Cristin Bishara Q&A: Relativity Blog Tour

About the Author

Before publishing Relativity, Cristin Bishara worked as a professional copywriter, and taught composition and fiction writing at the university level. She has an M.F.A. in creative writing. Cristin lives in Florida with her husband, two girls, and rescued racing greyhound.


☆ How to find Cristin ☆
Website ★ Blog ★ Twitter ★ Facebook
Goodreads
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About the Book

If Ruby Wright could have her way, her dad would never have met and married her stepmother Willow, her best friend George would be more than a friend, and her mom would still be alive. Ruby knows wishes can't come true; some things just can't be undone. Then she discovers a tree in the middle of an Ohio cornfield with a wormhole to nine alternative realities. Suddenly, Ruby can access completely different realities, each containing variations of her life—if things had gone differently at key moments. The windshield wiper missing her mother’s throat…her big brother surviving his ill-fated birth…her father never having met Willow. Her ideal world—one with everything and everyone she wants most—could be within reach. But is there such a thing as a perfect world? What is Ruby willing to give up to find out?

☆ How to find Relativity ☆
Goodreads ★ Amazon ★ Barnes & Noble ★ The Book Depository

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Hey Cristin! Thank you for stopping by Magical Urban Fantasy Reads!

Mindy: If you could pick any mix of two books or two movies to sum up your book, what would they be?

Cristin: While writing RELATIVITY, I definitely thought about Back to the Future, which is still one of my all-time favorite movies. I also had in mind the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books I read when I was a kid. I loved those books, as well as the idea behind them: The story branches off in multiple directions because of a single choice at a key moment. This is a huge theme in RELATIVITY.

Mindy: What was your favorite scene to write in Relativity and why?

Cristin: (SPOILER ALERT) Writing Ruby’s lunch date with George at the Chinese restaurant in Ó Direáin was fun. This is such a great do-over moment for Ruby, when she gets a second chance at George. (I did a playlist for RELATIVITY for another blog post, and I swear right now as I’m writing this, “We Belong Together” by Gavin DeGraw is blaring in my head.)

Mindy: Why young adult?

Cristin: My M.F.A. is in poetry, and honestly, unless you’re Billy Collins and you also teach full time at a university, poetry doesn’t pay the bills. I wish this weren’t true, but it is. Maybe in some parallel universe, you could go to Monster.com and find this ad: “Poet for hire, $50K plus benefits. Fill out your application in iambic pentameter.”

Since I needed a paycheck, I started writing magazine articles and copy for corporate brochures and websites. In the meantime, I tried picture books, screenplays, and short stories. Finally, I got the idea for RELATIVITY, and finally, I realized that YA was exactly what I was looking for.

Mindy: What were your biggest challenges while writing Relativity?

Cristin: Hands down, the most difficult thing was the ripple effect that every single change made. Whenever I revised, I had to go back and forth through the manuscript, over and over again, to make sure I caught all the details. A simple change in one universe could necessitate revision work in five others! For example, I inserted chapter nineteen fairly late in the game. Writing that chapter was the easy part. Dealing with all the repercussions of adding another universe was the hard part. The code, the mechanism, any mention of the number of universes, and the countdown at the end––all of it changed.

Mindy: Are you working on anything else right now?

Cristin: I just finished another YA novel, which I sent to my agent last week! Like RELATIVITY, it’s a blend of romance, sci-fi, and mystery. This one is definitely heavier on the romance, though. The main character is almost 18, and the science isn’t string theory or parallel universes. I’m still waiting for my agent to read it, so instead of just sitting here chewing my fingernails off, I’ve started ideas for a third book. You’ll have to stay tuned to find out more, since it’s way too early to share any details…





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Tour-wide giveaway

A SIGNED hardcover copy of RELATIVITY to THREE (3) Winners. US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Bonus Giveaway

Codeword: iyeb
Now head on over to the RELATIVITY Facebook Page to enter! Make sure you stop by the participating blogs below to collect each encoded piece.

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Week One

Sept. 9th - Seeing Night Reviews - Guest Post + Review
Sept. 10th - Two Chicks on Books - Guest Post
Sept. 11th - Parajunkee - Interview
Sept. 11th - Working for the Mandroid - Review
Sept. 12th - Fic Fare - Interview
Sept. 13th - Icey Books - Interview
Sept. 13th - The Bookshelf Sophisticate - Guest Post

Week Two

Sept. 16th - Fiktshun - Guest Post
Sept. 17th - Imaginary Reads - Interview
Sept. 18th - Magical Urban Fantasy Reads - Interview
Sept. 19th - The Book Monsters - Interview
Sept. 20th - Readers In Wonderland - Review
Sept. 20th - [B.O.O.K.L.I.F.E.] - Interview