Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Interview: Kasie West + Pivot Point

 

I'm hugely excited today to welcome young adult author Kasie West to the blog to answer a few questions about her recent release, Pivot Point. I'll be honest. Pivot Point was originally not high on my "must have" list for this year, but my good friend and fellow blogger Danny from Bewitched Bookworms told me I had to read it, and as usual, she did not lead me astray. This book sucked me in immediately and I die a little inside at the thought that I almost missed out on such a gem (you can read my full review here). If you haven't had a chance to read it yet, I honestly can't recommend you buy it fast enough!

If you could have the ability of anyone in the Compound aside from Addie and Laila, which one would you most want and what's the first thing you would do with it?


The answer to this question changes on a daily basis depending on the week and my needs. Today I would’ve wanted the Lie Detector ability because my 14 year old daughter was trying to get out of going to school by claiming sick and I couldn’t tell if she was faking or not. And speaking of sick, a few weeks ago, my whole family got sick, so I would’ve loved the ability to Heal that week. 

Let's say you are temporarily gifted Addie's ability as a Searcher in order to help you make a choice between living with the knowledge that people with supernatural gifts exist and continuing on blissfully ignorant. When conducting your Search, what might you find to be the benefits of each option?


Hmm, interesting question. I think the benefit of living in ignorance to supernatural abilities would be that I wouldn’t feel sub-par. I mean if all these people had abilities and I didn’t, that would not be cool. I’d be jealous. Plus, I wouldn’t have to worry that people were manipulating me in some way. It would probably make me a lot less trusting.

On the other side, maybe it would actually make me feel better about myself because I’d know that I accomplished things without the added help of a mental ability. And knowing people with mental abilities exist might make me safer from those with bad intentions.

In Pivot Point, we explore Addie's life both living with her mother in the Compound and her father in the real world through alternating chapters. Did you actually write Addie's two separate lives in alternating order, or did you write one of her stories in its entirety before going back to the second one?

I wrote about half of each story without alternating. But once I realized the stories were going to need to overlap, I put them back together and started writing them exactly like you read them. It let me know exactly what the reader knew and exactly what Addie knew at any given point. The hard part came though in working with my editor. Because there were certain chapters she wanted me to combine and certain things she wanted me to cut. So then what would happen was a whole chapter would be eliminated (making the alternating chapters not so alternating anymore) and I had to figure out how to make it still work by rearranging or cutting a bit from the other side. It was like a huge puzzle at times.

What one fictional character do you think might wish they had Addie's ability as a Searcher given the way their story turned out?

I do use a few quotes in the book from A Tale of Two Cities. I’m a huge Charles Dickens fan. So I would think, that given the outcome, Sydney Carton, from A Tale of Two Cities might have liked to see the future. Although, he is very much at peace when he is executed at the end. He made the choice willingly. So even if he had seen the future, I’m sure for the sake of friendship and what he felt was redemption, he would’ve made the same choice. 

Though Addie has two very swoon-worthy romantic options in Duke and Trevor in this tale, let's just pretend for a moment that she doesn't want to limit herself to the boys of Pivot Point. What other YA character might she have a romantic interest in?


My list of swoon-worthy YA boys that Addie might like (and by Addie, in this case, I mean me)?? Is that what you’re asking me to compile?? Oh, this is a very extensive list. For the sake of time though, I’ll limit it to three. Perry from Under the Never Sky. Yes, please. Jace from the Mortal Instrument series. And, gah, how can I limit it to three?! Okay, okay, last (for today) how about a “Norm” boy with no extra powers—Wes from The Truth About Forever. (That was really hard to limit)

Is there any other character in Pivot Point whose point of view you're itching to write from, or are you content to stay in Addie's head?

Funny you should ask. Book two actually does have another POV character. So the chapters alternate between Addie and this other person (it may or may not be a certain outspoken best friend). So yes! I was definitely itching to write from another character’s point of view. And I’m also contemplating writing a book 3 that would be from totally different POVs but still in the Pivot Point world……we’ll see. 

