BETH REVIS: Writing Unreliable Characters & Approaching Emotional Scenes

If you’d love to keep 88 Cups of Tea going strong, please consider supporting us through our Patreon membership. We added EARLY ACCESS TO INTERVIEWS for our Super Storyteller patrons in the $8.88 tier. Your kind support at any of our tiers is so helpful. A heartfelt thank you in advance.

https://www.patreon.com/88cupsoftea

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I’m so excited to collaborate with Quarterly to bring you today’s episode featuring Beth Revis! Beth is a New York Times bestselling author most widely recognized for her book series "Across the Universe" which was selected as a Teen Top Ten novel by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), long-listed for the Carnegie Medal, and featured as a Book of the Month from Seventeen Magazine. In her latest title, "A World Without You", Beth guides us through a complex look at loss and grief through a lens of mental illness. Lucasfilm tapped Beth to write the backstory of Jyn Erso in her newest book "Rebel Rising" releasing in May. Beth also had the honor of being the very first curator for Quarterly’s YA fiction subscription box. They are the only book subscription curated by authors just for readers like you and I couldn’t be more pleased to announce that Quarterly created an exclusive special just for our 88 Cups of Tea community where you’ll save $8 off your subscription box by entering promo code “88cups” at check-out!

In today’s episode, we dive right into how Beth drew inspiration from her career as a teacher for her book series "Across the Universe". We also take a closer look at the inspiration behind "A World Without You". We discuss how being a part of online writing communities can instill confidence for your writing, and we explore how to cope with the far-too-common mindset of not feeling like we’re good enough, and moving past that imposter syndrome as a writer. Click here to go directly to Beth's shownotes page that lists all of her amazing recommended resources. 

For listeners who are all about getting down and dirty with the technical topics, you’re going to LOVE Beth’s writing tips. We dive into her research methods for crafting science fiction novels and how to write strong background characters. She guides us in approaching emotional scenes that are difficult to get through, and step-by-step advice on the world building process. Beth even jumps in with tips for writing unreliable characters, how to send out query letters, and earning income while pursuing your art.

Say "Hi" to Beth on Twitter!

Happy listening!

Xo,

Yin

PS. Do you know anyone who would love our conversation? Please share this episode to help spread the word! 

PPS. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d really love your support in growing our community by subscribing to us on iTunes, and leaving a rating and review. These specific steps help to increase our visibility on iTunes which really helps new listeners discover us. A huge heartfelt thank you for your time and support! You can click here to go directly to our iTunes page!

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If you'd love to support our show and rock your Limited Edition 88 Cups of Tea mug (signed by yours truly), click here for more info. Thank you so much in advance for showing your love and supporting our show!

If you're looking to feel right at home with a close-knit group of encouraging and supportive writers, join our private Facebook group by clicking here. We have weekly check-ins about our creative work, book recs, and live Facebook videos of unboxing book packages. We also share previews of upcoming episodes and you can submit listener-questions for upcoming interviews.

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“Make sure that your world is just not pristine, make it dirty and make it really lived in.” -Beth Revis (Click to tweet)

“The more new experiences you have, the more stories you’ll have to tell." -Beth Revis (Click to tweet)

"There’s a value in failure that I think people often ignore and forget because failure teaches us to not give up." -Beth Revis (Click to tweet)

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What You’ll Learn From This Episode: How Beth drew inspiration from her career as a teacher for her book series Across the Universe How online writing communities instill confidence for you as a writer How to overcome imposter syndrome as a writer Finding value in failure and how it sustains a long-term career for your art Beth’s research methods for crafting science fiction novels What it means to make your story’s world dirty and how this writing tip can help your world building process How to write strong background characters Advice on writing unreliable characters How to approach emotional scenes in your story Beth shares her experience as Quarterly’s first YA fiction curator, from the thought process in carefully selecting the books and goodies for her subscription box, to the thoughts she had when writing annotations throughout A World Without You How and why to send out your query letters in batches Advice for earning an income while pursuing your art Learn More About Beth Revis:

Beth Revis grew up in the Appalachian mountains with a cemetery in her backyard, which is probably why she prefers her stories to be dark and full of twists. She’s the New York Times bestselling author of the Across the Universe trilogy, which has been translated into over twenty languages. Beth lives in a house full of boys—her husband, son, and two massive dogs—and she forces them all to watch reruns of Firefly and Doctor Who.

