An Interview With YA Author Beth Revis

Recently I had the honor and pleasure of reading one of the best young adult books, if not the best, out there. It's relatively new and called Across the Universe by a young up-and-coming author named Beth Revis. This mix of sci-fi, horror and human nature is one of the most unique and disturbing things (don't worry, that's good!) I've ever read. I've never had such an inmersive reading experience as I did with this book. But enough of my ranting (I can go on and on about this book), there will be a review of it up soon where I will disscuss it detail. For now I leave all you readers out there with this short interview I was able to conduct with Beth Revis through e-mail. She is incredibly nice and completely accesible to the fans through her site http://www.bethrevis.com/. So here you have an interview to enjoy and go read Across the Universe if you already haven't!


An Invterview with Beth Revis:


ME: How did you come up with the plot for Across the Universe?
 
BR: I came up with the ending first--I had an idea for a solution to a mystery. From there, I
built the story in order to make the mystery happen.

ME: In between all these YA books set in Dystopian societies, what made you decide to pick outer space as a setting?

BR: The story dictated it. I needed some things, such as cryogenic freezing, to make the story work, so I made it a sci fi.

ME: The feeling of claustrophobia Amy feels on-board the Godspeed is incredible and asphyxiating, how did you evoke those feelings?

BR: I tried to be very empathetic and just as honest as possible. I really sought to describe every emotion as truly as possible. And I had some interesting research! For example, when I described the tubes Amy has to swallow in Chapter 1, I actually gagged myself to describe better how it felt.

ME: Amy seems like a very fragile character, how would you describe her?

BR: I tried to make her as much as a direct, up-front, and yet still as human as possible. Personally, I kind of think of her as a BAMF, just in a totally difficult, heart-wrenching situation.

ME: What has happened to Earth during the storyline? Is it still there or was there a reason for the Godspeed to launch?

BR: Nothing happened to Earth--Amy and her family are on an exploratory mission.

ME: What would you say to those who criticize the YA genre by saying its works cannot be considered true literature?

BR: I would answer them with this picture:

http://bethrevis.tumblr.com/post/2412021000/the-source-of-this-blogs-inspiration-used-with

ME: This was your first book to write and publish, and before that you were a school teacher. What made you decide to go from teaching to writing?

BR: I always wrote--I started writing while in college, and kept writing while I worked as a teacher. When I got to the point that I couldn't both write and teach in the ways I wanted to, I had to let teaching go. I loved it SO much, and I miss it, but I had to follow my dream.

ME: Finally, do you have any advice for other English majors out there?

BR: Do what you want! I was told I could never make a living writing, but even though I got a job that wasn't in writing, I kept writing. And now I'm finally making a living writing.

ME: Again, thank you very much for taking the time to answer these!

BR: Thank you for interviewing me!