Today we are very excited to share an interview with Author Tori Sharp (STAND UP!)!
Meet the Author: Tori Sharp
Tori Sharp is a Seattle-based author-illustrator and a swing and blues dancer with a BFA in sequential art from SCAD. Her first book, Just Pretend, is an energetic, affecting graphic memoir about using imagination to navigate the fallout from her parents’ divorce. It’s full of magic, fairies, witches, and lost and found friendships. You can find her online at torisharp.com.
About the Book: STAND UP!
Two hilarious best friends create their very own podcast in this feel-good middle grade graphic novel about making the spotlight your own, from the bestselling author of Just Pretend.
Lights, Curtains…Podcast!
Best friends Clay and Kyle can’t help but inject fun into everything. Whether they’re goofing off backstage during a performance or making rib-tickling jokes at an open mic, these two are always ready to make people laugh! Now Clay’s hoping to shift her improv skills to the stage in her middle school’s production of Gals and Dolls, which means spending even more time with her crush, Dania. But Clay’s boisterous humor doesn’t sit well with the director, who has ZERO tolerance for fun.
Clay, however, refuses to be boring! She and Kyle are eager to bring their comedic talents into the spotlight, but school musicals are too serious, open mics are too long…
And that’s when it hits them—they should start a podcast! But with rehearsals to attend, new episodes to record, and time running out for Clay to ask a certain someone to the eighth-grade dance, will Clay and Kyle be able to do it all?
~Author Chat~
YABC: What gave you the inspiration to write this book?
TS: Years ago, I was sitting in a cafe, drawing comics, when a kid sat at the table next to mine. He and the adult with him both set right to reading, and his book was about how to make a podcast. He was intensely focused—totally absorbed in the book, like he wanted to know everything. When I set out to write the story that became Stand Up!, I wanted to write about neurodiversity and breaking conventions, and the theater seemed like a great place to explore those topics. And then I remembered the kid in the cafe, and I decided to narrow in on comedy and improv so that the characters could start their own podcast! Theater, comedy, and podcasts have been hugely influential to me, so these were topics that brought me a lot of joy to write about, too.
YABC: Who is your favorite character in the book?
TS: With this book it’s wildly difficult to pick, but I’m going with the protagonist, Clay. She practically jumps off the page and is so warm, loud, and messy. She and I have some things in common (e.g. auditioning for musicals with a comical misunderstanding of what they’re about), but she’s also got this easy comfort in who she is and what she wants that’s such a joy to write and reread. If we include the sequel that I’m working on, though, I might have a different answer!
YABC: What scene in the book are you most proud of, and why?
TS: There’s a small scene, just a page or two, where Clay (who has ADHD) rants to her best friend Kyle (who is autistic) about something unfair. He begins to rationalize and support her actions, and she replies with, “Kyle! I need fury, not logic.” Grateful that Clay simply told him what kind of support she wants, he changes tack and expresses hyperbolic anger on her behalf—all while making her laugh. I cherish that little scene because it feels so representative of how simple and positive it can be to express your needs. Especially when you’re neurodivergent, there can be a lot of pressure to guess how people want you to communicate with them, since they might not feel comfortable letting you know if you responded in a way that they didn’t expect. However, in the dynamic between these two characters they’re able to be straightforward and silly. It’s a drop of communication-related wish fulfillment for neurodivergent readers.
YABC: What came first, the concept, landscape, characters, or something else?
TS: Mostly the characters! I had a vague sense that I wanted to write a story about theater kids with some kind of theme related to finding your own path, so I sketched out lots of random characters to brainstorm. The designs for the “cool grown-ups” of the story came to me very quickly; I knew I wanted the kids to be surrounded by attentive and supportive adults. And then I got to sketching lots and lots of kids who might be involved in school theater. In my first sketch of Clay, she was sitting on the floor holding a paint roller with an expression on her face like she’s nonchalantly telling a funny story. Instantly, I knew exactly who she was and that I had to share her with readers.
YABC: What can readers expect to find in your books?
TS: All of my books have a common thread of using creativity to figure out your place in the world and to “find your voice” or become a better communicator. I also always find myself depicting deep and enduring friendships and allow the characters to value their friendships just as highly as other types of relationships, gently subverting relationship hierarchies to show that different kinds of relationships can be more or less impactful to different people. That is a deeply queer and uplifting idea to me. Most crucially, readers can always expect bunnies or bunny memorabilia!
YABC: What do you do when you procrastinate?
TS: For the last month or so, I’ve procrastinated by taking a warm drink down to the park near my house and planning out my next D&D campaign! At other times, I’ll play guitar, read, clean my home, or watch educational videos about my interests, especially psychology, dog training, and neurodiversity.
YABC: What fandom would you write for if you had time?
TS: I’ve done a small fan comic or two for TTRPG actual-play podcasts like Dimension 20 and The Adventure Zone. However, in the spirit of publishing a book about being yourself and owning your differences, I will admit that I get a lot of joy from the French cartoon Miraculous Ladybug. My partner, who has never watched it, knows every detail about it through proximity to me. Fortunately, just as Clay and Kyle have discovered, people seem to let you talk about anything as long as you make it funny!
YABC: What’s up next for you?
TS: I’m delighted to be working on a sequel to STAND UP! called WING IT that follows Kyle while he and his first-ever boyfriend start a true-crime podcast. Kyle tries to solve two mysteries: where a local crow is hiding the trinkets she steals, and, as he grows more uneasy in his relationship, what his friends really mean when they “have a crush”. I’ve also got my very own podcast in the works, and that should be ready to launch pretty soon! In it, I’ll be interviewing other children’s graphic novelists about how they became authors and illustrators.
YABC: What is your favorite holiday or tradition and why?
TS: I am decidedly not a “holiday person” and don’t celebrate any of them—except that a dear friend and I have a Valentine’s Day tradition of eating vast amounts of chocolate and watching cartoons! I look forward to it every year. As this tradition was in place long before I met my partner, they are not invited, which they very sweetly support. We usually plan some other little way to celebrate on a different day that month.
YABC: Is there anything that you would like to add?
TS: If anyone reading this wants to tell stories, write songs, act, journal, decorate cakes, dance, do improv, or make other kinds of art but you’re scared to, please do it! I want to see what you have to say through your medium of choice, and only you can make your own art.
Title: STAND UP!
Author: Tori Sharp
Illustrator: Tori Sharp
Release Date: 10/1/2024
Publisher: LB Ink / Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Genre: Middle grade graphic novel
Age Range: 8-12
