What is your favorite thing about KISS OF BROKEN GLASS?
My favorite thing about KISS OF BROKEN GLASS is that it’s my debut novel. So every bit of the experience has been brand new for me – from signing with my agent, the legendary George Nicholsen, to meeting Toni Markiet, my genius editor, during a fantastic week in New York. And later seeing the cover reveal, and hearing audio clips, and looking at promo art. It’s been an amazing, goosebumps ride full of excitement and anticipation. Just like any first KISS should be.
What was your inspiration for writing this book?
This book has roots in my daughter’s real life experience, but it is ultimately a work of fiction, and is inspired by the many people who struggle with self-harm.
How long did you work on the book?
I worked on this book for roughly one year.
How long or hard was your road to publication? How many books did you write before this one, and how many never got published?
I began attending SCBWI conferences and learning to write for the middle grade and YA markets in 2008. I had pieces published in magazines and anthologies along the way but KISS OF BROKEN GLASS is my first published novel. I was exceptionally lucky on my road to publication. I had ten pages of my manuscript critiqued at an SCBWI conference in Miami and that led to signing with my agent and ultimately receiving a two book deal from HarperCollins. The entire process took about three months which is incredibly fast and felt like an absolute whirlwind at the time.
What’s your writing ritual like? Do you listen to music? Work at home or at
a coffee shop or the library, etc?
I write in a home office which overlooks the woods. Sometimes I see deer, turkey, and occasionally coyotes. I don’t have a set routine for writing and work best when I’m really moved emotionally by something and it all comes pouring out on the page. That means sometimes I write day and night, nonstop, until it’s out of my system, and other times I’m not writing at all.
What advice would you most like to pass along to other writers?
My biggest advice is to believe in yourself and never give up. In 2008, a writing mentor told me that she knew I’d be published one day because I had the three critical keys to success. I was persistent. I wrote from the heart. And I required very little sleep. That bit about being persistent stuck with me and helped me keep going through the rejections. I think writers need to have a lot of patience and perseverance to succeed in this industry. It’s a tough business.
What are you working on now?
I am working on a second YA novel for HarperCollins.
Kiss of Broken Glass
by Madeleine Kuderick
Hardcover
HarperTeen
Released 9/9/2014
Madeleine Kuderick’s gripping debut is a darkly beautiful and lyrical novel in verse, perfect for fans of Sonya Sones and Laurie Halse Anderson. Kiss of Broken Glass pulses with emotion and lingers long after the last page.
In the next seventy-two hours, Kenna may lose everything—her friends, her freedom, and maybe even herself. One kiss of the blade was all it took to get her sent to the psych ward for seventy-two hours. There she will face her addiction to cutting, though the outcome is far from certain.
When fifteen-year-old Kenna is found cutting herself in the school bathroom, she is sent to a facility for mandatory psychiatric watch. There, Kenna meets other kids like her—her roommate, Donya, who’s there for her fifth time; the birdlike Skylar; and Jag, a boy cute enough to make her forget her problems . . . for a moment.
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