We here at Fic Fare have been fangirling over Kasie West since oh… approximately January 4th of this year. You see, that is when we found Kasie… Her first book Pivot Point ended up in our hands and once we started it, we couldn’t put it down. We absolutely adored the characters and world that she had created. We were sad to see them go because we of course wanted more. But then… we found out that there will was going to be a second book… we found out that she wasn’t done with Trevor and Addie’s story yet and we could hardly contain the happiness. Our immediate thoughts were ‘okay so we’ll have to wait a year to read something else from Kasie, but it will totally be worth it.’ Can you imagine the flails when we found out that she was writing a contemporary YA? We actually got a copy really early here at Fic Fare because of a contest, but I think I was in love by the end of chapter 1. Not only with Xander, because how could you not be, but also with Kasie’s writing. Her ability to tell a story and pull you into it, is amazing.
When the opportunity to sign up for the Authors are Rockstars tour came up, and I looked at the list, I knew who was going to be my top choice. When I got the email telling me we were picked, well, let’s just say that there was a lot of excited emails and tweets! We had the opportunity to do an interview with Kasie and we’re going to share it here with you! I tried to keep it brief, but … well you’ll see I did not succeed!
Pivot Point was my first read of 2013 and it blew me away!! Can you give our readers your elevator pitch for Pivot Point!
Aw. Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed it. Okay, elevator pitch. Here I go: Pivot Point is about a girl who when faced with a choice has the power to see two futures. Boom. How’s that for short and to the point? Yeah, it took me like a year to get that down. Ha.
Pivot Point is so unique in plot – Where did the idea for it come from?
Pivot Point was inspired by the movie Sliding Doors. If you haven’t seen this movie, you should go watch it. Like right now. I’ll wait. Okay, maybe I won’t, but seriously, watch it because it’s really cool. In that movie the alternate realities weren’t by choice. So I thought it would be cool if a girl really did have the power to see alternate realities.
Was Pivot Point meant to be a standalone or did you always see this as a series?
I wrote Pivot Point as a standalone. And actually the end was different too. I was told it left no hope for readers. Wha–?? Does that make me evil? I’m still trying to decide. But, my editor who loves readers more than I do (I guess) said I needed a second book and a more hopeful ending. She takes the fun out of everything. J I’m like that with endings sometimes—I like to leave some things unresolved, I feel like it’s true to life. Not everything gets resolved all the time. Plus it leaves some things to the readers’ imaginations. But in this case, she was right, because I love the new ending.
What can we look forward to in book 2, Split Second? Any secrets you can tell us?
Split Second, in case you couldn’t tell from the cover, has an additional POV character. I’m very excited about this because it mimics an element from the first book in that we get to jump between the Compound life (Laila) and the Norm world life (Addie) without reusing the same plot device of another Search. I know some people were hoping for another Search but I couldn’t do that to poor Addie again (see, I’m not that evil). But you know what a new POV means? Another love interest. And I love him.
What made you jump into contemporary YA with The Distance Between Us? And why a doll shop? (which was all kinds of awesome btw)
I’ve always loved cotemporary. It’s one of my favorite genres. I started writing The Distance Between Us when I was looking for an agent for Pivot Point. It was my distraction book. It was fun and different and Xander did an amazing job of getting my mind off of the stress of querying. I honestly wasn’t sure anything would come of it, I just knew I enjoyed writing it so much. As for the ‘why a doll shop’ part, well, I take my daughter to guitar lessons once a week. Because her lesson is only half an hour long, I sit out in my car and wait for her. Next door to the music store is a porcelain doll store. So week after week I sat there staring at those creepy dolls and one day I thought, that would be the coolest setting for a novel. And it was.
Caymen is snarky and sarcastic – where did the inspiration for her character come from?
Okay, so, I’m going to tell you and hopefully he will never read this because he’d kill me for saying it and even more hopefully, the people who haven’t read this book will still want to read it and won’t forever picture what I am about to say while reading it…but…Caymen is like the female version of my husband. It’s true. Whenever I’d get stuck on how Caymen would respond to something, I’d be like, ‘What would Jared (that’s my hubby) say?’ Ha. Now, wipe that from your mind so you don’t get weirded out when reading the book. Also, I usually don’t do that. I usually don’t picture someone specifically when I’m writing. The character becomes themselves. And that happened in this story too, but every once in a while, I’d have to think about how he’d react. (Except for the crying parts. He rarely cries.)
I immediately swooned over Xander, (I’m sure you’ve seen this- I would totally share my hot chocolate with him any day… ) was he inspired by anyone? And do you think you’ll ever write from a male pov or do you find a female pov more in your comfort zone?
Unlike the last question and as mentioned in the last question, no, Xander wasn’t inspired by anyone. Xander was one of those rare characters that came to me fully formed. He was fun to write. He was very real to me in my head. And I may have swooned a few times as well. That whole ‘I only took one sip out of each’ line wasn’t even an add-on. That just came out of his mouth when I was writing that scene.
Would I ever write a male POV?? That question terrifies me. I always say that I never say never, but I don’t see myself attempting it anytime soon. I just feel so much more comfortable in a female POV and there are many other writer’s who do the male POV so much better than I ever could.
Pivot Point falls into the paranormal type genre and The Distance Between Us is a contemporary YA – did you find one easier to write than the other and do you have a preference to genre of book you like to write?
They’re both challenging for different reasons. To build a whole new world and to have to keep track of the rules and what works and doesn’t work is hard. On the other hand, to have to rely on relationships/characters as the main plot of a novel is also hard. So they both have their challenges, but I really do enjoy writing in both genres. So, for a while, I’ll try to keep doing two. We’ll see how long before my brain explodes.
You have created quite a few memorable characters in your books – Who is/was your favorite character to write and why?
Surprisingly, Duke (from Pivot Point) was one of my favorite characters to write. He came so easily. He’s so obvious. J No, but really, whenever I was writing a scene that he was in, it just flowed. He was so charismatic and charming.
Do you plot everything out when you’re writing or do you tend to fly by the seat of your pants when working?
I’m very much a fly by the seat of my pants girl. At least when I’m drafting. My first drafts are fast and skeletal. They’re often times just a series of conversations. I think of my first drafts as my outlines then I go back in and rearrange and flesh out.
Do you have any current or future projects you can tell us about that you’re working on?
Right now I’m working on copy edits for my summer 2014 contemporary. I haven’t talked about that one much but when I sold The Distance Between Us it was a two book deal. They wanted another standalone contemporary. And I was happy to be asked to write one. I’m very excited for it to come out.
Read our reviews of Pivot Point & The Distance Between Us
We’re so excited to share our love for Kasie West that we are doing a giveaway! One winner will get 1 copy of Pivot Point and 1 copy of The Distance Between Us.
Some Rules … cuz that’s how we roll:
Must be 13 years or older to enter
This is an International Giveaway – As long as The Book Depository ships to you, you can win. Please check to make sure before you enter!
Winner has 48 hours to respond to winner email … if I don’t hear back, a new winner will be chosen
Please make sure you do the required things – I check
I am not responsible for lost/damaged things once they are in the mail to you.
Some Rules … cuz that’s how we roll:
Must be 13 years or older to enter
This is an International Giveaway – As long as The Book Depository ships to you, you can win. Please check to make sure before you enter!
Winner has 48 hours to respond to winner email … if I don’t hear back, a new winner will be chosen
Please make sure you do the required things – I check
I am not responsible for lost/damaged things once they are in the mail to you.
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