Young author pens second novel

Author Dawson Therre released his second novel. Photos submitted

By Tom Victoria

Amid the dead leaves stands a bright flower of prose. Burgeoning author Dawson Therre has released his second novel in three years.

Dawson, 22, of Florida chronicles the further experiences of the protagonist he introduced in his first book.

“This is the exact same character,” he said. “And I'm honestly a little bit worried because there's a very big twist at the end of the first book that can widely affect the reception of the second book. So I'm trying my best to assert that it is a sequel because if you begin reading the second book without touching the first one at all, it's going to give away something very important to the first one. So I've tried a lot to mention that it is in fact a sequel following the same characters. There is one brand new character who plays a very trivial role. But it is a direct sequel.”

The events of All the City’s Dead Leaves does not pick up precisely where the first novel, You can recognize late September by how the leaves whistle just right, kindly to the wind, ended.

“Some time has passed,” he said. “It's been about a year. The characters now live in New York City for college. It's Jack, Ansel and Marigold all have an apartment in New York City.”

Dawson said readers will find both the protagonist and the writing style different this time around.

“This book is drastically different in the syntax, in the prose, which is something I'm very proud of,” he said. “If I could describe the book, it would just be pleasantly easygoing. Jack's character is much more laid back, which I hope people can understand. A year has passed since the events of the first book, but, of course, there is a different thing happening. The second book picks up with Ansel has been attacked in the apartment that they live in, and he's currently in the hospital in a coma.” 

Dawson said his lead character has had time to change.

“He went through his therapy and he takes medicine,” the author said. “So I hope people can understand the growth of him because a lot of it goes unsaid. It's more so implied. So I hope people can get that.”

Dawson is satisfied with the reception his first story received.

“I've pushed over 600 books, which is honestly great because I'm an independent bookseller,” he said. “I don't have an agent or anybody. I've done it all on my own directly through my Instagram, which is really cool. I think it has a 3.9 rating on Goodreads. Of course, there's a couple 1 stars on there. You can't please everybody. But it's fine because I really like the first book. It's very creatively fulfilling to me to go back and look at it and think, wow, I did this once. I can definitely do it again.”

However, Dawson initially thought the new novel would not be as good.

“When I first started writing the second book, at first I was like, oh, this isn't going to be as good as the first one,” he said. “I don't want to compare them, but I am very satisfied with the second book where if it were to be received poorly, I'm still happy with what I did.”

Dawson follows up on Jack’s early earlier relationship foray with questioning his own orientation.

“In the first one, it's never a definite answer with Jack what his sexuality is,” he said. “And it's the 1980s as well. I didn't really want to home in on the fact that it's the 1980s and how people received stuff like that back then, because this is fiction. I'm not trying to write this off as an awful tragedy. But the second book goes into Jack's love life, and the new character that's introduced, his name is Adam. Him and Jack have something going on, but there's still the side of Jack is learning to accept himself with the idea of what other people think of him at the same time. The major conflict in book two is Jack accepting that people are gonna think of him a certain way, but he's got to just learn to live with it.”

Dawson graduated college this year.

Dawson decided his characters should find a light at the end of tragedy and other challenges.

“When I was writing book two, I was like, oh, people are gonna say, well, in the 80s, this was not okay at all,” he said “But like I said, it's fiction. I will say book two is a love story, and I'm not trying to make this the saddest thing ever. When I first approached book two, it was going to end sadly. But then as I was writing it, I was like, you know what? There's so much tragedy going on. I don't see why I would inflict these characters with the worst thing ever again, so it's a happy book.”

Dawson progressed the level of Jack’s realization about himself.

“As trite and cliche as this is to say, they are in a new city, a big city, New York, in the second book,” he said. So of course it's different than the first book of them being in small town where all eyes are on you. But still, even in book one, I like the scene that I wrote with Jack and Ben where they do share a kiss and they do have these feelings because even in the environment that they were in, they still managed to find their relationship. But in book two, it's definitely a little bit more wild. I remember some parts that I would write thinking like this is a little too out there. But it's New York, so I think it works.”

Dawson avoids sensationalizing the content.

“The most out there the story gets is a conversation about circumcision, but I think it’s important to the narrative arc of these boys understanding each other. I’d never write something purely for shock value,” he said. “It has to carry some nuance.”

Dawson draws inspiration from his life.

“I just graduated college,” he said. “I'm home right now in St. Augustine, but I live in Orlando still. Most of this book was written last summer when I came home for the summer time and had a slight little incident occur with a friend of mine who misinterpreted something that happened between us. It was actually a pretty big deal. But at the time, I'm thinking how can I possibly process this if not writing. If that event last summer hadn't happened, I don't think I would have written this book. But of course, this book is fiction. I'm thinking more so as I was writing it and as I was going through something, a lot of people deal with the same things.”

Dawson wants his readers to relate to the characters.

“As much as whenever I get down about things and I want to dwell on them and think it's just me in this world going through this, I love the thought that somebody else is experiencing it, too,” he said. “That's why I wrote the book is because I know that there is someone else out there who would feel the same exact way. So I definitely drew inspiration from my real life. I’m always going to draw inspiration from my real life. But then I do watch movies and I still read books and listen to music. There's still other stories that I am entwined by and want to see if I can put them into my own words and work and see how I can make it one big book.”

