We Awaken | Calista Lynne
YA Fantasy
Out July 14th from Harmony Ink Press
Victoria Dinham
doesn’t have much left to look forward to. Since her father died in a car
accident, she lives only to fulfill her dream of being accepted into the
Manhattan Dance Conservatory. But soon she finds another reason to look forward
to dreams when she encounters an otherworldly girl named Ashlinn, who bears a
message from Victoria’s comatose brother. Ashlinn is tasked with conjuring
pleasant dreams for humans, and through the course of their nightly meetings in
Victoria’s mind, the two become close. Ashlinn also helps Victoria understand
asexuality and realize that she, too, is asexual.
But
then Victoria needs Ashlinn’s aid outside the realm of dreams, and Ashlinn
assumes human form to help Victoria make it to her dance audition. They take
the opportunity to explore New York City, their feelings for each other, and
the nature of their shared asexuality. But like any dream, it’s too good to
last. Ashlinn must shrug off her human guise and resume her duties creating
pleasant nighttime visions—or all of humanity will pay the price.
Giveaway
Calista is giving away a copy of We Awaken!
More information can be found here: Win We Awaken
The Ace of Inspiration
by Calista Lynne
My goal was to write a post about
the asexual inspirations for my novel- it features two ace protagonists- but
the truth is that I can’t think of any. There is a simple explanation for this,
though. I can’t name a single piece of media where a character specifically
states that they are asexual. That itself is part of the inspiration for this
book, because not speaking about the sexuality doesn’t make it go away. It just
makes a lot of hormonal teenagers (not to mention a fair amount of adults)
really confused and convinced that there’s something wrong with them.
Occassionally a celebrity will come out asasexual, take Tim Gunn and Janeane
Garofalo for example, but there is truly a lack of ace role models for anyone.
Hopefully
asexual readers of my book will see something of themselves in the characters.
So because
I can not name any distinctly asexual influences, I will instead explain what
led to the formulation of my plot line. At the start of my writing career, I
built my resume by getting poems published in unimpressive magazines that did
not pay. Many of these had themed issues which they encouraged writers to draw
inspiration from. One theme was fairytales and I had an ingenious idea: I would
write a sonnet about a woman who fell in love with the sandman and became
addicted to sleeping pills in order to see him. A tragedy, of course.
Around this
same time a publisher rejected a short story I wrote for a contest and instead
of moving along my whole brain went screw
‘em I’m gonna write a book that they’re gonna love. And I knew it was going to feature asexuality and girls loving girls.
Combining
these two concepts into a romp of asexual teenage girls getting up to strange
antics and dancing hadn’t entered my mind yet. The drug addiction and tragedy
was dropped in favor of a happy ending, which doesn’t even need justification.
My main characters, Ashlinn and Victoria, were born while I was lying down one
day and imagined another girl waking up only to find someone else in her bed. A
naked female who made dreams. That scene, although it is in the middle of the
novel, is the first one I wrote and the story unfurled in either direction from
there. The sonnet was never written. Thank God. As you can see, my writing
process isn’t very straightforward.
While the sexuality of my
characters isn’t based on any previous work, my greatest influences are the two
people I dedicated my book to, Roald Dahl and Bruce Coville. These authors
sculpted my childhood which was the foundation for everything that has happened
since. Whether my fantasy world was that of The
BFG and Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory or a bit more cheesy with Aliens
Ate My Homework, the authors wrote worlds I never wanted to leave. So I
haven’t. By writing fantasy I try to
maintain the dreams of my youth. They also led me to my current favorite
authors, Neil Gaiman and Douglas Adams, who are the frontrunners of fantasy.
There are definite trends in my taste.
So this
rambling post has hopefully explained to you where I draw a bit of my
inspiration from. May you always feel represented and if not, I hope you feel
inspired enough to write some representation yourself.
About Calista Lynne
Calista Lynne grew up on the American East Coast and is currently studying
in London. She is having difficulty adjusting to the lack of Oxford commas
across the pond and writes because it always seemed to make more sense than
mathematics. Look for her near the caffeinated beverages.
@calistawrites
