Kathie: I had no idea there were so many different types of roller coasters! Are you a fan of them, and if so, what style do you like the best? And I hope that they’ll come away knowing that they deserve to be loved as they are, however they are, and that there are always people who will care about them, even if those people aren’t biologically related to them. I know this seems like a small, silly thing, but watching those videos as a kid (and an adult) allowed me to escape and dream and relax. Jake: I’d love for young readers to know, first of all, that they can find all the roller coasters in the story as POV videos on YouTube. Kathie: What would you like young readers to know about this story, and what do you hope they’ll take away from it? And I’d most like to be friends with Dhruv, for sure. One of my favorite relationships to write was the one between Alexa and Dhruv, since they have such a lovely queer friendship that they both feel is almost familial.
Jake: Thank you for saying that! It was really important for me to model positive queer relationships in older teens for the younger main characters, whether those be romantic or platonic. Which relationship was the most fun for you to write, and which character would you most like to be friends with? I especially liked how the age difference between Dalia, and Alexa and her friends, added a mature support network and relationship modeling for Dalia. Kathie: This story has a number of important relationships, and I loved how they connect and influence each other. I love being able to mold something that came out of my brain so raw and unfiltered into something intelligible that will hopefully resonate with my tween (and not-so-tween) reader. This was my first time going through the editing process with a book–from self-editing all the way to the official copy-edits, and it was an incredible experience. Jake: It was definitely a challenge! The first draft of the book was much more meandering, but I think that was because I really wanted to get all of Dalia’s thoughts and feelings out onto the page. Did the pacing come naturally, or was it challenging to include so many thoughts and feelings in a short time frame? Kathie: I love stories where the main character has an “awakening” about some aspect of themselves, and Dalia goes through her own roller coaster ride of emotions during one week without it feeling rushed.
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