In 2018, Elizabeth Acevedo debuted her first YA novel, The Poet X, and in true Dominican fashion, she has been arrasando con todo ever since, raking in literary awards from left to right. Her new book, With the Fire on High, will make its way onto shelves next week, on May 7th. With the Fire on High is the story of Emoni Santiago, a teenage mom who dreams of being a professional chef, but struggles with the idea of making it possible. 12th Street had the chance to talk to Acevedo before the debut of her new novel.
12TH STREET: You’ve signed on for four books with Harper. With The Poet X in 2018 and the release of With the Fire on High next week, it seems like the plan is a book a year? How are you finding time to write while keeping a balanced life?
ELIZABETH ACEVEDO: That sure does seem like the plan…but we know what they say about the best laid plans, right? As of right now, I am on pace to have a novel forthcoming every twelve-ish months, but I’m not married to that idea. I have a lot of stories I want to tell and as soon as I finish something I’m usually jumping into the next thing. Not because I need to have a book come out every year to relieve some external pressure, or internal insecurity, but simply because I feel this urgent desire to get all these stories out of my body. The day I don’t feel that, I’ll take a break.
I do a lot of speaking engagements and for about eight months of my life, I’m actively on the road. I draft and revise on the months that I’m not touring. This toggling of meeting folks for weeks on end but then taking time to go inward and sit at my desk daily is currently working for me. But I’m open to revising it the moment it stops being beneficial to my well-being or creativity.
STREET: The Poet X is one of the most creative works I’ve come across. When you began writing it, were you concentrated more on furthering the narrative or crafting the verse?
ACEVEDO: The difficulty of a novel-in-verse is that you have to hold both the language and the narrative arc in high regard and maintain an equal balance of being interesting, focused, and intentional. But for my very early drafts, I had to put my ego aside and focus on plot, otherwise I would tinker with every single piece of verse for days before writing another word. I had to learn to let myself tell the story and then I go back in and work on elevating the verse.
STREET: Unlike The Poet X, your new book, With the Fire on High, is written in prose. How was the writing process different between both books?
ACEVEDO: Prose allows a lot more dialogue! And it requires a lot more setting and action. A novel-in-verse is primarily concerned with interiority; I could thoroughly explore all the reactions my character, Xiomara, had to the things that happened to her. Prose has space for that kind of rumination, but too much of it seems self-indulgent. So, I had to learn how to bring in different beats, how to juggle a bigger cast of characters, and how to still maintain the integrity of the language, which for me, is critical.
STREET: In an Instagram story, you mentioned that when working on verse you like to print out the writing to get a sense of how the words look on the page. Then, you rearrange the pages by hand. Although With the Fire on High is prose, did you do anything to help you orchestrate the story?
ACEVEDO: The very first draft of With the Fire on High was written during National Novel Writing Month. It was an experiment. And thrilling. I didn’t have time to overthink, I didn’t outline, I followed the main character down her journey and at a blindingly fast pace, I had tons of asides, I sat with her and gave her close to two thousand words every day. I had no hopes or intentions for the story outside of seeing if I could complete it in the allotted time. I did. From that first draft, maybe a third of it remained in the book. But a lot of what stayed was the heart: her very clear voice, the form which goes back and forth between vignettes of past moments to new experiences, her love for her kid, her love for her grandmother. Does this count as an orchestration? I don’t know. Every book asks me to try something different. I try my best to comply.
STREET: What motivated to you to make The Poet X a hybrid work?
ACEVEDO: There were some really happy discoveries that I made while writing The Poet X. So, when the character has to turn in writing assignments and you see her first draft is verse but her final draft is prose; that was just my trying to answer what would a student actually turn into class and how much would she expose herself? Then, I realized I could create a pattern of vulnerability by doing that. Later you see bible verses, text message conversations, more prose— all of it was my trying to build a world that conveyed information about this character in interesting and honest ways.
STREET: When writing The Poet X, did you come into it with a knowledge of religion or did you have to commit to doing research? And did that research change how you had been crafting certain characters in the story?
ACEVEDO: A lot of the knowledge of religion in the novel I had from my personal relationship with Catholicism. But experience isn’t always precise, so I did have to do a certain amount of research just to gut-check my memories and ensure that I was getting the age range for confirmation correct, that the quotes were exact and reflective of the section I was writing about, etc. The characters were less driven on that research.
STREET: With the Fire on High has many subtle details that allow the reader to understand the characters beyond what is being said. When crafting your characters did you think of the little quirks or special characterizations before you started writing the novel, or did they come to you as you were writing?
ACEVEDO: I don’t outline. I don’t really create a long summary of what I think will happen. It’s awful. It means I write a dozen drafts before I ever arrive at the truth of a thing because every draft I’m layering in new aspects of the story. So, a lot of characterization comes in draft after draft, once I start noticing a pattern, or a quirk, or realize someone needs to be more distinct and I go back in and chisel the character arcs so they are clear. Sometimes I have a loose sense of someone: Angelica, the best friend, was always a bit more confident, stylish, and clear on where she wanted to end up, and she loved to curse. Malachi was a good dude, newly arrived to the city, with a smile he didn’t use often, but cracked hearts when he did. But none of those things were written down, and how they manifested were surprises to me. Sometimes I don’t know a character at all. And it shows. At which point, I need to write diary entries from their point of view, and create backstories no one but me will ever see, and imagine a story where they are the protagonist, and maybe a single piece of characterization will come from that. But it might be the lead I need to chase the character down and get them onto the page.
STREET: While reading With the Fire on High, I gained a new interest in cooking. What is your connection to cooking?
ACEVEDO: I didn’t grow up cooking like the main character in With the Fire on High. My mother is an amazing cook, and growing up, trying to learn from her was a pain because my stuff never turned out half as good. But I did like to bake and experiment in the kitchen and later, in college, developed an interest in cooking. It brought me joy. I liked to make. Most days.
STREET: Most days? I have to ask, what’s the worst thing that has ever happened to you while cooking?
ACEVEDO: I say “most days” because some days I’m tired and just want to order out, but it seems like a shame if I have a full fridge. But, um…. Cooking gone wrong? I usually course correct pretty quickly if something isn’t working. But I’ve definitely had my fair share of not paying attention and adding too much water to rice and then it’s an overcooked mess. Funnyily enough, my most recent failure was making something super easy: slow-cooker oatmeal! I still don’t know what I did wrong but…it was a lump! I’m going to stick to my stove top.
STREET: There’s a recurring theme I noticed in The Poet X and With the Fire on High: opportunity. When writing a YA novel, do you feel a sense of responsibility to what the younger reader takes away from the story?
ACEVEDO: I think there are clear differences on what makes something YA and what makes something an adult novel. Outside of marketing, which is sometimes the only difference. Ultimately, if you are writing for young people, there is a different constraint on the text. I’m a poet, I don’t mind form or constraints that feel fruitful. And for YA the constraint I’ve imposed on myself, and I think many YA authors do, is that the story has to be honest, but it also has to have an opportunity for hope. Let’s be clear, an opportunity of hope is not the same thing as a happy ending. It’s just a promise of possibility that puts an onus on the reader to consider how it will be fulfilled. But listen, I write to and for and about young people of color.
And there’s enough bleakness in the stories told to and about teens of color. I won’t be a part of retelling that kind of story. That’s just not a part of my mission statement as a writer. I approach writing for young people with tenderness, with care, with a ferocity to get it right, and a mandate to be unflinching in the things they face, but ultimately to offer that regardless of where they are now, or what heaviness they may carry, I imagine a world that loves them and will hold them up.