by Mia Kerick
When I met my very close friend Michael Bowler, my eyes were opened to what true Christianity is. I learned this by observing how he lives. Michael showed me that following the church’s rules is all well and good, but to be a true follower of Jesus you must LIVE LIKE HE DID. You must give of your time, and your heart, to those in need. You must be honest and open minded, less quick to judge. And I realized that following the true spirit of Christianity is actually much more difficult than merely following the rules. It involves self-sacrifice of so much more than Sunday morning free time to go to Mass or stifled curses or sexual restraint. These things pale in comparison to what one must do to really call yourself a Christian. I learned from Michael that being a Christian is not all about following the rules, but living with the intentions of Jesus in your heart and mind. I am not sure that I am yet a true Christian, but the criteria to consider myself one has greatly changed.
And so, I came up with the idea to write Inclination. I know what it is like to struggle with Christian rules in regard to behaviors over which I have power to choose, but what about those who are born a way that truly offers them no choice? In Inclination, Anthony struggles with his own devastating rule-following problem. He knows that to live as the person who God made him, a gay person with the desire for a committed, monogamous, and sexual same-sex relationship, is, in itself, sinful in the church that he knows and loves.
Inclination was inspired by my struggle, my realization, and my hope.
2. Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?
In short, my main character struggles with conflict. And isn’t that what makes a character special and a book memorable?
Anthony Duck-Young Del Vecchio, a South Korean born, Italian-American raised teenager is a significant Young Adult character because of how he confronts and survives the conflict of his life. He identifies the problem, which, in itself, is a painstaking process, wrestles with it in a variety of ways, and he arrives at a resolution he can live with. On the surface, this may seem like a simple series of actions, but the battle with which Anthony struggles has a high price tag: his eternal soul.
One beta reader said that Inclination is like a love story about Jesus. I include this comment because it sums up how incredibly important Anthony’s relationship to God is to him, and puts it into perspective as a Young Adult novel. To Anthony, his conflict is more important than any struggle to climb a mountain or to run for class president or to win a boy’s heart. This is a struggle to determine if he can truly be who he was born to be, and at the same time, be who God wants him to be. Anthony is a quiet, “fly under the radar” kind of boy. He is very intelligent, but not a born leader. He always knows the answer in class, but struggles to vocalize it. To have attention focused on him is the stuff that Anthony’s nightmares are made of. To be different from the crowd and to take risks, let alone to take a stand, are not behaviors that come to him naturally, but they are the all things he must do in order to define himself in Inclination.
3. When you read books yourself what genre do you prefer to read and why is that genre your favorite?
I enjoy reading adult and young adult LGBT romance. I will admit that a love story is the most attractive to me, probably just because of how I am wired. I fell in love with Jack Wilde in Puff’n’Stuff at five years old, and I have been falling in love, along with the characters I read about, ever since. I guess I believe that love can save—not that it should or even has to—but that it can. Love gives me hope, it lets me dream. It anchors me to earth, while letting me fly.
4. What is the best advice you can give to a fellow writer who is writing their first book and to help them get it out there?
*Be true to yourself—write the story in your heart and do not change it to please your future reading audience.
*Find a publisher who is passionate about your novel and you will enjoy the entire process.
*Write the novel and then put it away for a period of time. When you pick it up and read it again, the changes you need to make will pop out at you.
*I do not think you can edit your work too many times. It will get better and better every time you reread it.
*Promotion is as challenging, time-consuming, and necessary to the success of a novel as writing it is.
Other Titles by Mia Kerick
Books published by Dreamspinner Press
Beggars and Choosers
Unfinished Business
A Package Deal
Out of Hiding
Random Acts
Here Without You
Books published by Harmony Ink Press
Intervention
Not Broken, Just Bent
The Red Sheet
Us Three
Published by Mia Kerick
Come To My Window
About Mia Kerick
Mia Kerick is the mother of four exceptional children—all named after saints—and five non-pedigreed cats—all named after the next best thing to saints, Boston Red Sox players. Her husband of twenty-two years has been told by many that he has the patience of Job, but don’t ask Mia about that, as it is a sensitive subject.
Mia focuses her stories on the emotional growth of troubled young people and their relationships, and she believes that physical intimacy has a place in a love story, but not until it is firmly established as a love story. As a teen, Mia filled spiral-bound notebooks with romantic tales of tortured heroes (most of whom happened to strongly resemble lead vocalists of 1980s big-hair bands) and stuffed them under her mattress for safekeeping. She is thankful to CoolDudes Publishing, Dreamspinner Press, Harmony Ink Press, and CreateSpace for providing her with alternate places to stash her stories.
Mia is a social liberal and cheers for each and every victory made in the name of human rights, especially marital equality. Her only major regret: never having taken typing or computer class in school, destining her to a life consumed with two-fingered pecking and constant prayer to the Gods of Technology.
