Interview With Jessica Vitalis, Author of Unsinkable Cayenne

Thanks for joining us at Smack Dab, Jessica! Tell us a bit about Unsinkable Cayenne.

It’s a pleasure to be here! Unsinkable Cayenne is a historical novel in verse set in 1985 (yes, that’s historical to modern middle grade readers!) It follows twelve-year-old Cayenne, who has spent her entire live traveling the country with her hippy parents in a sticker-covered van. When they finally settle down in a small town in Montana, she vows to make friends with the popular kids, catch her rich crush’s eye, and hide her strange family. But her teacher’s obsession with the newly discovered Titanic wreckage reveals startling parallels between the social strata aboard the doomed ship and Cayenne’s own life, forcing her to evaluate who she really is––and who she wants to be.

 

I love novels in verse. For me, they kind of strip away all the pages of description and let the emotionality of a story really resonate. Why were you drawn to writing a novel in verse? What’s the drafting process like for a novel in verse? 

 

I wrote quite a bit of poetry in high school but never thought of myself as a poet; in fact, when verse novels first took off, I was completely in awe of the form and distinctly remember declaring that I could never write a novel in verse. Unsinkable Cayenne actually started as a short story I wrote for an anthology about first kisses; when I sat down, the story came out in free verse (mostly non-rhyming poetry without set rules). My editor passed on the anthology but said she’d be interested in my story as a novel. I set aside my fear and did a deep dive into verse novels, reading (and rereading) everything I could get my hands on. Once I realized there wasn’t some secret set of “rules” guiding verse novels that I simply didn’t understand, the project became a lot less intimidating. From a big-picture perspective, the writing process was identical to writing in prose in the sense that there needs to be a compelling plot and a solid character arc. The main difference is that writing in verse allowed me to spend a lot more time exploring the image systems and poetic techniques designed to evoke emotions in readers, which was a fun challenge.  

 

I love the Titanic angle–linking it to Cayenne in a strong way (Unsinkable–it’s right there in the title), but I also loved that you included some of the survivors. Showing that it’s possible to make it through something disastrous. Where did the Titanic angle come from? 

 

The short story I mentioned earlier was based on a crush from my childhood in the 1980s. When I set out to turn the story into a novel, I wanted to keep the flavor of the story (roller skating, Pizza Hut, perms, etc.) but conventional wisdom holds that there has to be a really compelling reason to make a story historical. Since friendship, first crushes, and fitting in could easily be contemporary, I knew I had to find a historical anchor. My very first Google search revealed the discovery of the Titanic wreckage in 1985, and the theme fit so perfectly with the story I was trying to tell in terms of exploring the impact of socio-economics on the middle school experience that I never looked back. 

 

Lyrical writing abounds here—to a great extent because novels in verse lend themselves to it. Same favorites: “maybe is the sound my heart makes” or “the sour taste of never.” Does lyrical writing come naturally? How do you strike a balance between making a book pretty and slowing it down? 

 

First of all, thank you! I do think I tend to have a fairly lyrical writing style, so that was useful in making the transition to verse. In terms of pacing, I think it’s critical to have a good sense of story structure (developed by being an avid reader and intentionally studying craft); beyond that, feedback from critique partners and my editor was critical in getting the balance right. Although I’m typically an underwriter, we actually ended up cutting dozens of poems in the later stages of this project.  

 

Without spoiling anything, tell us a little more about how you arrived at the ending.

 

The hallmark of middle grade books is that they always end on a hopeful note, but I didn’t want to write something that would give kids false hope or suggest that they are somehow responsible for, or able to influence, their parents’ decisions. The very first draft of this novel had a “happily-ever-after” ending, and I think I knew even as I was drafting that it wasn’t right for the story I wanted to tell. In the end, I chose to focus on Cayenne’s emotional journey rather than external factors that are entirely out of her control.

 

What’s next?

 

Good question! I have several projects in the works, but after publishing 4 novels in 4 years, I’m taking a bit of a breather and focusing on getting the books I have out into the hands of young readers. I hope to do lots of school visits, conference, and festivals in 2025, so hopefully I’ll have a chance to meet you and many of your readers IRL!

 

Where can we find you?

The best place to find me right now is at www.jessicavitalis.com; I’m also semi-active on Instagram and Facebook at @jessicavauthor. Thanks for having me!

 

 

 

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