I'm so happy to welcome author Kristina McBride back to The Hiding Spot to chat about her newest release, A MILLION TIMES GOODNIGHT! I'm a huge fan of Kristina's first two books (both originally published with Egmont) and am so happy that this third book is finally available from Sky Pony!
Check out my interview with Kristina below, then enter for a chance to win this new book and one of her backlist titles!
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I love the premise of A Million Times Goodnight! Can you share your elevator pitch for this novel, as well as your inspiration for the unique premise?
Elevator Pitch: When Hadley’s boyfriend betrays her on the night of the big senior spring break party, she decides to take him down. It’s a risk—he’s popular, rich, and untouchable—but she’s feeling a little crazy and a lot daring. Time splits in two alternating strands as Hadley begins to play out a wild night of revenge. In one timeline, she goes back to the party with her best friends to confront her boyfriend. In the other, she steals his car and escapes town on a wild road trip with her ex. Both storylines uncover secrets that are so much worse than the initial betrayal, converging in an explosive ending.
Inspiration: Several things inspired me as I wrote the first drafts of A MILLION TIMES GOODNIGHT, but two stand out in particular. One inspiration related to setting—the Witches’ Tower, a very real, very creepy place that is the source of many legendary tales around my hometown, and was a hotspot for drive-bys when I was in high school. Since I began writing seriously, I knew I’d use this tower in one of my books. The second inspiration was the devastating story I learned when the Steubenville rape case was front and center in the media. That said, I never meant for this to be an “issue book,” but rather a suspense/thriller where a girl who has been betrayed takes matters into her own hands.
Tell me a little bit about your writing process: Do you outline? Start at the beginning? The middle? The end?
I used to be a “Pantser,” but then I realized that early planning can cut revision time drastically. I’m a dedicated outliner now. I write brief chapter ideas on notecards and then carry these wherever I go. As to order, I have to start with Chapter One and write consecutively through to The End, but the notecards allow me to jot down ideas as they hit. You never know when the perfect line of opening dialogue for Chapter Nine will surface, for instance, so I always have my notecards at the ready. That said, I’m NOT married to my outline. It’s a road map that I often veer from, taking detours, rearranging stops, completely eliminating elements in some cases.
Inspiration comes in many forms. Share three people, places, or things that inspire your creativity.
Real life stories of people who survive traumatic situations are a huge inspiration for me. The idea for THE TENSION OF OPPOSITES hit me as I learned the story of Shawn Hornbeck, a young man who was kidnapped at the age of eleven and returned to his family—alive!—at the age of fifteen. I already mentioned that the Steubenville rape case weighed heavily on my thoughts as I drafted A MILLION TIMES GOODNIGHT. Settings are also hugely important and many real life places have been featured in all of my books—the Three Sisters at Sugarcreek Nature Reserve is a crucial setting in THE TENSION OF OPPOSITES; “Blue” Springs in ONE MOMENT is actually inspired by the village of Yellow Springs, Ohio; my latest WIP is set in a theme park much like Kings Island.
My blog is dedicated to my personal hiding spot, books. Name a notable book that provided you with a hiding spot.
This is such an impossible question! ALL of the books I’ve read during my lifetime have provided a hiding spot of one kind or other. As a kid, Judy Blume really sucked me in. TIGER EYES was one of my favorite books of all time—I read it over and over and over again. I was a huge fan of Christopher Pike as well (creepy hiding spots are okay, right?).
What can readers look forward to next?
My next YA novel, THE BAKERSVILLE DOZEN, will release through Sky Pony Press on July 4th of 2017! I’m super excited about this one. It’s a thriller/suspense that takes place during graduation season in Bakersville, Ohio.
Elevator Pitch: Back in September an anonymous and vulgar viral video featuring the Bakersville Dozen (thirteen local girls) took the web by storm. In January a string of disappearances began. By June, only eight of the girls are left to graduate. When Bailey Holzman receives a seemingly innocent clue in a scavenger hunt, she follows and is shocked to learn that she has been led directly to the first official casualty. In this moment, Bailey realizes that the danger is mounting and it’s increasingly clear that she is next on the killer’s list.
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GIVEAWAY
(1) winner. US only. Ends 8/10/2016.
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About the Book
One night. Two paths. Infinite danger.
On the night of the big spring break party, seventeen-year-old Hadley "borrows" her boyfriend Ben's car without telling him. As payback, he posts a naked picture of her online for the entire senior class to see.
Now Hadley has a choice. She can go back to the party and force Ben to delete the picture. Or she can raise the stakes and take his beloved car on a road trip as far away from their hometown of Oak Grove, Ohio, as she can get.
Each storyline plays out in alternating chapters. In one strand, Hadley embarks on a reckless adventure with her best friends, spinning the perfect plan for revenge. In the other, stuck in a car with her ex-boyfriend, Josh, she's forced to revisit the mistakes they each made, including whether they should ever have broken up at all. As events of a wild night race toward an explosive conclusion, old feelings are rekindled, friendships are tested, and secrets uncovered that are so much worse than a scandalous photo.
A Million Times Goodnight is a fast-paced romantic contemporary thriller ripped right from the headlines.
About the Author
Kristina McBride has published two novels for young adults - The Tension of Opposites and One Moment. Her third YA novel, A Million Times Goodnight, will be released July 2016. Kristina is a former high school English teacher and yearbook advisor, as well as an adjunct professor at Antioch University Midwest and Wright State University. Kristina has a thing for music, trees, purses, and chocolate. You might be surprised to learn that Kristina was almost kidnapped when she was a child. She also bookstalks people on a regular basis. Kristina lives in Ohio with her husband and two young children.
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