We chat with author K.J. Reilly about Sixteen Minutes, which is speculative YA novel full of love and loss, and the power of the unknown and follows a new girl that arrives in town, seemingly from the future, and three teens’ lives are turned upside down.
Hi, K.J.! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Book nerd, flower growing, bread baking, cycling enthusiast; devoted nature loving, city hating, homebody.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I fell in love with writing when I fell in love with books as a young child and discovered the power that words have to transport us from one place to another. Then in high school, I learned the enormous power written words have to communicate ideas and be persuasive. As an adult, before I became an author, I worked in advertising where I was introduced to very shortform writing—ad copy—which has to be branded, razor sharp, and informative. It has to be targeted and engaging and persuasive, often emotive and evocative—all at the same time. And it has to do all of that with only a handful of words. I find it absolutely fascinating that in all of its forms, without any images, spoken dialogue, music, sound effects, actors, performance or the camera work of visual media—simple written words on paper can wield such enormous power.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Probably, Are You My Mother? by P. D Eastman but I’ll throw in Blueberries For Sal by Robert McCloskey, as well. Both explore the mother/child bond and the universal fear young children have of getting separated from their mother, and they do it in such different and innocent ways.
- The one that made you want to become an author: This is a tough one because I was an avid reader as a kid. But maybe at the youngest age, Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh and Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White, then when I was older, Steven King’s The Stand, George Orwell’s, 1984, Lois Lowry’s The Giver, anything by Edgar Allen Poe, John Irving, Tony Morrison, Barbara Kingsolver, Tom Wolfe . . . I’ll stop there, that’s far more than one!
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: There are many, but my fallback response to that question is A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly. It’s such a compelling feminist book set in the early 1900’s and it has lovely literary writing underpinned by a historically based mystery, all while pushing such a compelling feminist agenda. I find it haunting.
Your latest novel, Sixteen Minutes, is out October 15th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Otherworldly. Romantic. Thought provoking. Empowering.
What can readers expect?
A really fast paced, hold-your-breath, plot twisty, contemporary, romantic, time-travel thriller. On the surface, Sixteen Minutes is about three ordinary teens trying to make their way in the world who encounter a girl from the future who upends everything they know and believe. So, on the surface it’s a who-done-it, what-is-this mystery. But on a deeper level, Sixteen Minutes is the kind of book that I hope stays with you for a long time. When you push past its commercial and entertaining elements, it raises provocative BIG questions; questions about the value we assign to our lives and our perception of the power we have to affect change. On the grandest scale, it plays with the concepts of destiny vs. free will as it pushes readers to question what we believe is out there beyond the here and now. I hope that will resonate with readers!
Where did the inspiration for Sixteen Minutes come from?
My previous two YA books, Four For The Road and Words We Don’t Say have male narrators, so I really wanted to write from the perspective of a strong, powerful girl. A girl who starts out trapped in her circumstances, and defeated by what she sees as her limited options in life. Feeling that she has no opportunity and no real power, she goes on to discover that she has unlimited options and tremendous power. I’m fascinated by the fact that altering our perception can dramatically change our outcomes, and I think teens often feel constrained by their circumstances when, in fact, they may be circumstances those teens have more power to change than they might think.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I loved writing the sweet scenes between 17-year-old Nell and five-year-old Finn. I also really enjoyed writing the romance between Nell and Cole—and the romantic tension between Nell and Stevie B, as well. Oh, and I loved, loved writing about Stevie B’s drawings and how his art had prophetic power—that his drawings tied them in such a compelling way to the future. I also loved writing about quantum entanglement and the concept of the multiverse. I am fascinated by the “magic” in life—the awe-tastic wonders of the universe—and because of the way I’m wired, I gravitate to the magical unknowns that are based in real science because that makes it feel like they just might be possible.
What’s next for you?
Not ready to commit and reveal yet, but I’m writing another YA book—I’m always writing something.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
This summer I read and absolutely loved Jeff Zentner’s Colton Gentry’s Third Act, and Sunrise Nights, which he wrote with Brittany Cavallaro. My TBR list is eclectic but in Young Adult includes, Jandy Nelson’s When the World Tips Over, Sunderworld V-01 The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry by Ransom Riggs, When Haru was Here by Dustin Thao and Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed by Dashka Slater. On the adult side, Malcolm Gladwell’s Revenge of the Tipping Point and The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty all made the top of the list!
