One of the things I love is talking with authors about how they approach writing and what they most loved about their books. Today I’m super excited to welcome Bethany Hensel to the blog to chat with her about her excellent book, UNSTOPPABLE.

Unstoppable tells the tale of young, intelligent and handsome Derek Archer, whose life is finally beginning. He’s just about to graduate from high school, land the job he’s always wanted, and move in with the girl he’s always loved, Victoria. There’s no reason for him to question or want for anything…until the day Victoria’s father is shot and killed, setting off a devastating, heartbreaking chain of reactions.

Now, the race is on, and Derek has only three days to right a terrible wrong. With the help of a childhood friend with a penchant for high-tech espionage, they investigate every lead, never imagining their search would take them deep into the heart of a seemingly perfect family, where old ghosts, bitter lies, and agonizing betrayal all collide. It’s then, with the lives of everyone he holds dear in the balance, Derek discovers just how unimaginable the truth can be…and how unstoppable.

Full of twists and turns, this breathtaking story is The Bourne Identity meets Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo and Juliet…expect action, expect danger, expect love.

Amazon | B&N | GoodReads | Bethany’s Site

Sounds awesome, right? (That’s because it is.) Bethany is a fantastic writer, and I’m thrilled to have her here talking about UNSTOPPABLE as well as the next book in her Truth and Love series, IRREVERSIBLE. Alright, let’s go!

Hey Bethany! When did you first know that you wanted to write books? Was it something you’ve always known or a talent you discovered along the way?

Hey Alex! Thanks for having me here! Excellent question. I love this interview already. 🙂 From a very young age, I loved to perform. I loved to dance and sing and tell stories. As I got older, the need to be an entertainer never diminished, though it took a while for me to figure out what medium I would go into. I think I was 16 or 17….maybe 18, when I read Harlan Coben’s Tell No One and it really changed my life. I decided, in that moment, I wanted to entertain a person the way Harlan Coben had entertained me with that story. So I wrote my first tale shortly thereafter and the rest is history.

I love how one book can just change everything like that. Awesome! The world of UNSTOPPABLE is one that I can just lose myself in— from the moment we meet Derek on page one, we know right away that he’s in an unforgiving place, but a place that he’s also learned to thrive in. What was the inspiration for that world?

Aw thanks so much! The world of Unstoppable is very much like this one. The only real change is the laws that govern the world. It’s a very strict place to be, and therefore, very scary. One false move and you’re done! That sense of urgency came from the fact that I wanted this story to hit the ground running and not stop. It was incredibly important to me that the stakes in Unstoppable were literally life and death.

I’m a big believer in pushing limits and experimenting as a writer. Was there a point in writing this that you felt you were pushing yourself or trying something new?

I thought I was a bit out of the box with the layout of the work, but no, I don’t think I got too experimental. 🙂 But then again, weirdness is in the eye of the beholder, so I’ll leave it up to the readers. 🙂

The pacing in UNSTOPPABLE is also top-notch. From one scene to the next, the action doesn’t let up until the very last page. How did you get that jump-off-the-pages energy in your work?

Whew! Glad you felt that way because that’s what I was going for! Like I said, Harlan Coben really changed my life and his books have been a huge influence on my writing. His stories are lean and mean and I wanted mine to read the same. I enjoy reading stories like that. Yes, I also enjoy reading very lush, lyrical books that take their time, but there’s something about a high-stakes cat and mouse chase that really entertains me.

So to ensure I wrote a lean, mean story, I had one rule in mind: nothing extra, nothing superfluous, nothing slow. If I thought a scene, chapter, paragraph, sentence or word began to drag the story, I cut it. I was merciless!! Trust me! It started out at 130,000 words and I chopped it down to about 66,000.

That sounds like some hardcore revisions! I am in awe. Alright, time for a process question. 🙂 Do you listen to music while you write, or do you have other writing rituals?

I listened to the Man of Steel soundtrack a lot! But if the story had a theme song, I’d say it was Bryan Adams Everything I Do, I Do it For You. That sums up the story pretty darn well!

Aahhh! I can so see that. What character in UNSTOPPABLE was the most fun for you to write, and why?

Victoria! I can’t say why because then I would spoil it, but she was a TON of fun! When you read the book, you’ll know instantly why. 🙂

I don’t want to spoil it either, but YES. I also loved Sabrina, and I’m so thrilled we get to hear more about her in IRREVERSIBLE. Can you tell us more about that story and maybe give us a hint about what we can expect?

Thanks Alex! Sabrina is one of my favorite characters! I love how tall and sassy she is. 🙂 As for what you can expect in Irreversible….humor, tons of verbal sparring, bathroom cat fights and slumber parties at Derek’s house! You will also find answers, especially the one to what happened that night. The book is a novella, but it’s jam-packed with twists and turns and a lot of surprises. It was a fun book to write and I hope it translates in the reading. 🙂

As a huge fan of both verbal sparring and slumber parties, I am super excited about it. *moves to top of TBR* And lastly, what is one piece of writing advice that you’ve learned from working on your books?