“The motif  is that these characters deal with so much harm, but there's still a lot of light that they have.”

It’s vital to Dawson that his characters and stories show people how important it is to accept themselves and others for who they are.

“There's never a moment where Jack is like, oh, I'm gay, or I'm bisexual,” he said. “That never happens. In fact, I really like the way that I kept it nonchalant. When Adam is first introduced, there's a part where he's like, oh, and then he kissed me. And that's it. That's the only reveal that you get that Adam and Jack are together. There's no harping on that. Today, especially in society, it's a whole big deal of coming out and everything. But it really doesn't have to be a big deal. You can just do. If you like a boy, if you like a girl, just that's who you like. There is a little bit of stigma around people's sexuality and people still accepting it. I'm hoping that when people read the book, they understand that it doesn't have to be a big deal. It can be totally normal for you.”

Dawson started off with an idea of where he wanted his story to go.

“The conflict is Ansel was attacked at the apartment and he's in the hospital for the entire book,” he said. “I knew I wanted it to be a what if scenario. Is Ansel going to survive by the end of the book? That was the first thought that I ever had for book two, because I think writing a tragedy is the easiest thing for me to do. I don't know why it is like that. Or it's the most enticing at least. I always enjoy reading a book where you things are bad and you don't know what's gonna happen. I wanted to take a character that I really liked from the first book, which was Ansel, and put him in a life or death situation. I originally had the thought of Ansel is stabbed, where's it gonna go now? And then, I'm not gonna spoil it, but I think where it goes is really important. I'm not trying to destroy these characters’ lives after I put a hopeful light at the end of the first book. The motif is that these characters deal with so much harm, but there's still a lot of light that they have.”

Dawson opens the sequel with an original poem.

“Last book, I quoted some of my favorite songwriters,” he said. “But this time the epigraph felt like it needed to come directly from me.”

For now, Dawson has said all he intends for these characters.

“There were certain things that I hadn't experienced yet that are in book two that were very important for me to experience for my writing,” he said. “So at the current moment, I truthfully do not have a plan to go back to these characters. I think where I left them at the end is just right. But I'm not saying that I won't ever go back. I think a couple years would need to pass for me to find something important, some important situation to put them into. I will write a third book, definitely. I have been recently very into Greek mythology and like The Song of Achilles. I would love to take Greek figures and put them into a modern story.”

Dawson is receptive to his works being adapted to other mediums such as film.

“If somebody approached me with that idea, I could never say no to it even despite what they might do with the characters,” he said. “I think it would be great if I could have some creative control there. But if I don't and they take the book and they do what they can with it to make it into a movie, that would be absolutely fantastic for me to see. Of course, in adaptations there's going to be changes because you can't take directly what happens in a book. There's too many details to put it onto a screen unless you're making a TV show. The first book would not work as a TV show. It would have to be a movie. Same with the second book. So I guess I would probably be opposed to a television show. But a movie, gosh, I would love for my book to be a movie. That would be so cool.”

Now that Dawson has graduated, he would like to become a full-time writer.

“I have been applying to jobs, so many jobs,” he said. “I graduated with a journalism degree, so hopefully a writing job. It's my favorite thing to do. But at the same time, I'm totally open to work wherever I can get a salary would be great. I honestly want to move out of Orlando, but not back to St. Augustine. I think I'm ready to go to a new city with new people. But right now I'm really, I'm not necessarily worried. I feel like it will work out now.”

Dawson prefers feature writing to hard news.

“The news aspect of journalism is not what I was interested in during college, which is crazy to say during college,” he said. “But I was very interested in more of the features and profiles of people. I think those are the best stories. It wasn't whenever there was breaking news that my school wanted me to go report on. That was not my thing. I didn't really enjoy talking to police officers or being first on the scene. I don't like being up in people's business. I know that's the whole thing of journalism is you got to know what's going on, but that is not who I am necessarily. So I don't think I will be pursuing a job like that.”

Dawson maintains a pleasant demeanor in life.

“I naturally lean toward positivity because every group needs someone grounding things in a lighter energy,” he said. “It just feels good not to live in anger all the time.”

Dawson remained motivated to write.

“With the first book, it was easiest for me to write at nighttime,” he said. “I found nighttime was the easiest. But with the second book, it was very motivating to wake up and write, actually. And there was just a lot I wanted to get off my chest. So I think I had a lot to say with the second book that felt very motivating. And then the end point of putting out the book was also very motivating to me. That's why I announced it back in February. It was motivating just to see the reception and people get excited about it. And especially already having the first book out was really cool to see the excitement. All of that was very, very nice.”

Dawson dispensed advice to aspiring writers.

“If we're a creative person, you always find time,” he said. “For me and my friends, whenever we go out at night to the bars and stuff, I would always see myself putting together visions in my head or sentences, things that could be included in the book just because I'm experiencing things. You have to experience stuff. If you haven't experienced it, it's going to be difficult to write about. It's a very honest thing for a writer to include stuff that they've experienced in things that they write. So for a younger writer, you should know these things that you're writing about and putting onto the paper if you want them to feel real at all.”

Dawson’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dawsontherre/

The Grid’s first profile on Dawson: https://www.gridnews.net/profiles/college-student-pens-first-novel?rq=dawson%20Therre