Today we’re excited to chat with Rafi Mittlefehldt,
author of It Looks Like This! Below
you’ll find our interview,
more about Rafi, and his book, plus a
giveaway!
YABC: What gave you the inspiration to write this book?
Rafi Mittlefehldt: The main character, really.
So, of course there have been a number of gay comingofage novels dealing with coming out and homophobia. But I really wanted to write one that projected the main character’s personality and voice as strongly as I could. It Looks Like This is thick with Mike’s very specific flavor: his stilted and matteroffact observations, his painfully awkward interactions, his unspoken fears, his implied longing for something better, his inner strength that ultimately surprises him. Once I thought of Mike, I had to put him down on paper.
YABC: Who is your favorite character in the book?
RM: Toby. Definitely Toby. She’s Mike’s 11yearold younger sister, and is fiercely protective of him. One of my favorite scenes involves her sticking up for him a little too enthusiastically, and not caring the slightest bit how much trouble she gets into for it. She’s sardonic, indomitable, absolutely fearless and was so much fun to write.
YABC: Which came first, the title or the novel?
RM: The title was the first thing I wrote, but that wasn’t by design. I saved my manuscript after writing the opening, and Microsoft suggested the first four words of the novel as the filename: It looks like this.doc. I figured that would be okay as a working title for the time being.
But I never thought of another one, and it grew on me. As the story progressed, it felt more and more fitting – what does it look like to overcome insecurity? What does bigotry look like, in all its forms? What does it look like when someone gets the support they need? What does it look like to start living your life for yourself, rather than for others?
When my editor told me she liked it, it felt settled.
YABC: Thinking way back to the beginning, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned as a writer from then to now?
RM: I am just now learning it – meaning I’m in the middle of finally getting it – and it’s more about being a writer than it is about the actual writing. A couple weeks ago I contacted an author friend to get her advice on something. I think she read a bit of anxiety in my email, because after she answered my questions, she added:
in general, my advice to you in this moment is to try to enjoy it as much as you can, and don’t worry too much about what the “right” thing to do is to get attention for your book. I say this as someone who was in a panic that she hadn’t done enough for about six months.
books are about the long game. the very very long game. kids will be finding your book for the first time a year from now, five years from now, ya know?
I just let out this slow, heavy sigh of relief when I read it. It was exactly what I’d needed to hear after several weeks of mounting but vague worries. I do think it’s crucial for authors to do what they can for their own books, of course, but there’s a way to do it without exhausting yourself emotionally.
YABC: What do you like most about the cover of the book?
RM: My God I love this cover. It feels a little childlike to say it’s because of “the colors”, but…
Really, it’s more than that. The specific colors are meant to be a graphical representation of a scene that’s described several times in the book (like, on the first page) and that becomes important to Mike, the main character. The designer, Matt Roeser, explained that each bar is textured so that from far away they look like solid colors, but up close you start seeing a lot of complexity and nuance – meant to analogize Mike and his relationship with Sean.
Also, though, the colors.
YABC: What’s up next for you?
RM: I’m working on my second book, also young adult. I don’t think I can say too much about it yet, but it involves a teen who learns a pretty horrific secret about his father at the same time everyone else in his town does.
YABC: Which character gave you the most trouble when writing your latest book?
RM: Mike’s father was surprisingly difficult. I was hyperaware of the pitfalls of making him onedimensional and cliché – a conservative dad who wants his son to man up and play sports. It would’ve been too easy to make him into a villain, but that wouldn’t have been realistic. I’ve known a lot of gay people who had difficult relationships with their fathers, but very few whose fathers were truly hateful.
That was what made it hard for a lot of my friends to come out to their parents – they respected their parents and didn’t want to hurt them. If someone’s just straightup evil, who cares what they think of you, and who cares about the possibility of hurting them, as misguided as that is to begin with?
So I had to resist the temptation to make Mike’s dad a caricature. He needed to have plenty of redeeming qualities, and his love for Mike needed to be clear to the reader.
YABC: Which part of the writing process do you enjoy more: Drafting or Revising?
RM: When revising, you’re knocking out something in the middle, and trying to find something else to fit seamlessly in the jagged hole you just created. Beyond just being difficult, for me it’s too tempting to be lazy with it, because of the fear of having to knock more and more out of what’s already produced.
Drafting is so much more freeing and exciting. Nothing’s been established, and you can do anything you want with all those unwritten words. That limitlessness can be paralyzing every now and then, but I’ll take that over the constraints of revising any day.
YABC: Is there an organization or cause that is close to your heart?
Yes! I’m From Driftwood, a nonprofit that collects and shares personal stories by LGBTQ people from all over the world. It’s run by a close friend of mine, and both my husband and myself have volunteered and worked for it, and have contributed stories.
The idea is that so many LGBTQ people grow up without the benefit of knowing others like them. IFD is great because, not only does it create an international archive of LGBTQ experiences, but it shows the people who need to see it most—particularly teens—that even if it feels like they’re alone, they’re not. They’re literally surrounded by people who have gone through similar things.
Meet It Looks Like This!
A new state, a new city, a new high school. Mike’s father has already found a new evangelical church for the family to attend, even if Mike and his plainspoken little sister, Toby, don’t want to go. Dad wants Mike to ditch art for sports, to toughen up, but there’s something uneasy behind his demands. Then Mike meets Sean, the new kid, and “hey” becomes games of basketball, partnering on a French project, hanging out after school. A night at the beach. The fierce colors of sunrise. But Mike’s father is always watching. And so is Victor from school, cell phone in hand. In guarded, Carveresque prose that propels you forward with a sense of stomach-dropping inevitability, Rafi Mittlefehldt tells a wrenching tale of first love and loss that exposes the undercurrents of a tidy suburban world. Heartbreaking and ultimately life-affirming, It Looks Like This is a novel of love and family and forgiveness—not just of others, but of yourself.
Meet Rafi Mittlefehldt!
Rafi Mittlefehldt has worked as a reporter for a small-town newspaper in central Texas and has freelanced as a theater critic for Exeunt magazine. This is his debut novel. Raised in Houston, Texas, he works in book publishing and lives in New York City.
It Looks Like This
By: Rafi Mittlefehldt
Release Date: September 6, 2016
*GIVEAWAY DETAILS*
One winner will receive a copy of It Looks Like This (US only).
*Click the Rafflecopter link below to enter the giveaway*
I love how the title and character emerged! (I wonder what the book would be titled if you saved it in a different program!) Congrats!!!
When I was at BostonTeenAuthorFest this past weekend, in one of the panel discussions we talked about how there are still not enough books that deal with kids who are struggling with either their sexuality or others’ reaction to it. I’m glad this book was written.
The cover is so eye catching. I looked at it and just knew I had to have it. After reading what it’s about, I definitely have to get it!
I love this cover it’s so colorful and I love colors. The synopsis is intriguing, I must say I’m curious;)
The colors on the cover really go together and I love that each color represents something I will read in this book.
I love the cover and the synopsis sounds amazing