If you’d love to keep 88 Cups of Tea going strong, please consider supporting us through our Patreon membership. We added EARLY ACCESS TO INTERVIEWS for our Super Storyteller patrons in the $8.88 tier. Your kind support at any of our tiers is so helpful. A heartfelt thank you in advance.

https://www.patreon.com/88cupsoftea

---

I’m so excited to collaborate with Quarterly to bring you today’s episode featuring Beth Revis! Beth is a New York Times bestselling author most widely recognized for her book series "Across the Universe" which was selected as a Teen Top Ten novel by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), long-listed for the Carnegie Medal, and featured as a Book of the Month from Seventeen Magazine. In her latest title, "A World Without You", Beth guides us through a complex look at loss and grief through a lens of mental illness. Lucasfilm tapped Beth to write the backstory of Jyn Erso in her newest book "Rebel Rising" releasing in May. Beth also had the honor of being the very first curator for Quarterly’s YA fiction subscription box. They are the only book subscription curated by authors just for readers like you and I couldn’t be more pleased to announce that Quarterly created an exclusive special just for our 88 Cups of Tea community where you’ll save $8 off your subscription box by entering promo code “88cups” at check-out!

In today’s episode, we dive right into how Beth drew inspiration from her career as a teacher for her book series "Across the Universe". We also take a closer look at the inspiration behind "A World Without You". We discuss how being a part of online writing communities can instill confidence for your writing, and we explore how to cope with the far-too-common mindset of not feeling like we’re good enough, and moving past that imposter syndrome as a writer. Click here to go directly to Beth's shownotes page that lists all of her amazing recommended resources. 

For listeners who are all about getting down and dirty with the technical topics, you’re going to LOVE Beth’s writing tips. We dive into her research methods for crafting science fiction novels and how to write strong background characters. She guides us in approaching emotional scenes that are difficult to get through, and step-by-step advice on the world building process. Beth even jumps in with tips for writing unreliable characters, how to send out query letters, and earning income while pursuing your art.

Say "Hi" to Beth on Twitter!

Happy listening!

Xo,

Yin

PS. Do you know anyone who would love our conversation? Please share this episode to help spread the word! 

PPS. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d really love your support in growing our community by subscribing to us on iTunes, and leaving a rating and review. These specific steps help to increase our visibility on iTunes which really helps new listeners discover us. A huge heartfelt thank you for your time and support! You can click here to go directly to our iTunes page!

---

If you'd love to support our show and rock your Limited Edition 88 Cups of Tea mug (signed by yours truly), click here for more info. Thank you so much in advance for showing your love and supporting our show!

If you're looking to feel right at home with a close-knit group of encouraging and supportive writers, join our private Facebook group by clicking here. We have weekly check-ins about our creative work, book recs, and live Facebook videos of unboxing book packages. We also share previews of upcoming episodes and you can submit listener-questions for upcoming interviews.

---

“Make sure that your world is just not pristine, make it dirty and make it really lived in.” -Beth Revis (Click to tweet)

“The more new experiences you have, the more stories you’ll have to tell." -Beth Revis (Click to tweet)

"There’s a value in failure that I think people often ignore and forget because failure teaches us to not give up." -Beth Revis (Click to tweet)

---

What You’ll Learn From This Episode: How Beth drew inspiration from her career as a teacher for her book series Across the Universe How online writing communities instill confidence for you as a writer How to overcome imposter syndrome as a writer Finding value in failure and how it sustains a long-term career for your art Beth’s research methods for crafting science fiction novels What it means to make your story’s world dirty and how this writing tip can help your world building process How to write strong background characters Advice on writing unreliable characters How to approach emotional scenes in your story Beth shares her experience as Quarterly’s first YA fiction curator, from the thought process in carefully selecting the books and goodies for her subscription box, to the thoughts she had when writing annotations throughout A World Without You How and why to send out your query letters in batches Advice for earning an income while pursuing your art Learn More About Beth Revis:

Beth Revis grew up in the Appalachian mountains with a cemetery in her backyard, which is probably why she prefers her stories to be dark and full of twists. She’s the New York Times bestselling author of the Across the Universe trilogy, which has been translated into over twenty languages. Beth lives in a house full of boys—her husband, son, and two massive dogs—and she forces them all to watch reruns of Firefly and Doctor Who.