Today we’d like to introduce you to Demetra Brodsky.
Hi Demetra, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I decided to try my hand at my lifelong dream of becoming a traditionally published author at the tail end of the Great Recession in 2009. In my previous chapters, I have been an award-winning Director of Exhibits and Creative Services for a natural history museum and an award-winning graphic designer and art director. I guess you can say I’ve been working as an artist in some capacity my entire adult life, which led me to erroneously believe I was equipped to take on this new challenge. I was freelancing at the time, one of eight-plus million people laid off trying to begin again, designing exhibits for Cymer Inc., and writing exhibition proposals for the San Diego History Center’s bicentennial celebration, all while teaching myself everything I could about writing a novel. This was not unusual for me, having been granted the Leo Zolli Book Award from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2000, given to one senior yearly who demonstrated a propensity toward lifelong learning. Knowing that, it may not come as a surprise to anyone reading this article that I became a regular visitor of my local Carlsbad library, taking out stacks of books every two weeks to learn the ins and outs of what makes a compelling story. It was that research that made storytelling click anew in my mind, helping me see that I had been telling stories my entire career, only visually instead of with written words. The concepts still held true: tell the story and be sure to leave enough white space for it to breathe. I could do this, I thought, and set out to write my first full-length novel, the first draft of which would take four months, not knowing only one percent of writers actualize the dream of becoming traditionally published. It was probably better that I didn’t have access to certain statistics, because it allowed me to pursuit the art of writing with obsessive passion. It took seven years, three manuscripts, the cultivation of a writing community, and hundreds of rejections for me to land a literary agent and another two years for my first agent to sell my debut novel, DIVE SMACK, to Tor Teen-Macmillan. A novel that went on to become a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection before earning two other distinctions. What they say about the ten-thousand-hours rule is true. You have to put in the work and time, and I did daily, treating writing as a full-time job while freelancing. Even so, it would take an additional two years of writing, self-promotions, and marketing for my sophomore novel, LAST GIRLS, to sell to the same editor and publisher. LAST GIRLS is a twisting, suspenseful YA thriller about sisterhood, survival, and dark family secrets set in the world of doomsday prepping. It released in 2020 and went on to receive five award nominations and distinctions, surpassing DIVE SMACK in its critical acclaim. I’d love to say writing and publishing my became easier after that, but once you’re inside the publishing industry, the real trick is to keep writing and publishing, circling back to that one percent statistic. Still, fourteen years later, the advice given to me by an author I deeply admire rings true. She said, “Keep writing; perseverance is the name of the game. You only fail if you quit.” Tenets my publishing journey has proven as gospel. I’m currently out on submission with an adult fiction novel to editors. Its destination and success are only a matter of timing with a dash of luck added for good measure.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
One of the greatest challenges of my career has been releasing a book during the height of the pandemic. LAST GIRLS released in May of 2020, two years after it sold (yes, it takes that long), coming to shelves at time when the entire world was fearing for its safety, hunting high and low for toilet paper, yeast, and flour, waiting for vaccines and hope. Ironically, LAST GIRLS is a book about survival, about prepping for the many scenarios that might culminate in the end of the world. It’s about deciding who to trust when you feel betrayed by the people you rely on most and not giving up your own beliefs. Getting to the library wasn’t as easy the second time around. Most of my research had to come from online sources, borrowed e-books and audiobooks, purchased books and articles during the editorial process, all to write a story that included but isn’t limited to the political climate of the day, falconry, and the sport of hawking, archery, group dynamics, U.S. Military terminology and slang, chemistry, rattlesnake venom usage, mind control, pigpen cipher, homesteading and animal husbandry, family dynamics, and birth order, the fine arts, Operation Paperclip, and street art techniques and their associated messaging. All neatly packed into three-hundred-and-sixty-four pages, once edited. It’s a book that has appealed to both adults and teens and is as relevant today as it was the day it released; maybe more so because we’re all one pandemic or catastrophe away from shuttering our doors and windows again. I wish I could say I was as prescient as one of the book’s characters when I began writing LAST GIRLS, but I’m like everyone else, a little more guarded, prepared, and situationally aware than I may have been pre-pandemic. Does art imitate life, or does life imitate art? For LAST GIRLS, writing and releasing it during the pandemic still feels a bit like both.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a first-generation, bilingual Greek-American author and former award-winning graphic designer & art director. One thing I’ve kept closely guarded is the fact that my mother can’t read, will never be able to read my books. I don’t speak about it often, but plan to going forward because illiteracy is still a big issue in this country. I’m the critically acclaimed author of LAST GIRLS, a 2021 International Thriller Writers Finalist for Best Young Adult Book, a CNN Underscored’s Best Books of May 2020, a 2021 Kansas National Education Association (KNEA) Reading Circle Commission Recommended Title, and most recently a 2022-2023 Black-eyed Susan Award Nominee (Maryland Association of School Librarians) and a long-listed title for the CLCSC Award from The Children’s Literature Council of Southern California. DIVE SMACK, my debut Young Adult Thriller, is a 2018 Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, ALAN Pick (The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE), and Spring/Summer 2018 Publishers Marketplace Buzz Book for Young Adults. I have a profound appreciation for personal histories and travel. When not writing, I enjoy reading at the beach, hiking, making art, remodeling projects, and I’m working on becoming a self-proclaimed potions master by subjecting anyone willing to my ongoing experimentation with cocktails, as well as coffee and tea-based drinks.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
I’m currently obsessed with all books by Anthony Doerr, Riley Sager, Tana French, Emily St. John Mandel, and David Slade. I’ve been listening Morbid, a podcast out of my hometown of Boston, as much as time allows. I’m a huge of the Freedom app, which allows me to block distractions on my desktop for a set number of hours, giving me undisturbed writing time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.demetrabrodsky.com/
- Instagram: @demetrabrodskybooks
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dbrodsky/
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/ivtPqwMJbhg?si=ajtBSKOiIbgjvaVO | https://youtu.be/bBKlP_prOgY?si=cYvU3Dw3tuzr_9MB | https://youtu.be/i__h7QiYf78?si=zPa_nDZpIK6FwOdK
- Other: @authordemetrabrodsky
Image Credits
Jen Acosta
