A Chat w/Milford Author Anthony Paolucci

How did you first get involved in the arts?

I would have to go as far back as second grade. Seeing that I loved to read, my mother bought me all the classics: Moby Dick, Oliver Twist, Tom Sawyer, etc.

Mind you, these were the children’s editions and not the originals, but they were still over 200 pages long. At the time, I had no idea they were literature, or anything important. To me, they were simply great stories, and I wanted more.

To this day, my appetite for reading is insatiable, and I’m always hoping to be as moved as I was by those classics. I didn’t begin my foray into writing, however, until I was in high school.

I discovered Jim Morrison, and for the first time I felt validated as an odd and socially awkward teen who liked to write poetry. I was a good student, but only because I didn’t have to try.

At this time, I had strict plans to be a rock star, and school was merely something that I had to do. As far as I was concerned, the only place writing had in my future was in writing song lyrics.

Then in my junior year something significant happened. My English teacher had assigned us a project. He wanted us to illustrate a song using magazine pictures, and we would put them on an overhead projector as the song was playing.

The idea was that it was supposed to be a music video. I wasn’t a fan of the project, so I simply picked a song that had a lot of images in it: “One in a Million” by Guns N Roses. The song is about the singer’s first impression of Los Angeles. Being from the Midwest, it was quite a culture shock.

Unfortunately, there were some offensive words in the song and my teacher gave me a bad grade. Other students that hadn’t put as much effort into the project, however, received an A. I was outraged, but my idea of rebelling was to simply stop trying in his class.

Naturally, I failed English and had to go to summer school. This had never happened before, so it was really upsetting. Not only was summer school infringing upon my two months of freedom, but I had a girlfriend who I couldn’t see because I was stuck in a classroom.

The first assignment was a narrative. I vowed to write something that would make an impression, yet would also communicate my anger and resentment for being there. The story I wrote was intentionally offensive, and somewhat graphic.

The teacher read it right away and asked to see me after class. Class ended, and she asked if I had written the story or had gotten the idea from somewhere else. I assured her it was mine and that I had come up with it in class that morning.

She then did something I didn’t expect: she praised it. Though the content was, in my mind, lewd and inappropriate, I guess I had pulled back just enough, and thrown enough of a poetic/romantic flair on it, to make it somewhat tasteful.

The teacher then said she intended to show the Assistant Director, who was an English major like her and would likely appreciate it. The Assistant Director praised it as well, and asked if she could show it to the teacher who ran the school literary magazine. I was too nervous to say no, so I complied.

Fast forward to the beginning of my senior year, and not only did the literary magazine want it, this teacher wanted me to be on the committee. All I could think was “This isn’t what was supposed to happen.”

I was trying to rebel, express my anger, and it was completely backfiring, yet in a strangely positive way. So the story goes into the magazine, the magazine is printed, and eventually distributed one morning during homeroom. By noon that same day, it was recalled.

I had upset so many teachers that they had planned to retract every copy and redistribute it without my story. Teachers that had liked me for 4 years wouldn’t even so much as look at me in the hall, but students who I had never talked to before were suddenly saying hello.

At first, everyone refused to hand in their copies, and a couple of the students even wanted me to sign theirs. Then the school said that anyone who didn’t hand in their copy would receive 3 days suspension, and that was the end of that. From this experience, I saw for the first time the power that writing had, and how differently it could affect different people. In this particular situation, I had caused this. With a few minutes of writing, I had impacted an entire school.

I was very shy, and didn’t have many friends, so this was quite an accomplishment. Still committed to the rock & roll dream, however, I wouldn’t get serious about writing until my daughter was born, fifteen years later. I wanted to write stories that she would enjoy, and she was constantly inspiring me with her comments and questions.

Having worked in book stores for years, and avoiding the children’s department at all costs, this was new and frightening territory. Yet I did it, and learned more about the craft in those first few years than in all the years I had been writing. Those books evolved into stories for older children, and now I believe I’ve found my niche: the Young Adult genre. A person’s teen years are the most terrifying and exciting ones of their lives. They’re simultaneously saying farewell to their childhood and welcoming adulthood. They’re right on the cusp of maturity.

To me, there’s enough freedom to write about topics that are more grown up, but the target audience is still young enough to appreciate silly humor and magical creatures. You can write about these things in other genres as well, but in the Young Adult genre there’s still a certain innocence, and everyone can relate to and understand the trials and tribulations of adolescence, perhaps more so than they can those of adulthood.

What is your latest project?

I always have a multitude of books in the works. Even after writing and publishing over 20 titles in four years, I seem to get the opposite of writer’s block and can never turn my brain off. Ideas hit me at all different times, for all different reasons, even in my sleep. At the moment, I have 6 picture books being illustrated, and two Young Adult novellas being proofread called “Memories of Winter,” which takes place in Milford, and “The Reckoning of St. Valentine.”

Currently, I’m promoting one of my favorite Young Adult titles, “Creatureton Elementary,” a Harry Potter meets Monster High kind of story, and “Deathly Pale,” a Young Adult vampire story, which was actually illustrated by my cousin’s 15 year old daughter Kaylee. I have a whole list of events and appearances coming up this year, all of which are mentioned on my website: anthonypaolucci.webs.com.

What advice do you wish you'd received when you first got started? 

Know who you are as a writer, accept it with every fiber of your being, and then be that writer. For many years, I tried to imitate my idols: Edgar Allan Poe, Neil Gaiman, Anne Rice, which led to a sort of identity crisis. I was trying too hard to copy their style without devoting any time to finding my own literary voice. This isn’t something that is learned easily or quickly. You have to keep writing until your voice evolves into something personal and unique, which it eventually will if you persevere.

Who are some local artists people should check out?

There are so many authors and artists from the area that deserve recognition. For writers, there’s Suzanne Palmieri, Jennifer Recupero Mamone, my aunt Ann Pasko, and Michelle Reynolds Hydeck, to name a few. Artists, many of whom I’ve worked with, there’s Matthew Fletcher, Christopher Mamone, Kaylee Velez, Vincent Vernacatola, Robert J. Beam Jr. , Maya Szatai, Stephanie Hammond, Albert Lopez, Liza Sivek—I could go on.