If you had a friend like Laila with the ability to Erase, do you think you would ever be tempted to have her use it on you?


All the time. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m so glad I don’t have abilities because I’d totally abuse them. I’d be using them every other second. I’d be like, Laila, ew, I just saw a dead dog on the side of the road. That was very disturbing, can you please Erase that from my mind. Ha. This is why Laila wouldn’t be my friend. I’d annoy her too much. :-)

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions Kasie! 

• • • • • • • • • •

KASIE WEST


I write YA. I eat Junior Mints. Sometimes I go crazy and do both at the same time. My debut novel, Pivot Point, will be published by HarperTeen on February 12, 2013, followed by its sequel in 2014. I also have a contemporary, The Distance Between Us, coming out in the Fall of 2013 with HarperTeen. My agent is the talented and funny Michelle Wolfson.

More information on Kasie and her books can be found here:


• • • • • • • • • •

PIVOT POINT

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live without.

36 comments:

  1. *claps hands and jumps up and dow* (Yes... you are free to imagine me doing just that..)
    I loved this book so freaking much and I was especially amazed and stunned buy how well the two stories fit together in the end. It was a masterpiece to write the alternating chapters. I was never confused and always knew where I was!!!
    W
    onderful Interview Jenny and loved your answers Kasie!

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    1. SO GOOD DANNY! I can't even imagine how tricky it was to write the story in alternating chapters and then try and edit it that way.

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  2. Eek! Awesome interview! I totally loved Pivot Point, so it's cool to hear more about it from the author.... especially that there might be a third book!!! Ahhh. That would be so awesome, even if it didn't focus on Addie's POV just because I love the world so much. :)

    Great post!

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    1. Thank you! I was pretty excited by the mention of a third book as well. WIN!

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  3. Omgggg EVERYONE'S been raving about this book AND I JUST NEED TO READ IT ALREADY. YES! I LOVE PERRY. I LOVE JACE. I LOVE WES<33333 AND I LOVE YOU KASIE! Fantastic interview, ladies<3

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    1. YES YOU DO SHIRLEY!!!! You will soon be adding Trevor to that book boyfriend list, I have no doubt:)

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  4. Jenny I felt exactly the same way about Pivot Point as you first did. I didn't pay much attention to it in the beginning, but the glowing reviews that have been coming through have me so excited! Also Addie would pick Perry as a romantic interest? I think I'm liking this girl already! :)

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    1. I thought it looked interesting and the cover is gorgeous, but it just wasn't one that I was like "I NEED TO READ THIS IMMDEDIATELY". Mistake. It's definitely sitting atop my list of favorites for the year thus far:)

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  5. Great interview! Now I am even more excited to read this book. I love the fact that she is a Dickens fan. :) Also, the ability to erase?? Awesome. I would abuse that too. Thanks for sharing this with us!

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it Christina! And the ability to erase would be a dangerous thing - I would definitely want to use it all the time.

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  6. Damn Google Chrome ate my last comment.

    *glares*

    I'll try to remember the exact words I used since they were profound and significant and life-altering.

    Yeah, right. *snorts* I've barely had any caffeine. Google probably ate it because it knew I'd be embarrassed by whatever I had blathered about when I fully woke up.

    Ahem.

    I love, love Kasie West. I love Pivot Point - hell, I have 4 copies of the darn thing. I've said since November that this is one of my top 5 favorite books EVER.

    Kasie is fantastic. I cannot WAIT to read The Distance Between Us. And I'm so glad there will be a sequel to Pivot Point! YES! More Trevor and Addie!

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    1. WTH Google Chrome? DON'T ERASE THE IRISH'S COMMENT! And I'm also dying for The Distance Between Us, it's so nice we get more from her this year even if we do have to wait until next year for more Trevor:)

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  7. Ooh, now she gets to choose between Perry, Jace and Wes in addition to Duke and Trevor? I think I have to find of way of becoming Addie now. :-)

    And I'm pretty sure I would abuse any power I was given, however small. Probably why I should never be given one!

