We chat with author Eliot Schrefer about The Brightness Between Us, which is another ambitious, genre-bending novel and epic love story that spans thousands of years and the far reaches of the galaxy.
Hi, Eliot! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi, everyone! I’ve been writing YA for years, but The Darkness Outside Us and its just-launched sequel, The Brightness Between Us, are big departures for me. My first sci-fi books, my first books with romances, and the first to get a movie adaptation. I teach writing, enjoy running and yoga, and just finished a masters degree in Animal Studies. Love a good raspberry tart.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
Early on! I was the new kid a lot when I was growing up, and I knew a novel would always bring with it companions whom I could hang out with at recess. I remember spending the first week at a new elementary school sitting at the edge of the field, reading Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, and feeling like I already had friends.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: The 14 original Frank L. Baum Oz books.
- The one that made you want to become an author: The Neverending Story. That book goes places you’d never expect, and is constantly surprising and charming.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Howards End by E.M. Forster. I don’t know how this magic works, but those two Schlegel sisters in Edwardian England are as close to soul matches as I’ve ever found.
The Brightness Between Us is the sequel to The Darkness Outside Us and it’s out October 1st! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Furious OG Ambrose Saves Humanity
What can readers expect?
I love the structure a lot of 19th century novels used: the reader would follow one storyline, then it would reach an utter cliffhanger, at which point the novel would turn to the second storyline. That would reach a cliffhanger, then the novel would go back to the first storyline, resolving its cliffhanger and then leading to another one… at which point it would go back to the second storyline. The Brightness Between Us has a nested storyline like that, going from the inhabitants of a distant exoplanet to their predecessors on Earth 30,000 years before, then back and forth, with both their storylines overlapping in hopefully shocking ways. It’s a more complicated novel than The Darkness Outside Us, but still takes a focus on emotional intimacy as its core.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring further?
There’s a character in the first book who’s mentioned but never appears: Devon Mujaba, a popstar. I was very excited to put him in this book and give him all sorts of secret goals of his own. Mainly I liked the voice that James Fouhey (the audiobook narrator for both books) came up with for him, and wanted to write more Devon Mujaba dialogue.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing the sequel?
Expectations! The Darkness Outside Us had a giant twist in the middle, and I took a long time deciding whether to try to pull that off again or to go for a different type of narrative structure.
Was it planned for The Darkness Outside Us to have a sequel?
I knew I wouldn’t write a sequel unless a very good storyline occurred to me. Better to leave it alone than to write a ho-hum followup! Luckily an appealing storyline did occur to me.
What’s next for you?
We’re working on developing the screenplay for The Darkness Outside Us, so that will take up my time for a while. I’ve also got a new series for younger readers that I can’t announce yet, and I’m (slowly!) drafting an adult novel about a medieval monastery in which every single monk is gay.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
So many! I loved Melanie Sumrow’s twisty and dark YA Girls Like Her, and everyone should keep their eyes out for Lance Rubin’s hilarious MG sci-fi Zed Moonstein Makes a Friend, coming out in a few months. My very favorite book from the past year, though, would have to be Anne Ursu’s Not Quite a Ghost. Gorgeous, emotionally true, and creepy. I absolutely loved it!
