Visit with Holly Cupala

www.hollycupala.com

First and foremost, happy book birthday to Holly Cupala and TELL ME A SECRET, her debut novel which releases today from HarperTeen!



It's tough living in the shadow of a dead girl. . . .

In the five years since her bad-girl sister Xanda's death, Miranda Mathison has wondered about the secret her sister took to the grave, and what really happened the night she died. Now, just as Miranda is on the cusp of her dreams—a best friend to unlock her sister's world, a ticket to art school, and a boyfriend to fly her away from it all—Miranda has a secret all her own.

When two lines on a pregnancy test confirm her worst fears, Miranda is stripped of her former life. She must make a choice with tremendous consequences and finally face her sister's demons and her own.

In this powerful debut novel, stunning new talent Holly Cupala illuminates the dark struggle of a girl who must let go of her past to find a way into her own future.

“A powerful story of self-discovery, and a brilliant debut novel.” ~Ellen Hopkins, New York Times bestselling author of CRANK

“A gripping, emotional story about a young girl with a tragic past and an uncertain future. I dare you to set it down during its last hundred pages. I dare you.” ~Deb Caletti, National Book Award Finalist, author of HONEY, BABY, SWEETHEART

Before we get to the fun Q&A that I had with Holly about her life, writing, and TELL ME A SECRET, it's only fair that I share with you all the details about her awesome Blog Tour!



Full tour schedule is here. Be sure to check it out to see where you can find Holly in the next couple of weeks, and how you can enter for your chance to win a bunch of cool swag!

Now, on to the questions...

1) If you could bring any character from one of your books to life, who would it be and why?

Oh, such a loaded question! I tried to write all of the characters with balance in mind. Many of them have secrets, and most operate out of the effects of those secrets – woundedness, guilt, fear, sadness, and even cruelty toward other characters. Miranda, the main character, is a little bit stranded between the two sides of herself – a little bit good girl, a little bit bad girl, with lots of layers in between the sadness of losing her sister. She explores a lot of that in the book. If I were to bring her to life, I would like to see what she would choose for her future. And of course, it would be lovely to bring Kamran (a.k.a. the superhot sci-fi guy) along with her!

2) Your own six-word memoir.

Deep sadness became joy and hope.

3) Twitter your newest or upcoming release in 140 characters or less.

Miranda’s family has secrets: her parents’ silence, her sister’s death, what really happened that night…and now she has a secret of her own.

4) You have the chance to spend the day with any character from one of your favorite books. Who would you choose and why?

I think I’d love to sit down for a cup of tea with Dashti from Shannon Hale’s BOOK OF A THOUSAND DAYS. She is delightfully clever but also kindhearted.

5) What was your favorite book growing up as a teen?

As a teen, I loved the dark, depressing books reflecting the search for meaning – CATCHER IN THE RYE, THE BELL JAR, THE OUTSIDERS. Though I confess, I did consume a record number of teen romances (SWEET VALLEY HIGH, anyone?)! There was this historical teen romance series – probably out of print now – where there was a main character girl, and then there were always two guys…the good one and the bad one…and you were guessing all the way to the end which was which. Hmm, I guess a little of that trickled into TELL ME A SECRET…Kamran is a bit of a mystery for much of the book. I hope there’s meaning, mystery, and a little romance…

6) When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A writer, of course! I think I had decided this by age 6, when I wrote my first short story, about one donut’s adventures in the belly of a dog (there was Candy Street, Cookie Street….you can tell where my priorities were in 1st grade).

Then I wrote a couple of teen romances in eighth grade (more influence from that dynamic duo, Elizabeth and Jessica of SVH). My friends would read them page by page, which only encouraged me. It continued until I actually experienced teen romance – which turned out to be horrible and tragic. I wrote a lot of sad poetry after that, and it’s probably when I started reading all those meaningful literary books.

All through college and grad school, I thought I wanted to write for adults, but I kept secretly writing stories for kids. Then we had two huge losses in one year – a close friend’s sister and our first daughter at birth. I almost stopped writing altogether. But then a friend, Justina Chen (author of the wonderful book NORTH OF BEAUTIFUL), took me out to lunch and asked if I was thinking of writing about our loss. It was like she opened the door and gave me permission. We were at a writing conference, and right after that, we heard Libba Bray speak (she’d just come out with A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY), when the story just landed in my lap. I started writing as fast as I could.

7) Your favorite subject in high school – and your least favorite.

