Think back to your sophomore year of high school. What did you achieve? In the grand scheme of your life you most likely did little in regards to amazing tasks. Sure, you went on vacation and saw Europe, big deal. Or, maybe you went on a hike or climbed some mountain. Unless it was Mount Everest, I could not care in the least. Cory Scarola ’16 did something few adults will do in a lifetime: he started writing a book. I’m not talking about some twenty-five page novella, or a picture book. Scarola wrote a 218-page science fiction novel. Top that.
Born in the “small, but lively and busy” town of Huntington, New York, which is located across Tempel Green on Long Island, Scarola began writing the summer before his freshman year of high school, eventually beginning his journey with novel writing a year later. Dust, his published work, was released on November 15, 2012 and can be found online or, soon, in our own bookstore. I sat down with Scarola to talk about Dust, writing and being a boss.
College Voice: What made you want to start writing?
Cory Scarola: I always liked reading as a little kid, and I always idolized the authors that I read and wished I could be like them. And there came a point where I just decided I was going to give it a shot.
CV: Was there a book where you said, “I could do this”?
CS: Eragon. He [Christopher Paolini] was high school age when he wrote his best seller. George R. R. Martin and Nelson DeMill are two current favorite authors of mine.
CV: So, has Dust been a best seller?
CS: Hopefully, one day.
CV: When you were writing it did you ever think “this is a book”?
CS: It wasn’t until I was nearing the end that I realized it was actually going to be a real thing.
CV: So, what is Dust about? Can you give a description?
CS: It’s told from the point of view of the main character, who lives in the United States 200 years after a nuclear apocalypse. There is no more government or any of that, and the book sort of just follows him around on his exploits. It is nothing grand; it is just really his life. And you really get inside his head, which is important for me. The psychology and the personality of him is something I really wanted to focus on.
CV: Is he you?
CS: In some respect, I think his sense of humor mirrors mine a little bit. But I mean I really don’t share his worldview. I didn’t want to put myself in the situation because that’s not fun. I really wanted to create a character who would thrive in the setting that I created.
CV: Your book is self-published. How does this process work? Could anyone just go out and write a book?
CS: Basically. And long as you have an idea and the ability to write. You just make the story your own and you just run with it. There is no formula for a book.
CV: What about the publishing process?
CS: I went through a self-publishing company, which is where I paid for the editing and publication and it gets put out. It’s a good way to get noticed.
CV: How long did it take to write? Is there a process to just doing it?
CS: For me, it was a little bit unorthodox. I would go through periods of what I call binge writing, where I would write a lot of pages, sometimes dozens, within the space of a few days, and then there would be long breaks — sometimes lasting months — where I could only write a few pages. And I blame that for why it took me so long to write in the long run.
CV: Is this it, or will you continue writing?
CS: I’m already working on a sequel to Dust, called Ash, and I’m working through the idea of a fantasy story in my head that I think I will call Broken Bonds.
CV: So, you’re working on two books now, but you’re in college, taking courses, and writing for The Voice. Isn’t that enough writing?
CS: Never enough writing. It’s like crack to me [laughs].
CV: What else do you do in your “free time?” Edit books or something?
CS: No, besides books, I also write poems and songs. I have a collection of ten Shakespearean sonnets that I wrote in the form of a dark love story. I play bass, make dirty [dusty?] jokes and enjoy talking politics.
CV: How can we get a copy of the book now?
CS: On Amazon, and it’s also available for Kindle in eBook format. It will also be sold in the college bookstore in the near future.
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Go pick up Dust. It is dark, expansive and mysterious with just enough humor to take the dreariness out of the already desolated landscape. At times, you often forget that it was written by the kid who lives down the hall from you.
