Interview with Rebecca Henry - Author of ‘The Sound of Everything’

Could you tell us a little bit about the book in your own words. 

It's about a girl in foster care whose frequent moves and rocky relationships have leeft her distrustful of other people. She follows three rules to keep herself and others safe: 1. Don't count on anyone. 2. Always act. 3. Be prepared to lose everything. But she's just started at a new placement and things begin to unravel quickly and Kadie's left to decide -  should she follow the rules and let people in? To break the rules is to make bonds, friends and a future.

Music is such a key theme in the book, how difficult was it to write music?

Writing the music part was pretty easy because I'm a musical person, but at the same time it wasn't something I could just write from my imagination and  life experience. I am a classical music person, piano and violin, Spanish dances and the like. The music in the book is modern, popular genre (afrobeats) in a sphere where it's normal for young people to dabble in, and even be good at, rap (and singing). I jumped at the opportunity to do a little research by watching music videos, studying lyrics and reading comments to help me to accurately replicate how teenage artists do things these days.

I love the title, how did you come up with it?

The title came from two places, I think. Firstly, obviously, Kadie's connection to music and how there's always some form of music in her head. It plays a very important role in her life and experiences and how she expresses herself. Secondly, perhaps less importantly, it came from the way the world sharpens around her when she's emotional, particularly angry or upset. We get the idea that she seems to have a rather sharp sense of hearing which she sometimes struggles to filter (and sometimes is happy to take as a distraction).

How was the overall writing process for you? And do you lead with plot, or develop your characters first?

The story was a long time coming from something else that evolved in a rather messy, cringe-y, very long-winded fashion. The bare bones of the story have been the same all along (core characters, the idea of hiding things, the foster care) but between the very start to what it is now it has seen a lot of change. In general, I usually lead with characters - they tend to pop up heavily inspired by real people, connected loosely to a scenario which develops into a plot. But in this story it was backwards - the plot came first and then Kadie gradually came out of it.

How did you go about creating and writing Kadie?

Kadie came from my musings about troublesome kids and why they are the way they are (which, when the idea first showed up, was annoying among other things). You know the kids I'm talking about. Think chapter one of the book. For anyone who hasn't read the book, I'm talking about those gobby, gum-chewing, disruptive, I-don't-care, teens who could backchat the teacher till sundown, often appear to get away with things good kids never would and can potentially ruin lessons for the less-troubled kids. Well, after thinking about such students in my own classes, I began to wonder if there was more to their lives - ADHD, or other issues (I was learning about ADHD at the time). Of course there was. 

Out of those musings rose sixteen-year-old Kadie Hunte: a sassy-on-the-surface girl who actually hurts more than anybody knows. She was always clever, always a brilliant mathmatician and musician, but some of the development of her character actually came after the book won the competition. My editor gave me some pointers about how to make her deeper and I went away to think about these things. Some of these details are even tiny things that readers might not even remember - like the fact that she has a Converse collection - but the little things about characters matter more than you know! 

Writing Kadie was surprisingly easy. I've seen enough bad attitudes and rudeness to replicate it without much, if any, imagination, although going behind the scenes on the reasons why she is that way did require more thought. I think at times I wondered if I should feel sorry for her, but then I think that's the point of the story -  to show everyone why she does what she does, even if the decisions she makes are not always the best.

There are lots of important themes in the book such as self harm, bullying, social media, but also friendships and family connection. What was the most important message you wanted to shine through with the book?

I'm not sure that the message is that strong. I honestly don't think I thought about one in detail, but if there is one, it's that there's a lot you don't know about people. You shouldn't jump to conclusions about others, because there's a lot behind the way someone behaves, even if they are a little different. But like I said, I don't think it was that obvious.

If your book were adapted into a film or TV series, who would you want to play Kadie and Lips?

I humbly admit that I had to go away and do some research to help me with this one. I'm terrible when it comes to naming actors and actresses. I couldn't quite narrow it down to two names, but for Kadie I would say Karla-Simone Spence or Paigey Cakey, and for Lips Franz Drameh or Joivan Wade.

Did anything in the book get cut that you wish hadn’t?

Not really . . . I mean, I might have liked to go a little more into how Kadie senses the world, but where I had done that previously it wasn't done in a way that worked with the story so we dropped it and there's enough going on in the story without that.

What is the first book that inspired you?

Okay, this one got me. I honestly don't know. You could say Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, since I wrote a book in my early teens which was CLEARLY heavily influenced by Percy Jackson (here I cringe), but I'm not sure if that counts. If we are going to be serious, then I would say Legend by Marie Lu. That series is so underrated. The writing is so well-rounded, the characters amazingly written . . . Yes, Legend.

If you could spend a day with a fictional character, who would it be and why? 

That's a really difficult one. I think I'd say June Iparis from the aforementioned Legend. She's just so amazingly smart (well, she is a prodigy . . .) I imagine I could learn from her.

What are you reading right now?

I love this question!!! I will cheat on my answer though, because I'm between books. I just finished The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne (don't let anyone fool you. Winnie the Pooh is quite amusing and can be enjoyed by children and adults alike) and I have just started What Katy Did Next.