Blurb:
"I didn't have time to question reality. Even if it was fake. No matter what it was- delusion or not, my mind would be ok as long as Malvina was alive in it. All that mattered was getting to my sister."
Halen Kelch has lived in Orinoko, Japan since she was four, due to her single, American father's success in spirit photography. Now, with her senior year of high school approaching its end, and her father still refusing to take his medication for his diagnosed schizophrenia, Halen is scared to leave him and her twin sister, Malvina, behind for college.
Just as she begins to beg for some sort of change to come, it finds her, but in the form of a series of abnormal events that will put her and her family's lives in danger.
Caught between death and delusion, she'll come across a curse- from fourteen different places, fourteen different times, and with fourteen different mental illnesses.
My Impression: What a thrill ride!
Interview:
Q. Tell us about your love for paranormal books.
A. I actually don't read a ton of paranormal books. Its more my love of paranormal & horror movies that drives my writing. I think that's why my readers always comment on how visual my stuff is; I try to write things as movie scenes that play out in my head.
Q. What books have influenced you to write Mixed Tears?
A. I mentioned earlier that I actually don't read a ton of paranormal books, and that also applies to books in general. I used to read all the time when I was is middle & grade school, but then in high school and college I got bogged down with other types of reading. I don't have a ton of time to leisurely read novels, but I do spend a ton of time watching movies. Whenever people ask "what inspired you to write Mixed Tears?" I say "Quentin Tarantino, James Wan, and Frank Darabont." I love, love, love cinema. All my friends tell me that I should probably be majoring in film because I talk about movies so much.
Q. How do you develop your plot and characters?
A. In Mixed Tears, I'm working with a story that has been in my head since I was in the 6th grade. So, as you can imagine, the characters and plot have evolved multiple times over. I guess I developed the story as I developed myself.
Q. Who is favorite character and why?
A. I have a character, named Mia, that was literally only created to be a lens of how neurotic my protagonist, Halen, is. If my readers haven't picked up on it yet, Halen is a bit of a psychopath. She doesn't have a lot of empathy or emotion when tragic and horrifying things happen. Halen is also a bit of a narcissist and feels very content with herself. Mia, on the other hand, is full of emotions and insecurities. So when crazy stuff happens in Mixed Tears, Mia brings a very human element to it. She panics, she cries, she screams, she throws up- You know, stuff that normal people would do if they were in an incredibly stressful situation. She also has a rough family life, and while Halen does too, Mia handles her problems with a very catty and dry personality. She adds a ton of humor to the story, you can both hate and love her at times, and her backstory plays such a fun part to the plot as a whole. She's my favorite because she's just a very flawed and human person.
Q. If picking a favorite character would be like picking a favorite child, which character seems to be demanding your most attention as a writer?
Q. There's a character (one of Malvina's seven souls) that is scheduled to appear in chapter/episode 11. This character literally forces another soul/character named Kadence to pass out so they can make an appearance, and so I hope this new character's brash entrance won't cost me readers. I've had a handful of readers that have admitted that they really liked Kadence's introduction, and so I do feel like this new character has demanded the story's, mine, and my readers' attention somewhat by cutting Kadence's intro short. But that's exactly what that character is: an attention hog. I'm super excited to introduce them soon.
Q. Tell us about your personal feelings while writing down the violence part in your story.
A. Oh man, I get sweaty and my heart pounds. I have to take breaks and go on walks, especially when its dialogue between two angry characters. I try to make the violence feel real and vivid, but there are times when I hold myself back because it bothers me. I recently had a chapter that depicted a school shooting, and I realized that it would probably feel more realistic if I had students in the background get dialogue to express their fear in between Halen and Mia talking. I wrote one line of dialogue for a student that was supposed to imply that they had a gun pointed at them, and then I immediately cut it out afterwards. So I do get bothered when I write violent scenes, and I do listen to my gut when it squeezes and tells me that I've gone too far.
Q. If not paranormal which genre of books you would have preferred to write?
A. Fantasy for sure. I have another novel that I was working on before Mixed Tears (60,000 words so far), and it was fantasy. Everything I do always has elements of horror though.
Q. Is mixed tear your first novel?
A. Nope. I have that almost finished fantasy novel that I mentioned earlier. Mixed Tears is just a break from it.
Q. What makes your story so unique?
A. The biggest thing I can think of is the very antagonistic and headstrong female leads. My most vocal readers are males, and they always tell me that the characters are the best part of Mixed Tears (even thought all my main characters are girls). I think its because Halen, Malvina, and Mia are characters that would never consider themselves defined by their gender. I think that because these high school characters don't fall back on typical female tropes, its makes the story feel like a breath of fresh air. There's no love triangle in Mixed Tears, no looking for prom dresses, no trying to fit in or break the status quo, no best friend female character who only exists to date the brother of the main character's boyfriend. Halen, Malvina, and Mia are just people who are trying to deal with demons, cults, and, most importantly, their families' mental health problems, and I think that (especially the real world mental health part) strikes people as unique.
Q. Describe your writing process. Do you outline, plot and plan, or is your writing more organic?
A. I am writing Mixed Tears as I go, and hoping that after having the story locked in my head for seven years that everything will flow smoothly. Because of this I'm probably going to have to do some major edits later.
Q. What is the most challenging part in writing a paranormal story?
A. Pacing. I had one reader mention recently that my characters " go from 0 to 100 real quick", and he's completely right. I'm constantly throwing my characters into highly stressful situations, and so they do end up coming off as high strung. Even in my chapters where I try to slow things down, I still end up throwing a curve ball or two at the characters. I really hope that I don't lose my readers because of this. So far everyone loves the drama, but I will eventually need to slow things down a bit.
