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WORK TITLE: Maybe We’re Electric
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WEBSITE: http://valemmich.com/
CITY: Jersey City
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http://valemmich.com/about/ * http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1589801/
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PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews June 1, 2017, review of Emmich, Val: THE REMINDERS.
Library Journal vol. 142 no. 3 Feb. 15, 2017, Gibbs, Beth. , “Emmich, Val. The Reminders.”.
Kirkus Reviews Aug. 1, 2021, , “Emmich, Val: MAYBE WE’RE ELECTRIC.”. p. NA.
Publishers Weekly vol. 268 no. 31 Aug. 2, 2021, , “Maybe We’re Electric.”. p. 63.
Kirkus Reviews Aug. 15, 2018, , “Emmich, Val: DEAR EVAN HANSEN.”.
Voice of Youth Advocates vol. 41 no. 5 Dec., 2018. Gov, Jane, and Sylvie Bower. , “Emmich, Val, with Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul. Dear Evan Hansen.”. p. 67.
Val Emmich
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Val Emmich
Val Emmich on stage at The Saint, Asbury Park, NJ on September 28, 2012
Val Emmich on stage at The Saint, Asbury Park, NJ on September 28, 2012
Background information
Birth name Val Matthew Emmich
Born 1979 (age 41–42)
Manalapan, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres Rock
Occupation(s) Writer, musician, actor
Instruments Guitar, piano, vocals
Years active 1997–present (actor)
2001–present (musician)
Labels Sony/Epic, Bluhammock Music, No Code
Val Matthew Emmich (/ˈɛmɪk/ EM-ik;[1] born 1979) is an American writer, singer-songwriter, and actor. He has had roles on HBO's Vinyl, NBC's 30 Rock, Showtime's The Big C, and ABC's Ugly Betty. He is the author of The New York Times bestselling YA book Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel and the adult novel The Reminders.
Contents
1 Early life
2 Musical career
2.1 Musical influences
3 Acting career
4 Writing career
5 Personal life
6 Discography[30]
6.1 Albums
6.2 EPs
6.3 Singles
6.4 Compilation
7 References
8 External links
Early life
Emmich was born in Manalapan, New Jersey. He is of Italian, Russian, and German ancestry.[2][3] He attended Manalapan High School where he played soccer.[4] At age 15, he was diagnosed with Lyme disease and had to give up all strenuous activities. During this time, he learned to play the guitar and began to write songs.[5] In 2001, Emmich and fellow musician Andy Gesner founded Artist Amplification, a program to help independent musicians and bands gain exposure to fans and the music industry.[6]
Musical career
While attending Rutgers University, Emmich performed with various bands, including Awake Asleep and Ben Trovato.[7] His first band's name was Superband, and he got a demo into the hands of Andy Gesner, then promoting with New Brunswick Underground. Gesner put off listening to the demo because of the band's name, but put it in on a flight, and was hooked, starting their music collaboration. Superband changed names to Ben Trovato, and released one album. Emmich then formed a new band, Awake Asleep, with Gesner on Bass, releasing one album.
After graduating from Rutgers in 2001 with a degree in American Studies, Emmich recorded an independent EP entitled The 15 Minute Relationship.
Val Emmich in concert in San Diego, California
He then recorded Slow Down Kid, a full-length independent album on Childlike Records produced by Wayne Dorrell. In November 2002, Emmich recorded his first music video, for the song "Shock", with his friend Matt Schumann, who went on to direct nearly all of Emmich's music videos. The video for "Shock" was featured at LA's Hype Fest and Toronto's NEXT Festival.[8] Emmich recorded a video for his song, "Privacy Attracts A Crowd." The video was shot at his alma mater Rutgers University in New Brunswick, and at the night club The Saint in Asbury Park, NJ. The video appeared on MTV's Total Request Live, making him the first unsigned artist to be featured on the show. He was then signed by Epic Records label Red Ink and recorded a new version of his Slow Down Kid album with four new songs, despite having already written and recorded an entire album of new material (entitled Scent and not released until Post Haste).[9]
In 2005, Emmich moved temporarily to Woodstock, New York and recorded another independent album, Songs, Volume 1: Woodstock which was released in 2007. The Woodstock sessions eventually became the independent studio album Sunlight Searchparty. In 2007, a track from the album, "The Only One Lonely," won the best video category at the Independent Music Awards.[8] After recording Sunlight Searchparty, Emmich left Epic Records in 2006 due to artistic differences. In 2008, Emmich signed with Bluhammock Music. On May 27, 2008, he released his first single from Little Daggers entitled "Get On With It".[10] The full album was released on September 23, 2008. Emmich's music video for "Get on With It" was nominated for a Best Video Award at the 2008 Independent Music Awards.[11] He released Looking For A Feeling You Never Knew You Needed on September 21, 2010 in a digital only format. In June 2011 he announced his intention to use Kickstarter to fund his next album and in just under 24 hours he reached his goal of raising $7000; by the end of the month he had reached more than $15,000. The album was produced by Jason Cupp and was designed to capture the feel of a live performance. On August 16 the album was released digitally to Kickstarter backers and was later released to the general public on October 11. Titled Aide Memoire, the 10-track album was recorded completely live to tape.[12][13] On August 28, 2012 Emmich released his album Bulldozzzer via Bandcamp free of charge. The 10-track album was kept secret from his fans until one week prior to its release.
In 2015, Emmich began a side project called The Good Names Are Taken and released a self-titled 6-song EP.[14]
The Star-Ledger called Emmich “one of the finest songwriters in the Garden State, [and] also one of the most prolific.”[15]
Musical influences
Emmich has been influenced by a wide range of musicians including Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, The Beatles, Wilco, Björk, Radiohead, R.E.M., Bright Eyes,[16] Nada Surf[17] and Paul Westerberg.
Acting career
Emmich began acting in 1997 to finance his college education. He got his start appearing in a television commercials for the Got Milk?, Burger King and AT&T Wireless.[18] He has also appeared in small roles in the television shows Ed, Third Watch, and Hope & Faith. More recently, he has appeared in NBC's 30 Rock with Tina Fey in the seventh episode of the second season titled "Cougars", ABC's Cashmere Mafia with Lucy Liu and as a love interest of Betty Suarez on Ugly Betty.[19][20] In the summer of 2008, he shot his first film, playing the lead role in the independent feature Fighting Fish.[21]
In 2014 he was hired by United Airlines for their television ad campaign "your gateway to the world", created by McGarryBowen in New York. In this commercial Emmich has to respectfully mangle various languages as he travels the world on the airline.[22][23] In 2016, he appeared as the recurring character, Alex, a guitarist with sticky fingers in the HBO series Vinyl.
Writing career
Emmich's debut novel, The Reminders, was published by Little Brown in the US and Canada in 2017[24] as well as in the U.K. (Picador), Denmark (Politikens), China (Horizon), France (Mosaic), Israel (Kinneret), Italy (Piemme), Germany (Droemer), Brazil (Intrinseca), and Holland (Ambo Anthos). It is currently being developed as a film.[25]
The Reminders was well-reviewed and received mostly praise by critics. Popsugar called the book “Beautiful and beguiling, a story that will stay with you long after you finish reading it.” The Star-Ledger said it was “A lovely debut novel exploring the bonds of friendship....enchanting....definitely worthy of being remembered.” In the National Book Review, "The Reminders" was deemed “A charming debut novel....Like Nick Hornby, Emmich has a knack for avoiding the treacly and saccharine while finding magic in unlikely relationships.” The novel was included in the best-of lists of Harper's BAZAAR, Entertainment Weekly, New York Post, AM New York, and HELLO! Canada. On May 28, 2017, Emmich appeared on NPR's "Weekend Edition" to discuss the book with host Lulu Garcia-Navarro.[25]
In 2018, Emmich adapted Steven Levenson and Pasek and Paul's Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen into a young adult novel. It was released on October 9, 2018.[26] It debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at #2 for the week of October 28, 2018.[27] On November 29, 2018, Universal Pictures and producer Marc Platt (father to Dear Evan Hansen star Ben Platt, who will reprise his role in the adaptation) secured the film rights to the musical. Very little material from Emmich's novel adaptation is used in the film, which was scripted by Levenson and directed by Stephen Chbosky. The film premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2021, followed by a theatrical release on September 24, 2021.[28][29]
Personal life
Emmich lives in Jersey City, New Jersey with his wife, a teacher, and their two children.[4]
Discography[30]
Albums
Slow Down Kid (2003)
Slow Down Kid [Sony/Epic] (2004)
Sunlight Searchparty (2006)
Songs, Volume 1: Woodstock (2007)
Little Daggers (2008)
Looking For A Feeling You Never Knew You Needed (2010)
Aide Memoire (2011)
Bulldozzzer (2012)
Whatever's Chasing You (2016)
Tizzy (2019)
EPs
The Reception (2002), with Hero Pattern
The Fifteen Minute Relationship (2002)
Ton Papa (Vinyl) (2011)
Pack Your Bags, Pack Your Heart (2014)
Autobio: Part One (2014)
The Good Names Are Taken (2015)
Autobio: Part Two (2018)
Singles
"American Girl" (2008)
"Snowy Day" (2009)
"Hard To Hurt Someone" (2011)
"Lately The Crazy" (2018)
"Party Mood" (2018)
"Cave" (2018)
Compilation
Posthaste (2001-2012) (2012)
HI, I'M VAL (AND THAT’S MILO)
I'm a singer-songwriter, novelist, and sometimes actor.
Maybe We’re Electric, my newest novel, is available now.
My previous book, Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel, is a New York Times bestseller based on the hit Broadway show; the film version hits theaters this September.
My latest album, Mean, was made in the year 2020. Enough said.
While you’re here, I think you should sign up for my email newsletter. I strive for heartbreaking frankness.
