Cody Kennedy: Interview with Will Parkinson, author of debut novel, Pitch!

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Interview with Will Parkinson, author of debut novel, Pitch!

Join me in welcoming fellow Harmony Ink author Will Parkinson to my blog. To celebrate the release of his terrific debut novel, Pitch, I thought I'd ask Will a few questions about his writing process and his first crush. Yep. Will answered that question, too.

Cody: Do you bond with your characters? Or do you maintain distance between yourself and them in your stories?

Will: I bond tightly with them. When they hurt (even if it’s my doing), I feel for them. Even the bad people I bond with because it makes it mean more when I understand what drives them.

Cody: Is it difficult to write characters who you don't like or identify with?

Will: I feel all of my characters. Their hopes and dreams become mine because they are a part of me, even the bad ones are part of my subconscious on some level.

Cody: How do you make a character feel real if you don't feel a connection to him or her?

Will: In Pitch, Kevin is my ‘bad boy’. He does things that are way over the top, and I understand that. I get why he thinks he’s owed what he wants.

Cody: What was your first crush like and how much of that experience is in Pitch?

Will: My first true love was named Jim. I gave him everything (and yes, I do mean everything) and thought we’d be happy forever. That lasted until he started smoking pot and hanging around with some not-so-nice people. I didn’t really put any of that in Pitch. My guys are destined to be together, even though it’s going to require work for them to get there.

Pitch by Will Parkinson

The day Jackson Kern walks into Taylor Andrews’s classroom is a momentous day in Taylor’s life. He’s had crushes before, sure, but as time goes on, this is starting to look a whole lot more serious. Still, Jackson doesn’t return Taylor’s feelings.

Taylor has his own admirers, though. Kevin Richards is used to getting what he wants, and what he wants right now is Taylor, so when Taylor rejects him, Kevin retaliates. At first Taylor’s entourage rallies around him, but then Kevin takes his deception one step further and Taylor sees his support dwindle, teaching him the valuable lesson about who he can truly consider a friend.

Be sure to enter to win a SIGNED copy of Pitch and a $25 gift card to the winner's choice of online book reseller: a Rafflecopter giveaway

About Will:
WILL PARKINSON believes that no matter what obstacles are thrown in the path of young love, it will always find a way to win in the end. He wants his characters to have their happily ever after, but that doesn’t mean that it’s going to come easily. None of this would have happened if he had followed the advice he was given many years ago. “What are you wasting your time on that for? It’s never going to amount to anything.” He believed it for the longest time, abandoning characters he’d created in his childhood. He picked up his very first m/m story by a writer named Eden Winters, who was an absolute joy when they corresponded. She asked him if he wrote and he told her the story. Eden explained to Will that the voices in his head would never go away and how he needed to let them out. With that thought in mind, Will put e-pen to e-paper once more. It was truly a liberating experience and one he has no intention of giving up again.

Find Will's web site here and find him on Goodreads here.

Read the first chapter and get your copy of

Pitch at Harmony Ink Press.