Kelly Hashway's Books

Today I have the pleasure of talking with Rebecca Fjelland Davis about her new book Chasing Alliecat, which was released February 2011 by Flux. 

Dumped with relatives in a small Minnesota town for the summer, Sadie Lester is relying on her mountain bike to save her from total boredom. Then she meets Allie, a spiky-haired off-road mountain biker who's training for a major race. Allie leads Sadie and Joe, a cute fellow cyclist, up and down Mount Kato, and the three become close friends. But the exhilarating rush comes to a halt when they find a priest in the woods, badly beaten and near death. After calling for help, Allie disappears from their lives.

As they search for Allie and try to find out why she left so suddenly, Sadie and Joe discover more about Allie's past, including her connection to the priest. Only on the day of the big race does Sadie finally learn the complete, startling truth about Allie—and the terrible secret that forced her into hiding.

Welcome Rebecca!

Chasing AllieCat sounds like a great combination of adventure and mystery. Without giving away any big spoilers, can you tell us something that we wouldn't get from the synopsis and trailer?

The story is about friendship, and it's about the price of friendship that matters. I wanted to create an adventure with a mystery involved, but I wanted the characters to have a lot of depth and to be challenged as people, and to grow as a result of what happens in the story. One reviewer said, "Steig Larsson meets Judy Blume," and I couldn't be happier with that!

You are an amazing bike rider! I see you are the two-time women's champion at the National 24-Hour Challenge in Michigan. How did being a bike rider affect the way you wrote Chasing Alleycat? Do you see any of yourself as a rider in Sadie?

Thanks, Kelly. Yes, to me, biking is so much fun that I wanted to convey the rush that comes with riding a lot and riding well. I guess that makes it easy to write in some ways. I think in words, even when I ride, so describing rides comes easily on one hand. On the other hand, it's excruciatingly hard to be sure that it's right. I have readers who are semi-pro bike racers, who ride a lot, and every single moment of the biking had to ring true, or it would turn them off. So in that sense, it was really hard, and it was a big responsibility to carry it off accurately. Some of those scenes--like the one where Allie has a flat tire--took a long time to write, to be sure every tiny detail was just right.

And yes, I do see myself in Sadie. I'm more like Sadie than any of the other characters, both as a person and as a biker.

How did you find a balance between the mystery and the competition in this novel?

That's a great question. I think the hardest part was to strike a balance: so somebody who could care less about biking stays interested, and doesn't want to put the book down, wanting to find out what happens next; but die-hard cyclists also have to be engaged, entranced with the competitive riding, and not want to put the book down, either. Finding that balance, and adding mystery to make sure the pace of the action keeps flying along, cutting places that slowed the story down...all that revision made this a long process in order to get it right. In the final draft, though, I feel as if I got it. The balance is good, and I'm getting good responses from non-cyclists and cyclists alike. 

What's your favorite line from Chasing Alleycat?

"Ride through the chicken." It's silly, but it's true. That's what Allie says to Sadie when Sadie talks about being chicken to race her mountain bike. That's one of the reasons that biking is a great metaphor for all of life. We all have to "ride through" the parts of life where we're "chicken," and if we are chasing our dreams, we have to do it often.

You write everything from children's picture books to short stories to young adult novels. Do you have a favorite and how did you come to write across different age levels?

My favorite, by far, is young adult. I love that YA readers want characters who feel like friends, with whom they want to spend time. I love that YA readers want action and a fast-paced story, and they want a little romance. All that makes for a fun story to write. It also makes me have to revise quite a bit because I want it to be entirely engaging on all those levels.

Also, the definition of YA has changed in the last ten years. It used to be age 12-18. Now it's 12-13 and up. That's because so many adults have discovered the great stories to be found in the YA category!

What's up next for you writing-wise?

I'm actually writing a murder mystery set during the depression in North Dakota--but this story will be upper middle grade instead of YA. That's only because the character is twelve, and he really can't be older than that for this story. A lot of the elements that I mentioned in the question before are there, though. As soon as I'm done with that story, I've got to finish another YA book. I have about 100 pages written of that--it's more heavily romance. It's set in Iowa, and the teenage couple has to deal with racial and religious prejudice. There's plenty of action, and hopefully plenty of humor along with the drama, too.

Just for fun:

Cookies or cupcakes? 

Cupcakes (cream cheese frosting, anyone?)

Bike or run? (As if I don't already know the answer!)

Ha! (Actually, before I started biking so much, I ran six marathons, including Boston)--but now the answer is unquestionably BIKE!

Write or read?

Actually, hard as I try, I cannot separate the two. If I didn't read, I wouldn't love writing. I have to write. It's sort of like breathing--or biking--for me. So I absolutely can't answer one without the other.

Favorite book of all time?

To Kill a Mockingbird. I keep thinking something new will replace it, but nothing ever does. I love that book, and I've read it at least six times.

Thank you Rebecca for telling us a little about yourself and Chasing Alliecat. 

Find Rebecca on the web:

www.rebeccafjellanddavis.com

www.rebeccafjellanddavis.blogspot.com

I'll leave you with the trailer. Be sure to get your copy of Chasing Alliecat. And feel free to leave comments for Rebecca. She'll be checking in.