BIO
I'm a writer, singer-songwriter, and actor. For two decades , I've been releasing music that you can stream right now through your favorite platforms if you're interested. I’ve had roles on Vinyl (HBO), 30 Rock (NBC), and Ugly Betty (ABC) and been featured in a bunch of commercials, although I don’t do much acting anymore. My previous book, Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel, is a New York Times bestseller based on the hit Broadway show. My debut novel, The Reminders, was a Barnes & Noble Discover New Writers selection. A third novel Maybe We’re Electric will be published in September 2021. I live in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA.
My surname is pronounced Em-mick. Like the city of Munich. I tell you all about it here.
Here are some of the nonprofit organizations whose causes I support:
JDRF
NRDC
ACLU
ASPCA
AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
'The Reminders' Is A Story About Memory
May 28, 20178:09 AM ET
Heard on Weekend Edition Sunday
7-Minute Listen
Download
Transcript
What does it mean to be remembered? It's the question at the heart of The Reminders, the debut novel from actor, musician, and now author Val Emmich. He joins NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro.
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:
What does it mean to be remembered? It's the question at the heart of "The Reminders," the debut novel from actor, musician and now author Val Emmich. It's the story of Joan Lennon Sully, a 10-year-old girl, who desperately wants to be remembered, and her friendship with Gavin Winters, a bereaved actor and friend of Joan's parents, a man who just wants to forget. Together, the two form an unlikely bond based on Sully's highly superior autobiographical memory. She has perfect recall of almost every single day she's lived.
Val, thanks so much for being with us.
VAL EMMICH: Thanks for having me.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: So I wanted us to start with a short reading. But first, can you set the stage for us? Where do we find Joan at the start of the novel?
EMMICH: She's just finished this little class, which I imagine is - involves singing and acting and all sorts of fun activities for a girl 10 years old. And she's waiting for her father to pick her up. And her father is very late, and she's the last one, and she's sitting with the instructor. And so here we go.
(Reading) What time is it now, I ask, strumming my guitar. Five after 5. A car is coming fast but it passes by. I play a minor chord because I'm not in the mood for a happy sound. Ms. Caroline (ph) looks up at the clouds in the sunny sky and says, it's been so long since we've had rain. Actually, I say, it rained on June 20, which was a Thursday, and that was less than three weeks ago. Is that right? Yes, it is. She seems impressed. Did you always have such an amazing memory? No, I say. I got it when I fell on my head in Home Depot. Ms. Caroline laughs, but I'm telling the truth. My friend Wyatt (ph) knows all about comic books and the Internet, and he told me that falling on my head in Home Depot is what gave me my highly superior autobiographical memory and falling on my head again in Home Depot would make me lose it. That's why I haven't gone back to that store after all these years.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Why is Joan so worried that she is going to be forgotten?
EMMICH: Because I am, and I'm the author.
(LAUGHTER)
EMMICH: I think...
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Really, is that true?
EMMICH: It is. Well, I know I'll be forgotten. And I think you'd have to be a fool to think that anyone will remember any of us. But I think for someone who has a near perfect memory, she's sensitive to this idea of what people remember and what people forget. And she wants to be one of those things that people don't forget.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Let's talk about the other character in this book, which is Gavin. Tell me a little bit about him and what he's going through and when she first encounters him.
EMMICH: He's just lost his - the love of his life - Sydney. And they are living together in LA. And when Sydney dies, which is only a month ago, Gavin has to live in this house by himself, and he can't take looking around at all the reminders that Sydney left behind. And he starts burning a lot of the stuff when the book opens, but you can't burn these memories. So he leaves LA, and he goes to stay with some friends in New Jersey just to get away from these reminders. And Sydney, Gavin's partner, used to visit this family in New Jersey. And Joan was there, and she was observing and interacting. And she has stuff to tell. And some of it's very small stuff, like what he wore when he came by or what he ate for dinner.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: What does Gavin get from his friendship with Joan?
EMMICH: I mean, in a word, he gets renewal. Joan has her own, like, I guess, shallow goal, which is to win this song contest. But...
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Right.
EMMICH: ...It's a - really, it's a larger goal, which is to matter, you know, to matter not just today but to matter tomorrow, which is a mature goal for anyone, let alone a 10-year-old. But I think it's like a link into a past that he doesn't have access to. These are memories she offers him that he doesn't have. And at first, he's wary because he's trying to turn off this pain. It's like awakening the dead. It's like bringing the past to life. And Gavin can't - he can't deny that offer, you know.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: They get close by working on a song together. As you mentioned, she wanted to participate in this contest. Tell me a little bit about that relationship with music.
EMMICH: Well, music is this thing that's always around in the house with Joan because her father is a musician. He's got this little home studio. And she sees how powerful music is, how it can bring the past to life. And so they start to write the song together. And I think Gavin is unaware of, at first, how he's not just helping her with this song, he's helping himself. Not only is he able to deal with some of his grief through music, but just the communal aspect of songwriting and building something new is healing for him.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: You actually recorded the track that Joan and Gavin wrote together.
EMMICH: Yeah, it's called "Leave The Past Behind," and I think it's partially about that, moving on. But in order to move on, I think it's not about ignoring the past but somehow reckoning with it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LEAVE THE PAST BEHIND")
EMMICH: (Singing) Morning comes and you're not here. An empty bed, but I feel you near. Such a mess you left behind. I'm not so sure I'll make it this time.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: After you wrote this, did you come away with a sense of what it means to be remembered?
EMMICH: I did come up with an answer. And I think part of this book was me trying to deal with that. I don't know why it really bothers me that - I think the speed of our culture. We don't have a lot of time to think about the past. And I was trying to find an answer of, like, what does all this matter? What is...
GARCIA-NAVARRO: What is a life?
EMMICH: What is life? Like, yeah, just trying to crack that nut with a novel. I did come up with an answer. I don't want to give it away, but I think what does it matter when we're gone if someone remembers us? We won't be here. Why should we have that cause us turmoil in the here and now? Now, I say that, and I'd like to live towards that, but I still have a battle with that.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: That's Val Emmich. His debut novel is "The Reminders." Thanks so much for being with us.
EMMICH: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LEAVE THE PAST BEHIND")
EMMICH: (Singing) Life began when you arrived. What came before was a waste of time. Now I'm wondering where to go. Some answers I will never know. I could sail into outer space, but even stars, they leave a trace...
GARCIA-NAVARRO: This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Lulu Garcia-Navarro.
How Dear Evan Hansen Became a Novel
Get an inside look at the new book inspired by the Tony-winning musical, and hear an exclusive audio excerpt.
AuthorDavid GordonLocationsBroadwayOctober 09, 2018
Novelist and musician Val Emmich had a difficult task ahead of him when Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul tapped him to turn their Tony-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen into a novel. But the show's scribes gave Emmich everything: their full script, pages of deleted scenes and lyrics, and carte blanche to expand the Evan Hansen universe to suit the form of literature.
Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel is available now in book and audio formats, with Emmich, Levenson, Pasek, and Paul embarking on a national speaking and performance tour to promote the publication. Here, they discuss what it takes to turn a musical into a piece of literature, and why reading the book won't replace the experience of seeing Dear Evan Hansen live.
Val Emmich, Benj Pasek, Steven Levenson, and Justin Paul turn Dear Evan Hansen into a novel.
Val Emmich, Benj Pasek, Steven Levenson, and Justin Paul turn Dear Evan Hansen into a novel.
(© Sasha Illingworth)
As the writers of the original show, what were your goals for Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel? What was it about Val Emmich that made for the perfect fourth collaborator?
Steven Levenson: When the show opened on Broadway, we were so stunned by the response; in particular, we were amazed by the number of people responding to the show who hadn't even seen it. I think we were self-conscious about the fact that a Broadway ticket is not an easy thing to access, and we wanted to find a way to get this story to more people.
At the same time, there were questions about these characters that we had left unanswered that we were always curious about. In a two-and-a-half-hour musical, you have to narrow your focus such that you can't go down a lot of roads and explore tangents. All of those things coalesced to make us think about a novel.
Benj Pasek: We know that when you're trying to adapt one form into another, you need somebody who really understands that form. Not only has Val written novels before, in a style and voice that really resonated with us, but he's also a musician. He understands how to novelize a story and also what the power of music can do in storytelling.
A scene from the Broadway production of Dear Evan Hansen.
A scene from the Broadway production of Dear Evan Hansen.
(© Matthew Murphy)
Val, how did you go about making this story your own, especially when it came to adapting the score into prose form?
Val Emmich: They gave me everything: deleted scenes, deleted song lyrics. The first Dear Evan Hansen anything I received was the [script], and immediately, I thought it could be a novel. Then I saw the show and I thought less so that it could be a novel. It really attacks you from all angles, with the music, the amazing acting, the innovative production qualities, and on top of that, the really passionate audience response. But I met the guys and they seemed open to having it be something that explored different things than the show did.
I tried at first to insert lyrics from the show. I was thinking, as an audience member, that I would want there to be some kind of nod to the songs. But the guys found that to be inorganic. I tried some other ways. Zoe was a natural way in, because she's a musician. I went deeper into her goals and what she gets out of music, the therapeutic quality, and that led to a way of representing a song from the show.
At the climax of the story, there was a point where Evan wasn't as emotionally demolished as much as he is in the show, and they wanted more of that. I kept listening to one song in particular, "Words Fail," and I thought, "How can I do this on the page?" So the music was honored in a literal way and as an emotional guide, to know what a character was going through at a place in the story.
Justin Paul: The question in our heads was, "How do you take a moment that's so emotional and so experiential in a live format and put it into prose?" Val's musicianship as a songwriter gave us confidence, but from the get-go, we always said we're not trying to capture the show as a book. We're not trying to replace the experience of seeing the show. There were moments where we wanted the same energy and feeling from a song, and then moments where we said the novel is going to do its own thing. We view them as complementary experiences, but each is meant to be enjoyed on its own.
Did you take the show's fan base into consideration when creating this book and expanding the Dear Evan Hansen universe?
