellow industry people and authors who have reached out or replied to me when I've reached out or inspired me with their own works.

I'm very glad and thankful to be a part of this awesome world.