Anything in the humanities fell into my favorite subjects – English, French, Art. I didn’t actually take any Drama classes (they conflicted directly with Art, unfortunately), but I was in a couple of the school plays and was always lurking around the drama crowd. Least favorite…I think I was relatively lucky, because I liked almost all of my subjects and had enthusiastic teachers. There was this one Geometry teacher, though. She was a little bit…odd. And Draconian. And she wore neon makeup. So even if we weren’t catching on to all the theorems, we had a lot to giggle about.

8) The one book everyone in the world should read.

Hopefully this won’t sound crazy, but I would recommend the Bible – on a purely story level, it is full of weird, fascinating stories, beautiful poetry, and a full range of human experiences. It’s kind of the book you could take on a desert island and never get bored.

9) The book you wish you had written.

SPEAK, by Laurie Halse Anderson. Wonderful, wonderful book. That’s the second book in the world everyone should read.

10) Your five favorite reads from 2009 (books you read during the year; they do not have to have been published during 2009).

SWEETHEARTS by Sara Zarr
WINTERGIRLS by Laurie Halse Anderson
STEALING DEATH by Janet Lee Carey
NORTH OF BEAUTIFUL by Justina Chen Headley
NOTHING BUT GHOSTS by Beth Kephart

11) What is your ultimate vacation destination?

I’ve been to India once with my husband and his parents, who are both from Mumbai. I would really love to go back and spend more time there visiting our relatives and seeing the country – it’s beautiful, varied, and incredibly rich with people and history. We stayed for a week with one of my husband’s aunts in her flat and saw how people lived and ate and washed and carried out the normal, day-to-day activities. My favorite part was the tea. His aunt would make the most delectable spiced chai. She said when friends would go out to tea together, they would share a cup of tea – one would have the cup and pour half of the tea into the saucer so that they enjoyed it together. I love that.

12) If you weren’t an author, what job would you be doing?

Well, there’s rock star, chef, dancer, artist, graphic designer…any of those would be great! I have been an artist and graphic designer (though sadly, not a rock star). I love to paint and collage, and I do graphic design for readergirlz, my own sites, and various other projects. Plus, I’m a mom to a kindergartener. :-)

13) You get the chance to star in an upcoming film release. What movie would you star in for your acting debut? (If you can’t choose an upcoming film, you can choose a past release.)

Did you see the movie version of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist? There’s this scene in the café, and in the background you see…Rachel Cohn and David Levithan! Laurie Halse Anderson also had a cameo in Speak (as the lunch lady), and S.E. Hinton was the nurse in the film version of The Outsiders. I think that would be the coolest thing ever, to have a cameo in your own book. Of course, that means someone will have to make a movie of TELL ME A SECRET…(yoohoo, Hollywood?)

14) Remember those “classics” that you were made to read in high school English class? What was your favorite, and which title should students never have to be subjected to reading?

LOVED THE GREAT GATSBY. Shirts! Beautiful shirts! So dreamy and full of light. HATED THE SCARLET LETTER. Fifty pages of forest description? Come now, Mr. Hawthorne. Brevity is the soul of wit.

15) You’re invited to a White House function, and you have the chance to give a 10-minute speech to the President and everyone else attending. What do you speak about?

I think I would speak about purpose. That’s one of the things I’ve noticed about this generation, that despite the technology and advertising and all of the false messages out there about beauty and power and priorities, they are hopeful and passionate about making a difference, helping people, and finding truth. I believe every one of us have been wired with a purpose, and it’s up to us to discover and pursue it.

16) A group of teens ask you the best way to become a published writer. How do you answer the question?

There are a couple of parts to writing for publication – one part is honing your writing skills, and you do that by writing, writing, and more writing (a million words is a good target) and reading what interests you, and even what doesn’t. You can take writing classes, trade manuscripts with other writers, and try to figure out what makes the books you like stand out.

The other part is figuring out what you want to write about, and the only way I know to do that is living. You discover what is important to you, what is meaningful, and how it all fits together in a story. Then you sit down and start to write…

**Thanks so very much to Holly for visiting with us today on her book's birthday! I highly recommend checking out her website and the Blog Tour page - you don't want to miss out on entering to win those cool prizes!

You can find her several other places online, as well: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, ReaderGirlz. You can also contact her directly through her website.

Be sure to leave any comments or questions you have for her in the comments section, as she'll be stopping by later today to see what we're discussing. Now, go check out the Blog Tour page!! :)