Benj: Our show changed when it interacted with an audience for the first time. And we've continued to have a dialogue with the audience regarding the book, thinking about what they would want from these characters. They played a big part in how we wanted to dive into the character of Connor especially, but also in how we get to know more about Evan and his mother, and all the family dynamics.
Steven: Without giving too much away, I love what Val has done with Connor and "Mrs. G in second grade." I love the surprising turn it takes in the book, when people realize what they think they know about Connor is not actually the real story.
Justin: It's almost like a joke, the line where Jared says, "Connor Murphy is batsh*t out of his mind. Do you remember when he threw a printer at Mrs. G in second grade, because he didn't get to be line leader that day?" We had always talked about what that really was. It probably wasn't him being a menace; it was probably because he was a kid who had emotions that he couldn't control and had an outburst. We always said there was more to that story.
That was the perfect encapsulation of what this process allowed us to do. Val has gotten into the world and written beautiful and meaningful backstories that help us understand the characters so much more.
CONTRIBUTOR
Val Emmich on Sucking and the Short, Torturous Ten-Year Process of Getting Published
David Henry Sterry
By
David Henry Sterry, Contributor
Author, activist, performer, muckraker, book doctor
07/26/2017 03:24pm EDT
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.
We met Val Emmich when he won our Jersey City Pitchapalooza at Word Bookstore. He was so comfortable presenting, he paused in all the right places, and he put the right emphasis on all the right words. And he had a fantastic story. We found out he's also a very accomplished actor and musician, which explained his ability to present himself. One of the greatest things about being a book doctor is when one of your patients gets a fab book deal with a fantastic publisher. Val did exactly that. So we thought we’d pick his brain about exactly how he managed to add Author to his impressive resume.
Val Emmich
Val Emmich
ANDREW HOLTZ
The Book Doctors: What were some of your favorite books as a kid, and why? What are you reading currently?
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Val Emmich: I have pretty poor recall of my childhood years, which may be surprising coming from someone who just wrote a whole novel about a child with a near-perfect memory. That said, I do remember ripping through as many Hardy Boys books as I could. I also have a vivid recollection of listening to one of my teachers read aloud to our class Charlotte’s Web. I was riveted by it, probably because it’s about animals and I love animals, more than I love people. Right now, I’m reading Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance, a recommendation from my father, and The Nix by Nathan Hill.
TBD: David was also an actor who became a writer of books. How do you think this helped you as you craft a first novel?
VE: Acting is about putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. Embodying a character that isn’t you. It requires empathy and observational skills. You keep searching for how to get to the heart of the person you’re trying to portray. You’re looking for a detail that speaks to you. How someone walks. How he got that scar on his chin. How he styles his hair. This is all very similar to the character work necessary for writing a novel. Additionally, the process of reading and breaking down scripts was really instructive, both in terms of understanding the motivation and objective of a given scene and also how stories are structured and paced.
TBD: Tell us about The Reminders.
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VE: Joan is ten and she’s got this rare condition where she can recall nearly every day of her life in exact detail. Then there’s Gavin, an actor in his thirties, who’s just lost his partner and soulmate, Sydney. Gavin attempts to rid his life of all reminders of Sydney, hoping it’ll soothe some of his overwhelming pain. But then he learns that Joan possesses detailed memories of Sydney, stories about him that Gavin has never heard, and Gavin has no choice but to dive back into the past. Meanwhile, Joan wants something back from Gavin. She’s the girl who can’t forget, but she’d rather be the girl who can’t be forgotten and she believes that Gavin, a semi-celebrity, might be able to help her achieve that dream.
The idea for the novel first came to me when my daughter fell out of a shopping cart in Home Depot and landed on her head on the concrete floor. Around the same time I saw a piece on 60 Minutes that featured people with this real-life memory condition known as highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM) and I had this absurd thought: What if my daughter’s bonk on the head resulted in her somehow acquiring this specialized memory? That ridiculous hypothesis, the playfulness of it, set the tone for the whole novel.
LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY
TBD: Please describe your path to publication.
VE: The quick version. I wrote one novel. It sucked. I wrote a second novel. It sucked less. I wrote a third novel. It was decent enough to get me an agent. We tore the novel apart, and I built it back up again essentially from scratch. Then my agent sold the book and my editors tore it up and I put it back together yet again. By the time the novel was published, in May of this year, it had been ten years of dedicated writing, along with tons of reading (other novels, how-to books), attending writers conferences and picking the brains of the few writers I had access to who had written books.
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TBD: Was it difficult writing in two voices?
VE: Very. The most difficult parts were making sure the voices were both distinct and compelling. The consensus among my earliest readers seemed to be that Joan was the star of the book. I knew I’d never be able to have Gavin outshine her. That’s not his role. Still, I wanted to make sure his sections didn’t feel like a letdown after hers.
I’d listen to different music when writing in each voice. I found songs that seemed to tap into the energy of each character. After listening to the songs over and over, the music began to trigger an almost Pavlovian response in me where I’d immediately enter the head of that specific character. Also, I focused in a boringly technical way on the language used by my two protagonists. I created a detailed spreadsheet that counted the frequency of each word in each section. It showed me a lot about what I was organically doing with each character, and at that point, it was a matter of removing what made the two voices similar and emphasizing what made them different. Eventually, this overt hypersensitivity to vocabulary became second nature and I was able to write fluidly, making Joan and Gavin their own distinct people on the page.
TBD: We notice that you are doing house concerts to promote your book. What exactly are they, and how did you come up with the idea?
VE: It just made sense. The book is partially about music. I’m a musician, songwriter, and performer. I record and release albums. I have music fans. I hoped my music fans would also be interested in reading my book. On top of all that, I’ve been to enough poorly attended author events at bookstores, and even when they’re well attended, they can be boring when it’s just straight-up reading. I wanted to do a hybrid event, some reading, a bit of discussion, plenty of music. I didn’t feel like a bookstore or traditional music venue was going to offer the intimate, casual vibe I had in mind as well as the guarantee of a crowd. I wanted a place where people could relax and stay a while and where I could really forge a personal connection. I reached out to some of my fans and asked if they’d be interested in hosting shows in their homes and inviting all their friends. They said yes.
TBD: How does being a musician and songwriter affect your prose writing?
VE: Prose writing requires an ear, just like songwriting. You need to have a sense of rhythm. Also, with a song (at least with my songs) there’s usually a refrain or leitmotif that emphasizes an important theme or emotion. I try to do the same thing in my writing, sprinkle in timely repetitions to drive home something that I deem significant. But I think the biggest thing I’ve learned from my life in music has to with my understanding of the audience. Over two decades of performing in front of a crowd and engaging online with listener feedback, I’ve learned a lot about how to make people feel something. The goal is the same when writing prose: to trigger a reaction in the reader.
TBD: What are you working on next?
VE: I’ve started writing a new novel. Before I get too deep into it, I plan to record and release new music. Songwriting is more tactile and physical than prose writing. It also takes far less time. I need a more immediate artistic fix right now.
TBD: We hate to ask you this, but what advice do you have for writers?
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VE: Treat it like a real job and remember that even a so-called real job involves plenty of goofing off. Carve out time to write, whatever works for you, thirty minutes, four hours, however long and sit there, even if you’re not actually typing words or producing pages, just sit there. Even when you’re staring at a white page, mind wandering elsewhere, that’s okay. That’s work. Sitting there with that dumb look on your face is part of the job. Do it again the next day. And the next. If you miss a day, no worries. Miss two days? Doesn’t matter. Put yourself in that chair as many times as you can over as long a stretch as you can. If you keep showing up in that chair, over time, enough time, you might have something. Might not, but there’s no other way to do it. If you want it, that’s what’s required: hours. There’s less magic involved than the would-be writer might imagine. At the end of the day, it’s simple math. It’s a whole bunch of hours added up. Start spending them.
Dubbed a "Renaissance Man" by the New York Post, Val Emmich is a writer, singer-songwriter, and actor. He has had recurring roles on Vinyl and Ugly Betty as well as a memorable guest role as Liz Lemon's coffee-boy fling, Jamie, on 30 Rock. Emmich lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, with his wife and their two children. The Reminders is his first novel.
Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry are co-founders of The Book Doctors, a company that has helped countless authors get their books published. They are co-authors of The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published: How To Write It, Sell It, and Market It... Successfully (Workman, 2015). They are also book editors, and between them they have authored 25 books, and appeared on National Public Radio, the London Times, and the front cover of the Sunday New York Times Book Review.
July 28, 2017
VAL EMMICH ON SUCKING AND THE SHORT, TORTUROUS TEN-YEAR PROCESS OF GETTING PUBLISHED
ARIELLE ECKSTUT / ALL, AUTHOR INTERVIEWS, BOOK PROMOTION & MARKETING, PITCHAPALOOZA, WRITING /
We met Val Emmich when he won our Jersey City Pitchapalooza at Word Bookstore. He was so comfortable presenting, he paused in all the right places, and he put the right emphasis on all the right words. And he had a fantastic story. We found out he’s also a very accomplished actor and musician, which explained his ability to present himself. One of the greatest things about being a book doctor is when one of your patients gets a fab book deal with a fantastic publisher. Val did exactly that. So we thought we’d pick his brain about exactly how he managed to add Author to his impressive resume.
Photo of Val Emmich sitting in front of a door playing a guitar
Val Emmich
The Book Doctors: What were some of your favorite books as a kid, and why? What are you reading currently?
Val Emmich: I have pretty poor recall of my childhood years, which may be surprising coming from someone who just wrote a whole novel about a child with a near-perfect memory. That said, I do remember ripping through as many Hardy Boys books as I could. I also have a vivid recollection of listening to one of my teachers read aloud to our class Charlotte’s Web. I was riveted by it, probably because it’s about animals and I love animals, more than I love people. Right now, I’m reading Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance, a recommendation from my father, and The Nix by Nathan Hill.
