Author Interview with Annie Cardi, author of The Chance You Won’t Return

Valerie Zhang

10 years ago

You might have read my review of Annie Cardi’s The Chance You Won’t Return earlier. If not, that’s totally okay too. This interview with Annie is spoiler free and totally fun to read. Then again, my opinion isn’t the most accurate…

Of course, the bold is me, the honored interviewee, and the answers are those of the awesome Annie’s!

Driver’s ed and a first crush should be what Alex Winchester is stressed out about in high school – and she is. But what’s really on her mind is her mother. Why is she dressing in Dad’s baggy khaki pants with a silk scarf around her neck? What is she planning when she pores over maps in the middle of the night? When did she stop being Mom and start being Amelia Earhart? Alex tries to keep her budding love life apart from the growing disaster at home as her mother sinks further into her delusions. But there are those nights, when everyone else is asleep, when it’s easier to confide in Amelia than it ever was to Mom. Now, as Amelia’s flight plans become more intense, Alex is increasingly worried that Amelia is planning her final flight – the flight from which she never returns. What could possibly be driving Mom’s delusions, and how far will they take her? (Goodreads)

1. To start off, a common question that most writers get asked: how did you do it? What inspired you?

Lots of sitting in libraries/coffee shops/my apartment with my headphones on! ;)

The book started when the line “My mother thinks she’s Amelia Earhart” popped into my head. I was really intrigued about what kind of life that would be for the narrator and how the family functions. At first I tried to write it as a short story, but the idea kept expanding until I knew it had to be a novel. I’m also someone who doesn’t do a lot of plotting or outlining, so I wanted to finish it to see how it all came together. Of course, even after finishing the first draft, it went through at least another four or five rounds of revisions.

2. How long did it take you to get an agent? What advice do you have for dealing with a rejection?

Overall it took about 9 month and 15 queries to connect with my agent. There were lots of no responses and form rejections, a few kind emails with what was working and what wasn’t (and why the agents had to pass), one very kind phone call suggestion revisions, and a few emails with my to-be agent about revision.

It sounds cheesy, but I hope all writers know that 9 times out of 10, rejection isn’t personal and isn’t about an agent/editor hating your work. I was the assistant fiction editor for a lit journal in grad school, so I read through lots of short stories in the slush pile and sent out lots of rejections. Most of the time, the story was fine–good in some parts, not as strong in others, or just didn’t strike me overall. Rejections don’t have to mean that your story isn’t going to get published. A lot of the time it means it just needs some more revising or it needs to get into the hands of the right reader.

Even with that in mind, rejections are hard to get. But if you don’t seem them as an overall bleak judgment of your work, it’s a lot easier to keep submitting and (most important of all) keep writing.

3. How did you research for The Chance You Won’t Return? How did you draw the line between fact and fiction?

Great question! I went into The Chance You Won’t Return not wanting to write a “problem novel” about mental health or a historical novel about Amelia Earhart, so I didn’t get too bogged down in the research. I did some research online (like on the National Institute of Mental Health site) to see what Alex’s mom might have been suffering from, and did a little more book-based research on delusional disorders, as well as research on the families and caregivers of people dealing with mental health issues. Alex’s family situation is also inspired by some real-life experiences I’ve heard about–while no one I know has thought they were Amelia Earhart, I know a lot of people who either personally have or have family members dealing with depression, bi-polar disorder, substance abuse, anxiety, etc. Having a mom who thinks she’s Amelia Earhart is more of a writerly “hook” but I hope that teen readers whose lives may be touched by mental health issues can connect on that level.

As for the Amelia Earhart research, I did some research online, watched documentaries, and read some biographies, including a few by Earhart herself. For this research, I didn’t want to just regurgitate Amelia Earhart facts throughout the book. Instead, I wanted to pick out details that might connect with Alex and her family in some way and would further the story. Each chapter starts with a quote from Earhart, and I really liked trying to connect Earhart’s voice and experiences with what Alex was going through.

4. What writers have you been influenced by? When did you enter the literary world?

I’ve always been a big reader, so there are lots of writers who influenced my style. When I was in high school, I wrote bad versions of Tamora Piece or Francesca Lia Block stories. Later, I started reading works by Jhumpa Lahiri, whose precise and evocative prose I loved, and Virginia Woolf, whose writing was explosive and delicate and vast. Not that I can compare myself to any of these writers, but I think all of them (and many others) helped me discover my own voice and style. Even now I don’t know if I’m really part of the literary word, especially when I think about some seriously amazing writers working today. I’m just someone who loves stories and words and gets really excited about sharing that with people.

5. How did you choose the name of the characters and most importantly, the name of the title? Were there any other names you were considering?

In the first draft, Alex was named Winnie, which now I find kind of hilarious. I have no idea where that came from and it feels so old-fashioned now. But pretty quickly into the draft, I settled on Alex–it felt kind of sporty and normal, like a girl you wouldn’t necessarily notice in the halls. Most other characters’ names were always the same–Jim Wiley’s name was inspired by a guy I knew in college. I just loved the sound of his name!

The title went through a few changes! For a while, the book was called Queen of the Air, but my editor suggested that it focused too much on Alex’s mom. We batted around some ideas, and settled briefly on Here and Gone. That didn’t end up totally working either–it was kind of vague and didn’t feel contemporary enough–and it took a few days of my editor, her assistant, my agent, and me emailing lots of words and phrases around until we came up with The Chance You Won’t Return, which I love. I’m the worst at titles, so I’m really glad to have one that feels so right for the book.

6. Finally, through the revision process, did you change any major events? How has your book changed through the editing?

The ending was totally different in the first draft! It was a lot more quiet and slow, and Jim wasn’t as big a presence in the ending. Once I had the last couple of chapters mapped out and revised, it felt like that was the ending the book had been waiting for. The scene with Alex, Jim, and Alex’s mom toward the end is one of my favorites now.

I really loved interviewing Annie; she’s a great author with a real desire to promote understanding. Definitely buy The Chance You Won’t Return when it comes out on the 22nd!