I’ve learned that it will come together. As long as I am patient, work hard and not give up, the story will come together. There were some hairy moments when I thought the book would never end or it would never gel and make sense. But that’s when I needed to be the strongest and push through the tough edits and have faith the story would all come together in the end. Sometimes, you make a mess of things when you write, and it’s hard to see the progress and good stuff going on underneath the mess. But it’s there. I’ve learned that if I just keep going, keeping sitting at the computer one day after the other, writing one word after the next (even if I’ll just end up deleting them later anyway) I’m making progress. The book is becoming better and that’s always been my goal. Write the best book I possibly can. 🙂

Great advice! As someone who’s also been through some dicey revisions, I love this. Persistence and diligence, guys. 🙂 Thanks Bethany for such a fun interview! 

before

When I was a little kid, I asked why they were called wisdom teeth.

I don’t really remember why we were talking about wisdom teeth, but I remember the answer: they came in when you were old enough to start being wise. I’m almost 25, and while that doesn’t really feel like I’ve reached a wise age (unless it’s the wiseass age), I’d still like wisdom teeth to teach me something about the human condition.

There are five stages in the Kubler-Ross model of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. And sure, maybe busting out the grief cycle is a little extreme for a routine oral surgery. But there’s a reason people have nightmares about losing teeth– it’s a metaphor for death. Without teeth, we’re toothless: on a primitive level, we can’t hunt and feed ourselves well–we become the weak in the herd. It’s a change in yourself that you will never be able to undo, one more sign of memento mori as you leave teenage invincibility. 

It’s always bothered me that anger is in the middle of the cycle.

I don’t think that anger is just one of many opposites to happiness. Look at any middle school emotion chart, and in all those smiley faces expressing different feelings, there’s maybe one or two that look okay/socially acceptable to be. Everything else is an uncomfortable contortion of features. In my experience, emotions are less polar and more overlapping. Anger doesn’t preclude happiness, and to me, it’s never been its opposite.

But still, we get taught that there’s a very limited number of okay moods to be and that everything else is negative, is something you don’t want to be because it is Not Happy.

I like anger. Maybe it’s something about being a girl that makes people think your anger is not the same kind of anger they’re talking about. Or maybe it’s just that happiness and anger are ingrained as such opposites that it seems impossible for them to coexist.

But they do. Tintin‘s Captain Haddock is hilariously angry but, I’d like to think, is at his heart also a happy person. He just wants things done a certain way (preferably his way, aka the best way, and with whiskey). When both those conditions are met, he’s on cloud nine. Professor Calculus also toes this line– a type A, obsessive personality who is happily whimsical up until the point where someone calls him a goat or intimates that he’s not as smart as he thinks he is. If my French comic book references aren’t reaching you, then think about Stubb in Moby Dick.

When I first thought about passing through the anger part of the grief cycle when we learnt it in 9th grade religion class, I thought it meant losing a integral part of myself. (And if loss of the self doesn’t spiral you straight into depression stage, I don’t know what will.)

But having gone through denial (my wisdom teeth are already in, this tooth chart on the internet is just wrong), bargaining (I’ve had a root canal, I brush my teeth three times a day, this can’t be happening), depression (I am going to have to relive the most terrifying experience of my life), acceptance was a surprise.

I’m not not-angry– it’s just a different flavor of anger. After googling “human teeth diagram” (as you do when you’re a tech-savvy twenty-something living away from home) and counting my own out, I was angry in the sense that I was frustrated I couldn’t change what was happening to me.

And that I think is what the Kubler-Ross model is talking about. Anger as rage at powerlessness, refusing to accept what you know in your gut is true. Frustration.

I’m frustrated at the human body for being so poorly designed that its own teeth run into each other, and I’m ticked off that us humans, as possessors of bodies, have not figured out a better way to deal with wisdom teeth by now. That’s the part of anger that I’ve moved past. Whatever happens, the teeth still have to come out and that’s not changing.

What I haven’t moved past is anger at my fear. Vita brevis, ars longa, right? Maybe fear is always going to be my first reaction with dental stuff, or any surgery– it is for a lot of people. I don’t like it. Fear is weakness, and being scared of a dentist, aka someone whose job is to help you, is a stupid fear.

But, at the same time I’m happy for the perspective, happy I get what people mean when they say to stay hungry, stay foolish. You have a whole lot of things to do, and a much shorter amount of time to do them in. It’s not something I like about being human, but it’s something I’d rather know than not.

—

a few hours post-op

I got a very kind, thoughtful email from one of my professors wishing me “good luck with the teeth removal.”

