N M J Coveney has worked in the book publishing industry for more than 15 years in a variety of roles, and Everything Not Saved is his debut novel.
His life-long passion for stories, whether in books or computer games, has been voraciously pursued in enjoying as many of both as humanly possible.
Nick lives in London with his husband, fellow author Patrick Ness. Their family currently consists of an overthinking Irish Doodle, Biscuit, an extremely happy Cockapoo named Oreo, and a (human) daughter.
We spoke with the author about the inspiration behind the book, writing authentically for young adult readers, and the lessons learned from publishing a debut novel.
After working in the industry for so long, did your background knowledge of publishing make writing your first novel easier, or did it make you overthink things you might otherwise have done instinctively?
I think that it actually over complicated things for me initially. Having worked as a commissioning editor for Hachette UK early in my corporate publishing career meant striving for the cleanest copy possible at all times. Eventually I realised that I was editing myself so aggressively that it was slowing my writing down. It took a little bit of time for me to let go of that perfectionist impulse and remember that first drafts are allowed to be a bit messy for a reason – mainly that you'll clean them up and fix any issues in later drafts!
For someone discovering Everything Not Saved with the paperback, how would you describe the book without giving away its secrets?
Well one of my favourite authors Josh Silver, creator of this year's viral hit Fruit Fly, described Everything Not Saved as 'Heartstopper meets Ready Player One.’ It's also been compared to TV shows such as Sex Education, Stranger Things, and Buffy. I think that overall my debut is an urban romantasy. There's the urban fantasy side with some supernatural horror as well, an MM Romance at its core, with lots of geekery blended in, so something for everyone hopefully.
Step into the world of Everything Not Saved, where gaming, queer romance, coming-of-age, and ancient supernatural secrets collide.
Tell us about the inspiration behind this book and the creative process of writing your debut. Did you learn anything about how you work best?
The inspiration is actually semi-autobiographical. In Everything Not Saved, Mikey Redman's family moves into a remote hamlet following the death of his father, and he instantly hates the village and the ancient Tudor cottage with its centuries-old well in the back garden (with its accompanying local ghost stories). Soon after, a series of weird things happen in the village with the only compensation being a very important friendship which makes it all seem bearable.
That's all based on my lived experience, as my family moved into a strange cottage with the village well in the garden immediately following the death of my father for a few years, but obviously I've added in the supernatural horror elements and revisited that period of my life through a fictional lens.
I remember I first started writing the prologue on a long-haul flight from London to Melbourne back in 2019, and although it took a long time to finish, I knew when I started exactly what I was going to write for the rest of it!
There's something so clever about using video games as the thing that brings Mikey and Kris together, because games are both a form of escape and a way of connecting with other people. How did you decide to bring video game culture into the story, and what did you want gaming to mean in the emotional life of these characters?
Thank you. Video games were an enormous part of my childhood and remain a true passion of mine, so I really wanted to encapsulate that video games are a true art form and can be part of cultural foundation that you integrate into your life and form very important bonds over. Again on the semi-autobiographical side, when my family moved into that creepy cottage in the countryside, my best friend (and eventual first crush) and I really bonded over our love of computer game series such as Final Fantasy.
Your book puts an incredibly ordinary teenage experience (figuring out friendship, attraction, and identity) inside a very extraordinary supernatural story. Did you ever find yourself having to decide which should drive a scene: the emotional reality or the supernatural plot?
Actually, I felt very instinctively where there should be more magic or supernatural elements bleeding out and when to hone in on the emotional heartbeat of the book. One device that I found extremely helpful was my use of epigraphs. I used short quotations of classic video game dialogue from some of my favourite franchises to provide a sort of resonant blueprint for what I wanted that chapter to really hone in on.
Talk a bit about the specificity of writing for the YA audience. How do you approach writing teenage characters and writing authentically for teenagers without writing down to them or over-explaining?
I think that some people assume that writing for a YA audience means that your book is going to be more simplistic or less sophisticated which just shows that they're a bit out of touch with reality, as being a teenager is one of the most intense periods of your life. Every day feels like it could be the end of the world (and in some ways it is as you shift from adolescence into adulthood!) For me, one of the most important things is to be unflinchingly honest about the good and bad of life. My novel has some very challenging content, so there's a trigger page with a pretty chunky paragraph listing those themes.
My book is also unashamedly sex positive and has some detailed but age-appropriate scenes that cover everything from having a health scare, attending an STI clinic for a check-up, and sex scenes. I feel like older teens can definitely benefit from reading content which can hopefully help inform them. I know I would have loved to have had that opportunity when I was growing up under the yoke of Section 28 (non-UK folks please google it!)
When you look at Everything Not Saved now, after the hardcover, the audiobook, reader reactions, and everything you've learned from launching it, do you see the book differently from the person who originally wrote it?
It's been amazing to see how well Everything Not Saved has been received by readers. It's hard to remove myself fully from the book as so much of the inspiration points were drawn from my life, but I'm very proud to see it being enjoyed by so many people especially in the LGBTQ+ community, as I feel like there is still not enough representation in publishing for minority communities.
What surprised you most about your experience with IngramSpark that other authors should know?
I've loved working with IngramSpark on my publishing journey. Having worked in the book industry for over 16 years, I already knew that Ingram has an unparalleled distribution network and brilliant solutions for print-on-demand, but I was really pleasantly surprised by how incredible the quality of the finished copies are. I've literally had people who refused to believe that I'm an indie published author when they see the gorgeous physical editions of my hardback and paperback.
Also the team behind the scenes are extremely supportive and helpful, so while I'm in the driving seat and have full editorial control over the book and how it's marketed, I've also had some incredible opportunities to speak at conferences, conventions ,and book festivals thanks to the brilliant IngramSpark team (shout out to Rachael and Ben!)
