SATA

• Fresh Amulet Books (New York, NY), 2021

• Margot Wood website - https://www.margotwood.com/

  Hey, hi, hello. My name is Margot Wood and my debut novel, FRESH, publishes in August 2021. I’ve been a publishing marketing professional since 2009 and some of you may know me from my days at the young adult site, Epic Reads, which I founded and was the original manager of for 5+ years. *book shimmy!*

  I was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio and graduated from Emerson College in Boston. After living in New York City for 10 years, I moved to Portland, OR where I still live now.

  FACTS ABOUT MARGOT WOOD:

  PRONOUNS: she/her

  LITERARY AGENT: I am represented by Joanna Volpe at New Leaf Literary.

  ZODIAC SIGN: Aries

  CLAIM TO FAME: I was an extra in the Love, Simon movie.

  FAVORITE CAUSE TO SUPPORT: American Brain Tumor Association - In honor of my dad!

  FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
  Can I get a review copy?
  Desk copies or review copies are distributed solely at the discretion of the publisher, Abrams Books. Requests for a review copy for social media influencers can be made here. Requests for desk copies for educators can be made here.

  Can I interview you?
  For all press and media inquiries, please contact my publicist, Mary Marolla, at childrenspublicity@abramsbooks.com.

  For social media live interview requests or other requests, please contact me through this form.

  Do you still work at Epic Reads?
  Nope! I left Epic Reads (HarperCollins) in 2017. I still work in book publishing now at Oni Press, an independent graphic novel publisher in Portland, OR.

  How do I get a copy of Fresh in my store, library or school?
  Want to carry Fresh in your store, library or school? Abrams Books has the World English rights to Fresh and wholesale copies may be purchased through them as well as major distributors such as Ingram, Baker & Taylor, etc. Find more sales & distro info from my publisher here.

• New Leaf Literary - http://www.newleafliterary.com/people/margot-wood/

  Margot Wood

  Margot Wood was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio and graduated from Emerson College in Boston. In 2012 Margot was hired by HarperCollins to create and run EpicReads.com. Since then it has grown to become the largest online community for fans of young adult books. She has helped launch and build fandoms for many YA authors including Veronica Roth, Victoria Aveyard, Danielle Paige, Becky Albertalli and Angie Thomas. You can see Margot’s face in videos on the Epic Reads YouTube channel or in a cameo in the upcomingSimon vs the Homo sapiens Agenda movie as the oldest high schooler of all time.

  Joanna Volpe

• Boston Globe - https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/08/06/arts/margot-wood-discusses-fresh-her-queer-coming-of-age-story-set-emerson-college/

  Margot Wood discusses ‘Fresh,’ her queer coming-of-age story set at Emerson College
  By Deanna Schwartz Globe Correspondent,Updated August 6, 2021, 2:47 p.m.

  Margot Wood graduated from Emerson College in 2008.
  Margot Wood graduated from Emerson College in 2008.HANDOUT
  For nearly a decade, Margot Wood has devoted her career to the publishing industry. She founded and ran Epic Reads, Harper Collins Publishers’ online teen community, until 2017. She’s currently director of sales and marketing at Oni Press in Portland, Ore.

  Now, Wood is on the other side of publishing, with her debut novel, “Fresh,” out this week from Amulet Books. The YA fiction novel follows a freshman at Emerson College, Wood’s alma mater, as she navigates her first year away from home.

  Loosely inspired by Jane Austen’s “Emma,” the main character, Elliot, plays matchmaker for friends and sticks her nose in places it probably doesn’t belong, with plenty of Easter eggs for fans of the literary classic. We spoke to Wood about the market for college-set books, her inspirations for “Fresh,” and the book’s Boston setting.

  Advertisement

  Q. How did you get the idea for “Fresh”?

  A. “Fresh” is inspired by “Emma” by Jane Austen, but also my experiences as a freshman at Emerson College. I started with my experiences and got the characters, the tone, the vibe, and the key themes, and then I got stuck in the plot. It wasn’t until I reread “Emma” and realized how much it reminded me of my book concept. So, I rewrote with this framework of “Emma” and fit in everything that I had already written into this new loosely inspired retelling.

  Get The Big To-Do
  Your guide to staying entertained, from live shows and outdoor fun to the newest in museums, movies, TV, books, dining, and more.
  Enter Email
  example@email.com
  Sign Up
  Q. How does “Emma” play a role in “Fresh?”

  A. “Emma” provides the foundation for the plot structure in “Fresh,” but even more so; it was the true inspiration behind the romantic plot. I love Emma and Mr. Knightley’s dynamic, their push and pull, the way Mr. Knightley is the only one to call Emma out on her crap. I really wanted to honor their relationship and the romance between Elliot and her resident adviser, Rose, was directly inspired by that element in the Austen classic.

  Advertisement

  Emma is one of my favorite literary characters of all time. She’s loud and proud and funny and overly confident and full of energy. She’s been around for 206 years and yet she is still someone I would want to be friends with today.

  Margot Wood's new YA novel, "Fresh," is a modern retellling of "Emma" set at Emerson College.
  Margot Wood's new YA novel, "Fresh," is a modern retellling of "Emma" set at Emerson College.HANDOUT
  Q. As an “Emma” retelling, how does “Fresh” compare to “Clueless,” arguably the most popular teen “Emma” retelling?

  A. I could never compare “Fresh” to the masterpiece that is “Clueless,” but I did throw in a few references to the movie in my book as an homage to it! What I love about each “Emma” retelling is the spin each retelling takes with the themes explored. While “Clueless” focuses a lot on social class by way of high school social hierarchy, I spend a lot of time in “Fresh” exploring the marriage theme by way of what it means to be a good romantic and sexual partner.

  Q. What inspired you to set a book at Emerson College and in Boston?

  A. One of the key things about the main character, Elliot, is that she doesn’t know what she wants to study. That’s very common at a big school, but not at Emerson. It’s extremely rare for somebody to be at Emerson and not know what they want to do. I wanted to have Elliot stand out.

