Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Interview with Kenny Scudero, Author of Comfortably Awkward

Comfortably Awkward is Kenny Scudero’s debut self-published novel. He is a twenty-two year old author from New York City who looks forward to a bright future in writing. Kenny recently graduated from St. John’s University where he majored in Sport Management. At St. John’s, Kenny was Sports Editor for the University newspaper. After graduating from St. John’s, Kenny had trouble finding a job and wrote Comfortably Awkward based off that frustration. He is currently working on his second novel.


You can visit Kenny’s website at www.kennyscudero.com for more information.

For Albert Ferenzo, life is a series of ironic events that may or may not have a reason behind them. While struggling to find a niche for himself, Albert blames the corporate world for hindering his dream of making money and living a prosperous life. After playing the good guy his entire life, Albert decides that the only way to get ahead in the world is to be the bad guy. Albert questions his own fate as he drives himself to insanity in an effort to find happiness. The destinies of Albert and everyone around him intertwine as he finally realizes what life is all about or at least, he thinks he does in this revolt against normality.

1) Who is your favorite character?

My favorite character is Albert Ferenzo, from my debut novel Comfortably Awkward. Albert is a kid out of college looking for his place in the world. He did what he had to do through his whole life to get to where he was but then he hit a dead end. He couldn't find a job and grew angry with the corporate lifestyle which he was trained to live in since high school. Strange, awkward, ironic things are always happening to Albert and it always seems like the world is against him but he is smart and he eventually figures out what he needs to do to be happy in life.

2) Why is he/she your favorite?

Albert is such a great kid. All he ever wanted to do was to make enough money to support his girlfriend and whatever family members need help. Albert is like me in many ways, especially when things get crazy in the book. He's my favorite character because he does things that I would not be capable of doing in real life. Albert is all about justice and doing the right thing. His courage is something that I admire and I wish I had.

3) How did you come to create him/her?

When I couldn't find a job after college, I created Albert Ferenzo. I thought about what I wanted to do with my anger and frustration and that mindset turned into Albert's mindset. I thought about all of the times I could have said something back to someone in an argument or times when I would have liked to have done something different in my life and I made Albert do all of those things. As I went through stages and began to figure out what I needed to do with my life, Albert did the same and I always seemed to be a step ahead of him. Or was he a step ahead of me?

4) When did he/she first enter your mind?

When I thought about all the people who discouraged me in my hopeful professional career, I thought about what I could do about it. I didn't want to care about struggling and having a job and responsibilities. I wanted to stop caring about everything and just live life for the moment and enjoy myself. That's when I started writing about Albert Ferenzo. He was living the life I wanted by not letting every little thing get to him and learning to enjoy life one moment at a time.

5) Where was he/she given life in the creative process?

Comfortably Awkward is my debut novel and Albert fit perfectly with the story and what I was going through at the time. In a way, I think Albert made me realize what I should have been doing with my life. More importantly, I think Albert Ferenzo is the perfect character for today's world. Everyone is struggling with the economy the way it is and people need something to believe in. They need faith and hope and I think Albert brings all of those things to life in my book. Albert is a modern character who I think can relate to anyone at any point in time.

6) What do like the most about him/her and what do you dislike the most about him/her?

I love Albert's ideas, his courage and his ambition. He believes in the right things and wants good people to be rewarded and bad people to be punished. It would be nice to have more people like Albert Ferenzo, in that sense. On the other hand, Albert is too indecisive and he is constantly second-guessing himself. He has great ideas and he runs with them most of the time, but the second someone puts him down, he begins to wonder if he is doing the right thing or not. If you read my book, you'll understand Albert's transformation throughout the story and I think you'll be rooting for him until the bitter end.

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