Author Feature: Brooke Carter - Orca Book Publishers

Lucky Break: Seventeen-year-old Lucy “Lucky” Graves is devoted to her championship rugby team, but her dreams of a scholarship are destroyed when she breaks her leg during an important game. If it doesn’t heal properly, Lucy could be benched for the rest of the year. Goodbye pro career, goodbye college, goodbye future. Without rugby, who is she? Now her anxiety is getting worse, and a past trauma has resurfaced to haunt her. Lucy needs to get real about what happened when she was twelve, and about what it really means to be a team player.

What planning or research did you do for your book?

I used to play rugby until I broke my leg in two places, so a lot of my research was based on personal experience.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

When I was in elementary school, around 6th grade, and wrote a story from the point of view of a raccoon who befriends a human child. It had quite a dark ending, but everyone who read it liked it.

What’s the best surprise you had in the process of writing this book?

It made me reflect fondly on my history in sports, and it made me want to be more active again.

Who would you want to play Lucy in a movie?

Amandla Stenberg.

Is there a genre or form you’ve never written in but would like to try writing?

I write across many genres as it is, but have never written a graphic novel.

Do you have any unique hobbies or pastimes?

I do Shotokan Karate with my kids.

What is the most challenging part of being a writer?

The lack of feedback during the writing phase. You’ve got to have a lot of self-confidence and tenacity to stick with something when you’re not sure if it’s going to work out.

What is the most rewarding part of being a writer?

When a reader connects with your characters. There is NOTHING better than that.

What types of conversations do you hope will come out of your book?

I hope readers, particularly girls, will be encouraged to try sports (and rugby).

Lucky Break is available now.

Brooke Carter earned her MFA in creative writing at UBC and lives with her family in Maple Ridge, British Columbia. For more information, visit brookecarter.com.