    I love Kasie and Pivot Point so much, and these are such fun questions—great interview!

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    1. Right? I wouldn't mind be Addie just for Duke and Trevor alone, so then when you tack on Perry and Jace my envy just gets ridiculous:)

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  8. Really great interview! I added this to my TBR after seeing your review. Now I'm even more excited to read it!!

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    1. Thanks Tara! I hope you love this one as much as I did:)

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  9. I can't wait to read this book! It sounds so incredibly interesting and unique. I, too, wondered if she wrote one complete storyline and then wrote the other. I don't know if I could have wrote them alternatively half way through. I think I would have to take lots of notes to really pull that off, heck, for it even to make sense! Great interview, Jenny!

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    1. I thought she did a brilliant job with the alternating chapters. I thought it would be really confusing and I'd lose track of which Addie I was with, but that didn't turn out to be the case at all.

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  10. I haven't read this book yet (yes shame on my again)...I'm a really bad reader sometimes. Anyway I must say that I'm really interested in this book now! I can't wait to read it. Great interview Jenny :)

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    1. I hope you get a chance to read it Tanja! It's awesome:)

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  11. Nice interview! I would love to have the healing ability right now since I've been sick since the weekend.

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  12. I have got to read this book. I am so intrigued by the concept. Loved all these answers. The lie detector thing would definitely be a good skill to have when dealing with teenagers, thankfully I still have a few years before then. Oh wow! I am a huge fan of Tale of Two Cities and Sydney just pulls at my heartstrings! Thanks for sharing today, ladies!

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  13. This sounds like a book I really need to read. Oh so curious!

    Btw, at least you considered your daughter's sickness. I had a nurse as a mom and I was sent to school even when I did get sick (yea, I'll never let her live that down... bwa ha ha!). Btw, Dickens Rocks!

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  14. Sounds good :) I wonder about the different POV though, sometimes I do not like when they change

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  15. Ahh I love this interview, Jenny!! I am SO excited that we get to get into Addie's BFF's head in Pivot Point 2. She is so much fun. :) I am all for a book 3 in the series, too. ;) Just sayin'. Also, I am in total agreement that the ability that I want would depend on what's happening that day. :P Hehe!

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  16. Lovely review, Jenny! I've been on the fence about this one for awhile, but I just have to check it out soon! It sounds amazing and I can't wait to meet all these characters soon!(:

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  17. oh what a wonderful interview <3 I keep seeing this book pop up on many blogs and it makes me crave to read it. I am so behind ;(

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  18. I'd be so jealous if I knew people had powers and I didn't. I"ve heard great things about this story -- I'm going to have to check it out!

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  19. Wonderful interview, I hope to pick this up soon, and loved how she wrote them separately and then together. Excited about what lies ahead for book two as well!

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  20. Once again, another very interesting interview. Something that is probably turning me towards wanting to read this novel when I had not interest before. Authors really ought to give you commission or at least sign you on as a publicist. I can't tell you how many books you've made me reconsider. Jenny, do you know how many books I've bought this year and it's not even March? I may have to give up your blog!

    Heather

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  21. You ask the best questions! I still haven't read this, but I do have it so hopefully soon. I think I would switch up my wish for abilities too. Actually I'm always contemplating being able to fly and being able to teleport or time travel. Yeah, I don't know. Great interview anyway!

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  22. I think that would be a teenagers worst nightmare: A parent with lie detector abilities. :)

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  23. Great interview! I really loved this book. I can't wait to see where Kasie West takes the story next.

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  24. Love Perry! I'd definitely have a romantic interest in him too.

    I want to be able to teleport. Lol, I'd be abusing that ability for sure if I ended up with it.

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  25. I haven't read this one but I'm actually looking forward for Kasie West's contemporary novel, The Distance Between Us. Hopefully I can find a copy of this one too from local book stores.

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