Today we are very excited to share an interview with Author Anna B. Moore (Don’t Pity the Desperate)!
Meet the Author: Anna B. Moore
Anna B. Moore has been publishing creative nonfiction, essays, and short fiction in a variety of literary journals and magazines, including The Missouri Review, The Offing, and Identity Theory. Two of her essays were nominated for Sundress Publications’ Best of the Net in 2022; another was a Notable Essay in Best American Essays 2022. Her first novel, Don’t Pity the Desperate, released in 2024 with Unsolicited Press. She lives in Northern California, where she is working on her second novel. Read more of her work at www.annabmoore.com.
About the Book: Don’t Pity the Desperate
Don’t Pity the Desperate tells the story of Myra, a self-aware teenage girl who perseveres when her father admits her to an inpatient treatment center against her will. Under tight surveillance, Myra must confront both her alcoholism and her compulsion to pull out her hair. She finds hope in faith and confession, two key principles of recovery. As her peers-an ensemble of abused, neglected, and sometimes unrestrained addicts-grow to rely on the solutions offered at Our Primary Purpose, Myra decides to follow the rules. But when her counselor betrays her, her boyfriend rejects her (doesn’t he?), and God remains indifferent despite her prayers and devotion, Myra must twist her narrative to move forward. Her quest for love and acceptance is a dark anthem of Gen-X pop culture and an affirmation of the suffering of growing up.
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~Author Chat~
YABC: Who is your favorite character in the book?
I like Myra, of course (the protagonist)—but my favorite character is Nancy. I wrote her very deliberately as a counter to stereotypes and double-standards about “sluts” or “bad girls” or any of that BS. And I love the way, when readers get glimpses inside her life, we realize how good she is, what a good friend she is, and how very very human she is despite her circumstances. I just adore her.
YABC: Which came first, the title or the novel?
They came at the same time, actually—when I started the book in 2013. But until right before publication, it was only The Desperate. A friend of my husband’s said: Yo, Anna, that title is hella boring. And the husband (whose advice on titles I will almost always take) suggested it needed a verb. And there you have it. I like Don’t Pity the Desperate so much more—it’s shockingly better!
YABC: What scene in the book are you most proud of, and why?
The visceral, physical scenes of intimacy. Everything is out there. Reading them aloud is uncomfortable for me—much more so than I had anticipated. But oh, well. Because if I’m not going to share truths that matter to me, and truths that might matter to readers, then I don’t know what I’m doing here.
YABC: Thinking way back to the beginning, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned as a writer from then to now?
That there are LOTS of ways to write and to be a writer. A writing practice can look a lot of different ways. I’ve found that I have to be committed to my project, which means willing to work on it very consistently and often. But–and here’s the thing–I have to do this work so I can see what’s GOOD about my work. It’s not just about what’s wrong with it. (I’m a vicious self-critic, and it shuts me down not infrequently–so this was actually the best writing advice I ever got.) Of course writing demands commitment in order to learn what’s unnecessary and what needs building and what needs cutting and what needs repair. But it’s about finding the beauty and seeing what works.
YABC: What do you like most about the cover of the book?
That my dear friend, artist, writer, and musician René Bouchard (@rene.bouchard) designed it. When I was considering options for the cover, she was sharing collage art on social media—all of it great, as it has been for the over thirty years we’ve known one another. I reached out and she was all over it. I adore the end result–for me the cover evokes the time and place and beauty of the book, and a lot of nostalgia and loss.
YABC: What new release book are you looking most forward to in 2024?
It’s actually slated for 2025: Rebellion 1776 by Laurie Halse Anderson. Her YA books are fantastic! She’s known mostly for Speak, that groundbreaking novel about the sexual assault of the teenage protagonist—and it’s excellent. But her YA historical fiction is just as fabulous. My favorite of hers—one of my favorite books, period, is Forge, the second in her Seeds of America trilogy. And her own memoir, written in verse, Shout: The True Story of a Survivor Who Refused to be Silenced, is outstanding, too.
YABC: What’s up next for you?
I’m working on a mystery/thriller. It’s a blast, and I hope it will be out in the world in the next few years.
YABC: What is the main message or lesson you would like your reader to remember from this book?
That you, young reader, are NOT a pathology. Nope nope nope. You are beautiful, human, vulnerable, and powerful. Forgive yourself for everything.
Title: Don’t Pity the Desperate
Author: Anna B. Moore
Release Date: September 10, 2024
Publisher: Unsolicited Press
Genre: New Adult / Young Adult / Coming of Age / Fiction
Age Range: 17+