  The other reason is because Emerson is super gay and queer friendly. I really wanted to have this environment where your sexual and gender identities aren’t a big deal. I wanted the queerness to be natural. I didn’t want the story to be about Elliot and her queerness — I want it to be about Elliot and her messiness, and she just happens to also be queer.

  Advertisement

  Q. What kind of specific Boston references can readers look for in the book?

  A. Besides the Emerson campus, there’s a party scene in Allston — of course — references to Dunkin’, Tufts University, Pho Pasteur, the Garment District, Beacon Hill, and a few other places.

  Q. “Fresh” centers around college-age characters. Do you think there’s a gap in the market for books focusing on this age group?

  A. There’s a big gap. “Fresh” could’ve been written in high school, but I didn’t really come of age until those years between like 18 and 24. I think a lot of people also have most of their coming-of-age moment in college as well. I really wanted to contribute to this new trend and growing market of books set in the college years. Am I the first one to do it? No, but I’m really hoping that if it does well, we can maybe open doors for other books set in that same period.

  Q. Was it challenging to jump back into a college mind-set?

  A. It wasn’t difficult because my whole freshman year is burned in my memory. While I wasn’t able to visit Emerson’s campus, I talked to current Emerson students to make sure that it was still the same old Emerson that I went to and that the open-mindedness of the study body hadn’t changed.

  Advertisement

  Q. Is a second book in the works?

  A. “Fresh” is just a one-and-done unless it sells really well. Then, who knows? Maybe I’ll send Elliot to Emerson’s abroad campus in the Netherlands. I am sort of starting to work on something new in the adult section, but I can’t talk about that yet.

  Interview was condensed and edited for clarity.

  Deanna Schwartz can be reached at deanna.schwartz@globe.com and on Twitter @deannaschwartzz.

• We Need Diverse Books - https://diversebooks.org/qa-with-margot-wood-fresh/

  Q&A With Margot Wood, Fresh
  August 3, 2021 by Alaina Lavoie

  By Alaina Leary

  Today we’re pleased to welcome Margot Wood to the WNDB blog to discuss Fresh.

  Fresh by Margot Wood
  You’re an alumnx of Emerson. I actually am too and I teach as an adjunct in their MFA and MA programs now. Why did you want to set Fresh at Emerson?

  I tried to write Fresh set at a fake, large university but that type of setting didn’t feel right for the story. A lot of freshmen in America are undeclared and don’t have a concrete idea of what they want to major in—just like my main character, Elliot McHugh—but at a college like Emerson, an incoming freshman with no plan is very rare. The Emerson student body is made up of highly driven, creative individuals—the kind that knows exactly what they want to do after graduation. So by setting it at Emerson, Elliot’s very normal situation of not knowing what she wants to do with her life suddenly becomes more unique and it immediately sets her apart from those around her. That and I knew Emerson’s famous Little Building would be the perfect setting for dorm life hijinks.

  Fresh reminded me a lot of American Panda in how realistic the college experience felt (probably because both were written by authors who actually went to those colleges). Are there any things in Fresh that actually happened to you or someone you know, and did you create anything entirely fictional for the story?

  I was a marketing major at Emerson, not WLP (Writing, Literature & Publishing), so I’ve had no formal writing education. So the very first time I tried my hand at fiction writing with Fresh, I started with my own experiences and mistakes as a freshman at Emerson. By the time I finished the final draft Elliot’s story had taken on a life of its own, but there are still so many themes and details throughout the book that are pulled directly from my own life. A few fun examples of real things that happened to me (no spoilers!) are the Cheez-Its in exchange for friendship sequence at the beginning, the dating auction, the classes Elliot takes (including a presentation on something akin to Project Tender Chicken), forgetting to read The Iliad and bombing the first test, and pretty much every interaction Elliot ever has with her family members.

  Fresh is a retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma. Have you always been an Emma fan? What drew you to this story as an inspiration for Fresh?

  In high school my English teacher had us read most of Jane Austen’s stories and out of all Jane’s incredible leading ladies, Emma Woodhouse is my absolute favorite. She was the first character I truly connected with in literature. When I started writing Fresh, I started with the characters first. Elliot McHugh has been in my head for a very long time, and I knew I wanted to explore a story of a charming, funny young woman who means well but doesn’t always do well. Someone with a lot of confidence who is ultimately humbled by her mistakes. But even though Elliot and her friends and lovers were so clear to me from the get-go, I struggled with story. I had all the pieces: the characters, the setting, tone, themes, and style of humor, but I didn’t know how to put it all together.

  After a year, I took a step back from Fresh and started re-reading my favorite books to try and find some sort of inspiration. Within two chapters of rereading Emma, my brain lit up like fireworks. Elliot McHugh reminded me so much of Emma Woodhouse. Like Cher Horowitz in Clueless, Elliot McHugh is her own character and a modern version for sure, but it was so obvious that day reading Emma in my living room that I couldn’t believe it took me a whole year to realize it. I gathered all the pieces I already had of Fresh, merged it with Emma, and everything fell into place. Within three weeks I had my first full draft and four months after that, my agent sold the book at auction.

  Clueless is also an Emma retelling. Do you think Elliot would get along with Emma and Cher in real life?

  Damn, what a good question! With two dominant personalities, it could go either way. I do think Elliot would offer Cher her hand in friendship (or ask her out) but Cher is particular and controlling while Elliot is a chaotic improviser, so I think it would be up to Cher if she wants to be friends.

  Elliot’s footnotes throughout the book were so honest and fun, as well as other elements like the Elliot McHgh drink scale. I loved that they felt like the real thoughts of a college freshman when you’re still figuring out who you are and what you think of the world and other people. Did you write the footnotes while you were writing the main text of the book or did you add those in at a later stage?

