Today, Tracy Clark is chatting about her new paranormal thriller SCINTILLATE!
Cora Sandoval’s mother disappeared when she was five and they were living in Ireland. Since then, her dad has been more than overprotective, and Cora is beginning to chafe under his confines. But even more troubling is the colorful light she suddenly sees around people. Everyone, that is, except herself—instead, she glows a brilliant, sparkling silver.
As she realizes the danger associated with these strange auras, Cora is inexplicably drawn to Finn, a gorgeous Irish exchange student who makes her feel safe. Their attraction is instant, magnetic, and primal—but her father disapproves, and Finn’s mother orders him home to Ireland upon hearing he’s fallen in love. After a fight with her father, Cora flees to Ireland, both to follow Finn and to look for her missing mother.
There she meets another silver-haloed person and discovers the meaning of her newfound powers and their role in a conspiracy spanning centuries—one that could change mankind forever…and end her life.
Olivia with YA-Mag: Tracy, welcome to the Young Adult Magazine! We’re here chatting about your debut, a YA paranormal romance called SCINTILLATE!
YA:Let’s talk about Cora! How did you two first meet? What makes her the perfect character to tell this story?
Tracy Clark: I first met Cora after I was terribly ill and in the hospital. My fever was 106.7! I got to wondering about how a fever like that might affect the brain, and the writer’s big “what if” happened: What if you woke from a high fever with a sudden new extrasensory ability? And that’s how SCINTILLATE begins, with Cora in the hospital.
Cora Sandoval is a pretty typical seventeen-year-old but she’s been terribly sheltered by her father all her life. His over-protectiveness has kept her from really knowing herself or what she’s capable of. As you can imagine, this leads to her making some choices that some might question. But I feel she’s the perfect character to tell this story because she gets to grow through this book–from someone who’s been taught to be afraid into someone who’s trying very hard to be brave, for herself and others. She is tenacious. She wants answers and she’ll do almost anything to get them.
YA: What sets Cora’s story apart from other YA paranormal titles, like GOLDEN by Jennifer Lynn Barnes or Alison Noël’s EVERMORE? What will readers find that isn’t anywhere else?
TC: It was my goal to create a mythology that would explain a phenomenon we’ve probably all felt: that some people uplift and energize us when we’re around them, while others are negative and draining. I believe we all give off and receive energy. Cora just happens to see it and that gives her a deeper way of relating to people.
For me, the series is intended to be more metaphysical than paranormal. I wish I could answer to how my book is different from those specific books, but I’ve not read either of them. It’s my hope that readers will be intrigued by the conspiracy element—the fact that “someone” has tried to hide the truth from humanity. Who and why are very much a part of the next two books.
YA: Because none of us grew up in bubble, I know that every author has influences beyond the obvious! What non-book influences (films, television shows, music, plays, etc) helped spark this story?
TC: Uh-oh… this is where I admit to being a writer in a bubble! I’m only kind of kidding. I am such a book-nerd and writing as well as being a mom to two teens keeps me so busy that I rarely have time for television. I am totally into music though, and there were songs that helped get me in the mood to write certain scenes. Overall, the sparks for SCINTILLATE were lit long ago, in my late teens. I used to love to read New Age books and books on metaphysics—things like reincarnation, ESP, etc. I thought it was the “real magic” in life and was fascinated!
YA:When you were a teen, what was your favorite book (YA or otherwise)? Now that you’re an author for teens, what is your favorite contemporary YA?
TC: I have to admit, when I was a teen I was really into Flowers in the Attic. There was no categorization for “YA” then, but I couldn’t get enough of those books! That was the first series I read more than once. I’d love to be able to claim something highbrow like Wuthering Heights or a popular book like The Hobbit, but I was finding my own way to books with no guidance. It was more like books found me. One of my very favorite books was and still is, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. As I grew into my late teens, I began to read non-fiction and metaphysical books like Out on a Limb by Shirley MacLaine.
