Brenna Yovanoff’s debut novel, The Replacement is the story of Mackie, a boy who is not human; a boy who was left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago to take his place. Maggie Stiefvater says of the book: “I loved this eerie and beautiful story of ugly things. It should be read aloud after dark, at a whisper.”
Byrt: Have you always been fond of the creepy? (Did you by any chance read Roald Dahl or watch the movie Labyrinth as a kid?)
Brenna: I’ve loved horror movies pretty much my whole life! I actually like Labyrinth more now, because when I was little, I thought Sarah was too whiny, but Roald Dahl was one of my favorite authors. The first book I ever bought with my own money was The Twits, which actually confuses me now, because it isn’t even eye-catching—it has a brown cover! (I still think it’s one of the best books ever, though.)
Byrt: Was Gentry inspired by a real-life town or place?
Brenna: Gentry came about because I wanted to try and capture some of the creepy-town feeling from Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery, only with a contemporary spin. It isn’t really based on anyplace specific, but in my head, it kind of looks like Pennsylvania.
Byrt: The Morrigan is generally terrifying in folklore – by making her a little girl, did you want to turn that convention on its head? Or was it just to represent how much power she had lost?
Brenna: With the Morrigan, I really wanted to acknowledge the pixie-fication of the Irish traditions. I’ve always been fascinated by how Victorian society took these powerful, frightening deities and turned them into something mischievous and whimsical. She still has her own kind of power, but it’s gotten stunted over the years.
Byrt: How much of Mackie’s outcast sensibility was inspired by your own high school experiences?
Brenna: I’d actually have to say . . . none? I was ridiculously optimistic as a teenager, and pretty easygoing. However, I was really quiet and liked to people-watch. At school, I paid close attention to everyone around me and was surprised by how many people seemed to feel like they were outsiders, even when they seemed totally normal on the surface. So I take that back—I guess Mackie’s character does come straight from my personal experience, although not necessarily anything that happened to me personally.
Byrt: What do you want teenagers to take away from your story?
Brenna: I think one of the best things someone could take from this story is that being like everybody else is kind of overrated. It just doesn’t matter that much, compared to having strong relationships with the people who love you.
Byrt: What’s up next for you? Will there be more Mackie?
Brenna: While there’s certainly a possibility of more Mackie in the future, the book that I’m working on now is another standalone. It doesn’t have a title yet, but it’s about demons, moral ambiguity, and kissing.
Byrt: What you reading right now?
Brenna: Impulse, by Ellen Hopkins, and The Absolute Value of -1, by Steve Brezenoff, and Nightshade, by Andrea Cremer. (I’m pathologically incapable of reading just one book at a time.)
Byrt: What’s your favorite thing to do when you get stuck or have a frustrating writing day?
Brenna: The thing that always helps me the most is to reread a book I think is really brilliant. The particular book might change, depending on what I’m working on and the kinds of problems I’m having, but seeing how someone else has figured out how to tell a story perfectly is always inspirational.
Byrt: Thanks again, Brenna for stopping by the Bookyurt!
Brenna: Thanks so much for having me!
The Replacement is out now. For more on Brenna, check out her website here.
(Bookyurt’s review of The Replacement is here.)
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