TBD: David was also an actor who became a writer of books. How do you think this helped you as you craft a first novel?
VE: Acting is about putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. Embodying a character that isn’t you. It requires empathy and observational skills. You keep searching for how to get to the heart of the person you’re trying to portray. You’re looking for a detail that speaks to you. How someone walks. How he got that scar on his chin. How he styles his hair. This is all very similar to the character work necessary for writing a novel. Additionally, the process of reading and breaking down scripts was really instructive, both in terms of understanding the motivation and objective of a given scene and also how stories are structured and paced.
TBD: Tell us about The Reminders.
VE: Joan is ten and she’s got this rare condition where she can recall nearly every day of her life in exact detail. Then there’s Gavin, an actor in his thirties, who’s just lost his partner and soulmate, Sydney. Gavin attempts to rid his life of all reminders of Sydney, hoping it’ll soothe some of his overwhelming pain. But then he learns that Joan possesses detailed memories of Sydney, stories about him that Gavin has never heard, and Gavin has no choice but to dive back into the past. Meanwhile, Joan wants something back from Gavin. She’s the girl who can’t forget, but she’d rather be the girl who can’t be forgotten and she believes that Gavin, a semi-celebrity, might be able to help her achieve that dream.
The idea for the novel first came to me when my daughter fell out of a shopping cart in Home Depot and landed on her head on the concrete floor. Around the same time I saw a piece on 60 Minutes that featured people with this real-life memory condition known as highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM) and I had this absurd thought: What if my daughter’s bonk on the head resulted in her somehow acquiring this specialized memory? That ridiculous hypothesis, the playfulness of it, set the tone for the whole novel.
Cover of The Reminders by Val Emmich; string tied around pointing index finger of a white hand
Little, Brown and Company
TBD: Please describe your path to publication.
VE: The quick version. I wrote one novel. It sucked. I wrote a second novel. It sucked less. I wrote a third novel. It was decent enough to get me an agent. We tore the novel apart, and I built it back up again essentially from scratch. Then my agent sold the book and my editors tore it up and I put it back together yet again. By the time the novel was published, in May of this year, it had been ten years of dedicated writing, along with tons of reading (other novels, how-to books), attending writers conferences and picking the brains of the few writers I had access to who had written books.
TBD: Was it difficult writing in two voices?
VE: Very. The most difficult parts were making sure the voices were both distinct and compelling. The consensus among my earliest readers seemed to be that Joan was the star of the book. I knew I’d never be able to have Gavin outshine her. That’s not his role. Still, I wanted to make sure his sections didn’t feel like a letdown after hers.
I’d listen to different music when writing in each voice. I found songs that seemed to tap into the energy of each character. After listening to the songs over and over, the music began to trigger an almost Pavlovian response in me where I’d immediately enter the head of that specific character. Also, I focused in a boringly technical way on the language used by my two protagonists. I created a detailed spreadsheet that counted the frequency of each word in each section. It showed me a lot about what I was organically doing with each character, and at that point, it was a matter of removing what made the two voices similar and emphasizing what made them different. Eventually, this overt hypersensitivity to vocabulary became second nature and I was able to write fluidly, making Joan and Gavin their own distinct people on the page.
TBD: We notice that you are doing house concerts to promote your book. What exactly are they, and how did you come up with the idea?
VE: It just made sense. The book is partially about music. I’m a musician, songwriter, and performer. I record and release albums. I have music fans. I hoped my music fans would also be interested in reading my book. On top of all that, I’ve been to enough poorly attended author events at bookstores, and even when they’re well attended, they can be boring when it’s just straight-up reading. I wanted to do a hybrid event, some reading, a bit of discussion, plenty of music. I didn’t feel like a bookstore or traditional music venue was going to offer the intimate, casual vibe I had in mind as well as the guarantee of a crowd. I wanted a place where people could relax and stay a while and where I could really forge a personal connection. I reached out to some of my fans and asked if they’d be interested in hosting shows in their homes and inviting all their friends. They said yes.
TBD: How does being a musician and songwriter affect your prose writing?
VE: Prose writing requires an ear, just like songwriting. You need to have a sense of rhythm. Also, with a song (at least with my songs) there’s usually a refrain or leitmotif that emphasizes an important theme or emotion. I try to do the same thing in my writing, sprinkle in timely repetitions to drive home something that I deem significant. But I think the biggest thing I’ve learned from my life in music has to with my understanding of the audience. Over two decades of performing in front of a crowd and engaging online with listener feedback, I’ve learned a lot about how to make people feel something. The goal is the same when writing prose: to trigger a reaction in the reader.
TBD: What are you working on next?
VE: I’ve started writing a new novel. Before I get too deep into it, I plan to record and release new music. Songwriting is more tactile and physical than prose writing. It also takes far less time. I need a more immediate artistic fix right now.
TBD: We hate to ask you this, but what advice do you have for writers?
VE: Treat it like a real job and remember that even a so-called real job involves plenty of goofing off. Carve out time to write, whatever works for you, thirty minutes, four hours, however long and sit there, even if you’re not actually typing words or producing pages, just sit there. Even when you’re staring at a white page, mind wandering elsewhere, that’s okay. That’s work. Sitting there with that dumb look on your face is part of the job. Do it again the next day. And the next. If you miss a day, no worries. Miss two days? Doesn’t matter. Put yourself in that chair as many times as you can over as long a stretch as you can. If you keep showing up in that chair, over time, enough time, you might have something. Might not, but there’s no other way to do it. If you want it, that’s what’s required: hours. There’s less magic involved than the would-be writer might imagine. At the end of the day, it’s simple math. It’s a whole bunch of hours added up. Start spending them.
Dubbed a “Renaissance Man” by the New York Post, Val Emmich is a writer, singer-songwriter, and actor. He has had recurring roles on Vinyl and Ugly Betty as well as a memorable guest role as Liz Lemon’s coffee-boy fling, Jamie, on 30 Rock. Emmich lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, with his wife and their two children. The Reminders is his first novel.
Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel-Q & A with Val Emmich
by Elisa Zied | Oct 25, 2018 | books, fiction | 9 comments
When I heard that my all-time favorite Broadway musical*, Dear Evan Hansen, was going to be made into a young adult novel, my heart swelled. Not only do I love reading YA books, but I’m working on two of my own as I pursue an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. I was excited for us DEH fans to have a different way to enjoy the overwhelming and satisfying experience that is Dear Evan Hansen. But mostly, I was excited for this novel way (see what I did?!) to share the story with teens and adults who may not get to see the show in person. The book (along with the soundtrack) are truly excellent surrogates that can be enjoyed again and again.
Despite the daunting task of turning a brilliant Tony- and Grammy award-winning musical into a YA book, Val Emmich—with book writer extraordinaire, Steven Levenson, and the dynamic, Oscar-winning duo, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul—did it. The book is wonderful. It’s moving. It touches your heart. I was admittedly very nervous to read it, because how could it measure up to the Broadway musical? But any fears I had about the novel not being able to capture the magic of the stage production disappeared in an instant. Like the show, the novel made me laugh and cry. And, like the show, it’s one I will be sure to visit again.
After fan-girling over Emmich, Levinson, Pasek and Paul at both BookCon last spring and at the Dear Evan Hansen: the Novel book launch this month (see photos below), I had the pleasure of doing an email Q & A with the multi-talented Emmich.
At BookCon 2018. From left to right: Justin Paul, Benj Pasek, Steven Levenson & Val Emmich.
At BookCon 2018. Never too old to be a fangirl (or fanwoman)?!
At Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel book launch at Town Hall in New York City. Moderated by Queer Eye’s Tan France & Antoni Porowski.
At Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel book launch at Town Hall in October 2018. Even my husband (far right) is a fan!
A singer/songwriter, actor (30 Rock, Ugly Betty, etc.), and novelist, Emmich was kind enough to share what it was like to work on Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel and give us a glimpse of his creative life:
Overall, how was the experience working with the Dear Evan Hansen team (Steven Levenson and Pasek & Paul and the publishing team) to turn an extraordinary musical into a young adult book? What were the highs and the challenges?
In some ways it was easy because I had source material of the highest quality. But that also made it challenging, because I had to meet such a high standard. There are expectations with this book and some of those expectations are unfair. A book can’t do what a musical can do. However, the opposite is also true. A book can really take its time and give a close-up, intimate view of characters. The hardest obstacle was making sure the really big, emotional moments on stage had enough of a wallop on the page. The team was always there to gently nudge me when I wasn’t being faithful enough to the show and they also allowed me the freedom to do my own thing, particularly when it came to backstory.
Did you have any reservations about diving into the young adult book space, especially after writing your first novel, The Reminders? And did you have any idea what you were getting yourself into (DEH’s fans are among the most amazing and devoted, and readers of YA books are a smart and discriminating bunch)?
I was overwhelmed with reservations. I saw how devoted the DEH fanbase is and I didn’t want to disappoint them. I also didn’t want to disappoint Steven, Benj and Justin. They’ve worked so hard to make this story what it is and I wanted to honor that. In the end, I tried to trust my own emotions. I related to the character of Evan immediately and I knew that if I stayed true to that shared experience, I’d be okay.
You are a multi-talented and creative person. How did your musical and acting background inform/enhance the writing of Dear Evan Hansen?
I’ve put in my 10,000 hours as a songwriter, so breaking down songs is instinctive to me. I created a playlist that I’d listen to while writing. The playlist included every song from the show. I’d listen to whatever song matched the scene I was writing and it would give me insight into what the characters were feeling. I always knew that I wanted to somehow honor the show’s music in the novel and I found varied ways of doing that. One example occurs in the beginning of the book in the opening scene with Evan and his mom, Heidi. In the show, Heidi sings the song “Anybody Have A Map?” in which she reveals her misgivings about how she’s performing as a mother. The book is mainly told from Evan’s point of view, so I couldn’t show all of what Heidi was feeling in that moment. Instead, she walks up to a physical map on Evan’s wall and that leads to a revealing discussion between the two of them. In the song, the map is a metaphor. In the book, it’s a literal thing.