A favorite YA now is nearly impossible to choose because there are so many outstanding books out there. But if I’m really emotionally moved by a book, I’ll add it to my favorites list: The Book Thief, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, The Infernal Devices series. There is such a wealth of great YA! I’m finding new favorites all the time.
YA: What is the story on the title SCINTILLATE?
TC: I knew I wanted to play with the word “spark” and was looking online at different words, even in different languages, for one that would be the perfect blend of intrigue but also say something about the story. Because the character, Giovanni Teso, is Italian and the first to tell Cora what she is, I was looking at words in Italian. Originally, this book was titled Scintilla. (In Italian it sounds like ‘schinteeela’.) That original title was modified at the request of my publisher to the English word: SCINTILLATE.
YA: This marks the start of the LIGHT KEY TRILOGY. Without any spoilers of course, what can you tell us about the next part of Cora’s journey?
TC: Cora is forced to make the choice between hiding or risking everything to find out how to stop the slaughter of her kind. She has no idea who’s behind it, nor how big the conspiracy to hide the truth really is. I use real history to support the mythology (a la Dan Brown) and build toward making a case so steeped in reality and history that you just might question the “truth” of it!
YA: There are two young men in Cora’s life: Finn and Giovanni. Some readers love a love triangle, while others could do without. In your opinion, what makes a good love triangle? Why are Cora, Finn, and Giovanni going to capture readers’ hearts?
TC: One of the best triangles I can think of in recent times is in Cassandra Clare’s THE INFERNAL DEVICES series. It’s a “true” triangle in that it’s not just one girl indecisive about two guys. In her series, the bond between the guys is tight and unbreakable and so well drawn. I know that people tend to fall on one side or the other with love triangles and that’s okay. I think in Cora’s situation, her conflicted feelings are understandable. I can only say, without spoiling, that I hope this will conclude in a way that is totally unexpected. It’s been kind of fun to see people’s assumptions! As you get to know these characters better, I hope hearts will be captured by each one’s unique struggles. No one is all good or all bad, and that’s true for the boys in this book. They’re all up against massive odds.
YA: If you could cast the Dream Film of SCINTILLATE, who would you cast in the lead roles?
TC: I love imagining the characters in a book and I find it funny when I post a picture on Pinterest of someone who could be one of my characters and a friend will object and say, “That’s not the Finn that was in my head!” (This really happened, by the way!) So, I’m hesitant to usurp people’s imaginings with my own. I will say that the actors who played Cora and Finn in the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVCOK3fWLx8 were pretty remarkable likenesses to what I had in my head as I wrote. Particularly in the kissing scene. Yum.
YA: What’s up next for you in the world of Young Adult? Any pet projects you can tease us about?
TC: I’ve just recently finished a YA psychological thriller. Think: kick-butt skydiving girl with bizarre and terrifying things happening to her! I loved writing this book. I used to skydive in the Mojave desert and that’s where the book is set. I’m really thrilled about how it turned out and have high hopes for it.
YA: All right, last one! If you could spend one day with Cora, Finn, and Giovanni, what would you do together? What would advice would you give to Cora about her past or future?
TC: What would I do with them? Besides stop them all from killing each other? Ha! If I had my way, we’d all hang out in Ireland, at Newgrange. Then maybe go out to an Irish pub and blow off some steam. Truthfully, I’m having a blast going on their adventures with them as I finish the second book in The Light Key Trilogy.
As for advice, I wish Cora and her father could have trusted each other more and I’d tell her to not let secrets be bigger than love. As for her future, my advice to Cora is to trust herself. She’s having a real hard time doing that in book 2.
YA:Thank you very much, Tracy! And again, from YA Mag, congratulations on SCINTILLATE! We look forward to hearing a lot more from you in years to come!
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Readers, be sure to check out Tracy Clark at her website www.TracyClark.org. Or follow her on Twitter @TracyClark_TLC.
SCINTILLATE, published by Entangled Teen, is now available at your favorite retailers and local independent bookstores!
Olivia Hennis is a transplanted New England girl dropped by a tornado into the magical Land of Jersey. For more info, follow her on Twitter