Author Interview: Rebekah Crane
We are excited to welcome author, Rebekah Crane, to the nest today.
Andrea @ Reading Lark: Can you describe your novel in five words?
Rebekah: Love story to best friends
Andrea @ Reading Lark: What are your top 3 favorite YA novels?
Rebekah: This question is SO HARD! Okay… here are my 3 faves today. It changes by the day (except my #1).
1) The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Always my number one. I read it in 2001 and fell in love with the YA genre.
2) Divergent- Veronica Roth is a goddess.
3) Now, this is the tough one. Today, I'll say The Giver, by Lois Lowry. My sister got me a signed copy a while back and it is a prized possession. Tomorrow I might say The Sky is Everywhere… And then Anna and the French Kiss… and the next day it will be The Fault in Our Stars. See picking 3 is just so hard!
Andrea @ Reading Lark: Does music inspire you? If so, what are a few songs from your playlist?
Rebekah: Music is definitely my muse. When I was writing Playing Nice, my sister told me I needed to listen to The Lumineers. At the time, they were just breaking out on the Colorado music scene. I heard "Ho Hey" and knew instantly it was Marty and Lil's best friend love song. It still is. Also, "Human" by the Killers was a huge inspiration for Lil's character and the overall theme of Playing Nice. I just had to put it in the book.
Andrea @ Reading Lark: Where is your book set?
Rebekah: The book is set in Minster, Ohio, a small town in the western part of the state, surrounded by corn fields.
Andrea @ Reading Lark: If you could travel anywhere in the world today, where would you go?
Rebekah: Salzburg, Austria. I am a HUGE Sound of Music fan. Maybe the biggest.
Andrea @ Reading Lark: What is your favorite bird?
Rebekah: The hummingbird. My grandfather had a hummingbird feeder at his house when I was growing up. I've always been mesmerized by them.
Pick One:
- Harry Potter or Twilight? Harry Potter, baby!
- Coffee or Tea? Coffee
- Witch or Wizard? Wizard
- Comedy or Drama? I'm gonna say, Dramedy… I'm cheating, I know. But I think it's SO important to have both.
- Noise or Silence? Noise. Silence scares me. My kids are doing something they shouldn't if my house is silent.
About the Author
Rebekah Crane fell in love with YA literature while studying Secondary English Education at Ohio University, but it wasn't until ten years and two daughters later that she started to write it. Inspired by her past students, growing up in Cleveland with its fabulous musical theater community, and music of all kinds (particularly the Avett Brothers), she created PLAYING NICE. It is her first published novel, but having an unbridled imagination, it's not the only fantasy world she's lived in (just ask her husband). She now lives in Colorado, where the altitude only enhances the experience.
About the Novel
Martina "Marty" Hart is really nice. At least, that's what people think.
It's Marty's junior year at Minster High. Minster's a small town where making great grades, smiling pretty, helping old people, running the new-student Welcoming Committee, and putting up decorations for all the dances--including the totally awful Hot Shot fall hunting celebration--gets you ... what? Marty's not sure. Instead of dreaming about a sororities-and-frats future at nearby University of Michigan, she's restless, searching for a way out of the box her controlling mother and best frenemy Sarah have locked her in. When Lil--don't call her Lily!--Hatfield transfers to Minster, Marty gets her chance. Lil's different. She smokes, wears black, listens to angry punk records, and lives in a weird trailer with her mother. Lil has secrets--secrets that make her a target for all the gossiping and online bullying Minster can muster. But so does Marty. And Marty sees something different in Lil. Something honest.
Something real.
PLAYING NICE is the achingly true story of a girl who's been following the rules for so long she's forgotten who she was when she started. It's about falling in love with the wrong people and not seeing the right ones, about the moments in life when you step out of line, take a chance ... and begin to break free.
It's Marty's junior year at Minster High. Minster's a small town where making great grades, smiling pretty, helping old people, running the new-student Welcoming Committee, and putting up decorations for all the dances--including the totally awful Hot Shot fall hunting celebration--gets you ... what? Marty's not sure. Instead of dreaming about a sororities-and-frats future at nearby University of Michigan, she's restless, searching for a way out of the box her controlling mother and best frenemy Sarah have locked her in. When Lil--don't call her Lily!--Hatfield transfers to Minster, Marty gets her chance. Lil's different. She smokes, wears black, listens to angry punk records, and lives in a weird trailer with her mother. Lil has secrets--secrets that make her a target for all the gossiping and online bullying Minster can muster. But so does Marty. And Marty sees something different in Lil. Something honest.
Something real.
PLAYING NICE is the achingly true story of a girl who's been following the rules for so long she's forgotten who she was when she started. It's about falling in love with the wrong people and not seeing the right ones, about the moments in life when you step out of line, take a chance ... and begin to break free.
Loved this interview! I added Playing Nice to my to-read list, followed on twitter and posted on facebook! :)
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