Author Interview: Alexa Linger on Birthright

Hello everyone! And welcome back to my Author Interview series.

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This week, I am chatting with Alexa Linger, a fellow member of my new Facebook book club, Indie Eden. Her book, Birthright, is a Young Adult novel about a small town full of secrets – and the one person responsible for keeping all of those secrets safe. Let’s see what she has to say about her book, and about the writing process!

 

 

 

Hi Alexa! Let’s start out with what might be the most important question. What is the one question that you wish people would ask you about your latest book? (And what is the answer?)

‘Did you base a character on yourself?’ Yes, I did, but it was accidental; something that just sort of happened. Many of my traits and characteristics come out in Ruth-Anne, the main character’s assistant. Ruth-Anne over-mothers everyone, she’s neurotic, she’s disorganized, she always looks slightly disheveled, she has no fashion-sense, and she has “The Look” down (the look your mom gives when you’re about to be in trouble) – that’s all me!

Which typical author interview question do you hate the most? (I won’t be offended if you choose one of mine. :P)

‘Where do you get your inspiration? The problem with that question is inspiration isn’t finite; it can come from anywhere or anything. There’s not a one size fits all answer; you can’t wrap it up and tie a neat little bow around it.

Whew, that wasn’t one of mine. Haha! On a similar topic, though, Is there any famous author that inspires you, or that you admire?

The writing of this book was largely inspired by William Faulkner. It’s said he wrote the novel “As I Lay Dying” (one of my all-time favorites) in about a month and it was published with very little editing. Since I learned that in college, I’ve wanted to write a book in a month like him. And I thought what better way to do that than NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)? When I had the idea for Birthright around Halloween 2016, though, I realized I would have very little time to prepare for NaNoWriMo, which takes place during the month of November. I just started writing, anyway. No character sketches, no outline, no notes – nothing. I was shocked I wrote a 50,000-word novel by December 1st with no preparation because I was so well prepared for NaNoWriMo the previous three years and the most I ever wrote was 26,000 words for them. The difference between this year and the others was Birthright was a story I needed to tell. I fell in love with Downe, the characters, and the story… I felt like I needed to share it.

Other authors that I like are J.K. Rowling, Vladimir Nabokov, Albert Camus, Shakespeare, Kurt Vonnegut, William Faulkner, John Greene, Chuck Palahniuk… the list goes on.

That’s really impressive! Can you give us a short description of Birthright?

Basically, Elisheva Corrine (Ellie) is a sixteen-year-old who’s grieving the death of her grandfather (her guardian/caregiver) when she’s thrust into her role as The Secret Keeper, which was her grandpa’s job before his death. She lives in the community of Downe, which is for all intents and purposes a cult, and she’s responsible for keeping all the members’ secrets (held within objects) safe and secure. Soon, Ellie begins to follow clues left by her grandpa that make her realize not everything is how it seems.

There’s a much better synopsis on the back of the book.