Cracking the Spine of K.M. Walton’s New Teen Novel, Cracked

Author Kate M. Walton produces a provocative exposé on teen issues in Cracked.

Cracked offers an interesting perspective on the effects of bullying, telling a fictional story from two sides, that of the aggressor and the victim. The novel follows the journeys of two 16-year-old boys from very different circumstances. Victor is relentlessly bullied at school by Bull and that, combined with his miserable home life, drives him to the very edge - he makes an attempt to take his own life.
 
Bull is abused by his drunken grandfather regularly, and when an altercation between the two of them gets out of hand, Bull ends up in the hospital. Both boys wake up in the psych ward only to find out that they are roommates. Through their experiences, Walton explores the intricacies of teen problems like bullying.
 
As a former teacher, Walton’s experience with the subject of bullying gives her unique insight into the issue. She is a passionate writer and educator, and Youthink was lucky enough to catch up with her by phone to chat about what it was like to publish her first novel and the message she hopes to put out into the world with Cracked.
 
YT: So where did you initially get your idea for Cracked?
KW: I went to a writer’s conference and heard one of the editors speaking about his love for books that go back and forth between two characters, and I had never considered such a thing before. So I went back to my hotel room and thought, “Hmm, what two people would be interesting to get both their sides of the story?” And I made – you ever make like a T-chart where you draw a “T” on the paper? So I made a T-chart on this piece of paper, which I still have, and I’m like, “Alright, if a bully and his victim or her victim," I put at the top of one column “bully” and the other column “victim” and I just started jotting down ideas of how long they would have known each other and all those things. I had never even considered writing as if I were the character [before] so it was pretty exciting to try that out and I tried it out with two girls. I wrote two chapters and I just wasn’t feeling it. It just had that like, did you ever see that movie Mean Girls? I just felt like I was repeating that, so I’m like, “Alright, it’s not working for me.” And when I changed it to two boys, it just unleashed.

YT: How difficult was it to write from the perspective of a teenage boy?
KW: It was very foreign to me. I mean, I’m a grown woman! But I did spend 12 years teaching middle school (well 10 of it was in middle school), so I was around teenage boys for 10 years. That had to have impacted how I worked the dialogue somehow, someway. I didn’t base these kids on anyone or take moments from anyone’s life but, you know, when you’re around that age group, I guess it just infiltrates your thinking. I did not find it hard. I mean, very rarely did I pause and say, “Is that Bull or is that me or Victor?” Every once in a while, while I was in the editing process with my editor, she would sometimes put a little question mark and say, “Bull’s voice?” But not too often, so I felt like I channelled these two kids - they became very real to me.

YT: Which character do you identify with more, Bull or Victor?
KW: I know this is going to be a crappy answer, but neither. They’re both so, so, so different from me which may also be the reason why I found them so easy to write because it wasn’t me talking. I am so anti-bullying and I have been that way since I was a small child. Not that I’m tooting my own horn, buy I always felt so compelled to stand up for the underdog - nor would I allow myself [to be] on the other side, to be treated like that. I have a lot of confidence and I would have no problem saying to Bull, “Back up, dude! Don’t come at me like that, you don’t even know me!” But he [Victor] just took it, which of course played well for the story but no, I couldn’t relate to either one of those kids.

YT: Kids in high school can be very cruel to one another. In Cracked, Bull terrorizes Victor daily and publicly. In your experience as a teacher, does bullying happen as openly as it is described in the book?
KW: Well, I’d have to say when I taught, the majority of my time was spent teaching sixth grade and these kids, some of them were 12 even 13 at the end of the year, and I don’t know how it is in Canada but the kids that I taught, they’re very sneaky. However, I swear I have like bullying sensors in my head or something and the kids, you know, we would have a pretty good relationship. They would tease me about it and say, “How did you hear me say that?” I’d say, “Because I pay attention!” and I think that is one of the greatest most crucial things of being a teacher is to not only pay attention to what you’re teaching, which I know is important, but to also pay attention to the interactions of the people that you are teaching - wander around the room, don’t stay at your chalkboard, listen to everything.

YT: You refer to some specific songs and artists in the book, your acknowledgements as well as on your Cracked playlist. Do you have a favourite song or artist at the moment?
KW: Oh my gosh, right now I am loving the song We Are Young by Fun. You know that one? I love that song! And I like hip hop, which I know younger people, like you, they look at me and go, “What?” and I say, “Honey, I have liked hip hop since it came out.” So I like music, but I love that playlist! I always listen to words especially... I’ve always done that since I’ve been young, so this is how I read too. I read, I watch movies and I listen to music and I try and put myself in the shoes of the person… I think they call it empathetic reading. So when I’m listening to music, I always try to put one of my characters in and say, “Oh my gosh! I could just picture Kell telling Bull to listen to this song!” And then I listen to it again and think, “Oh gosh” I’m just there with Kell.

YT: What is the most difficult thing about writing a fiction novel?
KW: Let’s see, the most difficult thing? I would say actually just starting it is the hardest thing for me because I have this annoying little voice in my head that likes to ridicule me and say, “You can’t do that! You can’t write a book; go do something else. Go on Twitter. Go write a blog post; you can do a blog post.” I will do everything else but start the book.

YT: What message do you hope to get out with this book?
KW: I think my main message would be that until human beings – not necessarily all bullies and victims, but just human beings in general – until we all know and learn how to peel back the layers, so to speak, the weight, the clothes, the shoes, the beauty, and we see the person underneath, then I’m not sure if humanity has a strong chance of surviving. That goes for every situation. I always go back to if people just took the time to understand each other, and not fly into things and make assumptions, I think the world would be such a better place. It’s just as big as that, but it’s also as little as I just want people to see the power of words and the power of actions and how they can have a good power and they can also have a deadly power – that words matter and really seeing everybody that’s around you in your life and paying attention to the invisible people can have a tremendous impact. So Bull definitely wasn’t capable of that until he realized that he was not the only one in pain. He was just in so much pain and so much self-hatred that he couldn’t see anybody else. And until he ended up in that psych ward and looked around and thought, “Wow, you guys are all whacked. Everybody’s got problems just as big as me.” So that was just I think a very powerful experience for him.

Kate Walton’s cracked is now available at Chapters|Indigo and other book retailers.