  I am so glad you like the footnotes and all the other visual elements! I wrote the footnotes from the very beginning for two reasons: First, footnotes are just so fun to write and are a great vehicle for comedy. I use them to break the fourth wall, crack jokes, add more to the backstory, and even make the reading experience interactive.

  The second reason I use footnotes so extensively is that they are a visual and physical representation of Elliot’s neurodivergence. Fresh is told from Elliot’s POV, a very close first person, and even though it is only casually referenced throughout the book, Elliot is ADHD, like me. The footnotes are largely in the service of comedy, but they are also meant to be distracting. You must physically move your eyes to the bottom of the page to read each footnote and find your way back to where you left off. From the beginning, I knew I wanted readers to experience how it feels to be Elliot, how it feels to have ADHD, and the use of footnotes was my way of exploring that concept.

  I love that Elliot, who is bi, has an entire group of LGBTQ+ friends and community. Why did you choose to give Elliot a diverse LGBTQ+ community? How do you think her experience fits into the common narrative of LGBTQ+ teens that college will be a place where they can be immersed in that type of community? I know that’s how I felt, at least, that finally, I’d have more queer friends once I got to college.

  I gave Elliot a diverse LGBTQ+ community because that is exactly what it was like for me in college. A common saying among Emerson students to this day is “gay by May” and it makes sense why. A lot of kids don’t come out or explore their sexuality or gender in high school because some come from families or communities that aren’t accepting or safe and college can very often provide the space, distance, and privacy needed to feel safe enough to explore one’s identities. Other times I think the common narrative that you’ll have more queer friends in college comes simply from the fact that a lot of people come of age a little later, after high school when they’re 18, 19, 20, etc.

  “The second reason I use footnotes so extensively is that they are a visual and physical representation of Elliot’s neurodivergence... From the beginning, I knew I wanted readers to experience how it feels to be Elliot, how it feels to have ADHD, and the use of footnotes was my way of exploring that concept.”
  If the characters in the last TV show that you watched were thrown into Elliot’s life at Emerson, how do you think they’d handle it? Who would drop out before the first semester is even over, and who would surprise themselves by graduating with a 4.0?

  HAHAHA! The last show I watched was Hannibal and if Hannibal Lecter was one of Elliot’s professors, he’d probably kill her during finals and eat her in the dining hall with none the wiser. Other than that, I think Hannibal Lecter would thrive at Emerson. He’d probably be one of the most popular professors.

  Did you have a playlist, a mood board, or anything else like that as you were writing this story? Did you dream up how Elliot would decorate her dorm? (I feel like that’s one of the most fun parts of living on campus.)

  I did none of those things for Elliot! Ha! She is not an aesthetically driven person, but I did do those things for all the side characters, her RA Rose and her roommate Lucy in particular.

  You’ve had an incredible publishing career, including founding Epic Reads. What lessons did you bring from your own career in publishing to the writing of Fresh? Were there any things that remained elusive or hard even though, in theory, you knew to expect them?

  Thank you! That’s so lovely of you to say. The one piece of advice I’ve picked up during my career in publishing that I now follow myself as an author is DON’T READ YOUR GOODREADS REVIEWS.

  But more seriously, the other thing I learned from my days at Epic Reads that has remained constant throughout my career is that if you try and chase trends in order to write something that will be popular, you will be chasing for the rest of your career. Every four years or so the entire YA demographic turns over and with that comes a completely different audience with their own unique tastes, aesthetics, and interests. What’s popular in YA is always changing because the audience is always changing and knowing this freed me in a way. This understanding allowed me to write what I wanted to write instead of trying to please a certain audience.

  My background in publishing has really come in handy though when it comes to partnering with my publisher’s marketing team. I know what all those bullet points mean, I know what sales conferences are, I know what to ask for, I know the timelines and budgets and how things work. But most importantly, I also know that publisher marketing teams are understaffed and overworked. They are doing the best they can with limited resources and way too many titles to work on. (This is true of every publisher, by the way, not just Abrams!) Because of this, I think I have a slightly better idea of how I can direct my own self-promo efforts and support the marketing team where it makes the most sense.

  Does this mean Fresh has the greatest marketing plan of all time and will automatically become a bestseller? Lol, no way, but it has led to a strong working relationship with my publisher and that gets us one step closer to getting Fresh onto as many shelves as we can.

  If you could build your dream panel for this book, what would it be about? What other authors would you love to have on it with you?

  My dream panel for this book would be a panel made up entirely of fellow Emerson College authors. There are a few of us out there now like Katie Cotugno, Maurene Goo, Nicola Yoon, David Yoon, and Taylor Jenkins-Reid who happened to be my freshman year RA!

  If the characters from Fresh showed up on your doorstep, who do you think you’d get along super well with? Would anyone grate on your nerves?

  I would be instant friends with Elliot and Micah. It would probably take Lucy and me a few hangs to warm up to each other but then we’d become lifelong BFFs. And Rose? Well, it would depend on how she’d handle losing at Ping Pong.

  What other books do you see Fresh as being in conversation with?

  I see Fresh being in conversation with some of the other new Jane Austen retellings out this year, such as: Where the Rhythm Takes You by Sarah Dass, A Taste for Love by Jennifer Yen, and Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price. I would also love to see Fresh being in conversation with other books set in college that deal with the fun messiness of queer love.

  Do you have any recommendations for published or forthcoming books?

  This is too much pressure. There are too many books I want to recommend. I’d love to plug We Are Inevitable by Gayle Forman, Between Perfect & Real by Ray Stoeve, Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo, Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins-Reid, and coming this fall is Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray, Cheer Up: Love and Pompoms by Crystal Frasier and Val Wise, and Drawn That Way by Elissa Sussman!

  What’s one question you wish you were asked more often (and the answer)?

  Oh gosh, let’s go with something incredibly random: What is the best Nicolas Cage movie? And the answer is obviously Face/Off.

