Guest Post – LOOP by Karen Akins

Today I have the pleasure of hosting a guest post from Karen Akins, the author of the upcoming book LOOP.

At a school where Quantum Paradox 101 is a required course and history field trips are literal, sixteen year-old time traveler Bree Bennis excels…at screwing up.

After Bree botches a solo midterm to the 21st century by accidentally taking a boy hostage (a teensy snafu), she stands to lose her scholarship. But when Bree sneaks back to talk the kid into keeping his yap shut, she doesn’t go back far enough. The boy, Finn, now three years older and hot as a solar flare, is convinced he’s in love with Bree, or rather, a future version of her that doesn’t think he’s a complete pain in the arse. To make matters worse, she inadvertently transports him back to the 23rd century with her.

Once home, Bree discovers that a recent rash of accidents at her school are anything but accidental. Someone is attacking time travelers. As Bree and her temporal tagalong uncover seemingly unconnected clues—a broken bracelet, a missing data file, the art heist of the millennium—that lead to the person responsible, she alone has the knowledge to piece the puzzle together. Knowledge only one other person has. Her future self.

But when those closest to her become the next victims, Bree realizes the attacker is willing to do anything to stop her. In the past, present, or future.

Without further ado, here is Karen Akins:

Thank you so much for having me on your blog today to celebrate the release of LOOP!

1. How did you get the idea for a novel focused around time travel?

I had fallen asleep one night watching my husband play a video game, and I had a really vivid, action-packed dream. Right before I woke up, I dreamt the basic twist in the story—that the guy was already in love with the girl’s future self. When I opened my eyes, I sat there for a few minutes going, “Huh.” I won’t say that the plot came to me in a single whoosh, but all the characters did immediately begin speaking to me. I started scribbling, and three months later, I had a first draft.

At one point, when I realized the full ramifications of writing time travel, I sat down and asked myself, “Do I really want to do this?” Present Karen is so thankful that Past Karen answered with an emphatic, “Yes!”

2. What was the hardest vs. easiest part of the process for you?

With LOOP, writing the first draft was easy. The plot didn’t come to me all at once, but the story flowed out of me, and I didn’t hit any rough patches where I got completely stuck. Revisions, on the other hand, were brutal. Especially when I started revisions for my editor. She suggested some major worldbuilding changes that took a while for me to wrap my noggin around. It was further complicated by the fact that I found out I was pregnant with my second child the same week that I got her revision letter. My brain was mush, and I was trying to work through issues with the space-time continuum.

In contrast, TWIST’s first draft was extremely challenging to write. I ended up rewriting it twice, in fact. But then revisions with my editor, while still deep, were relatively painless. I’m guessing it will just vary from story to story.

3. What character do you feel you relate to the most?

Bree’s best friend Mimi. She’s optimistic, fiercely loyal, on the gullible side, and she has the tendency to accidentally run off at the mouth.

4. If you could time travel, where would you go or what would you do?

Part of me would want to go back to my own past and observe special moments, but at the same time, I wouldn’t want to ruin them.

I’m kind of a stickler for accuracy, so it always bugs me that in every representation of Jane Austen’s England, the portrayals are vastly different. I’d like to go back and see what an actual dinner party was like for her. In some adaptations of her books, the parties are raucous and loud, others prim and poised. Which was it?

5. Who are your literary inspirations? Are there any authors or books that influenced your writing?

Inspirations for me are those authors who drag me so far into their world that I forget I’m a Muggle. It’s hard to name specific books because I feel like each story I’ve fallen in love with has nestled into my heart and become something more to me.

This is actually kind of a funny thing, but Twilight was inspiring to me (not that my characters, plot, or world have anything to do with the Forks gang). I read an interview with Stephenie Meyer somewhere, and she talked about how she wrote Twilight during her kids’ swim lessons. I was a brand new stay-at-home mom, and I thought, “Huh. Maybe I could write. I’ve always made up stories in my head.”

The ironic part is that now that I’ve been through several years of swim lessons with my kids, I’m like, “What the heck was she talking about?” I get nothing done during swim lessons week. Nothing.

Thanks again for having me! I hope everyone enjoys LOOP. <3

LOOP comes out October 21st, 2014!

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