Kern Carter wrote the following pitch for his editor use internally at Penguin for his YA novel, My Life as a Window Kid.
Summary
19-year-old Roman is reflecting on his years of life after he witnessed the murder of his father.
He has transformed from an outgoing adolescence to a reclusive young adult and he doesn’t
see his way out of the mental anguish. Instead, he muses from inside his living room window,
watching life pass by day by day, rarely going outside for anything he deems unnecessary.
That’s until he meets Chloe, a girl his age who just moved into the neighbourhood. Chloe is fun
and friendly and meets Roman on one his morning walks with his dog, Charlotte. Roman is
intrigued by Chloe and when he learns that she has also suffered through a painful loss, his
emotions for her finally pull him out of his psychological slumber and gets him excited about life
again.
Why Me
The first time I lost a friend, I was fifteen years old. He was stabbed seven times in the staircase
of his apartment building. I thought the world would change when he died, that everyone would
do anything not to be put in situations that would cost someone their life. I thought the world
would feel my tears and never let anything like that happen again. That same year, another
friend was murdered, shot in the head in his neighbourhood parking lot. A year later, another
friend gone, then another, and another.
I eventually stopped counting.
At one point, I stopped attending the funerals. I grew numb to the news of another loss and tried
my best to pretend that they didn’t impact me. Even though I got anxious at the sound of my
phone ringing early in the morning because that’s when you usually get the news that someone
had passed. Even though I stood behind bus stops when taking public transit in fear of getting
gunned down despite my not being involved in any criminal or gang activities. Even though one
of my high school teachers phoned my mother to tell her she was worried about how I was
dealing with all those deaths. I continued to pretend I was unfazed because that’s the only way I
could function without breaking down during every public interaction.
I don’t need to imagine what Roman is going through. I’ve lived it. The only difference is that
Roman has given into his paranoia instead of pretending that he is okay. And because I want
this story to be driven by hope, I want Roman to find love and for that love to be so strong that it
pulls him out of his fears and into the world. This transition out of his shell will not be easy, but it
shouldn’t be. That’s the point.
In writing My Life As A Window Kid, I want to speak to those who are looking at their own lives
through the windows and watching it pass by. I want to speak to those who feel confined by their
environment, the ones who look “outside” and recognize the danger but still feel curious enough
to push past their fears. There’s hope on the other side, even in the most tragic of situations. I
want that message to be loud and clear.