How did you prepare with the team and solo to write the novel, and did you have a particular process?
I saw the show twice and had a copy of the book that Steven wrote. When I had questions, I’d email the guys and our editor, Farrin Jacobs. I referred to a few other novels, mostly YA, to get a clearer picture of what I wanted our novel to be. I also spoke at length with people clued into high school—my nieces and nephews, as well as my teacher friends. After that, it was just sitting at my desk every day and writing. The hardest part for me when starting a new piece is finding the voice, in this case Evan and Connor’s. How they speak and think, how they tell their story. That takes the longest.
Where and when do you like to write (music, novels, etc.), and what are a few must-haves on your person/desk or in your work space to stay inspired?
I write mainly in two places, both alone. At my desk and in the bathtub. The bathtub is full of water. It takes some practice not to electrocute myself.** I haven’t found a better place for feeling totally isolated and shut off from the world. Also, there’s something about water that works for me.
What would you say was the best, most fulfilling part of the Dear Evan Hansen writing experience? Was there anything new you learned about yourself or otherwise along the way?
Getting a chance to flesh out the character of Connor Murphy with the guys was definitely the most rewarding. I think that’s the main area where the novel and the show are different. In the show, we only know Connor through the lens of Evan. In the book, we get to know the real Connor. Writing his story was emotionally taxing. I just wanted to make sure it was handled with the utmost care and respect.
Which character in Dear Evan Hansen do you most relate to and why? And what, if any, advice would you offer them?
I relate most to Evan. I, too, am a shy, anxious, neurotic person. I’m proud to be involved with a story that promotes a message of hope, that we are not alone in our loneliness. I’d add that our mistakes may seem insurmountable in the moment, but most of the time there really is a way out. There is a tomorrow.
What projects (in any of your many fields) are on the horizon for you?
I’ve just released some new music, an EP called Autobio, Part 2 which is available to stream through all the usual platforms. I’ve also recorded a cover of “If I Could Tell Her” from the Dear Evan Hansen musical, which I performed on tour with Benj and Justin. And I just started a new novel. It’s too early to know if it’s worth finishing. We’ll see.
Emmich performing at the Dear Evan Hansen: the Novel book launch at Town Hall in New York City, October 2018.
Favorite recent/current read and why: The North Water by Ian McGuire. Beautifully written and researched while also swift and suspenseful.
Favorite recent/classic artist/album and why? This is probably bad to say, since I release albums myself, but I listen mostly to singles these days. “Origins” by Tennis is a current favorite.
Favorite snack: Popcorn.
Favorite flavor of ice cream: Coconut Almond Fudge
Coffee or tea? Coffee. Black.
Pizza or pasta? Pasta
Going out solo or with 1-2 people or with a big group? 1-2 people
To learn more about Emmich, visit his website. Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel is available wherever books are sold.
*No offense to A Chorus Line, Jersey Boys, Cabaret, Hairspray, Rent, Sunday in the Park with George…you know I adore you.
**Do not try this at home! (And Val—please don’t electrocute yourself!)
This post updated on 1-8-19.
May 5, 2019
“The book was a way to confront the trauma I had been ignoring”
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By Sam Brooks
Staff Feature Writer
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Actor/songwriter/author Val Emmich adapted Dear Evan Hansen from a musical (Photo: Supplied)
Actor/songwriter/author Val Emmich adapted Dear Evan Hansen from a musical (Photo: Supplied)
Playwright and The Spinoff’s culture editor Sam Brooks interviews Val Emmich, author of Dear Evan Hansen, about the life-changing process of adapting a smash Broadway musical into a book.
Musicals and young adult novels have a few things in common, earnestness and accessibility being two of them, but the most prominent thing they share is that, well, fans goddamn love them. They know them back to front, they’ve bought the paperback/vinyl (choose applicable) and if someone messes with it, they’re wrong.
I can’t imagine a more daunting task than adapting a musical into a young adult novel. The reverse has been done, to much success, with Wicked. People adapt books into other art forms all the time – book to film, book to TV series, book to play, book to video game even – but to adapt a beloved musical, now the inevitable endpoint for every crowd-pleasing blockbuster it seems, into a book? That’s a new one.
That’s precisely what Val Emmich, the multi-hyphenated actor-songwriter-author has done with Dear Evan Hansen. Just how beloved is the musical? Six Tony Awards, a Grammy, an already in-development adaptation into a film, that’s how beloved.
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It’s not hard to see why it’s a candidate for an adaptation. The story follows Evan, a high school student with immense social anxiety, and the accidental hole he digs for himself when he places himself at the centre of an important tragedy, a place he has no right to occupy. It ticks off a list of important topics (mental illness, youth suicide, high school trauma) with efficiency and detail. I wish it had been around when I was in high school.
It’s not the stuff of Harry Potter, but it’s definitely the stuff that our teenagers – is there a phrase that makes one feel older than ‘our teenagers’ – are experiencing, and need to be engaging with in their art and literature. But! That doesn’t make adapting a musical, especially one as immediately popular as this one, into a YA novel, any easier.
Ahead of his appearances at the Auckland Writers Festival, Emmich explains how it went down.
Where did the idea to adapt Dear Evan Hansen come from? The shift from musical to novel is not necessarily an instinctive one, or a path often taken, so I’m interested to hear how exactly that came about.
To my knowledge it’s not a path that has ever been taken, with the possible exception of the musical Annie many, many years ago. It was a decision made by the show’s creators. They realised that tons of people around the country were engaging with the music and they were familiar with the story even though they lived thousands of miles away from Broadway and had never seen the show.
The show was playing in one city where a ticket was expensive and hard to get. A book was a way to spread the story to a lot more people at an affordable price. It was also a way to expand the story in a way that there was no time or space for in a two-hour show. And that’s where I came in.
Noah Galvin, the second actor to play Evan Hansen on Broadway, signs autographs for fans in 2017 (Photo: Santiago Felipe/Getty Images)
What kinds of challenges are there in adapting it between art forms – a two-hour musical is obviously not the same as a 200-or-so page book, so what kind of concessions do you have to make to form in that scenario?
Almost 400 pages! Thankfully, because I needed all the room I could get to tell this story. I faced the obvious obstacles. I don’t have music, lights, staging, or actors; I only have words. That’s it. But one advantage I have is that I can go more slowly and really allow the reader to spend time with the characters. I bring the reader inside Evan Hansen’s head (and Connor Murphy’s) and you can’t do that in a live show.
That said, I had to find a way to capture the power of the show that is generated from all the wonderful music and performances. That was accomplished in many ways. I’d listen to the song that matched each moment in the story and I’d study the lyrics to get insight into the emotions of the characters. I would take metaphors used in the songs and turn them into tangible objects in the book – the metaphoric “map” in the opening song ‘Anybody Have A Map?’ turned into a literal map on Evan’s wall, one that offered new background information about Evan’s father. I also tried to approximate the mood of the music. I’m a singer and songwriter – and have been for way longer than I’ve been a novelist – so I’m used to breaking down songs, interpreting them, internalising them. I’m also an actor so I tried to incorporate the physicality of the actor’s performances (I saw the show twice on Broadway).
Finally, I filled in moments that were missing from the show. After Connor Murphy dies, what happens? Is there a funeral? Who attends? How does the family grieve? We don’t see any of that in the show. In a book, I can tell you everything that happens.
There’s such a devoted fanbase for Dear Evan Hansen. When you’re adapting it, how do you honour the original work while making it your own?
I was very aware of the fervour with which fans engage with this story. I was careful never to contradict what was in the show. The book is a companion piece, not a replacement. As I described above, I mostly filled in the gaps. Think of the show as a skeleton with a huge heart and I added joints and muscle to the body.
Also, the creators and I wanted to give the fans what they wanted. People were eager to know more about the enigmatic character of Connor Murphy. The book expands his character and offers insight into what motivated him to take his life.
In a similar vein, what kind of process do you get through when you’re breaking down a song into a passage in a book? How exactly do you decide what to keep, what to change, and what to put away?
I never wanted to force the music into the book. I was always looking for organic ways to do it. The character of Zoe Murphy – Connor’s sister and Evan’s love interest – offered me a way to incorporate a few specific songs. Zoe is a jazz guitarist in the show. In the book she progresses into a singer and songwriter. It’s a way for her to express the grief and regret and love that she’s feeling. She finds her voice over the course of the story, partly because after her brother dies there’s this giant void to fill.
What’s the part of the book that you’re most proud of being able to adapt from the musical, or the bit you did most successfully?
Connor Murphy. We learn almost nothing about him in the show. Only rumours and lies. The creators challenged me to find out who the real Connor was. The prologue to the book, which is from Connor’s POV, was the very first piece of writing I did for the novel. His voice came to me quickly. In terms of who Connor was as a person and the details of his life, I’d experiment, and then send it to the creators and our editor, and they’d send back notes. I’d adjust and try new things and again they’d send me feedback. Over time we had turned this mythic figure into a real person. I’m extremely proud of that.
Val Emmich is also an actor who guest starred in Ugly Betty (Photo: David Giesbrecht/ABC via Getty Images)
Dear Evan Hansen is one of those musicals that became a phenomenon because it’s such an intimate, personal story that means different things to different people. What part resonates most with you?
It was the anxiety and depression that Evan and Connor are struggling with. I didn’t want to take on this job at first. I thought it was a fool’s errand that it would be unfairly judged and surely a failure. The thing that ultimately made me take a leap of faith and take on the project – besides the urging of my agent and friends who all felt I would be an idiot to pass up the opportunity – was the belief that I really knew and understood the emotional struggles of Evan and Connor. I’ve had to deal with anxiety and depression all my whole life, as well as the ramifications of suicide, and the book was a way to confront the trauma I had been ignoring. It actually led me to begin seeing a therapist for the first time.