I’m working on my second chocolate frosty since my wisdom teeth came out. It’s slow going since I can’t open my mouth much, but it’s happening. The night before the surgery I stayed up until 4am working on a manuscript and annoying a too-loyal Siberian Husky with a few hours of motivational heavy metal, so now the wolf dog and I are kicking back on the couch again, me with this frosty and him curled up into a little ball, sleeping it off.

Most of what I’ve learned from this is that no one really knows what to say about having your wisdom teeth out. My officemates and CPs shared their experiences, my little brother told me about how much blood he coughed up, and my grandmother phoned to express her well wishes and wonder why the Good Lord gave us extra teeth. I said that maybe the Good Lord was just looking out for the dental hygienists in His flock, but she encouraged me to think in less worldly terms.

“It’s just something that happens to everyone,” my mom said in the oral surgeon’s.

“Great, wisdom teeth and death.” I said. “Thanks, I am so less depressed now.”

“That’s not what I meant.” She smiled, then checked again to make sure I’d taken my contacts out before the surgery. “You’re going to be fine. Everybody has to go through this. It’s part of being human.”

My dad had been pretty silent on the wisdom teeth front, and I didn’t really mind. Between us, Dad and I make up the most oral surgery and dental weirdness in the household, and I took his not bringing up my teeth as a sign of stoic respect. Warrior to warrior, the last, grim salute before you ride into battle.

But still, since it’s a human thing and since I try to catalogue human things, after I got home from the surgery I decided to ask him. I knew my mother’s story, my grandmother’s, my little brother’s, and the ones my friends online and in the office had shared. I wanted to know his.

“They never came in.” My dad shrugged over some diagrams for a new research study he’s putting together at work.

“What?”

“Yeah. My wisdom teeth just never grew in. Never got ’em. They’re not even on my x-rays. I didn’t want to mention that until after you were finished getting yours out.” He ruffled my hair. “But I’m proud of you for being brave, kiddo.”

—

Right now, I’m planning out tomorrow’s soft food banquet, scowl-smiling at the nine different, dessert-flavored varieties of yogurt I’ll be dining on for the next few days. If I’ve learned anything from this, if there is wisdom in these wisdom teeth, it’s that I’m pretty damn lucky.

I’m lucky I have friends who tell me about their own hilarious mishaps with these things, classmates who cover my recitations during my x-rays, professors who take the time to wish me well, a mother who trails after me with gauze and hits up every smoothie place in town for chocolate shakes, and a family who’s 100% cool with me locking myself up in the den to make terrible things happen to this poor fictional guy as I recover.

I’m making art and studying what I love. I have a fridge full of yogurt, a very clingy husky, and know some of the coolest people around. And for all that, and all the stories, thanks.

   

I think if I had to characterize SLINGS AND ARROWS, it would be as a mash-up.

The first time I listened to a mash-up was sometime in late high school (look at that YA go). It was on my radio–because I’d gotten a radio for graduating eighth grade, like a boss– and it was the famous Green Day/Oasis one. It was pretty cool– taking two things that really did not match at all, and then combining them and making them work. Now mash-ups are super common– you can blitz through soundcloud and come up with Bastille vs. Katy Perry, and somehow, magically, the sound holds.

Sometimes, it even makes more sense than the original songs separately. Whenever “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” comes on the radio when I’m driving, I sing the Oasis part to fill in the gaps (and then bust out a little Eminem at the end, naturally) because it just sounds weird to me now without it.

S&A is a story told in two timelines. It’s the first time I have ever done this, and I don’t really remember what made me do it. Dual timelines is a lot like having dual POVs– at first, I was much worse writing Dominic’s past self (let’s call him GreenDay!Dom) than his present self (Oasis!Dom). I didn’t know enough about who Dominic was as his own person– he literally started out as a grief writing exercise, and his grief was defined by one person, Shelley.

I’ve always really admired fugues. Fun fact: I learned the word fugue at age 15 when I read THE BEEKEEPER’S APPRENTICE (it was my favorite book and it remains in a place of honor on my shelf today). Because mispronouncing things in front of my mum is a recurring motif in my life, I said how cool I thought fugues were and she cracked up because “fug-way” is not how you say “foog.”

(I did the same thing with balsam. “Oh honey, it’s ‘bal-sum,’ not ‘ba-sawm.'”)

Telling a story in two parts has been a trick that I’ve wanted to imitate for a while, and it feels pretty satisfying to get to do it. I feel like fugues are going to be a part of my writing always, even though I don’t plan on ever ever ever my god doing dual timelines again. I remember that enthusiasm I felt as a teenager reading stories and freaking out when I realized what the author was doing, and one of the first times that happened was with fugues.

Sometimes it feels like my life is one big mash-up. I do math and I do writing, and I try to find the commonality between them (hint: it’s truth). And this is what I love, when I can use some ridiculous writing trick I learned from my favorite teenage book to pull massive shenanigans in a manuscript years later. This is why I write.