Today, Olivia from YA-Mag caught up with Lisa Burstein, author of DEAR CASSIE! They chatted about her latest work, her inspiration, and Lisa even had some exciting hints for her fans. Check it out!
Olivia with YA Mag: Lisa, welcome back to the Young Adult Magazine! It’s so great to have you back with another contemporary YA to talk about!
YA: Let’s talk Cassie. We first saw her in your debut novel, PRETTY AMY. How did Cassie start prodding you to tell her story? What makes this tale unique to only her?
Lisa Burstein: Anyone who read Pretty Amy knows Cassie is kind of a strong personality, so honestly I had no choice but to tell her story. She was literally in my head telling me in her not so subtle way that I better tell her story. Of course, because we’re talking about Cassie there were curse words involved. Cassie probably has one of the most distinctive voices I’ve ever written, she loves curse words and uses them liberally. You have no doubt this is Cassie’s story.
YA: What sets Cassie’s story apart from other contemporary YA novels about rehabilitation, like RECOVERY ROAD by Blake Nelson or COME CLEAN by Terri Paddock?
LB: Well, I haven’t had the pleasure to read those books yet, but I can say that while Dear Cassie takes place at a wilderness rehabilitation camp, it is not about rehabilitation in the drug sense. It is really about helping Cassie deal with some demons in her past (that have nothing to do with drugs) and come to a place where she is able to forgive herself for something she has done. It is also a love story. Cassie has been hurt badly by a particular boy before her arrival at the camp and her relationship with one of the other residents–Ben–teaches her how to trust people again. To love people and herself again.
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 or your writing career in general?
LB: I am a huge fan of John Hughes movies, so I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised when a reviewer called Dear Cassie, The Breakfast Club at a wilderness camp. In terms of music, Fiona Apple’s song, Limp, is the song I had in my head when I was writing Dear Cassie. “You want to make me sick, you want to lick my wounds don’t you baby. You want the badge of honor when you save my hide.” Cassie is very angry, very hurt, very vulnerable and Ben is trying so hard to coax her out of that shell.
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?
LB: When I was a teen my favorite book was Go Ask Alice. I can’t pick one contemporary YA of now as a favorite, but I can say the grittier the better. I love John Green, Courtney Summers and Sara Zarr.
YA: Sometimes a title sticks from rough draft to published novel; sometime the author works with their agent or editor to find the perfect title. What is DEAR CASSIE’s story?
LB: I actually thought of it myself at the proposal stage and I am terrible at titles. It came to me as soon as I realized Cassie would be told in diary format. You know like someone might write “Dear Diary” at the top of the page. It also fit perfectly as a companion novel title next to Pretty Amy.
YA: We first met Cassie in PRETTY AMY. Now she has her own story. Do you have plans to extend this loosely-connected series and give another character from this world a shot at narrating their own book, like fan-fave Lila or someone from DEAR CASSIE?
LB: Lila is in proposal with my publisher right now. It will be a dual POV book- Lila and the son of a policeman who is helping his dad to search for her (as readers know she was on the run at the end of Pretty Amy). I hope to be able to have a firm date and commitment to share soon. I’m not done with Amy or Joe, or Cassie and Ben for that matter, I plan on having them all make an appearance in Lila’s book. And speaking of titles, I’m at a loss for a title for Lila’s book right now, if anyone has any ideas.
YA: That all sounds so exciting! So… Up next for you is the second book in the PRETTY AMY series, THE NEXT FOREVER. What brought you back to Amy and continuing her story?
LB: I wanted to know and I think readers did too, if she and Joe could make it together in college. If their happily ever after at the end of Pretty Amy stayed happily ever after.
YA: Sometimes your books are listed as YA and sometimes as NA (New Adult.) What are your feelings on this growing category of books? How do AMY and CASSIE fit well into NA; how do they belong firmly in YA?
LB: It’s hard for me to talk about genres, but I think Amy is YA because of her frame of mind and what she is dealing with in her story. I had a reviewer say Cassie could fall into NA because it was post-high-school graduates in more graphic situations. I would say upper-YA and NA tend to be very close. The main difference I suppose is your intended audience.
YA: If you could cast the Dream Film Adaptation of your work, who would you cast?
LB: For Ben, Liam Hemsworth and for Cassie, Kat Dennings.
YA: Do you have any secret pet book projects you’d like to try out sometime soon?
LB: I have a YA Thriller I’ve been knocking around. Sort of a friend goes missing on spring break in Florida story.
YA: It has been so great catching up with you again, Lisa. Behold—the last question! All right, so if you and Cassie, Nez, Troyer, and Ben could all spend one beautiful day together, what would you do together? Where would you go, and what would you want to tell Cassie?
LB: Definitely somewhere inside, as I think they have all had their fill of the woods. Maybe for coffee or something. I am kind of afraid of Cassie, I think she would kick my ass, but I guess I would say, “I’m glad that, in Ben, you’ve found someone who loves you for just who you are.”
YA: Thank you very much, Lisa! And again, from YA Mag, congratulations on your latest work! It’s so exciting to see more stories from you: we hope there are lots more where this came from!
What if the last place you should fall in love is the first place that you do?
You’d think getting sent to Turning Pines Wilderness Camp for a month-long rehabilitation “retreat” and being forced to re-live it in this journal would be the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.
You’d be wrong.
There’s the reason I was sent to Turning Pines in the first place: I got arrested. On prom night. With my two best friends, who I haven’t talked to since and probably never will again. And then there’s the real reason I was sent here. The thing I can’t talk about with the guy I can’t even think about.
What if the moment you’ve closed yourself off is the moment you start to break open?
But there’s this guy here. Ben. And the more I swear he won’t—he can’t—the deeper under my skin he’s getting. After the thing that happened, I promised I’d never fall for another boy’s lies.
And yet I can’t help but wonder…what if?
Lisa is a repeat offender here at YA Magazine, so check out our previous interview with her for PRETTY AMY! /Browse/Article/1938/An-Interview-with-Lisa-Burstein
Readers, be sure to check out Lisa Burstein at her website www.LisaBurstein.com. Or follow her on Twitter @LisaBurstein.
DEAR CASSIE, 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 or at her blog, Olivia’s Secret Reading Room.
(Twitter link: https://twitter.com/#!/OliviaHennis)
(Blog link: http://www.oliviahennis.wordpress.com)