Was there any agonising or back and forth with how to present some of what Dear Evan Hansen deals with? In a musical, there’s obviously the inherent uplift of the music and the performance, but you don’t really get that with a book in the same way.
Yes. I recall three instances. First, we wanted to make sure that Evan paid adequately for his mistakes. The message of the show is positive – that there’s strength and hope in connection, and also what feels insurmountable today may be surmountable tomorrow. But critics of the show felt that Evan may have gotten off too easily. In the show, after the last act, we skip straight to the epilogue and we miss a year plus of Evan’s life. In the book we show how hard it was for Evan and the ways he paid for his mistakes.
The character of Connor was handled very carefully. None of us wanted to glorify or romanticise suicide. We wanted to make Connor less mythic and more of a real, fleshed-out person. To dig deeper into how hard it is for his family once he’s gone. And finally, with the help of an artistic leap, to show how Connor feels about his decision to end his life. In the end, it’s a cautionary tale.
The hardest scene to get right was when the truth comes out about all the lies Evan has been telling. Benj, Justin and Stephen kept asking me to make it messier emotionally. In the show, that’s the moment where Evan sings the song “Words Fail” and the actor on stage is literally sobbing as he sings. I didn’t know how to translate that anguish on the page. I kept listening to that song over and over and deconstructing my sentences until they approximated Evan’s breakdown on stage. We went back and forth until the guys felt that I had finally nailed the scene.
How do you hope the book adds to young people’s understandings of mental health. What do you think is missing from that conversation, if anything?
I have zero hopes. I am not the hoping kind. I can’t begin to guess what young people need. I can only tell you what I need. I turned 40 this year and I am in some ways more anxious and depressed than I was as a teen. But here’s the thing: I wouldn’t have admitted that to you 20 years ago. I wouldn’t tell you – a total stranger – that when I was a kid my father tried to commit suicide several times, once stabbing himself in front of me and my little brother. I used to be too ashamed to admit that (still am, but less so). I used to try to protect my family more than myself. What’s changed? I think people are talking more. Mental health is being discussed. You and I are speaking about it now. The novel puts the problem out there for everyone to see. Our personal pain doesn’t have to be a secret if we don’t want it to be. That’s what I needed to learn and I’m still learning it. You asked me how the book might add to young people’s understandings of mental health? The more we talk, the closer we’ll all get to finding out. We do that together. How’s that for hope?
Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel, by Val Emmich (Puffin, RRP $26) is available at Unity Books.
An Interview With The Singer-Songwriter, VAL EMMICH On Writing, Acting and Singing!
Posted On 17 Jul 2019By : LeahComment: 0Tag: All Access, All Access Music, All Access Music Group, Artist Interview, Tizzy, Val Emmich, Worry
Photo Credit- Rob Fitzgerald
Meet Val Emmich!
He is a writer, singer-songwriter and actor. He’s released more than a dozen albums, has been called “one of the finest songwriters in the Garden State, [and] also one of the most prolific.” He’s acted in shows like Vinyl (HBO), 30 Rock (NBC), The Big C (Showtime) and Ugly Betty (ABC) and been featured in a bunch of commercials. His debut novel, The Reminders, was a Barnes & Noble Discover New Writers selection. And his newest book, Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel, is a New York Times bestseller based on the hit Broadway show.
His latest music video is for his song “Worry” – it’s off his recently released album, Tizzy. The record highlights his openness with depression and anxiety, something he’s dealt with all his life.
You can check that video out here: https://youtu.be/TI9zZ6l0CTs
Connect With Val Emmich Online Here:
www.ValEmmich.com
www.Facebook.com/ValEmmichMusic
www.Twitter.com/ValEmmich
www.Instagram.com/ValEmmich
Thanks for your time today! Where does this interview find you?
You find me sipping coffee with a five-month old rescue dog at my feet. The coffee is necessary every day but especially when you’ve just adopted a puppy. Please send help!
Now that we are half-way through the year, how has 2019 been treating you? What are some goals that you have for yourself this year? How close are you to reaching them?
It’s been pretty good. I released a new album, Tizzy, and finished a new novel that will be published in 2020. But to tell you the truth, I’ve been working hard to set less goals for myself. I think a good portion of my angst is based on me trying to do too much and that comes from this deep need inside to constantly prove myself (I’ve only recently learned this in therapy). For example, a few weeks ago I decided I wanted to record a second new album this summer, and I had to take a step back and remind myself that I was doing it again, not taking a moment to breathe. I was rushing to the next thing when there was no reason to. I constantly feel like I’m racing against time, we all are, and it’s hard for me to just sit down and do normal-people things like appreciate a new dog. So I scrapped my recording plans (for now) and I’m trying to just sip my coffee.
Growing up, how important was music in your life? Can you recall the moment when you decided that you wanted to be a musician? Was it an easy or difficult choice to make?
I was always in awe of musicians but I never thought I could actually be one until I started seeing live bands perform around my hometown. These were just local teenage bands but seeing them perform made a huge impression on me. More than the performance, the idea that I could write my own songs was intoxicating to me. Learning guitar was difficult, because I hated practicing, but the songwriting came naturally. That’s not to say my first songs were good, they weren’t, but that writing songs has never felt like work to me; it’s freedom.
Was there ever a time when you thought about doing something else? If you weren’t a musician today, what else could you see yourself doing? Would you be as fulfilled in life?
There was one point in my life when I thought of myself as only a musician. Now I think the umbrella term for someone like me is probably just “artist.” I create art in multiple forms, all under my own name. Music will always be one of those forms. Songwriting is extremely important to me. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that it helps keep me alive.
What has been the biggest surprise so far about making music your career? What has been an unexpected or welcome challenge to it all?
I’m not really surprised by anything anymore, just because at this point I’ve been through so much. But when I was first beginning, the music industry was such a different thing than it is now. Digital music was just beginning. Radio and MTV were still huge factors. The biggest surprise happened when I was in my early twenties and I signed a record deal with a major label. I thought my life was about to change, that I would quickly become this huge rockstar, and it was a shock to learn that it doesn’t work that way. Many artists get record deals and very few of those deals work out. My deal didn’t work out and I was crushed.
How did you stumble into your acting career? What would you say that you enjoy doing the most right now at this point in your life? And what about writing? How have you able to successfully balance all of these careers?
It was a true stumble. I was home from college for the summer and working at a used bookstore. My boss’s son was an actor and she introduced me to her son’s agent. I had never expressed any interest in acting and yet my boss must have sensed something in me, because pushed me to give it a try. A few weeks later, I’m acting in a Sony commercial. It happened that quickly and randomly.
I probably enjoy acting the least of my three fields, but only because I’m a control freak and with acting you have the least amount of control. You’re a cog in the wheel and that can be a beautiful thing, being part of something much larger than yourself. But with songwriting and novel writing, it’s all coming from just me and there’s something really satisfying about that. That said, I feel lucky that I can express myself in all these different ways and I wouldn’t want to give any of them up.
Let’s talk about your newest single called “Worry.” What was the inspiration for this track? How would you say that it compares to the rest of your latest album, “Tizzy”?
I had a tough 2018. It was hard to explain because I had a great year professionally. My latest book, Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel, had debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at #2. It was a dream come true. And yet, I was more depressed than I had been in a long, long while. I had also begun therapy for the first time in my life and it was unearthing all these long-buried emotions. Those emotions found their way into my new songs, most of which were written on a freshly acquired upright piano. “Worry” was written one morning, just me tapping on a single piano key, over and over, saying just one word to myself, worry, worry, worry. It was like I was trying to push the feeling out of me, exorcise it from my being. “Worry” is one of the few upbeat songs on Tizzy and had it been written for another album it probably would have been turned into a more traditional guitar song. But I kept it on piano and I’m glad I did because I think it adds to the spooky uneasiness that is anxiety.
How creatively were you involved with the making of the music video for “Worry”?
It was a total team effort with director Rob Fitzgerald and me. We’ve known each other for two decades now so we have an easy working relationship. We just kept bouncing ideas off each other on the phone, sending links to other videos we liked, slowly refining and refining our idea. We had a low budget so we wanted to keep the concept very simple. For this video it was all about the planning. Finding the right paint colors for the walls, the perfect toy piano to use (and smash), deciding to keep the camera position fixed the whole time. The actual shooting was very quick, just a few hours. Then Rob spent a few weeks getting the edit just right. Because the video is one static frame, the challenge was to cut the video in a way that it was always building and evolving over the entire three minutes. Rob killed it. It’s one of my favorite music videos I’ve ever done.
How do you think you have grown as a musician since you first started making music?
I’ve become way more efficient. I instinctively know where a song should go, what kind of song it wants to be, almost immediately. I used to try to lead a song instead of letting the song lead me.
What has it been like keeping up with your social media accounts and all of the different platforms? Is it hard to stay up to date on it all? What would you say is your favorite way to connect with your fans now? What has social media done for your career so far?
I miss the days when artists were mysterious and you knew almost nothing about them. I don’t understand the over-sharing thing. I guess I’m just old. So needless to say, I’m not a big fan of social media. Some days I love it, but most days it fills me with panic and dread. And as a father, I fear it.
Who are some of your favorite artists or rather, what musicians have continued to inspire you and your music? Who would you absolutely love to work with in the future?
The artists who inspire me the most are the storytellers. The ones who can offer insight into the world with a mixture of wordplay and vulnerability. Conor Oberst. Phoebe Bridgers. Car Seat Headrest. Julien Baker. All these artists are currently inspiring me.
If you had an unlimited budget and your schedule was free, what would your dream music video look like?
More than expensive set pieces and effects, I’m looking for innovative ideas. So my whole budget would go to hiring one of the great directors from my childhood like Michel Gondry or Spike Jonze. I once worked with director Mark Romanek on a Mountain Dew commercial. That’s probably the closest I’ll ever get to working with a music video legend.
At the end of the day, what do you hope people take away from your music?
