AUTHOR CRUSH FRIDAY: TONYA KUPER
Glitter girls, you have pressing questions for your favorite authors and we have their answers. Welcome to our new weekly segment, Author Crush Fridays.
We love asking questions and we love the answers from some of our favorite authors. Today we’re talking to debut author, Tonya Kuper. Anomaly (Entangled Teen), the second in the Schrodinger’s Consortium series, just released this Tuesday and we’re so excited to have been able to talk to Tonya!
TONYA: This is rad! Thank you so much for having me here!
GLITTER: Any time! We love talking to authors and I noticed you love Benedict Cumberbatch! We can be best friends! 🙂 Back to business though…In Anomaly, what was your favorite chapter/scene to write and why?
TONYA: Without a doubt, the pool table scene because (reasons I can’t go into without spoilers) and Reid gives Josie a break from training! *swoons* They get to let the pressures of what is going on around them and the expectations placed on them fall away and just be themselves – two people hanging out, having fun. With the outside pressures removed, Josie and Reid are allowed more freedom to act and react to one another with less restrictions.
GLITTER: How did you come up with Josie and Reid? Were they based on anyone in real life?
TONYA: The characters themselves aren’t based on any one person, but on a combination of character traits from various people I know. Josie and I share a love for all things sci-fi and Benedict Cumberbatch, but her analytical, logical mind was inspired by a mixture of Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory and Spock from Star Trek. Reid’s impulsiveness and passion was partly inspired by Captain Kirk from Star Trek, his sarcasm and charm from Han Solo from Star Wars, and his emotional decision making and personal philosophies from me.
GLITTER: Where’s your favorite place to write?
TONYA: I heart my local Starbucks. I usually sit at the same two person table, often order the same drink (a Grande Americano with one Splenda and light cream), and am welcomed by baristas who now have become like co-workers. For some reason, I get so much done when others are around me working.
GLITTER: What character do you relate most to?
TONYA: I probably relate the most to Josie because all she wants is choice and she ends up having to make A LOT of important choices. I’ve been there. Man, I’m still there. I think that is something we all long for in some capacity and in different ways, depending on our situations and stages in life. Josie’s family is also very important to her, especially her little brother, which is something I felt growing up and do now with a family of my own. Also, Josie is quite self-aware, as am I, and always have been.
GLITTER: What is easier to write: The first line or the last line?
TONYA: The last lines! First lines have to do so many things at once: pull the reader in, give the reader a feel for the voice, make a connection somehow with the reader. AHHH!! First lines are stressful for me.
GLITTER: What one YA novel do you wish you had when you were a teen?
TONYA: I’d have to say The Hunger Games because I would’ve loved Katniss, a strong female main character.
GLITTER: Do you have things you need in order to write ie. coffee, cupcakes, music?
TONYA: I HAVE to have music in order to write, otherwise, the words don’t happen. I have a drink (usually coffee), my music, and a notebook to my right and my phone to my left. THEN I should be set to get my write on. I’d definitely take something chocolate if someone offered itthough.
GLITTER: What are you working on now?
TONYA: I’m working on book two in the Schrodinger’s Consortium trilogy, Enigma, coming out November 2015 and starting a completely different YA scifi sekrit project!
GLITTER: Sekrit project? We’ll keep our ears perked! Thanks so much for talking with us today, Tonya!
Tonya Kuper’s debut is ANOMALY, the first in the Schrodinger’s Consortium Series, a young adult science fiction trilogy, which released on November 4, 2014 by Entangled Teen. She lives in Omaha, Nebraska with her husband and two boys. She’s an alt rock junkie, a Star Wars dork, and is in love with Sherlock.
CLICK THE LOGO BELOW TO GET INSTANTLY
ON NOOK OR SUBSCRIBE OR BUY A SINGLE COPY
Or find your national STATE NEWSSTAND!
Editorial Director | Writer | Tweet me @heatherriccio
