This week YA Author Adi Alsaid took over our Twitter as a part of our weekly Thursday Twitter Takeover. Adi Alsaid is the author of Before Takeoff (See YEM’s interview of Adi Alsaid here.) See highlights from the takeover below.
Hello, everyone! @AdiAlsaid here, author of newly released Before Takeoff, thrilled to be here as part of a Use #YAauthorTakeover! pic.twitter.com/meb5tpXXFp
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
Speaking of the book, Before Takeoff is about two teens, James and Michelle, meeting at the Atlanta airport right before all hell breaks loose. As their layover extends and gets weirder and weirder, they team up to find their families and escape, before it's too late.
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
The book has a medley of inspirations, including the movie Before Sunrise, the book Bel Canto, and the general thought that it's scary to grow up in an incomprehensible world.
You can read more about the inspiration here: https://t.co/VpbsIHdHSB #YAAuthorTakeover
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
I'll be chatting away about the book and myself here, but feel free to ask me questions at any time. Or you can send me a page number and I'll tweet a quote from that page in the book. #YAAuthorTakeover
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
Before Takeoff is my 7th published YA book (6 novels and an anthology I edited). If you're unfamiliar with them (or me), you can find out more about my books here: https://t.co/WObYJg2WMV#YAAuthorTakeover
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
While a lot of my previous novels were contemporary, with a romantic slant, Before Takeoff was quite a departure (I'm giving myself a point for each pun I make). It has a romantic slant, and is set in the real world, but it's by far my weirdest novel. #YAauthortakeover
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
"“What’s crazy is that this isn’t even part of whatever’s going on,” Michelle says. “I walked by here earlier, and this was exactly what it was like when the rest of the world was still normal. Someone decided this was a good idea for the airport.”#YAAuthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/xH74UuDJoO
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
My favorite part of the book, other than its existence as an actual book in the world, is the many philosophical conversations James and Michelle have while walking through the strangeness of the terminal.#YaAuthorTakeover
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
In my version, I decided to set this blooming love in an inescapable airport where there's indoor weather and the rules of society are falling apart. Because that's kind of what growing up feels like.#YAAuthorTakeover
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
Look, I made a little Before Takeoff picture quote! It took an embarassingly long time so I can't promise there'll be more of these. But maybe I'll post pictures of airports because I have too many of those.#YAAuthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/PJnEQ6cyoV
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
If you're not into accolades from established reviewers, I'll hook you with this: there's a scene in the book that made everyone I know who's read it yell at me for. So there you go. Now you have to buy it.#YAAuthorTakeover
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
From my airport archives. I believe this is in Chicago.
"He’s never actually pictured an angry mob before…Strange to think that the mob is made up of individuals, each face twisted into its own particular expression of anger."#YAAuthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/lDvGd00IXv
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
Since I know you're all wondering, if I had to choose an airport to get stuck in all night as the rules of the universe broke and wobbled, it would be Singapore's Changi Airport. It's got a slide, a movie theater, an outdoor sunflower garden, and an arcade.#YAAuthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/J2qL3Hi2rZ
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
This, really, is what the book's about. Yes, it's about growing up in an incomprehensibly scary world. And it's about falling in love. But more than anything it's about zooming in to see the good. #YAAuthorTakeover
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
A tiny tidbit that I also really enjoy about this book is that I got to include a handful of languages in print, including a couple of sentences in Thai. It seemed necessary for replicating the feeling of being in an airport.#YAAuthorTakeover
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
Before Takeoff was pitched as Jumanji meets The Sun is Also A Star, which I really liked. But a few other comps is the aforementioned Before Sunrise meets the podcast Welcome to Nightvale. Or maybe Lost meets…Before Sunrise? I'm not great at this.#YAAuthorTakeover
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
Some more about me! I was born and raised in Mexico City. I speak four languages, have coached elementary basketball, was a ball boy at an NBA All Star game, and once briefly thought about starting a salsa subscription service.#YAAuthorTakeover
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
I'll also have a Middle Grade novel coming out in Fall of 2023 called The Greatest Living Warrior in Nefaria. It'll be my first middle grade, my first fantasy book, and my first series!#YAAuthorTakeover
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
Oh! Another thing I like about Before Takeoff. The narrative voice is a little weird. It's a semi-omnisicient narrator that can get into many characters' thoughts, but doesn't know everything and makes occasional jokes.#YAAuthorTakeover
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
Getting ready to wrap this up soon! Get your questions in while you can. Here's a pic of me with my kooky but loving cat Yonce in the meantime.#YAAuthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/M8UBldBxzc
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
I hope you've enjoyed my tweets and bad photoshops. Before Takeoff is out now, wherever books are sold! At least theoretically. I hope you find it, read it, enjoy it, and never again think a layover is terrible.#YAAuthorTakeover
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
You can find buy links for Before Takeoff and all my other books here:
Thank you to Young Entertainment Magazine for having me, and thanks for reading. Have a lovely rest of your week!https://t.co/WObYJg2WMV
— #portwell and #rina stans! how do we choose 🤷♂️ (@YoungEntmag) July 28, 2022
