Ask Helene Dunbar discussion

Are you happy with the decision you made to publish the book after you wrote it and kept it so long for just yourself?

Well, it's true that I never planned to submit this book to editors. At the same time, I entered it into two contests (SHEWRITES YA NOVEL CONTEST & SCBWI Midsouth's YA contest). It won the former and was an HR in the latter, so I can't say that I never wanted people to read it. But having a marketing background, I was aware that it would be a tough read.

To answer your question though, YES, I'm glad! I've received a couple of wonderful emails from people who either identified with Gordie or with Sarah. And I hope that my book starts a discussion about mental health issues for those who need to talk about it or those who need to hear it.

Will there be any referencing of characters from 'These Gentle Wounds' in 'What Remains'? Or are they only connected by taking place in the same town and high school? I'm so anxious to feel that Geordie and Kevin live on in this imaginary universe you created.

Perla wrote: "Will there be any referencing of characters from 'These Gentle Wounds' in 'What Remains'? Or are they only connected by taking place in the same town and high school? I'm so anxious to feel that Ge..."

Well. Good question.

I'd planned to do that since I'm a huge fan of Barry Lyga and I loved the feeling that I was "in on the joke" when he did this. And when the books both sold to the same publisher, I assumed that I would (Lizzie from What Remains DOES have a walk-on in TGW - She's the paint-stained girl in Mr. Brooks' office).

But now, as I'm finalizing the bulk of my revisions on What Remains...I can honestly say that I just don't know. Currently, neither Gordie nor Kevin appear in WR. These characters move in very different circles and while I LOVE the idea of overlapping, I don't want it to be artificial in any way. So....thinking about it....

I just read this and was curious if you ever thought about revisiting these characters? I'm interested in Kevin's story cause I thought he could be explored more (especially after the scene where he drinks whisky). I saw someone ask two years ago about if the characters would show up in your other novel, What Remains, but I was still curious!

Thanks!

Thank you so much for the question and the review, Jasmine. I played around with the idea of a short story based on Kevin, but the realities of publishing mean that my publisher owns these characters for a set amount of time and I'm not sure that TGW's sales would support a new project in that world. Also, I've written so many things since then, that I'm not sure the time is right to get back into that head space, if that makes any sense. But all that aside, I too have a curiosity about Kevin's future and, if there was a demand for it, I would be more than a little interested in exploring it.