BOOKS

Author Crush Friday: Pintip Dunn

Glitter girls, you have pressing questions for your favorite authors and we have their answers. Welcome to our  weekly segment, Author Crush Fridays.

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We love asking questions and we love the answers from some of our favorite authors. Today we’re talking to Pintip Dunn, author of Forget Tomorrow (November 3, 2015; Entangled Teen).  Thank you for talking to us today, Pintip! We’re honored!

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GLITTER: For those who haven’t read your work yet, how would you describe your writing style?  

PINTIP: A contest judge once described my style as “Lauren Oliver meets Scott Westerfeld,” while an editor once said that my writing was “both lyrical and pacey.” Those two descriptions get at what I aim to write, which is literary-esque language with a quick, page-turning pace.

This is what I like to read, after all. I love it when I find books whose writing makes me feel like I am rolling jewels around my tongue. At the same time, I like a story that moves. Thus, those are the two goals I have in mind while I am crafting my words.

 

GLITTER: What one message would you like readers to walk away with when they’re done reading Forget Tomorrow

PINTIP: Live for today. In Callie’s world, the people have placed their hopes and dreams into the future, and everything is a countdown to the day they receive their future memories. The students call each other by their birthdays, and they are ordered in their classes, not by height or grades or alphabetical last names, but by the time remaining until they receive their future memories.

However, as Callie finds out, sometimes the future doesn’t tell you want you to want to hear. As she goes from Limbo to Harmony, she meets people who have been paralyzed by their futures, As she witnesses them sacrificing their own happiness for what may or may not occur, she learns that the only way to live — the only way to continue breathing — is to forget about tomorrow and live for today.

 

GLITTER: Describe Forget Tomorrow in 160 characters or less.

PINTIP: In a world where memories can be sent back in time, Callie sees the unthinkable — a vision of her future self killing her beloved, younger sister.

 

GLITTER: Was Callie based on anyone you know in real life? 

PINTIP: Yes. *blushes* She’s kinda based on me. Let me explain. I have a sister who is twelve years younger than me, and I have always felt an extremely close, protective bond with her. I wanted to write a story about the deep, maternalistic love that a girl can have for her much younger sister — and the lengths she would go to in order to protect that sister. I’d like to believe that I would be strong enough and brave enough to make the decisions that Callie makes.

I always tease my sister, Lana, that this is my favorite book because I get to kill her in it. This isn’t true for a couple reasons. First, Forget Tomorrow isn’t necessarily my favorite book. (Like parents, we authors aren’t allowed to have a favorite, right?!) Second, this book isn’t actually about how much I want to kill my sister; rather, it is about how much I love her. This is the reason Forget Tomorrow is dedicated to her.

 

GLITTER: Would you love to see this series on the big screen? If so, who would play your lead characters and why?

PINTIP: Is this a rhetorical question? Yes, I would love to see this series on the big screen! I hesitate to answer the second part of this question, though, because I want my readers to have their own images of the characters as they read. In addition, there are so many parameters involved in choosing just the right actor, including age and race. Should I be lucky enough for Forget Tomorrow to get to the big screen, I’m sure I would be thrilled with whomever is cast!

However, I don’t want to cop out of this question altogether, so I will say that I imagine someone like Vanessa Hudgens (who is half-Filipino), when she was in High School Musical, to play Callie, and Josh Hutcherson to play Logan. (Because, um, Peeta. Need I say more?)

 

GLITTER: How much research went into this book? Did you use your law degree to help with some of the details in this book?

PINTIP: Most of my research fell into two area — time travel and wilderness living. Essentially, I read several books on each subject, as well as consulted with scientist friends and prepper friends. This research was a lot of fun because I am very intrigued by both subjects!

As for the legal details . . . When Callie is arrested, the officer gives a speech modeled after the Miranda rights, and the idea of being convicted before you are proven guilty draws from my general knowledge and understanding as a lawyer. I suppose, too, the scenes in Limbo are inspired from some of the prisons I visited when I was an intern at the Public Defender Service.

 

GLITTER: Did you always want to be an author? Did you ever feel like giving up? Did you receive rejection letters in the beginning? How did you get over them? 

 

PINTIP: I have wanted to be an author since I was six-years-old. And oh my yes, I have gotten many, many rejections letters. Between agent and editor submissions, I believe I received nearly 150 rejections, on five different books, before I got my first contract.

Rejection is hard, especially when it is for something into which you have poured your heart and soul. In the last fifteen years, I have wanted to quit writing many times. But an interesting thing happened a couple years ago. I realized that no matter how the outside world responds, whether or not they like my books, I am a writer. That’s who I am. I can no sooner change that fact than I can change my skin color or my race. So rather than waste so much time thinking about quitting, I should just accept the fact as a given and move on. Coincidentally (or not),  one year after I came to this conclusion, I received an offer for my first book.

 

GLITTER: What are you currently working on?

PINTIP: The second book in the Forget Tomorrow series, Remember Yesterday. I am so excited about this story and can’t wait to share it with the world! It will come out on October 4, 2016, but it is available for pre-order now on Amazon.

I have another book coming out before then, however. My YA contemporary thriller, The Darkest Lie, will release on June 28, 2016. It is in a different genre than Forget Tomorrow, but I love it just as much. (See what I mean about not having favorites? Ha!)

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Pintip Dunn graduated from Harvard University, magna cum laude, with an A.B. in English Literature and Language. She received her J.D. at Yale Law School, where she was an editor of the YALE LAW JOURNAL. She also published an article in the YALE LAW JOURNAL, entitled, “How Judges Overrule: Speech Act Theory and the Doctrine of Stare Decisis,” Pintip is represented by literary agent Beth Miller of Writers House. She is a 2012 RWA Golden Heart® finalist and a 2014 double-finalist. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Washington Romance Writers, YARWA, and The Golden Network. She lives with her husband and children in Maryland.

Where You Can Find Her:

Website: www.pintipdunn.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorPintipDunn

Twitter: @pintipdunn

Instagram: @pintip_dunn