Author Crush Friday: Kate Jarvik Birch
Glitter girls, you have pressing questions for your favorite authors and we have their answers. Welcome to our 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 Kate Jarvik Birch, author of Tarnished (December 1, 2015; Entangled Teen). Thank you for talking to us today, Kate! We’re honored!
GLITTER: For those who haven’t read your work yet, how would you describe your writing style?
KATE: I’d like to think it’s lyrical without being annoying. It can be tricky to write beautiful prose while still moving the action of the story along. I find a lot of joy and beauty in words, and I’m most excited when I can find a way of marrying action and description with a bit of poetry. My favorite things to read always surprise me by making me seeing the world in new ways. I guess that’s what I’m hoping to do to my own readers.
GLITTER: What is the main plot of Tarnished?
KATE: Tarnished takes place right after Ella escapes to Canada. Once she’s there, however, it doesn’t take long for her to realize that her freedom isn’t what she dreamed it would be. When a surprise character from the first book shows up at the refugee center, Ella is quickly thrown back into the world she just left behind. During the course of the book, she has to figure out how to navigate the black market, find her way back to Penn, and discover what dark secrets NuPet has been hiding.
GLITTER: Is Tarnished a continuation of Perfected or can they both be read as a stand-alone?
KATE: Tarnished is most definitely the sequel to Perfected. I originally wrote Perfected to be a stand alone, but it was pretty clear that readers weren’t going to be satisfied with its bittersweet ending. Hopefully, Tarnished answers a lot of the questions that were left unsaid in the first book while ramping up the action for Ella. My main goal for Tarnished was to see Ella grow and blossom from a scared pet into a badass young woman.
GLITTER: How would you describe your characters in Tarnished? Who is your favorite character and why?
KATE: Ella was really fun to write for this book. No longer was I dealing with a naïve girl who had been sheltered her whole life. In Tarnished, Ella’s eyes have been opened to the world and all it’s cruelty. No longer is she content being voiceless and helpless.
But the most fun character to write was Ella’s sidekick and partner in crime. She’s an acquaintance from the first book (I don’t want to spoil the surprise for readers by telling you who it is), but I will say that the relationship between these two was a world of fun to write.
GLITTER: Who was your first book boyfriend?
KATE: Rhett Butler from Gone With the Wind. In junior high I was totally obsessed with this book. Rhett was a dashing, rebellious, scoundrel and I was hooked from the moment we met him at Twelve Oaks. He’s tall, dark, handsome AND sarcastic, what more could a girl ask for?
GLITTER: What genre do you prefer writing?
KATE: I couldn’t dream of picking one genre. One of the great things about writing is that I don’t have to choose! As a person who gets bored easily, it’s nice to always have new ideas to bounce between. Right now, I’m working on a screenplay, a middle grade novel, and a YA time travel novel.
GLITTER: We know that you’re also an artist. Have your paintings been used in any TV show or movie?
KATE: Yes! It’s so exciting to see where they end up. So far I’ve seen them in 21 Jump Street, Looper, a couple Disney made for TV movies and the TV shows, Medium and Glee.
GLITTER: If you could have any job in your next life, what job would it be?
KATE: Obviously, I’d love to be a writer again, but if that was suddenly off the table, there are a zillion other things I’d love to try. If I weren’t squeamish around blood, I’d love to be a doctor. But if my same phobias followed me to my next life, I’d try: architect, psychologist, actor, set designer, costume designer and nail polisher namer (to list a few).
GLITTER: What one piece of advice could you give any teen going through difficult times now?
KATE: We all wish that we could just skip the hard parts (but we can’t), so remember this: these are the moments that give you perspective. These are the moments that give you compassion and empathy, that help you find the humanity in yourself so that you can see it in others. These are the moments that give your life depth. To know joy, you have to know pain, in all its stupid, uncomfortable, cruel glory. Push through. Know that there are people who love you. If those people aren’t surrounding you now, it doesn’t mean they don’t exist. It just means you haven’t found them yet. Your tribe is out there and most likely they know exactly what you’re going through. If all else fails, you can always reach out to me.
ABOUT KATE JARVIK BIRCH:
Kate Jarvik Birch is a visual artist, author, playwright, daydreamer, and professional procrastinator. As a child, she wanted to grow up to be either a unicorn or mermaid. Luckily, being a writer turned out to be just as magical. Her essays and short stories have been published in literary journals including Indiana Review and Saint Ann’s Review. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband and three kids. To learn more visit www.katejarvikbirch.com
WHERE TO FIND HER:
Website: http://www.katejarvikbirch.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/katejarvikbirch
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/katejarvikbirchbooks
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kebirch/
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