  ******

  Margot WoodMargot Wood is the founder of Epic Reads and has worked in marketing for more than a decade at publishing houses both big and small. She is a graduate of Emerson College and once appeared as an extra in the Love, Simon movie. Born and raised in Cincinnati, Wood now lives in Portland, Oregon. You can find her online at margotwood.com.

  ******

  Alaina Leary Lavoie headshotAlaina (Lavoie) is the communications manager of We Need Diverse Books. She also teaches in the graduate department of Writing, Literature, and Publishing at Emerson College and is a book reviewer for Booklist. She received a 2017 Bookbuilders of Boston scholarship for her work in the publishing industry. Her writing has been published in New York Times, Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29, Allure, Healthline, Glamour, The Oprah Magazine, and more. She currently lives in Boston with her wife and their two literary cats. Follow her @AlainasKeys on Instagram and Twitter.

• Berkeley Beacon website - https://berkeleybeacon.com/margot-wood-08-to-release-debut-novel-fresh-takes-place-at-emerson/

  Margot Wood ’08 to release debut novel ‘Fresh’, takes place at Emerson
  Margot+Wood+08%2C+author+of+Fresh
  Photo: Courtesy of Margot Wood

  Margot Wood ’08, author of “Fresh”

  By Shawna Konieczny, Staff Writer
  February 24, 2021

  Margot Wood ‘08 spent years working in the publishing industry after graduation, and now her debut novel set at Emerson College, Fresh, is set to be published in August.

  Wood’s new novel, which is a retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma, will be available in hardcover and ebook starting Aug. 3, 2021. Fresh is described as “a hilarious and vulnerable coming-of-age story about the thrilling new experiences––and missteps––of a girl’s freshman year of college,” on Wood’s website. The publisher of the book is Abrams Books, the same company that published the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books by Jeff Kinney and the Splintered series by A.G. Howard.

  The book follows the story of Elliot McHugh as she starts her college experience at Emerson. Living in the Little Building, Elliot tries to figure out what she wants to do with her life while also discovering what she likes—in bed.

  Part of Elliot’s journey is declaring a major. Wood, a marketing communications major, knew she had to justify making Elliot undeclared thanks to the rarity of undecided majors at Emerson.

  “There is a part where she explains why she still chose to go to Emerson versus going to Ohio State without an idea of what she wanted to do,” Wood said. “She knew she wanted to work in media of some kind. She loves books, TV, movies, all this stuff. She just didn’t know.”

  Get This Week's News
  All the big stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday morning

  Email
  Email

  Sign Up
  Wood said she knew the publishing industry well and made connections with many authors, but never saw herself writing a book.

  Aside from a few writing classes at Emerson, Wood had no writing experience.

  “Whenever people were asking me if I wanted to write a book, I was like, ‘No, I’m not gonna write,’” Wood said. “I’m a reader. I’m a professional reader. I’m a professional book marketer.”

  However, after getting married and losing her father all in the same year, Wood said she experienced a shift in her life that drove her to want to write.

  “I suddenly felt this sense of urgency [and] need to put my mark on the world,” Wood said. “Before I hadn’t really ever felt that drive to leave a legacy. But then watching my dad die, who was an extremely healthy person, and knowing that…he always wanted to be remembered for things. Suddenly, once that happened, I was like, ‘I gotta write. I gotta write a book. I gotta do it.’”

  Working in publishing was also something Wood didn’t see coming. Originally enrolling at Emerson for theater, she quickly changed to marketing communications. Wood said if she had Emerson’s current array of majors, she would have majored in business of creative enterprises.

  Finishing her senior year off at Emerson’s Los Angeles program, Wood was set to have a marketing internship for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Unfortunately because of the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike, Wood became an intern at Ford Models as an administrative assistant.

  Although her plan was to stay in L.A. after finishing her internship, Wood instead moved back to her hometown of Cincinnati, OH.

  “Because I ended up in this awful, awful internship [and] had no interest in the modeling industry, I was so bored for those six months that I was in L.A.,” Wood said. “I was miserable.”

  Knowing L.A. wasn’t the right place for her, Wood decided to go visit New York City where her old college friend and now husband, Sean Willis ‘08, lived. After Willis showed her around the city, she decided to move there in the summer of 2009.

  “I quit my job in the middle of a recession, and just moved to New York with no plan, no job,” Wood said. “My very first job in New York was at this tech startup that did custom consumer fan platforms.”

  The startup, which has since been sold to another company, led Wood to help Penguin Random House run their young adult book community at the time, Random Buzzers. This is where she was first exposed to young adult literature.

  “I was given this community to manage and the first thing that you want to do when you’re a community manager is obviously immerse yourself into the community,” Wood said. “I ended up reading The Hunger Games, and I was like, ‘Oh, shit. This is so good,’ and I flew through the entire series. Read all of Divergent, read all of Lauren Oliver, read all of everything I could get my hands on. That was when I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I found my thing.’”

  After discovering this new passion, Wood went to work for HarperCollins Publishing Company to start up their young adult community, Epic Reads. Wood worked at Epic Reads for five and a half years, saying it was the best job she ever had.

  “It was really, really amazing,” Wood said. “That’s when I got to meet, the second day on the job, I met Veronica Roth and her agent. Insurgent had just come out and she was signing a bunch of stock, and so I just sat in the room with her and hung out with her while she was signing stock. We ended up becoming really good friends. We’re still really good friends today.”

  Wood later ended up signing with Divergent author Veronica Roth’s agent, Joanna Volpe, when she finally started writing Fresh. Before she signed with Volpe, Wood talked to another agent who she said was anything but encouraging.

  “I pitched him this idea that I had, and he was like, ‘nobody will ever buy this because it’s about girls discovering their sexuality in college, nobody’s gonna buy this, nor is any publisher going to know what to do with it,’” Wood said. “That really sidelined me for… like two years.”

  Eventually, she found Volpe, who thought Wood’s idea was worth publishing. Wood started working on her new book around the same time she left Epic Reads in 2017. While working on her novel, Wood rediscovered a letter she wrote to her younger sister that inspired her.