I want people to hear my songs and say to themselves, “Wow, someone out there gets me.”
An Interview with Val Emmich
Words By Dani Hedlund
What was the original inspiration for your debut novel, The Reminders?
When my first daughter was twenty months old—when you still count somebody’s age by months and not years—I took her to Home Depot. I was a stay-at-home dad and it took me a while to warm to being a father. I was mostly just frustrated by all the things I wasn’t able to do because I was taking care of this little girl. I didn’t strap my daughter into the seat belt and when I turned around to reach for something on the shelf, she was falling out of the shopping cart. She landed on her head on the concrete floor and she didn’t move. I thought, I just killed my daughter. Now that I’m a seasoned parent, I know kids are super durable and they’re always close to dying. But at the time, the experience functioned as a shake out of my numb existence. It stuck with me.
Around that time I also saw an episode on 60 Minutes about people who have a rare condition known as Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory or HSAM. They can remember every day of their lives. I thought what if my daughter was one of these people and always remembered the day that I dropped her? The next morning I woke up and started writing in the voice of this little girl. There was something different about this story. I showed it to my wife and instead of her usual polite encouragement, I heard excitement. I sent it into a few literary journals and I placed third in a contest held by Glimmer Train. It was the first piece I had written that received positive feedback from an established source. So, I thought I should try to expand the story and years later I had a novel. There is a larger journey here too; instead of seeing fatherhood as a burden, I learned to see fatherhood as a source of inspiration because I can view the world through the innocence of my daughter’s young eyes. I consciously wanted to maintain this sense of hope and have the story be a joyful experience even though the premise of the book is based on a tragedy.
One of the most interesting elements of the book for me is this dual way of looking at the family dynamic, through Joan’s memory lens and Gavin’s unique voice. What was it like to view this world through the eyes of a child?
It was challenging but also liberating. I have a lot in common with the father in the book. I wanted so badly to explore the parents more but the restrictions with Joan’s voice held me back. My wife is a teacher and I sat in on her fourth- and fifth-grade classes to see the world through a child’s eyes. I watched them fidget and not be able to keep still in their chairs. I didn’t use the material because I realized none of those kids was Joan. Being Joan was like being me, just like being Gavin was like being me; and I am neither a little girl nor a gay man. I just focused on the humanity part.
This book feels more me than previous things I’ve written because I was writing about my reality: music, acting, living in Jersey City. The last two books I wrote were failures and maybe that’s because I didn’t write what I know; I tried too hard to seem literary. With this one, I tried to be more honest and hoped that would be enough.
The heartbreaking thing about being human—especially in a year like 2016—is we seem to only talk about the people who pass for a second and then they’re gone. It’s an injustice. My acting manager, who got me into acting when I was eighteen and has been my manager since, passed away on New Year’s Eve. Now, I keep thinking about this book in a new way. I feel this tremendous guilt and responsibility about keeping her memory alive. I owe it to her. Joan taught me that. I have to work harder to make sure that people who are important to me are always remembered.
There’s an idea that music can somehow transcend the way we tend to recall memories. How did that bleed into the narrative? Did you always intend for music to be a central element of the book?
In writing the book, I was trying to sooth my own anxiety about being forgotten. How do you last? Is trying to last a worthy effort? It seems arrogant to even try. I discovered that music exists in the ether; it is something that you can pass on, like a tale. Once I realized that, I had a path for my story, and once Joan realizes that in the book, she has a way of achieving her dream of being remembered. At some point, when I’m gone, my daughters will still have the music I’ve made to listen to. They may dislike it but it’s still a part of me that will live on in some form.
In the book, Joan sets out to win this songwriting contest and the contest is not a big deal in the scheme of the world but for Joan it’s the biggest deal. The contest gave me something to build up to plot-wise and I also realized that Joan was going to arrive at the harsh realization that the competition was not the answer to her problems. But that’s life. For me, there were so many times when I thought to myself if I could just accomplish this one thing, then I would be fine. That’s rarely the case. These little challenges do lead to other things whether we want to realize that in the moment of defeat or not.
I enjoyed the parallel about how people write songs and how people live their life. Has your history with songwriting made you view life itself through the contrasting lens of letting lyrics come to you or forcing the lyrics? How did that philosophy come about?
If I’m an expert in anything, it’s probably songwriting. I’ve put in my ten thousand hours at that particular craft. It’s provided me with a great lesson for life. It taught me not to force things, especially art. I now write songs faster just because I know when to write. My fiction writing is also getting faster and I wonder if it’s somehow linked in that respect. It’s not about writing more often or writing more words, but learning to recognize when something you’ve written is useful or garbage. You become more efficient, and because you’re not wasting needless time wandering down dead-ends, the experience of making art becomes more enjoyable. Prose is different than songwriting, though. Songwriting is more like poetry. It’s such a condensed form that I can be driving, walking my dog—and all the while there are lyrics filtering through my head. With prose, you really have to force yourself to sit down and work because you’re dealing with thousands of words. There are days when I don’t want to do it, but I sit down and just begin.
Joan’s and Gavin’s voices are very distinct. How did you manage to keep them from running into each other?
My agent was a real stickler. He constantly encouraged me to go further. At one point Gavin’s voice was stylistically different, no quotation marks on the page. I was trying to take an easy way out but then I realized that I had to work even harder to make the two voices different in a more organic way. I eventually established little rules in my head such as no semicolons in Joan’s section. Just by creating boundaries, I was able to change the way I wrote her. My rules eventually fell away as well, but it was a good way for me to work. Keeping the voices of Gavin and Joan separate was part form and part embodying the characters.
Can you describe how things have changed since the genesis of The Reminders—the moment you realized you had to write this story—to now?
I would rise at four in the morning in the spring of 2013 to write until my daughter woke up, and then I would resume my father responsibilities. I remember thinking, I’ll write fifty pages and see if it works out. I ended up writing a whole first draft but only in Joan’s voice. That’s how energetic writing her voice was.
I attended Pitchapalooza—a husband and wife team called The Book Doctors held this event at a local bookstore in Jersey City. You got one minute to pitch your book. Even though I’m an actor and I’m used to performing, I was so nervous. I ended up winning first place, and the prize was an introduction to an agent. It didn’t pan out because the agent thought my book was middle grade. She didn’t get it. I knew having a young character telling the story even partially would be an issue for some people; they might think it was a children’s book. Even though the agent rejected me through the contest, I learned that I needed to do more work.
I knew about the form; I read all of the how-to books and I had tried to get an agent off an earlier novel I’d written. I got one response, saying the voice isn’t strong enough but thanks for sending it, keep me in mind for future projects. When I finished the first draft of The Reminders, I sent it back to that same agent and he’s my agent now. Together we basically destroyed the manuscript. I had to rewrite it from scratch in order to strengthen the voices and then a book deal came through in 2015 followed by many more rewrites. It’s going to be published this year, four years later.
Once you started the publication process, what surprised you the most?
The publication journey is a slow process, as is the world of making film and television. Music is a lot faster. I’ve been an independent musician for many years now after being with bigger companies and I can now release my work when it’s done. I really had to take a pause and realize that the work wasn’t done with my initial drafts of the book. I was also surprised to find that the book world is a little behind. It seems to be a lumbering thing. I know that getting books in stores is a big setup. I have seen success stories with self-publishing but I wonder if there is a happy medium. There is so much build up to my book, in time and moving parts, and now it’s just going to come out on May 30th. What if it fails, as most books do? All that for what? Why not go quicker with less setup, see if something happens organically and then try again? I realize I may just be naïve to how these things really work. I still have a lot to learn about the business. My agent has warned and encouraged me to generate all the ideas. I was surprised by how much was up to me. But I’m used to that and I welcome the challenge.
How have your various careers informed your writing?
It took me a while to come to terms with being a hyphenated person. On the playground, other parents will ask me what I do. “I’m an engineer, I’m a teacher,” they say. I have to respond with whatever project I’m working on. If I have a television show coming out, I’m an actor. If I’m releasing an album, I’m a musician. I haven’t said I’m a writer yet because I’m embarrassed, there’s no book out yet.
I stumbled into acting when I was eighteen with no prior desire or experience; I learned on the job with some beginner’s luck. The songwriting aspect of music is the part I like most along with performing. All of these experiences informed my writing. I went to Rutgers University and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in liberal arts having majored in American Studies. I used to imagine myself as a professor but university life has since been demystified for me. I always had an interest in fiction. I think it fits my lifestyle now. Instead of being in a band and traveling around the country, I can take my kids to school and write all day. I’ve been lucky; one passion feeds the other. To help promote this book, I recorded a little album with some Beatles covers, since the Beatles’ music is a motif in the book. When you preorder the book, you’ll also receive a download of the music. I plan to go on the road for a bit and do events that are half book reading and half concert. I’m trying to make all my various artistic pursuits work together.
When you first sat down to write this book, what defined your idea of success?
At that time seeing my book in a tangible form on the shelf meant success. It had only existed as Microsoft Word files for so many years, for almost a decade. Later on, I started thinking about the rare times I’ve read books in which the reading process was actually an enjoyable experience. I love challenging books, books that make you squirm like Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy or trying to sludge through Ulysses. But there’s something about those books where the smile never leaves your face when you’re reading them. At some point I asked myself, why don’t more people write those kinds of books? Are they cheaper because they’re more enjoyable? One of my favorite books, A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz, makes me laugh out loud but I also feel this tremendous emotion. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is from a kid’s perspective; it utilizes little graphs and charts. It’s such a fun read. My goal was to set out to write something that people might truly enjoy reading. I wanted to make people feel warm and fuzzy. I feel vulnerable admitting it, even putting my book out in the world.
