Happy Book Birthday: THE DEATHDAY LETTER

And the fun keeps coming!

Meet Shaun David Hutchinson, who, it turns out, was Chris's second client. His young adult debut, THE DEATHDAY LETTER is out from Simon Pulse today.

From the book's website:

The clock is ticking...

Ollie can’t be bothered to care about anything but food, girls, and games until he gets his Deathday Letter and learns he’s going to die in twenty-four hours. Bummer.

Ollie does what he does best: nothing. Then his best friend convinces him to live a little, and go after Ronnie, the girl who recently trampled his about-to-expire heart. Ollie turns to carloads of pudding and over-the-top declarations, but even playing the death card doesn’t work. All he wants is to set things right with the girl of his dreams. It’s now or never...

Welcome (back) to Daily Pie, Shaun!


In THE DEATHDAY LETTER, people are warned of their impending deaths 24 hours in advance by letter. Why did you choose to use a physical letter over, say, a phone call or email?

You know, I hate telephones. I held out on getting a cell phone for ages and I'd probably toss it in a heartbeat if I could get away with it. I sort of feel the same way about email. But also, there's something romantic about handwritten letters. They're more personal, there's more of a connection to the words. Getting a Deathday Letter is a monumental event. I wanted readers to feel the gravity of it. You can't hold an email or a phone call. You can't stuff those things in your pocket or shove them in people's faces. I suppose in the end, the letter simply felt more real.


I often envy the daily word counts you post online. How do you achieve the "flow" state that results in a 4,000-word session?

Ha! The truth is that I wake up, walk my dog, and then sit down to work. I do it before the outside world has a chance to intrude. I can usually hold onto that for two hours. After that, my concentration begins to fade and I start thinking about emails and bills and the chores I need do. For me, it's really about shutting out the world, which is easiest to do when I'm still in that morning stupor. Either way, don't be envious, about half of that usually ends up under the unforgiving revision chainsaw.


What were the major, big-picture changes in TDL's manuscript at different stages of the process (pre-query revisions, revisions with agent, revisions with editor). For instance, did characters change most during a given stage, or plot structure, descriptions, etc?

Gosh. It's funny to think about this. When I first began DEATHDAY it was just under 2 years ago. I wrote about 6 chapters and then had to delete five of them. I realized I'd gone completely off the rails when I had Ollie and his friends waiting in the house of a stay-at-home mom who was also a high-class prostitute. I was trying to evoke one of my favorite scenes of all time (the scene from Biloxi Blues when Matthew Broderick and friends visit the prostitute) but it all went terribly wrong. Also, it didn't help that the original age of the characters was 13.

When Chris got ahold of it, he had some really amazing ideas and he was totally able to call me out on at least one pretty glaring mistake. But it wasn't until I signed with Simon Pulse that huge changes took place. I had the opportunity to work with two stellar people at Simon Pulse. Anica Rissi got me to really streamline my plot and she helped draw out some elements that I'd only hinted at. She got me to look at the big picture and then helped me bring it into focus. Then Emilia Rhodes was with me on the day-to-day stuff, guiding through the pitfalls of revisions. DEATHDAY really owes a lot to Chris, Anica, and Emilia. Without them, you might have been subjected to a scene where Ollie storms a post office and holds the occupants hostage with a limp windshield wiper.

Pretty much the only thing that really changed about characters though were their ages. We aged them up a little so that they could realistically do some of the stuff I wanted them to do. But the core of who they are, was consistent throughout.


You're working on a project that will bring great books to boys at a grassroots level. Imagine a boy who's never read for pleasure, and would balk at any of the currently popular paranormal YAs. What would you recommend for him?

I'm so excited about this. I bit off more than I could chew, but once the book releases, I look forward to turning my attention this.

For younger guys, I'd definitely recommend Susan Cooper's THE DARK IS RISING Sequence. They're such an imaginative, timeless series that really spoke to me at that age.













I also had the pleasure to recently read the soon-relased JACK BLANK AND THE IMAGINE NATION by Matt Myklusch. It has action and zombie robots and comic books and heroes. It's like Matt took every awesome thing and put it into one stellar book.

For older guys I'd put SPANKING SHAKESPEARE into their hands without hesitation. It's raunchy and funny and so true to what being a teen boy is like. I think, upon hitting puberty, every boy should be given a shaving razor and a copy of that book.












Cory Doctorow's LITTLE BROTHER is also great for the reluctant reader because it's all so scarily plausible. What I like about Doctorow is that he makes his political statements sexy and fun but never preaches.

Though the size might be intimidating, I think Patrick' Ness' THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO is one of the best teen books out there right now. I think it's just right for the kind of guy who believes there's nothing in YA for him and would go to genre literature instead. I WAS that guy. At about ten, I jumped ship and read adult books almost exclusively. It wasn't until HARRY POTTER that I realized how great YA had become.








You were one of Super-Agent Chris Richman's first clients. Which, of course, means you'll be early to the podium when we roast him in 40 years. Can you give us a preview?

Every time I've ever gotten upset or frustrated with Chris, it's because I know he's right. He's pretty infuriating that way. That's what makes him such a great agent. He knows what's going to piss me off and he tells me anyway because he knows it'll make me better. Chris surprises me all the time. I didn't know what to expect out of an agent. Chris has proven time and time again that he's the guy who goes the extra TEN miles to make things happen. Everything in this business is hard work and there are agents who might be inclined to give up when the going gets tough, but I don't think Chris knows the meaning. Sometimes I feel like I got more than an agent. I got a cheerleader too. Thankfully, he doesn't wear a skirt...that I know of.


For fun: What would be your Deathday meal(s)? Don't forget dessert!

Oh! Well Ollie's last meal is really my last meal. My mom's fried chicken and mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese would have to be on the list. Also, my dad's marinara sauce with meatballs and sausage. For dessert there would have to be lemon meringue pie. My mom's lemon meringue pie is worth dying for.

Thanks for having me!


Thank you, Shaun. Have a great book birthday!

Dying for more, readers?

> Visit THE DEATHDAY LETTER website

> Visit Shaun's website and blog

> Add THE DEATHDAY LETTER to your GoodReads To-Read list

> Find THE DEATHDAY LETTER at a local indie retailer

> Buy THE DEATHDAY LETTER through Powell's Books, Barnes & Noble, Borders, or Amazon

> Follow Shaun on Twitter for the latest news about DEATHDAY (and general shenanigans)