Author Interview: Alexis Bass

About the Author:
Alexis Bass grew up in Washington, went to college in Arizona, and spent her early twenties in Seattle. She currently lives in Northern California with Dylan McKay, her gorgeous and rambunctious golden retriever. She loves good fashion and good TV as much as a good book, and is a huge advocate of the three C’s: coffee, chocolate, and cheese. LOVE AND OTHER THEORIES is her first novel. Visit her at www.alexisbassbooks.com or on Twitter: @alexisbasswrite

Interview:
What made you want to become a writer?
I always had stories in my head. Even before I could write, I would draw pictures and dictate the words to my mom or dad. They were nice enough to indulge me. :) I continued writing, picture books with my best friend who lived next door when I was in elementary school; screen plays with my best friend in middle school. It’s still my favorite form of self-expression, and what I like to do in my free time.

Where do you get your inspirations from?
Everywhere. Usually my stories are about dilemma’s that aren’t always easy to define, problems that aren’t necessarily black and white, but tough things in life that you just have to hurdle your way through. Those are my favorite things to explore when I write; those are what inspire me.
 
Other than writing books, what else do you do in your free time?
Reading (haha, of course!). I also enjoy traveling, swimming, staying up late talking with my friends, going to the movies, and going for runs with my dog.
 
If you could work with another author, who would it be?
This question is so hard! There are so many authors I admire. It might be fun to work with Alain
de Botton, because of the philosophical element he brings into his work. It would also be fun to pick Bret Easton Ellis’s brain for dark humor, or Stephanie Perkin’s brain for happily-ever-after romance (something I have not yet mastered—fair warning ;)).

 What are major themes of your work?
Friendship, loyalty, love, regret. 

What do you think people look for in a book?
Above all, I think they want to be entertained. They want a story they can lose themselves in, or characters they feel like they know personally, and to chase an outcome that will be satisfying in ways they hadn’t quite imagined.

 Are there any recent works you admire?
For series, I really love The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater, and also Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha Trilogy which wrapped up perfectly with Ruin and Rising this spring. I loved Julie Murphy’s Side Effects May Vary, E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars, and Amanda Maciel’s Tease.
Questions About the Book (Love and Other Theories):
Which character in the book do you think you can relate to the most?
I can relate to all of them in a small way. Especially their apprehension about love and graduation—I definitely felt that way when I was seventeen, though I never took their extreme route to finding a solution. Aubrey’s best friend Melissa is a lot like I was when it comes to her motto, “better paranoid than sorry,” and how she’s extra cautious over things that don’t require extra caution.

 How did you come up with the character's names?
A lot of them are inside jokes with my friends from high school, who I’m still very close to, despite how far away we all live. I didn’t use any of their names, no names of any ex-boyfriends either. Shelby is named for Shelby from Steel Magnolias, a movie one of our mother’s introduced to us and we found ourselves watching a lot. Trip is a name we were all obsessed with—me in particular. (And we NEVER met boys named Trip, go figure.) But many of the names I just pulled from the top of my head or off a baby-naming website.

 What gave you the inspiration to write this book?
The quote by Marilyn Monroe, which appears at the beginning of the book, was a huge inspiration: “A wise girl kisses but doesn't love, listens but doesn't believe, and leaves before she is left.” I wondered what it would be like for a group of girls to apply this to their lives, treating avoiding heartbreak as a serious business, and how they were going to learn that it’s much more complex than they think. 

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