Q. How did you come up with the title?
A. The title "Mixed Tears" mainly represents how Halen and Malvina have multiple souls inside them, and hence all the souls' tears are mixed together with their own. It also hints at how a lot of the characters have secret/double motives, and thus their tears are "mixed" or rather "insincere".
Q. What has been the toughest criticism given to you on you novel? What has been the best compliment?
A. Everyone hates my cussing, which breaks my heart. It just feels genuine to me, but that in itself is a flaw because my own dirty mouth shouldn't pass over into all of my characters (I know not everyone cusses). On the other side of that, everyone loves Malvina. Everyone. I have not had one person say that they didn't like her. I had a reader compare her to Batman one time, and that absolutely made my day. Malvina has high functioning autism and celiac disease, and my entire goal was to have her be a character that everyone finds mysterious and badass like a superhero. Her minor mental and physical health problems are meant to be just that: minor. So when people say that they think she's super cool because of her personality and not just "wow you have a character with autism", I'm like "Yes! I managed to make my character layered and complex, and not just a prop for diversity!"
Q. You are an incredible writer. Why do you think it is getting difficult to get noticed on Wattpad?
A. I cuss and I don't have the traditional romance scenes that are associated with YA fiction. <3
Q. Can you give us a brief description about the twins?
A. No one has caught onto this (and I'm incredibly surprised), but the quickest way to describe Halen and Malvina is to compare them to Light Yagami and L (respectively) from the anime/manga "Death Note". While Halen and Malvina are definitely their own characters, they are very much inspired by Light and L. Halen, like Light, is very intelligent, confident, attractive, manipulative, and narcissistic. They're both incredibly antagonistic main characters, which I think is really fun to work with because you just don't see that a lot in stories. Malvina and L, on the other hand, are also incredibly intelligent and confident, but their quirky demeanor is off-putting to other characters and they end up coming off as mysterious and creepy despite being characters who are very honorable and dedicated to justice. But while Light and L were mortal enemies, Halen and Malvina are siblings who genuinely love each other. In other words, they're a terrifying force to be reckoned with, which they're going to have to be given the fact that fourteen souls have been placed inside of them.
Q. Why Japan?
A. If you go through my chapters/episodes you'll notice a ton of my art depicting the characters, and that's because when I was in high school I wanted the story to be an anime. Halen and Malvina used to be "Haruka and Miyuki", but I changed them to be of American descent to attract my own native audience, and yet still have the novel take place in the country that influenced the characters and story. Mixed Tears also takes place in Japan because I'm paying homage to Japan's paranormal stories. I love Ringu and Ju-On, and I think some of the themes in Mixed Tears reflect that.
Q. What is your favorite dialogue/line from your book?
A. "I don't have the time or patience to read aloud the scriptures that bless holy water." Malvina still scratched at her stomach as she stared at the tiny black book annoyed. "Do you think if I just rip them out and place them directly into the water that it'll have the same effect?"
Q. What makes a great horror story?
A. Fear is subjective, so you can't always guarantee that what scares you is going to scare your audience. What you can guarantee is complex characters and a developed plot. So make sure you get that right before anything else. Nothing is worse than having to witness characters in peril who you care absolutely nothing about; make sure your readers feel something for your characters (love or hate), otherwise they have no reason to stick around.
Q. Are you planning a sequel?
A. Oh yeah. I've written around 30,000 words in Mixed Tears so far (that's 1/3rd of a typical novel), and I'm not even close to all the material that I need to cover. There's fourteen souls, plus Halen and Malvina. That's sixteen different stories to tell. The plot is very capable of stretching into many, many books.
Q. What is the only thing you don't like on Wattpad?
A. That stories rated "mature" cannot be ranked. What a crime.
Q. Who is your favorite author and why?
A. John Green. I write in first person because of him. How he can capture a character's voice, personality, and humor through their own perception is beautiful.
Q. What books are you reading/ planning to read (On and off Wattpad)
A. The White Capes by trueathenian is my go to. After I finish typing this, I'm immediately going to read more of it. He's so creative with his lore, and it really gives the WC universe color and dimension.
Q. How would you convince one to read your story?
A. I've been telling people that if they like Quentin Tarantino movies (Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, ext.) they'll definitely like my story. Tarantino has a strong love for Japanese culture, graphic violence, quirky characters, gutsy dialogue, and he's been a huge influence on Mixed Tears.
If you're a fan of horror cinema I think you'll also like Mixed Tears.
The final thing I would add is that this story is going to eventually play off of Marvel's Avengers (especially Guardians of the Galaxy) somewhat. Halen, Mia, and the fourteen souls will eventually need to band together in the story to find out who put them in their situation. In other words, they're going to be kinda of like a group of paranormal superheroes, except each is going to have a different mental illness. So if that sounds up your alley, you should check it out and tell me what you think :)
Q. What advice would like to give to an aspiring writer?
A. Criticism of your story is your life-blood. Learn to love it. Learn to crave it. Criticism of your dreams, however, is not to be taken seriously. If someone says -"Hey, your aspiration to be an author is stupid and flawed." - get the hell away from that person. But if someone says -"Hey, that plot device you used in chapter nine was stupid and flawed." - make them your best friend. Ask them why they feel that way, and then get feedback from other people. Hearing -"Hey, this is really great!"- all the time is not good for you at all. Its like eating candy, and you're not going to get any nutrition from it.
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Thank you JessiYork for some very honest answers.