  “I wrote this letter to my little sister and was like, ‘Here’s every single mistake that I made. I don’t know what you’re going to learn from this, but here’s all the dumb shit I did that you shouldn’t do,’” Wood said. “When I was trying to come up with something to write, I found the letter again. I reread it and I was like, ‘Oh, there is something to this.’”

  Wood said she wanted to break the mold in young adult literature. She noted how many young adult books are focused on high school and the loss of virginity, and she wanted to go beyond that.

  “For some reason in YA publishing, after you graduate high school, you’re no longer a young adult,” Wood said. “Why is it that you start your freshman year of college pretty much the same age that you were when you were a senior in high school, why is it that you’re suddenly no longer a [young] adult, according to publishing?”

  Photo: Courtesy of Margot Wood
  Book cover of Margot Wood’s novel “Fresh”
  To fill that void, Wood decided to write Fresh, which she described as a comedy first and a romance second.

  “All of the sex scenes in my book are all in the service of comedy,” Wood said. “Except for the one where it’s more of the romantic scene, but even then, that’s the one where you don’t actually get to see it, because it’s private.”

  As she began writing Fresh, the protagonist came to remind Wood of characters like Emma Woodhouse from Jane Austen’s Emma and Cher Horowitz from Clueless, inspiring her to write a queer retelling of the Jane Austen classic.

  “I specifically requested a copy of the official description not have ‘queer’ in it because as a marketing person, it’s odd when we don’t ever describe romance novels between cis hetero couples as being a straight romance,” Wood said. “But we do this thing where we’re like, it’s a queer romance if it’s gay.”

  Wood said that Gayle Forman, the author of If I Stay, described the book as being like champagne bubbles. While her novel is meant to be fun and “fizzy,” it does cover issues such as crushing student debt and sexual assault on college campuses.

  Wood said she has no plans for a sequel right now, but she would like to start focusing on writing more. In the spring, Wood plans on switching from her full-time job at Oni Press in Portland as the Director of Sales and Marketing to working part-time to make more time to write.

  As the world awaits the release of Fresh in August, Wood encourages students to read more books. Fresh can be pre-ordered on sites such as Barnes & Nobles and Amazon.

• United by Pop - https://www.unitedbypop.com/young-adult-books/margot-wood-on-retelling-jane-austens-emma-in-her-debut-novel-fresh/

  Margot Wood On Retelling Jane Austen’s Emma In Her Debut Novel, Fresh
  "And while a lot of YA stories tackle coming-of-age themes that deal with firsts, I really wanted to explore the concept of what comes after those firsts."
  By Kate Oldfield On Aug 3, 2021
  0
  Share
  Fresh, the debut novel by Margot Wood, is the laugh out loud, modern day Emma retelling we’ve all been waiting for. This Emma reimagining is provocative, relatable and a great exploration of the struggles of ‘finding yourself’ during your first year away from home and we were so excited to get to chat to Margot all about it.

  Hi Margot, it’s so lovely to have you on the site today to celebrate the release of your debut novel, Fresh. For readers who may be hearing about Fresh for the first time, how would you entice them to pick up a copy?

  It’s a rowdy, queer retelling of Emma set at Emerson College!

  Fresh is modern day Emma retelling (and a great one at that) but what inspired you to retell Emma in a modern day setting, over Jane Austen’s other novels?

  Emma is an amazing comedy! And while Pride & Prejudice is my favorite book by Jane Austen, Emma Woodhouse is my favorite Jane Austen character. She’s outspoken, bold, charismatic and overly confident. She’s someone I want to be friends with and I wanted to tell a story from the perspective of a character like that, someone who, when you’re reading their story, feels like you are right there with them, someone you feel like you’ve been friends with forever.

  I loved how Fresh fills the gap between younger YA and adult. What inspired you to write for older teens/young adults?

  I think for a lot of people, they don’t really come of age until they are in college or in their late teens, early twenties and I wanted to write a story for those readers who want to see their experience reflected on the page. And while a lot of YA stories tackle coming-of-age themes that deal with firsts, I really wanted to explore the concept of what comes after those firsts. After you’ve had sex for the first time, after you’ve come out, after you’ve gained a little confidence, after you’ve had your heart broken for the first time. I want to read more stories about that!

  Having worked in the publishing industry yourself, do you think this affected your writing experience in any way and if so, how?

  Working in publishing has given me insight into how publishers think, what excites them but also what makes them nervous and wary of what they think they can sell. And all that this knowledge did was make me very aware that a lot of the choices I was making were going to make most publishers uncomfortable. And it did end up being that way! A lot of publishers passed on it or were interested only if I changed key aspects of the story like set it in high school instead of college, or make Elliot straight instead of bisexual, or focus more on her relationship with her family instead of her relationship with sex and intimacy. But what this did for me was it provided a sense of certainty with did ultimately publish the novel. The entire team at Abrams from my editor to the designer, to the marketing and sales teams, everyone got the story and what I was trying to do from the very beginning. Instead of being afraid of it, they embraced it, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

  Is there a scene in Fresh that stands out to you as a favourite and were there any scenes that didn’t quite make the cut that you’d be able to share with us?

  Honestly, there are so many scenes I love in this book! I love all the comedic scenes the most like the laundry room scenes, the fire alarm scene, the auction, and the montages. One full, complete scene was not included that I really debated on whether or not to keep. It was a scene where Elliot and her resident adviser, Rose, go to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and Elliot can’t tell if it’s a friend date or something more and she spends the entire time fretting over it. It’s a fun scene and would have been one of the few to take place outside the Emerson College campus setting but it ultimately didn’t make it in because it would have slowed the pace down a bit in the second half.

  Elliott is such a strong and funny voice to follow. Are there any parts of her character you see yourself in, either now or as a teen?

