I’m thrilled to be Featured Follower for the month of September on author C. Lee McKenzie’s blog, TheWriteGame! Lee, whom I met through Uncommon YA, is a widely-published author of young adult and middle grade novels. She’s also a wonderfully gracious supporter of fellow authors. Visit her site this month to learn more about me […]
Book Two
Book Two For all intents, I’ve finished writing my second book. Let’s allow that to sink in for a moment. I, Steven Parlato, an unassuming college professor, from an average family, in a working class Connecticut town, am on my way (hopefully) to publishing Book Two. While this hardly makes me prolific as Patterson, I’m […]
The Great Divide
First appeared on Uncommon YA on October 17, 2014 Think of the last book that grabbed you, kept you up all night, vowing to quit after just one more chapter. Remember finishing that chapter and, despite your best efforts, being unable to close the cover? That’s the feeling I strive to create in readers, that […]
There goes some of me again!
First appeared on Uncommon YA on September 30, 2014. I joke that, because Parlato means spoken in Italian, students can count on my ability to talk for eighty minutes without breathing. Of course I attempt to self-edit in class, with moderate success. For instance, did I need to reveal my deep-rooted spiritual connection to deer—or […]
Look Who’s Talking
First appeared on UncommonYA on August 20, 2014 Plot’s self-explanatory; setting and even symbolism can be straightforward too. An element that typically stumps my literature students—and many authors—is point of view. I stress to my students that P-O-V involves who’s telling the story. We go over different types, notably first-person, and the variations of third-person, […]
Dream Big Visit
I had the pleasure of guesting on fellow Uncommon YA author, Melissa Wray’s blog on Tuesday, August 12, 2014. Here’s the interview. And thanks for having me, Melissa! AUTHOR INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Tell us a little about your writing journey. Though I always loved reading and suspected I’d write one day, I didn’t get serious until […]
An Uncommon Feature
Thank God for UNCOMMON YA! If not for my blog assignments there, I might never post an update here. I was featured on the site on Wednesday, July 31, 2014. If you missed me there, here’s the interview. Today I (Beth Fehlbaum, UncommonYA moderator) am interviewing Steven Parlato, author of the highly acclaimed THE NAMESAKE, […]
Well, I’m hopping! Yes, indeed!
How lucky am I? Lucky enough to have known author Kim Stokely since college. I was studying graphic design; Kim was a theater major, and we bonded as members of a guerilla production of the musical, Godspell. Who’d have predicted we’d still be pals—and published authors—all these years later? Well, the friend part was a […]
Oh, to have known…
First appeared 2/20/14 on Uncommon YA Sensitive is not a dirty word. Artistic is not an insult. Creative should be considered a compliment. And just because someone doesn’t spend his every waking hour “working,” that doesn’t mean he’s lazy. So yeah, clearly, I’m still chipping away at the old adolescent angst all these years later, […]
Some Thoughts on My Year in Print
Post first appeared on Uncommon YA, 1/15/14. Hollywood has not come calling. I have not been mobbed on the street by eager readers. I have yet to churn out—in the words of Publishers Weekly—my next “solidly woven … well-executed plot.” Hopefully, this doesn’t mean I’m no longer a “name to watch” (Thanks, PW!); just that […]