As a reader, I was never really interested in reading YA stories until a few years ago. I find them very compelling since the main characters are usually dealing with transition and emotional upheaval. What inspires you to write YA fiction?
To me, they’re compelling because there’s so much our characters to deal with in such a short time and they’re not always ready for them. I love putting myself in the shoes of my heroines and seeing how they act/react. Life is suddenly very complicated. You’ve got your first love, first heartbreak, school, family, friends, the pressure cooker that is social media. When you’re a teenager, everything feels like a life-or-death situation. At least, that’s how I saw things back then! On top of all that, there’s the bewildering physical changes. And that’s just contemporary YA. Imagine what happens when you’ve got vampires, witches, ghosts, and/or aliens lurking around. Imagine if *you* are a teen witch and struggling to find your place in the world.
It’s funny—I started writing YA fiction when I was about 13-15 and literally haven’t stopped. Like a lot of kids, I went through a turbulent time back then. The library was like a safe harbor. Reading Sweet Valley High and Sweet Dreams books as a teenager was my great escape. Authors/creators like Francine Pascal and Janet Quin-Harkin don’t know it, but their stories and characters saved me. Okay, that sounds a bit dramatic, but it’s 100% true. When I exhausted the library bookshelves, I decided to write my own stories and create a safe little world for myself, one that I had control over.
Most romances usually have HEAs (Happily Ever Afters) or “happy for now” endings. With YA, because the characters are young and still developing, there aren’t traditional HEAs. I’m usually happy if, at the end, the characters are just in a good place with themselves and each other. How do you feel about writing endings in your YA books?
I try to end my YAs in a way that’ll assure the reader that whatever external or internal pressures come up for them next, they’re well equipped to deal because of the journey they’ve taken together. I also think it’s important, particularly in YA, to show “happy for now” is perfectly acceptable in books and in real life. Will my books’ couples still be together five or ten years after their high school graduation? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, I just want them to be happy.
Writing endings in general? They’re the hardest part of writing for me—aside from getting started. I hate saying goodbye to my characters because they really do become like best friends. You know their quirks, you know what makes them laugh, what makes them furious, and basically you want to hang out with them forever.
Your book UNDER THE MILKY WAY seems to suggest a sci-fi theme. Do you enjoy reading and writing things with a sci-fi element, or did you include that in this story, for the theme of “otherness”?
I believe in all the spooky stuff—I couldn’t write about it if I didn’t. I’ve always been drawn to paranormal books, movies, and TV shows. My dad is really into sci-fi, so I grew up watching Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica (the 2000s-era reboot is amazing, by the way). My late mother claimed she once had a close encounter with a pair of UFOs. So it was Mum who planted the seed that grew into UNDER THE MILKY WAY.
There is an out-of-this world element in the book, namely in the form of aliens and UFOs. If anyone’s feeling a tad hesitant to pick it up, it may be comforting to know that my aliens are not the creepy bobble-headed gray aliens that feature in so many sci-fi movies and abduction accounts. No, my humanoid extra-terrestrials hail from an Earth-like planet in a galaxy far, far away. They planted themselves in gorgeous Colorado. They go about their special mission undetected…until one of them meets my heroine, Cassidy.
I saw the book description for your novel THIS IS YOUR AFTERLIFE and was immediately intrigued. I love ghost stories, and I also love being thrown off balance as a reader – and this book looks like it has both things. Was it difficult to balance the romance with the suspense?
I was very conscious of maintaining that balance and it absolutely was not easy. Nothing about the writing process is a breeze! The central mystery in the book is this—who killed the school’s beloved quarterback, Jimmy? And why is his ghost haunting Keira, a girl who didn’t know she was clairvoyant until now? There are chapters where solving the murder takes precedence, and Kiera’s super focused on her task of helping Jimmy navigate the afterlife. We’re also dealing with issues around profound grief and loss. Yet, despite the heavy subject matter, there’s some gentle humor. A burgeoning romance between Keira and Jimmy’s very-much-alive brother Dan bubbles along in the background. It was important to have light and shade and keep hope alive. There’s light at the end of the tunnel in more ways than one.
I’ve heard other authors say that they don’t enjoy reading the same type of stories that they enjoy writing. Is that true for you?
Yes, it’s true…to an extent! I love, love, love any story with ghosts and witches in it. But I try not to read the same sub-genre while I’m actively working on my own paranormals. For one, I get discouraged if I read a plot point that’s like mine and it makes me wonder if I’m capable of coming up with original idea! Intellectually, I know that it shouldn’t really hold me back. After all, how many vampire books have been published in which the primary cause of vampire death is bright sunshine? What matters is that we as writers have our own filters, our own voices, our own characters, and all those things converge to put a new spin on an old idea. That’s what I keep telling myself, anyway!
I will say, though, that I watched a lot of UFO documentaries and sci-fi movies when I was developing UNDER THE MILKY WAY. All in the name of research, of course!
What are you currently working on?
Aside from writing a fan letter to Francine Pascal to tell her how much her work she meant to me? I’m writing a follow-up to UNDER THE MILKY WAY. It may or may not be set in a parallel universe…in the ‘80s. It’s a lot of fun if I may say so! I’m also plotting a follow-up to THIS IS YOUR AFTERLIFE and plotting a brand-new ghost story set in a crumbling French chateau. Multitasking like this probably isn’t the smartest of moves. Stayed tuned to see how this strategy plays out!
Thanks so much for interviewing me, Miranda! xxx
UNDER THE MILKY WAY by Vanessa Barneveld
An exciting new voice in paranormal romance
Nothing ever happens in Dawson, Colorado.
Until high school senior Cassidy Roekiem’s mom checks into a “wellness center,” but nothing is wrong with her.
Then people start seeing lights in the sky and missing chunks of time, but the town insists nothing is going on.
And now Hayden, the new boy at school who keeps to himself and is more than a little mysterious, starts to notice her like it’s nothing out of the ordinary.
Suddenly, “nothing” is starting to feel a whole lot like something. And everything leads back to Hayden. The boy she’s starting to fall for.
The boy with too many dark secrets for his kind heart. The boy she’s pretty sure isn’t human…
Young Adult Paranormal | Young Adult Fantasy [Entangled: Teen, On Sale: August 10, 2021, Trade Size / e-Book, ISBN: 9781682815731 / eISBN: 9781682815823]
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About Vanessa Barneveld
Vanessa lives in a 19th-century house in inner-city Sydney, Australia, with a 21st-century husband, two eccentric cats and one ghost—all of whom provide inspiration for her spirited novels. In addition to writing, she’s part of a crack team that produces closed captions for deaf TV viewers and audio descriptions for the blind. And, yes, that means she gets to watch TV all. day. long. Check out the playlist for UNDER THE MILKY WAY at vanessabarneveld.com/links.
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