Avery Carpenter Forrey: On Social Media vs. Reality
Author Avery Carpenter Forrey discusses how quiet moments reveal characters well in her debut novel, Social Engagement.
Avery Carpenter Forrey is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in The Cut, GQ, and elsewhere. As Managing Editor at theSkimm, she co-wrote the #1 New York Times bestseller How to Skimm Your Life. She holds an MFA in fiction from NYU and lives in Connecticut with her husband and daughter. Social Engagement is her first novel. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
In this post, Avery discusses how quiet moments reveal characters well in her debut novel, Social Engagement, how COVID impacted the plot, and more!
Name: Avery Carpenter Forrey
Literary agent: Allison Hunter
Book title: Social Engagement
Publisher: Mariner Books
Release date: May 23, 2023
Genre/category: Fiction
Previous titles: Co-author of How to Skimm Your Life
Elevator pitch for the book: A bitingly sharp and darkly humorous debut novel exploring millennial wedding culture, class, and relationships, all filtered through the ever-present lens of social media.
What prompted you to write this book?
All the save-the-dates on my fridge! I was going to a lot of weddings at the time and consuming endless wedding content on social media, which urged me to explore the backstories behind the perfectly posed photographs. I was interested in the contradiction that such an unforgettable day can be externally flattened to a series of clichés.
But as much as the cynic in me wanted to poke fun at over-the-top wedding culture, I’m also a huge fan of a big celebration. I had a large wedding myself, and the small moments—the ones outside the cropped frame of an Instagram post—were some of the most special and interesting. So, I took that Instagram v. reality curiosity and ran with it.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
3.5 years. I started writing this book in late 2019 and it’s coming out May 2023. It changed a lot!
Originally, it was conceived as a light romp, and I wanted every chapter to take place at a different wedding. Turns out it’s hard to get to know characters when you only see them at parties. I had to incorporate those quieter moments, too. Anchoring each chapter in Instagram posts and camera roll pictures allowed me to explore characters’ private spaces as well.
The book ended up getting darker and deeper because of COVID. The solitude of lockdown turned writing into an imaginative escape while also forcing greater introspection and weirdness—ultimately, making the story more unique.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
The collaboration was a huge relief! It shouldn’t have been a surprise, but when you spend years writing a book alone, it’s a happy shock to then have a team behind you. My agent, Allison Hunter, my editor, Molly Gendell, and the entire team at Mariner Books are the very best.
I also learned that one year from acquisition to publication is considered fast in publishing. It can be hard for a new author to adjust to publishing timelines, but books take time. And once they’re out, they’re (hopefully) timeless.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
How many pages I threw away to get to the final product. I write pretty clean drafts, as I can’t help but edit a little as I make progress (it keeps me motivated to have a wake of clean copy behind me). Still, I ended up cutting so many pages to tighten the story and serve the eventual narrative arc.
A few years ago, I would’ve shuddered to realize how many words end up in the trash, but now I know it’s just part of the process.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope readers take away feelings of recognition and empathy. Callie’s life looks aspirational on the outside, but she’s struggling with demons behind-the-scenes.
I also hope it helps people interrogate and examine their relationship with their phones. This isn’t meant to be moralistic or cautionary; I actually came away from writing this book with a renewed sense of appreciation for how our phones mark time. I think it may propel people to question why and when they’re logging on, recording, and posting.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Keep going and mind the gap. By that, I mean the gap between your taste and abilities. Ira Glass has this fantastic quote about how, when you’re starting out, it’s hard to bridge the gap between the books you love and the writing you’re producing.
A lot of people quit when they feel like they can’t measure up to their favorite writers. Use it as fuel instead of letting it stoke fear.
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
