Tea and Tales with Cate and Allison discussion

In June we read the debut novel Mosquitoland by David Arnold. With the introduction of our book group, we wanted to do something special for our first book, so Allison and I hosted a giveaway on Goodreads and Instagram and then I contacted the author and asked if he would be willing to do a special Q&A for our book group. He graciously accepted and after asking all of our members to submit their questions, I now have David Arnold's replies back! I hope you enjoy his answers as much as I did! Xo Catie


Question #1: Is Mim going to give us some of her "Mimness" on the big screen? If so, who do you think would make an excellent Mim?

Answer: There are some things in the works, but nothing official yet. Needless to say, I would love to see this happen. If I could handpick an actress to play Mim, it would probably be Kaitlyn Dever. But I'd also love someone up-and-coming, someone no one really knows yet.


​Question #2: I​n ​your ​author ​summary in the back of the book, ​you​ mention ​you were​ a preschool teacher a​long with a bunch of ​other jobs, ​w​hat sparked ​you​ to want to write a book?

Answer: I've always loved reading, and writing was sort of something I did on the side--but I didn't get serious about it until my wife and I discovered we had a baby on the way. At the time, I was working as a freelance musician, writing music for indie films and commercials and a variety of videos. I had a home studio, and pretty much holed myself up and built music in solitude. But after we found out my wife was pregnant, it was decided I would stay at home with the baby, which meant I wouldn't be able to record during the day. At that point, I turned to face a novel I'd been too afraid to start, and that became Mosquitoland.


​Question #3: Maybe this is cheesy, but is ​David Arnold ​a Cubs fan? I'm a baseball fan, love the Blue Jays and the Cubbies. I found the baseball references to be so endearing and it made the book that much more ​relatable ​and tangible for me​.

Answer: I love baseball. I was born in Cincinnati, so I'm a Reds fan at heart. But my wife's family is from Maine, and over the years, I've found myself rooting for the Red Sox as well.


Question #4: Were Walt and Beck ​based upon ​real​ people​?

Answer: No one in the book is based on anyone in real life.


Question #5: Will there be a sequel to this book?

Answer: As of now, I have no intention to write a sequel. I wouldn't altogether rule it out in the future, but I'd have to have a specific story to tell. Right now, I feel I've taken these characters as far as I can.


Question #​6: ​What becomes of Walt?

Answer: I fall firmly in the Books Belong to the Reader camp. I have certain ideas about what happens to Mim and Beck and Walt after the book ends, but I don't think my ideas are any more authoritative than anyone else's. But I love hearing what readers think happens to them!


Question #​7: ​Did ​you​ feel a bit uncomfortable writing about Beck and Mim's feelings for each other considering the age gap?

Answer: This was definitely a concern of mine. Beck's age changed a couple times during revisions; I wanted him to be old enough that any romantic notion would be inappropriate, but not so old that Mim wouldn't want more than friendship. It's one of the reasons I love the movie Lost in Translation so much--the relationship between Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) and Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is so complex. The whole movie you're trying to figure it out, and even though you really can't, you know it's special. Mosquitoland deals with a lot gray areas, this being one of them. I wanted to try my hand at writing a relationship that wasn't exclusively a friendship, but wasn't quite romantic either. And--SPOILER--among all the poor decisions and questionable characters Mim meets, it was important to me that Beck make the right choices here.


​Question #8: It has always been said that fiction is either not at all fiction or part non-fiction. Is there a story behind ​the​ story? Personal experience?

Answer: I do believe there is truth in storytelling, but I disagree that truth equates to non-fiction. I did put a lot of myself into Mosquitoland--it was definitely the book I had to write. But as far as the actual things that happen to Mim, and the circumstances under which they happen, every page is pure fiction.


​Question #9: I would ​like to know how David Arnold​ got into the mindset of a teenage girl so effectively! Honestly I'm beyond impressed that the author of this amazing book is a man, because as I'm reading it I could swear I'm in the head of a teenage girl.

Answer: First of all, thanks! I've been asked this before (as you might imagine), and my short answer is this: we're all people. I've said before that teenagers want nothing more than to understand the value of the world, and to have the world understand their own value. This is true regardless of gender. (Obviously, boys and girls are treated differently externally, and in those instances, I had some brilliant female readers who helped me get things right.) As far as writing from a girl's perspective, in the first few drafts of Mosquitoland the protagonist was actually male, but it wasn't quite working. One of my best friends (and amazing author of Faking Normal), Courtney Stevens, suggested I change the gender, and when I tried it, things just opened up. I don't know how else to put it--it was just right. But I'm writing a male protagonist in the novel I'm working on now, and really enjoying it, which I think proves that there is no formula, that every story is different.
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​Question #10: Before I read a book, I like to read the 'About the Author' at the end of the book. I noticed it said he was a dad, so I wonder if being a new dad had influence on his writing? Particularly the letters to Mim's future baby sister. There's always this presence of Mim writing her story to someone and I wonder if David Arnold was doing the same.

Answer: Absolutely. Honestly, I never would have written this book without my son. Much of it was written with him playing right in front of me. In that sense, I wouldn't say I wrote this book for my son, so much as I wrote it to him.

So much good insight! It's so cool that he did this!

Jasmine, I completely agree! I loved his answers SO much! I'm so glad you enjoyed them as well!

I loved reading these answers. And looking foreward to his future books.

I think I'm late. But, I thoroughly enjoyed this read along. I think it was quite nice of him to speak to his audience. I too, enjoyed the comments, his answers and look forward to either a sequel or any other writing in the works. I could play, Mim. I'm laughing probably harder than anyone else. This has actually, turned out to be one of the best books I've read this year. Thanks To the the two that were responsible for this awesome little community. I'm looking forward to more of them.

I was intrigued how he answered the, non-fiction question. He only referred to Mim being strictly fiction. Im sorry. I give too much attention to detail. However, I loved his answers and the fun and innocence of this book. He has an extraordinary imagination.

Catie, had the August read along started?

Yes it has! We're reading A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E Scwab. We'll be posting discussion questions in a little bit, as we read the book. :)

Oh, Okay. I think I missed or overlooked the email that this one was chosen. I thought it was between, Sold and I forget the nAme of the other one about the young boy who befriends the older man.

I hope to do the read along with you guys next month. Thanks, Catie.

Jalawa, no worries at all! I'm still planning on reading those two other books too. I think they sounded so good! ADSOM seemed to have a a leap in popularity at the very end. :)