  When I first started writing Fresh I think Elliot was just freshman year me manifested on the page, but as I continued to write and grow the story and evolve it over the numerous edits, Elliot really became her own character. There are some common traits we both share though: we’re both ADHD, bisexual, love making sex jokes, and we would both subsist off cereal and waffles if we could.

  There have been so many incredibly 2021 debuts already this year (including Fresh, of course) but are there any stand outs for you that you’d like to recommend today?

  Ah there are so many so I’ll just list some faves: The Sky Blues by Robbie Couch, Yesterday is History by Kosoko Jackson, Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray, Counting Down With You by Tashie Bhuiyan, and Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant.

  Finally, are you currently working on anything new and if so, can you give us any hints as to what we might be able to read from you next?

  I think my agent would love for me to be like YEP, I HAVE A WHOLE NEW BOOK WRITTEN ALREADY but the truth is, I don’t. I also work in publishing full-time and between that and the pandemic, my creativity well is dry as shit. I do hope that once Fresh is out, I can start to mentally move on from it and begin something new! I have many ideas, of course, most of them comedic in nature, so I’m curious to see what I end up writing next!

  Get your copy of Fresh by Margot Wood here.

• Publishers Weekly - https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/86048-lgbtq-kids-books-2021-q-a-with-margot-wood.html

  LGBTQ Kids’ Books 2021: Q & A with Margot Wood
  By Pooja Makhijani | Apr 09, 2021
  Comments Click Here

  photo credit: Courtesy of the Author
  Margot Wood

  Margot Wood’s Fresh (Amulet, Aug.), which follows Elliot McHugh through the highs and lows of college life—all-nighters and parties, friends and hookups—was inspired by the author’s time at Emerson College in Boston. “It’s a safe space because it’s a very queer-friendly school,” she says. “I wanted to write a book set in a place where it’s natural for there to be no conflict around someone’s sexual identity. I wanted to explore what happens after you’ve come out; after you have figured out your sexual identity, what’s next?”

  PW spoke with Wood, a book marketing veteran who founded HarperCollins’s Epic Reads community for YA readers, about her debut novel, an homage to Jane Austen’s Emma.

  RELATED STORIES:
  PW issue Contents
  More in Children's -> Authors
  Want to reprint? Get permissions.
  FREE E-NEWSLETTERS
  Enter e-mail address
  PW Daily Tip Sheet

  subscribeMore Newsletters
  Why did you decide to write for older teens?

  In YA, typically most of the stories are set in high school, or maybe sometimes in the summer after high school. But you’re the same age when you graduate high school and when you enter college—it’s a major turning point in young people’s lives. All of a sudden, the environment has changed, the responsibilities have changed, the freedom that you experience changes. You’re not suddenly an all-knowing adult making the right choices. I’m interested in that mindset—where you’re mentally still a teenager but have all these new responsibilities.

  How did Austen inspire you?

  I realized that all these characters that I had, and some of the scenes and the themes that I wanted to explore, all fit wonderfully along the framework of Emma. It coalesced so seamlessly and so perfectly. Discovering who you are as a sexual person—what you like, what you don’t like, how to communicate that, how to have those relationships—is something that isn’t often explored in YA. If Emma were written today, I think that that conversation would be had.

  I like characters who are a bit messy. Emma and Elliot are similar in that they are women who mean well, but don’t always do well. Elliot never really wants to be told what to do, just like Emma.

  How did you use humor in the book?

  Austen is a great comedic writer; I also honored the comedy aspect of Emma. The book is a bit mature in terms of the sex. There are whole chapters dedicated to Elliot hooking up with lots of different people. It’s almost always in service of comedy. It shows that sex can be awkward and funny. Sex isn’t always serious or romantic and perfect. Elliot’s in a college dorm; how sexy can it really be? The book also breaks the fourth wall. It’s very self-deprecating and self-aware.

  Why is it important to write about queer joy?

  There are no discussions about what it means to be queer and be bisexual in the book; straight people don’t have those discussions about what it means to be straight. Some people might read that and think, “This is a utopic society because there is no queer pain in this.” I like stories that are pushing publishing more into that direction. We don’t always need to focus on all the pain; there are a lot of fun parts about being queer.

• The Nerd Daily - https://thenerddaily.com/margot-wood-author-interview/

  Mimi Koehler·Writers Corner·July 30, 2021·5 min read
  Q&A: Margot Wood, Author of ‘Fresh’

  SHARE
  1
  Chances are you’ve heard of Margot Wood before. As the founder of Epic Reads, Margot knows what makes for a great read—and now she’s venturing into publishing herself with her debut novel Fresh, a vulnerable, laugh-out-loud story about freshman Eliot and her wild experiences that will suck you in from the very first paragraph. We had the chance to chat with Margot and ask her about her experience as a first-time author, her all-time favourite books and so much more!

  Hi, Margot! Thanks for taking the time to chat with us! What is one book you wish you’d written yourself, one book you always recommend and one book that you think could make anyone fall in love with the written word?
  The book I wish I’d written myself is Just Kids by Patti Smith because then that would mean I’d had lived the life Patti did and that would be so rad (plus it’s just an incredible book I read every year). One book I always recommend is Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. It is the funniest book I have ever read and it was the first book I truly fell in love with! A recent book that made me re-fall in love with the written word was Luster by Raven Leilani. It was one of those books where every sentence was carefully crafted and it was just absolutely wonderful to read.

  Now onto Fresh! What can readers expect from Elliot’s story?
  Readers can expect chaotic queer joy! Though it will probably get the romcom label, I’d argue Fresh is more of a comedy than a romance, but there is romance too! It’s intentionally messy and chaotic and all over the place. I wanted to write something that would be easy to read, a one-sitting book that (sorry for the pun) refreshes your reading palate and gets people back into reading. Most of all I just want people to have fun while reading this book!

