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I’m so excited to have had the opportunity to chat with one of my favorite YA authors, Morgan Matson, about his upcoming novel! Take me home tonight is told from three different angles; Stevie and Kat, who are separated on their day trip to New York City with the intention of celebrating Stevie’s birthday and seeing their drama teacher’s performance, and Teri, who remains in Connecticut to cover his friends but ends up babysitting and at gunpoint.
We chat with Morgan about inspiration, challenges and everything Take me home tonight!
Hi Morgan! Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your new novel Take me home tonight?
Hi Andrea! So excited to chat with you! I am the YA author of 6 books (including TMHT). I am originally from the East Coast (New York and a Connecticut city that Stanwich is based on) but now live in Los Angeles with my dog ​​Murphy.
Take me home tonight unfolds on a life-changing night for best friends Kat and Stevie. They sneak out of suburban Connecticut to spend a night in New York City, but almost immediately everything starts to go wrong. Between family drama, telephone disasters, irascible taxi drivers and unexpected Pomeranians, the two girls will have to learn to navigate on a night they never expected in the city that never sleeps. But by the end of the night – and after a series of misadventures – they will have grown closer to each other – and closer to a truer version of themselves.
Which sets Take me home tonight apart from other books for young adults?
There were a few things I wanted to do with TMHT! I wanted to explore a better friendship, and I wanted to explore that moment, at the end of high school, where you feel like all of your choices are so hard. Kat and Stevie both go to competitive high school and both have been very involved in their school’s drama program. I wanted to show a bit of that tunnel vision that can set in when you’re a teenager and so involved in a program, sport, or activity. I was myself – I was a theater lover in high school. So I wanted to examine both the good and the bad that can come from it.
Why did you choose to place the majority of this novel in New York?
My latest books were all set in the same (fictitious!) Suburban Connecticut town. And I really wanted to open up the world a little bit for this book. Kat and Stevie are big fish in their little town pond, and I wanted to throw them in the depths (that metaphor sort of escaped me, huh?). I still think a really fun way to make characters grow is to take them out of their comfort zone and see what happens – which is certainly the case with Kat and Stevie!
And also, I love New York! It was so much fun writing about it in all its glory – bad theater and fancy hotels and the best hot dogs in the world and flirting in bodegas. There is no place like this – and no place where it all seems so possible.
What is the main message you want readers to take from this novel?
I feel like the main message is that it’s okay not to understand everything. Kat and Stevie put pressure on each other to get their way forward. And in doing so, they might miss discovering things or parts of themselves that they didn’t even know. That there is always room for change – in a friendship, in a relationship, in a life path.
How did you choose the names of the characters for this book (I’m especially curious how you chose the name Brad the Pomeranian)?
Choosing the names of the characters is one of my favorite parts of writing! The names of Kat and Stevie came very quickly – Teri too. I’ve always liked the name Stevie for a girl – because of Stevie Nicks, of course. I also grew up with a girl who goes by Stevie and she’s basically the coolest person ever, so I wanted to give my Stevie some of that cachet. And you find out that Stevie (her full name is Stephanie) was named after her father, Stephen. Considering that a lot of what Stevie needs to work on in the book is about his dad, I thought this was a good way to stress it.
I also don’t know if I ever say it, but in my mind Kat’s middle name is Amalia. So her name is Kat Amalia Thompson, which means her initials spell her name as well, because I love it when that happens.
Brad’s name was originally Gary! I thought Gary the dog would be fun. But there’s a character named Cary in the book, so it was too close. It needed a name that sounded like a human name for a bit of misunderstanding. But Brad as a dog name really grew on me! If I ever have a second dog, it’s definitely on my list now.
What would be the five songs on Kat and Stevie’s New York playlist?
- Welcome to New York – Taylor Swift
- In town – fun.
- Oph̩lie РThe Lumineers
- 100 bad days – AJR
- New York Minute – Don Henley
Some of the characters from your other books have appeared in Take me home tonight. Have any of your friends or family members in real life ever made appearances in your books, either as a character or as character traits?
Yes! I love to make little cries to my friends and family members while writing. Stevie’s dad lives in the apartment building I grew up in in Manhattan, and the Tom Cruise themed dry cleaner is a thumbs up to my friends at my movie club.
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But in terms of characters, it’s more about little quirks and moments than basing an entire character on someone. I need the freedom to romanticize people who make a lot of mistakes!
What challenges have you encountered while writing Take me home tonight and how did you overcome them?
The structure of the book was certainly the most difficult – feeling like I knew what happened to each girl when, how they would overlap, where their nights would take them. It took a while for this to be mapped out – and when it was done I felt like I could really jump into the book. But first I had to do this solidly!
What do you do to cheer yourself up when you are feeling down?
I love watching a good silly comedy, going for a hike with a friend, playing with my dog, or chatting with a buddy.
Finally, what’s the last book you read?
I just read This is Not the Jess Show by Anna Carey and love he!
Will you pick up Take me home tonight? Tell us in the comments below!
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