We chat with author Cristin Terrill about her latest release, The Stars Between Us, which is described as Bridgerton meets Illuminae and an explosive, romantic space opera where danger and deception lurk behind glamour and wealth.
Hi, Cristin! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’m the author of three books for young adults: ALL OUR YESTERDAYS, HERE LIES DANIEL TATE and now THE STARS BETWEEN US. Between writing books, running my company Wordsmith Workshops which hosts writing retreats for aspiring authors with fellow YA author Beth Revis, and serving as the business manager for The Author Village, I basically deal with books and other writers all day every day, which is not a bad one to spend your time! I live in upstate New York with a small herd of cats.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
I started writing when I was really young (mostly thinly-veiled fan fiction of my favorite TV shows), but it was never something I had any aspirations to do professionally. My mom always thought I should pursue it, though, so I wrote my first novel for her as a Christmas gift when I was in my twenties because I knew it would make her cry and hopefully love me a little more than my sister. In doing that, I discovered I actually liked writing novels and here I am! Mama knows best.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
The first books I really remember falling in love with were THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB series. I was obsessed, so Scholastic, please give me a call if you need a ghostwriter. The first book that made me contemplate trying to become an author myself would probably be THE SUBTLE KNIFE by Philip Pullman. And lately – I’m worried about what this says about the world or my life in particular – I find myself thinking a lot about THE HUNGER GAMES and how much smarter those books are than they are generally given credit for!
Your new novel, The Stars Between Us, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Rags to riches, with murder.
What can readers expect?
Vika is a poor barmaid struggling to survive on an impoverished planet, but one day she learns that she was included in the will of a recently-deceased billionaire. For reasons unknown to her, this billionaire stipulated that his son could only inherit his vast fortune if he agrees to marry Vika, his father’s choice of bride. This sets off a chain of events that thrusts Vika into the world of high society on a wealthy nearby planet. The reader follows her as she navigates her new life of fancy parties and socialiate gossip to befriending a young man from her old life who holds a devastating secret to investigating a string of mysterious bombings targeting the heirs of the billionaire’s fortune, including herself.
Where did the inspiration for this new novel come from?
Back to my roots of thinly-veiled fan fiction! At its core, it’s a retelling of a Dickens novel called OUR MUTUAL FRIEND that almost no one has read but which I love, except my version is space-flavored and has lots more explosions and kissing.
Can you tell us a bit about the challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
This one was a challenge, not gonna lie! I sold the book based on just a few chapters back in… February 2020. Which meant I had to actually write most of the thing during the first few months of the pandemic. I don’t know how easily the rest of you found doing really concentration-heavy work during that time, but it was not an experience I’d like to repeat. I got it done by doing a lot of Zoom write-ins with friends and by reminding myself that I had signed a legal contract promising that I would!
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
So many! I loved creating all three of my point-of-view characters, but I have a special soft spot for Vika. I’m often accused of writing unlikable heroines, but that’s part of why I love them! Growing up I always felt, and still often feel, a lot of pressure to be agreeable and to keep everyone around me happy even at my own expense. I think that’s something a lot of women feel. So I love writing from the perspective of teenage girls and young women who don’t feel that way. Vika may be unpleasant sometimes, but she’s not afraid to say what she means even if other people don’t like it, and that’s really fun and a little bit therapeutic for me as a writer.
What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?
I’m not sure I’ve ever received bad advice. I’ve gotten tons of advice that just wasn’t right for me personally, but part of being a writer is learning all the things that don’t work for you so you can figure out what does.
The best advice I’ve gotten is to just accept that my first draft is going to suck because sucking is what first drafts exist to do. If I hadn’t learned how to let go of my perfectionism, I never would have even finished that first, very sucky novel of mine, let alone ever published anything.
What’s next for you?
I’m working on another “classic story but in SPACE with MURDER” novel as we speak, so hopefully that will be coming your way soon!
