I had the idea of turning the kids into activists and having them stand up for their rights against a conservative and hateful school administration and state legislative body.
Kelly Vincent – 13 August 2024
The Back Flap
Life, academics, and activism. Facing hate and bigotry, can this agender teen make a difference in LGBTQ+ rights?
Oklahoma City. Nic Summers is equal parts excited and nervous. Determined to excel, the seventeen-year-old strives to find time to survive physics, build confidence, and enter a competitive art mentorship. But the principled teen’s stress skyrockets when a protest video results in them and a trans friend being forced by the school to move to the female dorms.
Burning with a strong sense of justice, the normally shy teenager summons the courage to speak out against damaging state legislation. But when the vision goes viral, they’re shocked when the authorities hand down an ultimatum: stop or be expelled.
Can Nic dig deep and prevail against institutional bullies ready to erase their identity?
Sharing the plight of those too often silenced, author Kelly Vincent opens the door to understanding and empathy. Through the eyes of a big-hearted main character, Vincent leads the way toward accepting and appreciating each other’s differences.
Ugliest is the inspiring third book in The Art of Being Ugly contemporary YA series. If you like protagonists who grow, making a positive impact, and standing up for the underdog, then you’ll love Kelly Vincent’s soul-stirring tale.
About the book
What is the book about?
Ugliest is the final novel in a series about an agender teen artist who goes from a painfully shy and bullied kid to a bold and sure-of-themself activist for LGBTQ+ and especially trans rights with a group of like-minded other teens.
When did you start writing the book?
June of 2023
How long did it take you to write it?
10 months
Where did you get the idea from?
It was planned as the third in the series about agender teen artist Nic, who was bullied in a small town in Oklahoma but believed in themself enough to figure out a way to escape. They go to a boarding school in book two where they make a group of friends who bond over a bunch of things. They’re all a little different and they love art and nontraditional fantasy and sci-fi books. Most importantly, they’ve started paying attention to all the anti-LGTBQ+ legislation being passed in Oklahoma and other red states. I am watching this with horror, myself. I knew I wanted something important to happen in the second semester at the boarding school and pretty quickly I had the idea of turning the kids into activists and having them stand up for their rights against a conservative and hateful school administration and state legislative body.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
The entire series was both challenging and cathartic because Nic is basically me, in a thought experiment where I imagined myself as a teen now instead of the 80s and 90s. The first book is mostly based on things that really happened so it was definitely hard to relive a lot of bad experiences. But it also helped me process some things that have haunted me since leaving Oklahoma. Books two and three are entirely fictional so it wasn’t as difficult in the same way, but Ugliest was the most difficult because it deals head on with the terrifying and real legislation states all over the US are passing targeting and harming trans and other LGBTQ+ kids and adults. Researching that was painful. Additionally, I was wrapping up the book when the Nex Benedict story broke (the trans boy in Owasso, Oklahoma who was beat up in a school bathroom and punished, only to die the next day), and that was so upsetting because his story is exactly why I wrote this series. It was especially painful because Owasso is only 15 miles from where I grew up in Tulsa and I happened to be in town for family reasons at the time they were having vigils for him.
What came easily?
Although the boarding school Nic goes to in the second book and Ugliest is based on a real one I went to, the story in both of those books is totally new. Imagining myself growing and standing up for myself and eventually accomplishing so much felt really great and came fairly easily.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
Nic is 100% me. Most of their experiences in the first book are based on real ones I had and a lot of the other characters in that book are based on real people, or combinations of them. But in book two and Ugliest, Nic is my imaginary test case—basically, I tried to figure out how I would react to certain new people and circumstances. All the teen characters in Ugliest are made up, but some of the adults are based on people I knew.
We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?
I’ve loved the YA writers Sarah Dessen, Rainbow Rowell, and Jennifer Niven, and the romance/women’s fiction author Kristan Higgins, for the emotional depth they all create in their novels. I love reading stories with deep emotional journeys, and I strive to reach the levels those authors manage. I also really like the YA writer Mason Deaver for the way he addresses gender issues with clarity (and emotional depth).
Do you have a target reader?
So many LGBTQ+ teens in conservative places are made to feel lesser while their human rights are being taken away by state legislatures. With Ugliest, I hope both nonbinary and other LGBTQ+ teens can see themselves in this book and also understand how much power they can have once they are able to find community (which isn’t always easy, but can be done, even if involves waiting). Nobody has to become an activist, but even just knowing you aren’t the only one can help immensely. The other people who I hope read this book are readers—both kids and adults—who don’t understand where nonbinary and other LGBTQ+ people are coming from, because this books delves deeply into the how and why of Nic’s identity and worldview.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
My process is basically to work on writing in some way in every spare moment. To me, “writing” involves a lot of different activities, including drafting, editing, working on my platform (social media, blogging, etc.), working on marketing and promotions, and even reading in my genres.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
My process has changed with different books, but what I generally do now is write out every scene with a summary of a paragraph or so. I use Scrivener, a nice writing tool that makes this process easy and clean. But I am not afraid to change the story as I move along and I frequently add or remove scenes, and change what happens in the planned ones. But I still find that having the summaries helps me from being lured onto disruptive tangents.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
I always force myself to get through a full draft before going back. Things change too much along the way so it’s easier to know exactly where the story ends up before going back to change the earlier story to match it.
Did you hire a professional editor?
I have a great freelance copy editor. I have good critique partners and beta readers so I no longer use a developmental editor.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
I love music but don’t have anything specific that I listen to when writing. It’s basically shuffle on my Amazon Music collection, which has hundreds of albums.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
Yes, I tried and failed to get an agent with two of my books (Finding Frances, which I did get published by The Wild Rose Press, and Ugly, which I self-published).
What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
After literally hundreds of rejections with virtually no requests for manuscripts, I basically decided that I would just go indie rather than leave everything languishing on my computer. I was convinced I had good stories to tell despite the publishing industry’s heavy policing of stories that are different.
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
I had all my first covers done professionally, including the first book in The Art of Being Ugly Series, but I decided to do book two and Ugliest myself because doing them in the same style as the first book was actually something I was capable of. I am currently getting all three covers redesigned by a professional cover designer because I want an illustrated style and I can’t do that at this point.
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
I’ve hired a professional publicist for the Ugliest release. I know from previous experience that it is difficult (actually, impossible, in my experience) to get the book in front of enough people on my own.
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
First, you have to write the book. You can’t just plan it, or read books about writing, or revise chapter 1 a hundred times. You’ve got to get your butt in the chair and write the whole thing. And then you have to put the work in to make it good, which means a mix of classes, workshops, critique partners, developmental editors, and line/copy editors—and many, many drafts. And then you need to be realistic. It’s a lot of work and if you want to make it a career, you will have to learn the business side. You can’t skimp on putting time into both the writing and the business side. It’s a very tough field. But putting books you know are good out there is rewarding, even if you end up with only a few readers. Knowing you’re touching people feels great.
About You
Where did you grow up?
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Where do you live now?
Near Seattle
What would you like readers to know about you?
I work really hard to tell stories I think are important
What are you working on now?
I recently signed a contract with a tech press to write a nonfiction book about data science (my day job), so that is my focus right now, but in 2025 I hope to get back to a couple of YA suspense novels I have in progress. One is about a teen who avenges her sister’s murder with a touch of the supernatural, and the other is about a couple of girls who bust open a haunting at a school and find love in the process.
End of Interview:
Get your copy of Ugliest from Amazon US or Amazon UK.