Interview with... Cale Dietrich!

I'm sure you're all watching with great anticipation for my 2017 Anticipated Releases weekly posts in which I gush over books coming out next year that I'm excited about. But there are some that I am even more excited about than others, so I contacted those authors and asked if I could interview them. Lucky me, they said yes. So I have a bunch of author interviews in November so that you guys can learn more about some super awesome sounding books and add them to your TBR! 

Without further ado, here is a fantastic interview with the lovely CALE DIETRICH, author of the forthcoming novel THE LOVE INTEREST!

THE LOVE INTEREST

Author: Cale Dietrich
Series: N/A
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Publication Date: May 17, 2017

Summary:
There is a secret organization that cultivates teenage spies. The agents are called Love Interests because getting close to people destined for great power means getting valuable secrets.

Caden is a Nice: The boy next door, sculpted to physical perfection. Dylan is a Bad: The brooding, dark-souled guy, and dangerously handsome. The girl they are competing for is important to the organization, and each boy will pursue her. Will she choose a Nice or the Bad?

Both Caden and Dylan are living in the outside world for the first time. They are well-trained and at the top of their games. They have to be – whoever the girl doesn’t choose will die.

What the boys don’t expect are feelings that are outside of their training. Feelings that could kill them both.

Purchase:

Amazon | Chapters | TBD

What is your writing routine?

Cale Dietrich: It varies quite a lot, so there’s no definite answer for this! It depends on so many things, like, how inspired I am, or what stage of the process I’m at. I’m currently doing NaNo, so I’m trying as hard as I can to stick to some sort of schedule of hitting 2000 words a day. But most of the time, I write when I feel like it, usually with coffee and or snacks.

Why do you write for younger audiences?

Cale Dietrich: Ohh good question! I’ve honestly never thought about why I write YA instead of adult or MG. I think I write YA because I love it so much. Seriously, pretty much all of my favourite books are YA books. Plus, I think there’s a lot of enthusiasm in YA and in the YA community, which I really love about it.

Describe THE LOVE INTEREST in 10 words or less.

Cale Dietrich: Two spies compete over girl, fall for each other instead. 

What was the inspiration behind the story?

Cale Dietrich: It’s twofold: the initial inspiration for the plot was the thought: “how cool would it be if there was a training academy for love interests from YA books”. The themes and stuff veer into spoiler territory: but I will say that a lot of it was drawn from my own experiences about something I was going through when I was writing it. TLI is my Fight Song in a lot of ways. 

Why are Caden and Dylan the best main characters?

Cale Dietrich: Ahh I love this question! I love Caden because he’s so contradictory and complicated. I love Dyl because he’s really smart and is really thoughtful about everything he does. Plus, they’re both kinder than they think they are, and I love that about them.  

How did you decide on which tropes to use in THE LOVE INTEREST and the ways to flip them?

Cale Dietrich: I researched! I asked a lot of my writer friends about the tropes they’ve noticed, I spent time reading sites like TV Tropes. I read a lot of YA, so some of it came from my own knowledge, but for the most part I determined which tropes to use through research. It was really important to me that I not draw specifically from one particular book, because that would seem like I’m targeting it and would be totally contradictory to the whole point of the book. So I kept it as broad as possible. And it’s hard to know why I decided to flip them the way I did! I think I brainstormed, and then picked what would be the funniest or have the most impact. 

What books did you read that influenced your book?

Cale Dietrich: So many! Books like PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, THE HUNGER GAMES and SIMON VS were big influences, as were the books I loved growing up (and still love) like Harry Potter. I find inspiration in lots of places though, like music, or shows like The Office (Jim and Pam is the best modern love story) and Veronica Mars.

Cale Dietrich is a YA devotee, lifelong gamer, and tragic pop punk enthusiast. He was born in Perth, grew up on the Gold Coast, and now lives in Brisbane, Australia. The Love Interest is his first novel.

Connect with the Author:

Website | Twitter