  I couldn’t put Fresh down! Elliot is such a refreshing character and her voice really bled through the story. What was the writing experience like for you?
  Thank you so much! Elliot has been living rent free in my head since 2014 and it’s really exciting that other people are finally getting to meet her! The writing experience was pure joy for me. This was my first attempt at writing a novel so I wasn’t sure if I would like the writing process or not but it turns out, I LOVED IT. I had so much fun writing this book!

  There are so many memorable scenes and expressions (“tender chicken” – enough said) that had me in stitches. Without spoiling too much, did you have a favorite scene or gimmick while writing Elliot’s story?
  My favorite gimmick by far are the footnotes. I had SOOOOOOO much fun writing those and I wish I could have included so many more but a lot were cut to trim things down. I also really loved being able to use design elements to enhance the story like bulleted lists, script format, font changes, etc. It’s too hard for me to pick one scene I liked the most so I’ll just list some, vaguely so I don’t spoil things: all the laundry room scenes, the dating auction, the fire alarm and all the montages!

  There are some epic friend, foe and other relationship dynamics in Fresh and they’re driven by very distinct characters. If you had to encapsulate Elliot, Rose and Lucy’s vibe with one meme each, which ones would you choose?
  I’ll stick to TikTok memes for this one! Elliot would be the “Oh no no no” meme, Rose would be the “Touch It” fit montage (or any outfit change trend), and Lucy would probably be really into posting “Day in My Life” videos accompanied with beautiful lofi music.

  You tackle a lot of important topics in Fresh and the setting of freshman year in college definitely contribute to the depth of your exploration of responsibility, making mistakes, slut-shaming and so many more topics. What do you want readers to take away from Fresh?
  I want readers to know it’s okay if they don’t have it all figured out. It’s okay to go down the wrong path and start over. It’s okay to screw up. It’s okay to be messy.

  Fresh is your debut novel. What were challenges you faced when sitting down to write this book? What were some highlights looking back?
  I started to write Fresh with no plan in mind. I had a cast of characters, a setting and a few scenes but I had no connecting thread to tie it all together. In the writing world, I’d be what you call a “pantser.” And because I didn’t plan things out in advance, it set me back and took me longer to figure out what I wanted to do with the story. Once I knew where it was going, it was really quick from there, but getting to that point took a long time.

  See also

  Writers Corner
  Q&A: Nancy Springer, Author of ‘Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche’
  The moment everything clicked and I knew what I wanted to do with this story was the highlight of my writing experience. I was in my kitchen when it hit me and it was like the clouds parted and sky became clear. I furiously wrote down the plot on a yellow legal pad and my hand couldn’t write fast enough. I took a selfie in the moment because I knew it was (as Elliot would say) a Pivotal Life Moment and I wanted to capture it.

  If Fresh were to be adapted for the big screen, what three songs would have to be on the soundtrack and during which scenes from the book would you want them to play?
  thank u, next by Ariana Grande would play during Project Tender Chicken.
  brutal by Olivia Rodrigo would play in the middle, right around the intermission.
  Watermelon Sugar by Harry Styles would play at the end major moment (you know the one).
  With Fresh releasing soon, are you working on another novel already? If so, can you share a tidbit about it with us?
  I tend to be the type of writer that doesn’t write every day but rather goes into Extreme Writing Mode does nothing for 3 months but write furiously and crank out a full draft in that time. So, I’m waiting for Fresh to publish before I’m ready to move on to the next thing. . . but I do have some ideas! I think I’ll always stick with comedy as that tends to be my default writing style but what it will be about….we shall see!

  Last but not least, share some books that surprised you in 2021 with us!
  Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
  Cheer Up by Crystal Frasier and Val Wise
  Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
  Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart
  Will you be picking up Fresh? Tell us in the comments below!

• The Book Bratz - https://thebookbratz.blogspot.com/2021/07/2021-debut-author-interview-margot-wood.html

  2021 Debut Author Interview: Margot Wood!
  JUL 23, 2021

  In 2019, we made it our goal is to work with as many debut authors as possible and to spread the word about their debut novels. It was such a success last year that we decided to continue the fun for years to come! Follow us this year as we pick the minds of the 2021 debuts and chat with them about their writing process and what it's like to be a new author. Also stay tuned for news of giveaways, Twitter chats, and more!

  At the end of 2020, we Tweeted about wanting to discover more debut authors and their books. When we found out that Margot Wood, one of our YA *heroes*, had a book coming out this year, we couldn't wait to talk to her about it. So without further ado, we are *so* excited to have Margot on the blog today to answer some of our questions!

  Margot Wood is the founder of Epic Reads and has worked in marketing for more than a decade at publishing houses both big and small. Born and raised in Cincinnati, and a graduate of Emerson College, Wood now lives in Portland, Oregon. She once appeared as an extra in the Love, Simon movie.

  Keep up with Margot: Website / Twitter / Instagram / Goodreads

  Pin on Pinterest

  The Book Bratz: First of all, congratulations! How does it feel to be a debut author?

  Margot: It feels amazing! I only get to be a debut author once and I’ve had a wonderful, extremely rewarding experience so far.
  The Book Bratz: In your opinion, what's the best part of the writing process? What's the hardest?

  Margot: My favorite part of the writing process is writing dialogue. I have no formal writing education so I leaned on my experience with acting and theatre when I set out to write this book. For every new scene, I would write the dialogue first and later went back in and filled everything else in. The hardest part of writing for me is plotting. I’m more of a character-driven writer so plots don’t come naturally to me.

  The Book Bratz: Where did you get the idea for FRESH?

  Margot: Fresh was inspired by my own experiences as a freshman in college as well as Emma by Jane Austen. Your freshman year is such a wild and messy time with so much change and growth in such a short period of time and I really wanted to explore this specific experience in young people’s lives. And as for Emma, I love the idea of charming characters who mean well but don’t always do well and Emma Woodhouse is the epitome of that archetype. It’s one of my favorite comedies of all time and while Fresh is only loosely based on Emma (aka not a direct retelling), I wanted to honor my fave by writing a modern, queer spin on it.

