A paradox throbs at the heart of “The Darkness Rises,” a new young adult novel by Stacy Stokes. Arriving swiftly on the heels of her 2022 debut YA thriller “Remember Me Gone,” her sophomore outing addresses how tiny, everyday actions — or non-action — can ripple out into colossal, profound impacts on individuals, communities and even worldwide.
Stacy Stokes on April 17 will discuss her new book, “The Darkness Rises,” at Oakland hills bookstore A Great Good Place for Books in Montclair Village. (photo courtesy of Gabe Martinez)
In an interview before her book’s April 17 Oakland hills launch at Montclair Village store A Great Good Place for Books (ggpbooks.com/event/darknessrises), Stokes said this ripple effect would drive us mad if raised to moment-by-moment consciousness.
“It would cause us to drown in indecision,” she said. “I definitely explored it in this book, but it’s not as if every day I wondered if I turned left or right if something good or bad would happen. The idea, though, is intriguing.”
The protagonist in “Darkness” is Whitney, a young girl with supernatural power who can see death before it happens in the form of dark clouds hovering over the head of a person whose death is sure and imminent. She at times issues warnings or holds back and is cautioned to guard her secret closely by her grandmother, who holds the same paranormal ability.
The precariousness and ramifications of her choices are suddenly made clear when a young teen she saves goes on to become the perpetrator of a school shooting in their small, tight-knit Texas town. Jolted by shock and plunged into guilt, remorse, grief and depression, Whitney chooses isolation and retreats from her family, best friend and the close community of dancers and teachers at the school where she is one of its most gifted students.
In visiting the concept of small choices scaled up to epic proportions, Stokes was able to introduce through the lens of pint-size actions a number of serious, heavy and current pressing concerns, especially about teens and young children: gun violence, school shootings, trauma, mental health conditions such as depression, and the connection between bullying, isolation and suicide.
Stokes said finding the balance of crafting a novel addressing such gritty topics without becoming campy or preachy and while maintaining a fast-paced narrative with warmth, humor, humanity and compelling, likable characters required delicacy — along with five drafts and a near-total rewrite.
“I actually had a complete draft before I started ‘Remember Me Gone’ (her first book). I was getting good feedback but felt it wasn’t quite there yet. There was emotional resonance missing. I put it in a drawer. Later, when the editor asked about signing a two-book deal, I shared the first 20 pages. I started with that draft, instead of writing from scratch.”
Nearly a decade had passed since she wrote the draft, and Stokes had progressed as a writer and had a larger writing community to provide feedback during the re-creation. “Remember Me Gone” had been recognized as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection and was nominated by the American Library Association as one of its Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (visit stacystokes.com online for more information about Stokes).
A book-launch event will be held April 17 in Montclair Village for “The Darkness Rises,” a new young adult novel by Stacy Stokes. (photo courtesy of Viking Books for Young Readers)
“I had people (after that whom) I could trust who would look at it objectively,” she said. “There are nuggets that stayed the same — the hook of it was right — but the emotional core was missing. It was initially a girl saving a random person she wasn’t connected to who went off and did something bad. It was flat.”
As Stokes puzzled through locating the story’s emotional center, reports of yet another real-life U.S. school shooting dominated the news. She was overwhelmed by the horror of young lives lost and sought to shut it out. Her mind uncontrollably went to wondering what if it happened when her 2-year old daughter goes to school? Or if it happened in Montclair or another part of Oakland?
“When it became personal, there was an epiphany moment. I started pulling that thread into the story. The cognitive distance disappeared. The book stopped being a thriller about a girl with power and became a girl who’s grieving, going through person loss, trying to figure out how to move forward.”
Intrigued by the reality that the outcome of many actions taken are never known by the initiator, Stokes turned her thoughts to consequences. The original actions became less vital than the fallout and a community’s response, which she says must be awareness, learning, growth and openness to change for people — and society — to move toward greater humanity.
Whitney is forced in a moment of crisis to turn to her community for support. During the early pandemic, Stokes says she also experienced the value of community directly. Her writing and friend groups began meeting more often and regularly on Zoom than they had in-person. The rhythm of ordinary life was disrupted, and the conversations became more open, emotional and supportive.
“I realize now I was processing all of it through writing the book and the story itself. We can only be responsible for ourselves. We fumble and have to get up, but it’s important we know we don’t have to do it alone.
“We can’t predict the future or stop some things, but we can choose how we react. What do we learn? How do we behave and act?”
Having found the emotional rhythm and tone of “Darkness,” Stokes said she continued to dig deeper; including recalling the trauma of having been bullied as a youth and feeling ashamed of having occasionally become a bully by turning her pain on others.
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“I look back and wish I’d been a better person to not make someone else feel a feeling I had hated myself. Whitney (acquires) some empathy for the shooter. She can see that what he did isn’t right, but she also sees he’s hurting.
“Before the shooting, she had seen her power as a gift and what happens shakes her world view. There’s no more ‘I’m the hero.’ and there’s the realization she can’t deal with it alone. In the end, we see she has community helping her to stand.”
Stokes says she’s toying with new projects, including a “really scary middle-grade book” she’s always wanted to write and a young adult novel that’s “a light ‘Beauty and the Beast’ retelling where the beast is a serial killer and beauty wants revenge.”
Lou Fancher is a freelance writer. Reach her at lou@johnsonandfancher.com.