What is the working title of your book?
BLEED LIKE ME. The credit for this goes to my friend Lucy who read this book and said, "This book is a little like that Garbage song." I have no idea if they'll keep it, but I think it's a heck of a title, so I'm hopeful.
Where did the idea for the book come from?
This one goes all to Sarah LaPolla, my agent. One day on Twitter, she said, "I sure would love a Sid & Nancy-type YA...anyone." Twenty minutes later, Brooks and Gannon popped in my mind. An hour after that I had two really good scenes written and a very rough outline. Twenty minutes after that I emailed Sarah and heard back immediately in her awesome Sarah way, "Yes! Yes! You are the PERFECT person to write this book."
What genre does your book fall in?
Well, TECHNICALLY, it's contemporary YA. But Lucy and I call it "psychopathological drama".
Which actors would you want to play your characters in the movie rendition?
I actually don't really watch movies (don't even start...I read books & watch Sherlock!) so I'm not great with this, but I am great with finding awesomeness with Google searches like this:
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| Hells yes, my Gannon has black hair with white streaks (but isn't a superhero) |
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| Yes, my Brooks is blue-haired and skinny. He also smells. (Anti-hero.) |
Well, my big pitch for Fault Line (as many of you know) was: "Something horrible happens, then it ends kind of horribly." (I know...disaster)
So, my equally awesome pitch for Bleed Like Me: "This girl and this guy both have kind of crappy lives. Then they get together and make crap salad. And it sort of ends horribly." (I know that's 3 sentences, but whatever).
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
My book was represented by the stellar Sarah LaPolla at Curtis Brown and was acquired by the equally amazing Liesa Abrams at SimonPulse.
How long did it take you to write your first draft?
Well, originally, maybe 4 weeks. Then I sent it to Lucy and she said, "Where's the second half of this book?" (Yes, Christa fail...I can't seem to write complete books in the first draft) so then I wrote the second half and that took another 3 or 4 weeks. Then I revised it for about a year.
What other books would you compare this story to in your genre?
Well, originally, I thought Playing for Keeps, but apparently, not at all. As those two sort of lift each other out of their crap salads as opposed to my Brooks and Gannon who plunge each other further into a shit spiral. So I'm not really sure...maybe a Jason Meyers book as he tends toward crap salads & shit spirals too.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
See above about Sarah LaPolla. But also, I have a best friend who writes BDSM erotic romance (the previously mentioned Lucy) and I wanted to take some of the power dynamics that she explored in her book and see if I could make any of that resonate with teenagers. I'm not shy about sex and the reality of it in some teens' lives, but I was more really interested in what happens when broken people try to make a relationship work.
What else about your book might pique a reader's interest?
Um...Brooks has a nipple ring. (& there's a really crazy scene that my beta readers went a bit nuts over and some of you may know about it, but I don't know if it's staying in there so I can't disclose it). Brooks also has a tattoo that looks like this:
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| Gross...right? |
And now I shall tag the following five people to tell us about their NEXT BIG THING:
1. Jolene Perry
2. Amy Sonnichsen
3. Stephanie Oakes
4. Alexis Bass
5. Carrie Mesrobian
14 comments:
"This girl and this guy both have kind of crappy lives. Then they get together and make crap salad. And it sort of ends horribly."
Dude. This is why I adore you.
And this book is AMAZING.
That is a great title!
I love your sense of humor! And yes, it's a great title. I'm still squirming over the nipple ring though.
I kind of squirmed uncomfortably at the nipple ring paragraph. haha.
Well, you've done it again. I can't wait.
First of all, the bucket was inspired by REAL LIFE? Sending you virtual hugs for living through that. And you know it's very true that brooks is best in my head (properly skinny and and smelly), because I once googled images of Ryan Phillippe from Playing By Heart thinking since he had blue hair and was kind of a mess in that movie he'd be a fairly accurate Brooks. WRONG. Much, much to clean cut. :) Can't wait for this one in 2014!
Lenny and Squiggy as room-mates! How fun... Or maybe not.
Crap salad--that's an interesting way to put it. Like it.
So, don't know if I've asked this before, but can you write novels with HEA endings? (And I mean like by yourself, not colabs.)
I WANT THIS BOOK SO HARD.
HARDER THAN FAULT LINE.
*says the girl who writes fucked up YA too*
I can't wait to read this when S&S pubs it!!! Congrats again on the sale and f-yes Sid and Nancy type stories! :-)
Who do I bribe and/or threaten to get this book?! 2014 is far too long to wait. I'm already dying for it to he fall! And I kind of like that tattoo!
Crap salad?! hehe. That is so unique. And nipple rings! Ouch. So fun to learn more about your book.
"And it sort of ends horribly" Good God, I love that.
Bleed Like Me is a heck of a title. It would be cool if they kept it.
Sounds awesome, Christa! And I think you're getting famous or something, because I'm seeing you everywhere these days.
Ooh... That image of the heart tattoo gives me the shivers. Christa, the early version of BLEED LIKE ME I got to read totally blew my mind. I can't wait to read the finished version and see its beautiful cover on my shelf. Congrats, lovely!
And where did you pee? In a different bucket? A "lady bucket", if you will?
I lived in a caravan park in the Netherlands and we remodeled our bathroom which took my husband MUCH LONGER THAN PROMISED and so I have limited bucket-peeing experience. But I have not worked it into a manuscript... yet.
I just love your ideas Christa. Broken people trying to make something together is an incredible theme to explore. Heartbreaking. In the good way. Rock on, sister.
Sorry it took me SO LONG to get over here!
Reading this brought back so many memories. BLEED LIKE ME is a book that stayed with me (as will your skin book). And I know exactly which scene you're talking about. Ha!
Thanks for the tag! Maybe someday soon I will get organized enough to do this. :D
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