Debut Author Interviews

Autumn Cornwell is the author of Carpe Diem (Feiwel & Friends/Holtzbrinck, Fall 2007)

• Autumn Cornwell on...Ideas
• Autumn Cornwell on...Setting

Where did you get the idea for your book?

My book had a long gestation period. The seed for CARPE DIEM was planted nearly ten years ago while visiting Malaysia. I wanted to write about how travel transforms you – like it or not. And how it brings out the “Extreme You” – the real self with all its flaws, idiosyncrasies, and prejudices. In extreme conditions you have no energy or time or resources to keep up a polite façade. You are raw and reactionary. And living in America, we’re often so sheltered we never get a chance to experience it.

Initially, the plot revolved around “a recently married expat couple transformed while living in Malaysia.” I sketched an outline, but eventually set it aside to pursue other projects. I picked it up again a few years later when adventures in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam provided more material for a potential novel and reinforced the Southeast Asia theme. By now the plot changed to “an overachieving single woman transformed after a backpacking trip through Southeast Asia.” Career changes gave me the time to focus my attention completely on the novel.

To nudge my muse, I returned to Bangkok to stay at the kitschy Atlanta Hotel (www.theatlantahotel.bizland.com/pic.html) where I wrote for a month as a “writer in residence.” (If you’re ever in Thailand, you’ve got to check this place out – especially if you’re a fan of vintage 1950s décor in an Asian setting.) Anyway, during my stint in Bangkok, I realized my “voice” wasn’t adult, but young adult and my heroine was sixteen, not thirty. (I love it when the book makes decisions for you!) So the plot changed yet again to “a teen overachiever transformed after backpacking through Southeast Asia with her bohemian grandma.” But — I didn’t know how to end it. Then I decided to take a break from writing and go trekking through Laos. And there in a remote jungle, I experienced a “can’t-believe-it’s-true” adventure. I’d found my ending!

Where is your novel set, and why there?

CARPE DIEM is set in Malaysia, Cambodia, and Laos. Why? Well, I lived in Southeast Asia as a kid and traveled through it extensively as an adult – and experienced so many whacky adventures and met so many fascinating people I simply HAD to use it as a backdrop for a novel. One of my goals with CARPE DIEM is to expose readers to other cultures and to show how much we really do have in common with each other. (Not to mention how often humor transcends culture!) My main character is a sheltered American teen who has never left the state she was born in. How would she react to being plucked from Washington State and plopped into a land of temples and squat toilets?