Author Interview with Mindi Scott, author of FREEFALL

Today we are excited to have Mindi Scott, who's debut author FREEFALL released on October 5th.

Here's a synpopsis of FREEFALL:

How do you come back from the point of no return? Seth McCoy was the last person to see his best friend Isaac alive, and the first to find him dead. It was just another night, just another party, just another time where Isaac drank too much and passed out on the lawn. Only this time, Isaac didn’t wake up.Convinced that his own actions led to his friend’s death, Seth is torn between turning his life around . . . or losing himself completely. Then he meets Rosetta: so beautiful and so different from everything and everyone he’s ever known. But Rosetta has secrets of her own, and Seth will soon realize he isn’t the only one who needs saving . . .

What inspired you to write Seth's story?

This is kind of backward, I think, but it was actually Rosetta's story that popped into my head first. Seth was the Social Reject Love Interest (yes, that's what I called him in my notes) who was going to help her figure things out. When I sat down to really plan out the story, though, I found that I was really interested in this boy. On a whim, I wrote a scene from his point of view and LOVED it. From that moment on, I was determined to bring Seth to life and create a story arc for him that would parallel Rosetta's.

I like your realistic, heart breaking portrayal of what Seth goes through in Freefall. What motivated you to tackle the more serious things that teens deal with, but not a lot of authors write about?

A big inspiration for me was some of the other YA novels I'd been reading. John Green's LOOKING FOR ALASKA, in particular, really affected me. I wanted to write something that I hoped would resonate with others in the way that that book did me.

As much as I wanted to stay irritated at Kendall for some of the things she does, she's so hard to stay irritated at. What did you enjoy most in writing her character?

Kendall is always pushy and sometimes manipulative, but the girl has tons of charisma and personality! She was a big surprise while I was writing because she was originally supposed to appear in one scene in the book and never again. Instead, she managed to integrate herself into almost every subplot.

I really like Ms. Naylor, as she really seems to care about whether or not Seth does well academically. She really believed in him when no one else seems to and knows he can accomplish the goals she's set for him. I wanted to ask her, what it is she sees in Seth to push him to succeed, when it's obvious his personal life is free falling out of control.

Ms. Naylor: "Seth is smarter than he thinks and cares more than he wants anyone to know. He's just never had anyone in his life hold him accountable. The fact that he showed up for our appointment on the first day of school--even in the wake of Isaac Thomas' death--showed me that Seth was really ready to try."

What or who motivated you to pick up a pen (or pencil) and start writing?

In middle school and high school, I was a big into writing in my journals and writing letters to my friends. It wasn't officially until college that I got the notion that I might be good at writing stories. That was pretty much when I decided that I would write a novel "someday."

Rosetta, what was it is about Seth, that first attracted you to him?

Rosetta: "I'm not going to lie; it was . . . his face!" [laughs] "Also, we had this moment once. It happened quickly, but he was just so nice to me on a day when I really needed that. From then on, I knew that I had to get to know him. Eventually."

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Thank you Mindi for joining us today!

You can find out more about Mindi and FREEFALL by visiting her site here http://mindiscott.com/

You can read my review for Freefall here http://tinyurl.com/29wkmvt

Thank you to Simon and Schuster, we have 5 copies of FREEFALL we're giving away!!