Emmich, Val THE REMINDERS Little, Brown (Adult Fiction) $26.00 5, 30 ISBN: 978-0-316-31699-6
Achingly sweet and unexpectedly nuanced, Emmich's clever debut follows the unlikely bond between a grief-stricken actor and a gifted 10-year-old girl in Jersey City.Joan Lennon Sully is a 10-year-old with a startling gift: she can remember, in exacting detail, everything that's ever happened to her. She knows how many times her mother has said "it never fails" in the past six months; she remembers the date and reason for every time she's ever cried (Wednesday, March 25, 2009: the day Pepper was put to sleep; Wednesday, May 15, 2013: the day Mrs. Dresden called time on a test before she was finished). But she knows most people do not have her memory; most people, she understands, forget things, and Joan Lennon does not want to be forgotten. So when she spots an ad in the paper for "The Next Great Songwriter Contest," she sees her answer: a good song is like a permanent reminder, she reasons. If she can win the Next Great Songwriter Contest with a Joan Lennon original, then she'll never be forgotten. She just needs to find the right collaborator--and that's where Gavin Winters comes in. An old friend of Joan's parents, Gavin is a successful actor in Los Angeles overwhelmed with grief after his partner Sydney's sudden death. After he has a very public breakdown (fire was involved), Joan's parents invite Gavin to take refuge with them in New Jersey, where he and Joan strike up an unusual deal: he'll help Joan with her song if, in return, Joan will recount her memories of Sydney, snapshots from his few visits to the family over the past several years. But what starts as a source of comfort for Gavin takes an unsettling turn when Joan unknowingly reveals details that force Gavin to contemplate the possibility that Sydney may have been keeping secrets of his own. Overwhelmingly tender, sometimes verging on saccharine, the novel gets by on its profoundly likable pair of leading characters: what the book lacks in bite, it makes up for in charm. Heartfelt and charming; a book that goes down easy.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Emmich, Val: THE REMINDERS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A493329062/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2de6290f. Accessed 13 Dec. 2021.
Emmich, Val. The Reminders. Little, Brown. May 2017.304p. ISBN 9780316316996. $26; ebk. ISBN 9780316317016. F
This adorable first novel alternates between two strangers who come together in a quirky way. Ten-year-old Joan lives in New Jersey; she has HSAM (highly superior autobiographical memory), which means she remembers every minute detail of her life. Gavin is a well-known actor in Los Angeles who has just lost the love of his life, Sydney. He is completely bereft and coming unhinged with grief. Joan's parents, Paige and Ollie, were college friends of Gavin, and introduced him to Sydney. They invite him to stay with them, in New Jersey. Joan, who is musical like her dad, and is in the midst of writing "the perfect song" for a local songwriting contest, decides that Gavin is her ideal cowriter. The two strike a deal. Joan tells Gavin her intricately detailed memories of Sydney in exchange for his songwriting help. Their growing friendship takes them on a few wild adventures, and eventually heals them both in heartfelt and unusual ways. Emmich captures the voices of Joan and Gavin, two such different characters, brilliantly. VERDICT Actor and musician Emmich (Vinyl; Ugly Betty; 30 Rock) can confidently add "novelist" to his list of achievements. He has written a quirky, touching, and addictive read. [See Prepub Alert, 11/14/16.]--Beth Gibbs, Davidson, NC
Caption: A haunting look at today's China: another winner for Box: a quirky, touching, & addictive debut
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Gibbs, Beth. "Emmich, Val. The Reminders." Library Journal, vol. 142, no. 3, 15 Feb. 2017, pp. 73+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A481649059/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b0f94217. Accessed 13 Dec. 2021.
Emmich, Val MAYBE WE'RE ELECTRIC Poppy/Little, Brown (Teen None) $17.99 9, 21 ISBN: 978-0-316-53570-0
Tegan’s world was unraveling before Mac stumbled into the museum; tonight could change everything.
Tegan misses her father and disdains her mother, now happy with her live-in partner, Charlie. After a fight with her mom, Tegan’s taken refuge after hours at the Thomas Edison Center, where she’s been an intern. Born with just a thumb and ring finger on her left hand and perennially hyperaware of her appearance, she’s shocked and embarrassed when Mac, a classmate and popular jock, arrives—his hand bleeding—and asks her to call 911 to report a potential suicide. Tegan complies, then tends to his wound. She’s been crying and ran outside in old clothes but recognizes Mac is frazzled, too. At a loss, she gives him a museum tour. Over the long, snowy night, they connect. Mac’s trusting willingness to share difficult life events disarms Tegan, awakening a yearning to share her own, more toxic secret despite the risk. Despite unnecessarily schematic plotting (key information is initially withheld), the story and characters will sustain reader interest. Emmich captures the excruciating self-consciousness and lacerating self-talk of adolescence, magnified and relentlessly scrutinized through social media and here exacerbated by Tegan’s limb difference and fractured family. Tegan’s struggles to reconcile her longing both for invisibility and to be seen and understood are compelling, familiar, and moving. Most characters are presumed White; Charlie is Black, and Tegan’s best friend is Indian American.
An immersive, compassionate tale about coming-of-age in a single night. (Fiction. 14-18)
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"Emmich, Val: MAYBE WE'RE ELECTRIC." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Aug. 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A669986307/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2078a5bd. Accessed 13 Dec. 2021.
Maybe We're Electric
Val Emmich. Poppy, $17.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-316-53570-0
New Jersey's Thomas Edison Center might not seem like the best place to wait out a snowstorm, but two teens bond there after hours in Emmich's (Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel) quirky book about the power of honesty and forgiveness--and the temptations of internet anonymity. When the storm starts, neither Tegan Everly nor Mac Durant want to go home. Ptesumed-white museum employee Tegan, who was born with two fingers on her left hand, has had a huge fight with her mother; white golden boy Mac Dutant is worried about and angry with his father, who habitually drinks. They're sophomores at the same school, but self-conscious Tegan assumes that they'll have nothing in common. The two grow closer as Tegan shows off the Edison exhibits and the two begin revealing themselves; as she learns about Mac's seemingly perfect life, Tegan realizes how false that is and how uncomfortable she feels about some of the things she's done. Emmich uses secondperson interludes and Tegan's emails to her fathet to show how much Tegan has on her mind; it makes for an effective slow teveal that puts readers in the complex--and human--position of liking someone whose behavior is problematic. Ages 14--up. Agents: Jeff Kleinman and John Cusick, Folio Literary, (Sept.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 PWxyz, LLC
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"Maybe We're Electric." Publishers Weekly, vol. 268, no. 31, 2 Aug. 2021, p. 63. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A671342076/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3178638a. Accessed 13 Dec. 2021.
Emmich, Val DEAR EVAN HANSEN Poppy/Little, Brown (Young Adult Fiction) $18.99 10, 9 ISBN: 978-0-316-42023-5
Emmich (The Reminders, 2017) joins the team behind the Tony-winning musical to create this novel adaptation.
Awkward high school senior Evan Hansen has zero friends and a debilitating mixture of depression and anxiety. As a coping mechanism, his therapist assigns him to write letters to himself to reframe his thinking. When one of those letters is found on the body of Connor Murphy, a loner classmate and brother of Evan's crush, Zoe, the Murphys assume that Connor addressed a suicide note to Evan and that the boys were secretly friends. Evan does nothing to dissuade this notion, and soon his lies build as he experiences belonging and acceptance for the first time. But as his anxiety winds ever tighter and others notice loopholes in his story, Evan begins to unravel as he fears exposure. Evan's first-person narration is simultaneously sympathetic and frustrating, female characters feel underdeveloped, and the story's representation of mental health issues is at times underwhelming. Inserted interludes of Connor's ghostly first-person, post-death perspective provide marginal insight into his character, although it is here that readers learn of Connor's fluid sexuality. Whether or not they've seen or listened to the musical, many readers will latch on to the story's message that "no one deserves to be forgotten." Evan presents as white, and other major characters are African-American and Latinx.
Without the rich music and stage performance it's a middling story with themes better handled elsewhere; impeccably timed for the musical's national tour, however, teens will clamor to read it. (Fiction. 14-18)
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"Emmich, Val: DEAR EVAN HANSEN." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A549923808/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=75420a7a. Accessed 13 Dec. 2021.
Emmich, Val, with Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul. Dear Evan Hansen. Poppy, October 2018. 368p. $18.99. 9780316420235.
4Q * 3P * S
Evan Hansen, socially anxious and awkward, has difficulty connecting with people. His therapist suggests he write letters to himself with daily positive affirmations. In a rare moment of honesty, he writes to himself expressing his regrets, hopes, and feelings of disappointment with life. Following two strange encounters with Connor--the misunderstood and sullen brother of his crushEvan is pulled into a lie that goes viral after Connor commits suicide. Connor's grieving parents find Evan's letter and believe the two boys are friends. With the persuasion of a classmate, the story of Connor's suicide and his "best friend" Evan become a social media sensation, giving people hope and increasing awareness on the challenges of living with mental illness. Evan is suddenly popular and is accepted into a family he is growing to love and who needs him to help them through grief. But the more attention he receives, the bigger the lies get, and it is only a matter of time before the truth reveals itself.
Based on the Tony-Award-winning musical of the same name, Dear Evan Hansen presents the sad truth about a teenager struggling with social anxiety. Readers will feel both empathetic toward and horrified by Evan. The chapters are interspersed with Connor's ghost or spirit commenting on his feelings about his family, Evan, and a mysterious friend who led him down this path. It is heartfelt and will resonate with readers seeking a unique take on youth mental illness and the challenges of high school.--Jane Gov.
Dear Evan Hansen is a compelling story about a lie that that spirals out of control. The novel is easy to understand without knowledge of the musical it was based on; it is well written and stands on its own. The characters are relatable, but the events in the novel seemed a bit far-fetched. However, for fans of the musical, this will be a hit. 3Q, 4P.--Sylvie Bower, Teen Reviewer.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
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Gov, Jane, and Sylvie Bower. "Emmich, Val, with Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul. Dear Evan Hansen." Voice of Youth Advocates, vol. 41, no. 5, Dec. 2018, p. 67. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A571836480/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f3101905. Accessed 13 Dec. 2021.