  The Book Bratz: Who was your favorite character to write? Who was the most difficult?

  Margot: Elliot is obviously my favorite because the whole book is narrated from her perspective, so besides Elliot my favorite characters to write were Elliot’s core group of friends as well as her younger sister, Remy! The most difficult character to write was probably Rose Knightley, Elliot’s resident adviser. I kept making her too likeable from the beginning which didn’t help with tension building at all, so I had to go back a few times during the editing process and make her more of a foil for Elliot instead of a friend.
  The Book Bratz: Do you feel like your vast experience in publishing affected your writing process in any way?

  Margot: I was making were choices that might turn off some readers. Like the narration style and its use of footnotes. A lot of people hate footnotes and there are 90 of them in Fresh so I knew going in right away that some readers weren’t going to like the style of the book. Another example would be setting the book in college. I know from my background in publishing that YA books set in college are difficult to sell because people don’t know where to place them. Are they young adult or adult or new-adult? I really want 18–24-year-old stories to thrive which is why I chose to set Fresh in college in the first place instead of high school but I also knew that by doing so I was making it more difficult for my book to sell. Hopefully it can overcome those hurdles!

  The Book Bratz: What do you hope that readers will take away from FRESH?

  Margot: More than anything, I want readers to have fun when reading my book. It’s written to be a fun, escapist, good-time book that’s perfect for those who are in reading slumps or just want something funny to blast through in one sitting or two. Fresh does touch on some more serious topics like sexual assault, but at the end of the day it’s a comedy. It’s meant to be fizzy and bright and chaotic and fun.

  The Book Bratz: Do you plan on returning to the world of FRESH in the future, or do you have any other projects in mind? Can you tell us anything about them?

  Margot: I’m always down for more Elliot McHugh shenanigans but for now it’s a standalone story. As for what I’m working on next, that’s a good question because I have like five new book ideas in my mind and I haven’t committed to any of them yet. The plan is to dive into those as soon as Fresh is out so hopefully I’ll have more of an update on that after Fresh is out!

  Title: Fresh
  Author: Margot Wood
  Publisher: Amulet Books
  Hardcover, 352 Pages
  Publication Date: August 3rd, 2021

  Summary: Some students enter their freshman year of college knowing exactly what they want to do with their lives. Elliot McHugh is not one of those people. But picking a major is the last thing on Elliot’s mind when she’s too busy experiencing all that college has to offer—from dancing all night at off-campus parties, to testing her RA Rose’s patience, to making new friends, to having the best sex one can have on a twin-sized dorm room bed. But she may not be ready for the fallout when reality hits. When the sex she’s having isn’t that great. When finals creep up and smack her right in the face. Or when her roommate’s boyfriend turns out to be the biggest a-hole. Elliot may make epic mistakes, but if she’s honest with herself (and with you, dear reader), she may just find the person she wants to be. And maybe even fall in love in the process . . . Well, maybe.

  Thank you so much to Margot for stopping by and answering our questions! We are super excited about FRESH and can't wait for it to be out in the world on August 3rd! You can also check our reviews of the book, coming soon!

Wood, Margot FRESH Amulet/Abrams (Teen None) $18.99 8, 3 ISBN: 978-1-4197-4813-4

Elliot McHugh chronicles a freshman year of college filled with new friends and sexual escapades.

In this story loosely inspired by Jane Austen’s Emma, Elliot is an outgoing, undeclared, new student at Boston’s Emerson College. She immediately becomes close friends with her roommate, Lucy Garabedian, who comes from a large Armenian American family and has far more ambitious college and career plans than she does. Elliot’s primary goal is to sleep with many people of any gender and with no commitments. This comes to fruition but isn’t as fulfilling as she thought, especially as she dwells on a conversation with Rose Knightley, her gorgeous resident adviser, about what constitutes good sex. Additionally, her courses are more of a struggle than she expected, and her behavior results in friendship hurdles. As the year progresses, Elliot learns more about who she is, what she wants, and what it takes to be a good friend and romantic partner. Elliot’s meta, first-person narration is conversational and often hilarious, with footnotes and sections directly addressing readers and inviting their participation. While it’s sometimes over-the-top, it all fits with Elliot’s exuberant persona. She’s a well-crafted, messy character who makes mistakes but ultimately means well. Unabashedly sex-positive and queer, this story is mostly light and breezy, but it has serious moments as well. Elliot is assumed White; there is some ethnic diversity in secondary characters.

A fresh, funny, college-set, coming-of-age tale. (Fiction. 15-18)

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Wood, Margot: FRESH." Kirkus Reviews, 15 June 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A667041920/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0572eafc. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.

WOOD, Margot. Fresh. 352p. Abrams/Amulet. Aug. 2021. Tr $18.99. ISBN9781419748134.

Gr 10 Up--Eliot is headed to Emerson College to begin her freshman year, and she really only has one thing on her mind: sex. When one of her classes gives her the opportunity to have a bunch of casual hookups with her peers in the name of writing an essay about love and eroticism, Eliot jumps at the chance. However, she soon learns that casual hook-ups aren't fulfilling and that they are putting the few quality relationships she has formed at risk. The first half of the novel provides a compelling story with a good amount of conflict, but it falls flat in the second half. Eliot's character grows during this portion of the novel, but that is the only tiling that happens. It felt as if the book continued following the characters through the rest of the school year simply because it was meant to be set over the course of the school year, and not because there was more story to tell. This debut has echoes of Jane Austen's Emma, (for example, Eliot sets her roommate up with her first boyfriend, only to realize he is not a good guy, similar to the way Emma attempts to set up Harriet with Mr. Elton), but the connection is pretty subtle. It will appeal less to Jane Austen fans than a firmer retelling, and the graphic, sexual content could be off-putting for some teens. VERDICT An additional purchase for libraries where sex positive titles are needed.--Mariah Smitala, Hedberg P.L., Janesville, WI

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
v