Once Upon a Twilight!: Blog Tour: Forever for a Year by B.T. Gottfred + Author Interview

Welcome to our stop on the Forever for a Year tour for B.T. Gottfred. This tour is hosted by Fierce Reads.

Forever For A Year
Author: B.T. Gottfred
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: July 7 2015
Publisher: Henry Holt And Co.

When Carolina and Trevor meet on their first day of school, something draws them to each other. They gradually share first kisses, first touches, first sexual experiences. When they’re together, nothing else matters. But one of them will make a choice, and the other a mistake, that will break what they thought was unbreakable. Both will wish that they could fall in love again for the first time . . . but first love, by definition, can’t happen twice.

Told in Carolina and Trevor's alternating voices, this is an up-close-and-personal story of two teenagers falling in love for the first time, and discovering it might not last forever.

1. Are you anything like Trevor?
Literally-ish, Trevor is a voice in my head. That voice in my head would argue that he’s as real as you or me but that’s another discussion for another day. So, yes, we are entwined. But I am no more Trevor than I am Carolina. I believe all of us are a balance of feminine and masculine and I believe I am very close to 50% of each. (I think most creative people are.) I’ve made this question very complicated which I think both Carolina and Trevor would do as well;)

2. What were your biggest challenges in writing Forever for a Year?
Handing over the control of the book to the characters is both the most exciting and terrifying aspect to how I write. Typically half way through, I look up from the pages I’ve written and think, ‘These characters have ruined my perfectly well plotted story!’ But then I take a day to play video games, mourn my dead plot, and re-embrace my characters’ beautiful madness.

3. What's your favorite line or scene that you've written?
Oh, wow, my brain just seized trying to think about that question. I’ll throw out a curve ball of an answer and say ‘The Acknowledgements’ but you can only read those if you finish the whole book or none of it will make sense;)

4. What's the best part of writing for young adults? What's the most difficult?
One of my many theories about life in general is that I believe all adults are basically teenagers in their hearts and minds without the energy or courage to act like teenagers out in the world. That’s why I think young adult literature is so popular. It’s not the teenagers that make the books best sellers, it’s the adults liberated from the confines of their aging bodies! I didn’t really answer the question but my inner teenager has a short attention span and must move on to the next.

5. What point in your life did you realize that you wanted to be a writer?
By high school, I wanted to make movies. But it wasn’t until college that I realized my personality – my soul if you will – was that of a writer. I still like directing, but that’s more of a reward for the real work: the writing.

6. Do you have any future writing projects in the works?
Yes, always, as I deny myself oxygen if I take too long a break from writing. In the book realm, I’m hoping to announce the publishing date of my next novel very, very, very, very soon.

7. What are some of your favorite YA novels?
I have to say “Catcher in the Rye” even though I feel a bit lazy in saying it. But isn’t “Cather in the Rye” one of the birth parents of all of young adult literature? I simply have never found a more memorable & authentic voice than Holden Caulfield. A more recent book that I loved was Sherman Alexie’s ‘The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian’. Such a brilliant voice of a fun, one-of-a-kind character.

Wrote and directed the play, “Women Are Crazy Because Men Are A**holes” that has played over four years in Los Angeles and Chicago and just made its Off Broadway premiere at the historic Cherry Lane Theatre. Los Angeles Times said: “Seldom have I been a part of a more enthusiastic and vocal audience. Brad T Gottfred’s play about young couples stumbling through the minefield of codependency taps a universal nerve.”

Wrote, directed, and executive produced the feature film “The Movie Hero” which played at over 20 film festivals worldwide, winning numerous awards including First Prize at the Rhode Island Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Austin Film Festival.