Jam Packed with Sadness, Laughter, and OCD

By Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Usually I don’t look forward to being snowed in at airports, but last week when it happened in Chicago, I considered the found time a gift because Teresa Toten’s newest novel was on my tablet.

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B has garnered Toten many accolades, including the 2013 Governor General’s Award, and from the very first paragraph, it was clear why. While others around me sneezed and paced and complained, I was transported into the head of Adam, a fourteen-year-old with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), on the day that his life changed forever.

The risk in writing about a character with OCD or any other ailment is that the disease can become the character, but in Toten’s deft hands, this never happens. Adam indeed displays the classic symptoms, but he is also a regular young teen with all the usual wants and needs and fears. Toten’s words at times brought me to tears and other times made me laugh out loud.

The story opens on the day Adam’s teen OCD support group gains a new participant – a girl named Robyn who is taller and older than he is, and to whom he is instantly attracted. Adam vows to transform himself (even pledging to grow taller) so that he will be worthy of Robyn’s notice.

As the story unfolds, the reader lives through the realities of Adam’s life, and his need to protect the other damaged people whom he loves – his mother who is receiving horrible threats in the mail, his young half-brother, nicknamed Sweetie, who is dealing with his own demons – and his ever-absent father. Adam’s OCD is a burden he deals with on a minute to minute basis, but despite that he transcends his own needs and subtly helps the wounded people around him.

Teresa kindly agreed to answer some questions about the novel:

When you were in the planning stages of The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B, what came first, the premise or a particular character?

Adam came bursting through first. Then the character of Sweetie and Robyn came in at the same time. That they all had issues came hot on their heels though.

Which character was the most difficult to create? Why? Which character came the most easily?

Adam worried me the most. He was my first attempt at a boy. Yes, I needed him to be sensitive and somewhat tortured, but I needed him to be ‘all boy.’ I had a few guys read the draft and they were instrumental in correcting and adjusting a thousand major and minor things. Conversely, I just “stole” Sweetie right out of the arms of my Godchild. She has a son who was about the right age and his observations, concerns and mushy lovability was irresistible to me.

How did you do your research?

I did at least a year of primary research, books, papers, talking to psychiatrists, and going to an OCD Conference in Chicago. I was also able to speak at length to young people near me about their battles with OCD. I found every single step of this fascinating.

Which character is most like you?

You know, this may well be the first book that I’ve ever written that I’m not in. I thought for awhile that Robyn was the obvious choice but no, there’s nothing we have in common except that I would have fallen in love with Adam!

How long did this novel live in your head?

Years. I have been surrounded by brilliant and adorable young people who have struggled, and some still do, with their OCD and anxiety issues. Their day-to-day lives intrigued me and inspired me, but I didn’t quite know what to do with it until Adam came to me.

Can you tell me about the revision process for The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B?

My first readers are my family and my writing group who had to live through the half formed horrors of getting the ideas down. Then they commented. Next off it went to male readers, OCD sufferers and a psychiatrist and then they commented. Then it went to my agent Marie Campbell and she commented. Then it went to Doubleday where I was blessed with two editors going at it, Amy Black and Janice Weaver and boy did they comment and thank God they did. All that was before it went off to copy edit and proof reading! When I say that it takes a village to write one of my novels, I am not being unduly modest!

There were parts of this story that were laugh out loud funny. I especially like the scenes in the Catholic church.

I’m so glad and very relieved that you thought so!

You did a really nice job with the secondary characters. Which one was the most difficult to write? Why?

Hands down, that was Thor! I loved him in my head so much but how to get his whole fabulous essence down on paper especially since the poor guy only has like a half a dozen lines of dialogue.

I like that this novel touches readers on so many levels. How do you balance the humour with the sadness?

Oh, hell, that’s just my life, which is wildly blessed, but jammed packed with both sadness and laughter.

What’s been the response of readers?

I tend to get very personal responses and I am honoured. Many are joyous and emotional and fuel for any writer with an ego, but others are heart-wrenching. Lots of my letter start with a version of “Please, please don’t tell anyone but . . .” and then they recount stories that bring me to my knees.

What aspect of being a writer drives you nuts?

To be honest, the self-doubt and insecurity. The books are so beautiful in my imagination, so clear and clean in my head and yet I struggle to get a fraction of that vision on the page. I am getting better at learning to live with that though.

What are you working on now?

A psychological thriller! It has been so much fun dipping into such a dark and twisted world.

What message do you hope a reader gets from reading this novel?

That absolutely anything is possible!

Aside from the usual “write, write, write” and “read, read, read” do you have some advice for someone who is wanting to write a first novel?

Read your stuff out loud, better yet, have someone who is not a skilled reader read your stuff out loud. Boy will you catch stuff that way. And get used to criticism, really. In fact don’t even think of it as criticism. Think of it as feedback, which will make your work stronger and shinier. I like the way the theatre world refers to edits and suggestions as “taking notes.”

What did I forget to ask you, and what is the answer?

To be a children’s writer in this country is fraught with challenges and obstacles. But, but… I am genuinely and deeply moved that I get to do what I do every single day. Creating people and worlds, meeting and hearing from my readers, working with publishing staffs that have passion and commitment and being inspired and supported by our own writing community—what other profession comes close? It does NOT get better than that!