Happy Publication Day to Kathryn Berla! Ricochet hit the shelves today and for the occasion, I’m excited to share with you this interview. Kathryn Berla answered a few questions you will want to read. This book is published by Flux.
Kathryn Berla, Author of Ricochet
Q1. When did you realize that you wanted to be a writer?
I never sat down and made a decision to become a writer, but I’ve always written (encouraged by my mom and a few amazing teachers) so it feels like it’s something that’s been part of my life since I was a young girl.
I love to read, and I think if you love to read, it’s almost inevitable that one day you’ll ask yourself if you could write a novel that other people would enjoy reading. Then I got married and had a job or two and a kid or two or three, and life took some turns away from writing. But when my kids became independent adults, I went back to writing, and I don’t even remember it being a conscious decision.
I started by blogging short essays about random topics that were meaningful to me, and the next thing I knew, I was writing a novel. My essays are still up on my website, and I would love to go back to that one day. It was actually the most fun I’ve ever had as a writer.
While the novel is set in a fantasy version of rural France, I wanted it to be shaped by historically accurate details. That meant staying as true to the era of the late Belle Époque as I could.
Q2. What was your journey like to publish this book?
Ah, the journey to publishing a book is a long and winding road. Obviously, first you write the book and you’re pretty proud of yourself. Then you start sending it out to various agents and/or publishers and your stomach flip-flops until you find the perfect match with the perfect publisher to present your book to the world.
Then comes the editing, and you start to doubt your abilities and wonder why you ever decided to become an author — but I never lose sight of the fact that the editor is my best friend and she can see things that I’m too close to see. My editor for “Ricochet,” Caroline Larsen, was and is extremely talented and supportive throughout the entire process.
Once you see the final draft, and the cover, you fall in love with your book all over again and all of your hard work seems worth it. Then comes the marketing and putting your book out into the world for total strangers to pass judgement, and I won’t lie … some of that can be a little anxiety-provoking, but it can also be extremely rewarding.
It takes a long time from start to finish and it’s never an easy walk. It’s hard work and involves laying your soul bare to the world. Everyone at Flux Books has been amazing, and they’ve made my journey so much easier. That’s what an author needs — a strong and supportive partner to hold their hand along the way.
Q3. What was the inspiration for you book?
I have a wide variety of interests, and parallel universes (the multiverse) has always been a source of fascination to me. Even if you don’t believe in the existence of the multiverse (I do) everyone has thought at some point about the different outcomes their lives might have taken based upon a decision they made that might not even have seemed consequential at the time they made it.
When I was a young girl, my father used to regale me with stories about how one tiny alteration in the evolution of life and we could have become BEMs (bug-eyed monsters) instead of the soft, fleshy, upright-walking creatures we eventually became. But then my dad believed that we all have the ability to fly (or float) if only we could harness that part of our brain.
So, I grew up believing in almost everything.
Q4. If you had to describe your main character in three words, what would they be?
Strong. Loyal. Resilient.
Q5. What were the challenges you faced when writing this book?
This is my seventh published novel, so I’ve had a lot of time to work out most of the usual challenges that are part of writing a book. However, I’m not a scientist nor am I a medical doctor, so I leaned on my friends who are and I asked a ton of questions and tried to fuse the knowledge I gleaned from them into a story where unproven theories can be taken for fact and can be comprehended by laypeople such as myself.
I also was challenged by writing four different versions of one girl and making them different enough because of their varied life experiences, while keeping them somewhat similar because, after all, they are the same person.
Q6. Who is your favorite author/book and why?
I have too many favorite authors to be able to pick one or two or even three. But I do have a favorite book … two in fact. One is “Earth Abides” just because of its mind-blowing conclusions about humankind and how civilization evolves. The other is “The Crock of Gold” for the sheer beauty of its language and its wry humor.
Q7. Is there something about this book you can share with us that isn’t in the blurb?
When you read “Ricochet,” pay attention to the names. Tatyana is the “original” girl and Tati, Ana, and Tanya are versions of her as their names are shortened versions of her name. And as the story progresses to its conclusion, look carefully at what happens to the name(s).
Q8. What is your favorite place to write?
My favorite place to write is in my favorite La-Z-Boy recliner in my bedroom (I have something of a La-Z-Boy obsession). I use a lap-desk and write on my laptop.
Thank you so much, Kathryn Berla, for taking the time to answer these questions, congratulations on this
Synopsis
When seventeen-year-old Tati sends a saliva sample to a DNA ancestry testing site her results come back inconclusive. What’s wrong with her DNA? And what does it have to do with her unexplained seizures and the beckoning tunnel she sees during them?
What Tati discovers is more than she could have ever imagined possible. Parallel universes exist and her abnormal DNA compels and condemns Tati and her other selves—shy Ana—privileged Tatyana—and on-the-run Tanya, to a lifetime of ricocheting between their parallel lives in the multiverse.
With knowledge of their existence a deadly threat in every universe, the only chance all four have to survive is to work together to take down the scientist responsible: their father.
- Author: Kathryn Berla
- Publisher: Flux
- Release Date: October 8, 2019
- Book Length: 328 pages
- Genre: Young Adult – Sci-fi
GOODREADS I AMAZON I BARNES & NOBLE I
About the Author
Kathryn Berla is the author of the young adult novels 12 Hours in Paradise, The House at 758, Dream Me, and Going Places (which received one of VOYA Magazine’s Perfect 10 ratings for 2018). When she’s not writing, she’s reading (usually three or four books concurrently).
When she’s not reading, she’s either dreaming about traveling or actually traveling. And when she’s doing none of the above, you can probably find her in a movie theater, watching Netflix, or exercising. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
You can learn more about her at kathrynberlabooks.com.