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I’m so excited to have Rebekah Crane, author of ASPEN and PLAYING NICE, as a guest today! She’s stopping by as part of her ASPEN Blog Tour, hosted by Jen Halligan PR. Check out her latest novel below, her Q&A, and then be sure to enter the giveaway via the Rafflecopter!
One quiet night in Boulder, Colorado, Aspen Yellow-Sunrise Taylor made a mistake.
In the next instant, her life changed forever.
Aspen doesn’t want to remember the devastating car accident that killed Katelyn Ryan, a sleek-haired popular soccer player. But forgetting is hard– because Katelyn may have died — but she didn’t leave. Her ghost is following Aspen around, and heading into senior year, it’s kind of a problem. Especially when Katelyn’s gorgeous former boyfriend Ben appears to be the only person at school with a clue as to how Aspen feels.
Popularity, college, Homecoming Court, hot guys – none of these things ever mattered to Aspen. She’s been busy trying to rein in her giant mass of blonde curls, keep her stoner mother Ninny away from Toaster, her mom’s awful bongo drumming boyfriend, and prevent her best friends Kim and Cass from killing – or kissing – one another. But with Ben sitting next to her in Physics looking all too gorgeous, Katelyn’s spirit dogging her steps, and her obsessive snow-globe collecting therapist begging her to remember all the things she wants to forget, Aspen is thrust into a vivid, challenging world she can’t control … and doesn’t want to.
A darkly funny, emotionally gripping story of opening up, letting go, and moving on, ASPEN is about the best-worst accident of your life … and what comes next.
Interview with Rebekah Crane
In the length of a tweet (140 characters), tell us about your book.
ASPEN is about a girl struggling with PTSD after a car crash, who might just be falling in love with a dead girl’s ex-boyfriend and it’s funny
Are you working on something new? Can you tell us what’s coming next?
I am! My 3rd book is a summer camp novel with a twist. I pitched it as The Breakfast Club at summer camp on anti-depressants with a shot of diet-pills.
What inspired you to want to become a writer?
I can honestly say that books inspired me to become a writer, specifically YA books. I wasn’t one of those people who grew up wanting to write. I wasn’t even in honors English. But when I started reading YA, a whole new world opened up for me. My imagination took over. When I was 30, I finally had enough guts to try writing my own stories.
What is the one book you think everyone should read?
This is a hard, yet amazing question… Just one?! Ok… ok… Pride and Prejudice… no… The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn… no… Pride and Prejudice… wait… Sense and Sensibility… no… Catch 22… oh man, I sound like such an archaic English teacher… fine… The Perks of Being a Wallflower… wait… I got it… Pride and Prejudice. YES. Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen is a master of wit. I love her like I love my children.
If you could meet one person who has died who would you choose?
Hands down Jane Austen. First I would tackle her to the ground. Then I would pick her up and hug her like she’s my favorite stuffed animal. Then I would make her sit down and tell me how she got to be so funny. Then I would find a man (or woman) for her to live with happily ever after and buy them a cottage in the woods where she can write for the rest of eternity. And I get to see every draft before it’s published because I brought her back from the dead.
If you could jump into a book and live in that world, which would it be?
Oh man, you’re gonna see a theme here, but Sense and Sensibility. The small cottage with handsome men, specifically Colonel Brandon, knocking on your door every day? Yes. Please. I know they’re kind of poor in the book, but how romantic to live in a cottage with rolling hills and big houses for you to visit for dinner all dressed up. Have I mentioned Colonel Brandon? Yes, he’s there too. God, I’m such a Marianne.
What was your favorite book when you were a child/teen?
I wasn’t a big reader growing up, but I can remember 3 books that blew my mind.
1) Bridge to Terabithia
2) Night
3) The Catcher in the Rye
I also went through a huge phase where I read Romeo and Juliet all the time but that was because Leonardo DiCaprio was in the movie…. So basically Leo got me into Shakespeare.
Is there a song you could list as the theme song for your book or any of your characters?
OF COURSE! I can’t do any writing without at least one song that gets me all pumped up. For ASPEN it was “Scarlet Begonias” by The Grateful Dead and “Feel Again” by OneRepublic. I listened to a lot of Dead songs while writing the book. Also, if I knew I needed to write an emotional scene, I would listen to “Cold is the Night” by the Oh Hellos. God, I love that song.
What’s the best writing advice you’ve received?
My editor always says, “let it land,” meaning don’t over do it. Give the reader only what’s necessary. She also said that a writer’s job is to tell 70% of the story. It’s the reader’s job to create the other 30%. That’s how you get people invested in your book.
Do you have a hidden talent?
I can sing the shit out of the song “Bobby McGee,” full-blown Janis Joplin-style. I usually get pulled up on stage at weddings or at bars to perform it. If you lived in NYC in the early 2000s, and you frequented a pub call O’Flaherty’s on 46th in between 8th and 9th… you’ve probably heard me sing it.
What TV show/movie/book is your guilty pleasure?
House Hunters International, baby. I could watch that show over and over and over again. Especially when it’s people house hunting in Paris.
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go, and why?
Salzburg, Austria. And I would want to stay in the house where The Sound of Music was filmed (yes, you can do that. I looked it up). I’m a crazy Julie Andrews fan. Little known fact, when Oprah was doing The Sound of Music cast reunion the last season of her show, I wrote in to be an audience member. You had to write an essay. I put my heart and soul into it AND I GOT ON THE SHOW! I bawled my eyes out when I saw Julie for the first time in person.
[Read Chapter One of ASPEN]
[youtube=http://youtu.be/QVTve0hAlk8]
Video created by Genius House Media. Find them on Facebook and Twitter!
About Rebekah Crane
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Goodreads
Rebekah Crane fell in love with YA literature while studying Secondary English Education at Ohio University. After having two kids, living in six different cities, and finally settling down in the foothills of her beloved Rocky Mountains, her first novel, PLAYING NICE, was published. ASPEN, her second YA novel, set in Boulder, CO, is due to release in summer 2014 from In This Together Media. She now spends her day carpooling kids or tucked behind a laptop at 7,500 ft high in the Rockies, where the altitude only enhances the experience.
Many thanks to Rebekah for stopping by today to answer my questions! Bekah, I’ve actually been to Salzburg and skipped along the side of the fountain… and OMG I’m so jealous you were in Oprah’s audience for the Sound of Music Reunion! Anyhow… Readers, enter the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win!
Giveaway
Tour Schedule
Monday, July 7th – Girls in the Stacks
Tuesday, July 8th – Dear Teen Me
Wednesday, July 9th – Teen Readers’ Diary
Friday, July 11th – Stuck in Books
Monday, July 14th – GReads!
Wednesday, July 16th – A Book and a Latte
Friday, July 18th – The Quirky Reader
Monday, July 21st – About to Read
Wednesday, July 23rd – Once Upon a Twilight
Friday, July 25th – Imaginative Minds
Her writing advice is very astute and what I love is her dream vacation! How cool she got on the reunion show!!
Thank you 🙂
“a writer’s job is to tell 70% of the story. It’s the reader’s job to create the other 30%.” LOVE this! It seems like a lot of books now want to fill in every little detail and that is not why I love to read. I want that 30%. 🙂 Thanks for sharing a great interview. Loved learning about Rebekah and her books.
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I think this is a great book! I saw the sipnosis and I said I have to read this book! Great interview , kind of funny lol thanks 4 the opportunity ^^