Q&A with Lori Miller Kase

 

Lori Miller Kase is the author of the new young adult novel The Accident. Also a journalist, she is based in Simsbury, Connecticut. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Accident, and how did you create your character Hannah?

 

A: When I was a graduate student at Wesleyan University, where I studied creative writing and earned my master’s degree, one of my first assignments was to write a short story about someone who harbored a secret. Secrets immediately create tension and propel a story forward, my professor told us.

 

I think this was in the back of my mind when I came up with the idea for The Accident, which began as a short story for a writing workshop I was taking several years after I graduated. Hannah’s secret: She thinks her brother and her boyfriend were involved in the fatal hit and run that has shattered her small Connecticut town.

 

What also inspired this particular story was that there was a tragic accident in my town (also in Connecticut) around this time in which a van full of adults crashed into a car driven by a teen.

 

Two of the adults died, and while the teen was not at fault, I couldn’t help feeling sad for this young person who would have to forever carry the heavy burden of this trauma, the knowledge that he was involved in an accident that killed two people.

 

The weight of my 15-year-old protagonist’s secret is also difficult for her to bear, especially when the accident is all over social media, and something her peers—and even her parents—are constantly speculating about.

 

I created Hannah’s character by trying to put myself into her 15-year-old mind, and imagining how she would struggle between wanting to protect the people she loves and doing the right thing. When I was that age I was a constant worrier, so I made Hannah one too. And I gave her a lot to worry about.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between Hannah and her brother, Rob?

 

A: Hannah longs for a closer relationship with her older brother, yet he barely acknowledges her existence. All she wants is for him to see her, to take some interest in her life. But their relationship changes over the course of the novel, as does Hannah.

 

Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: I had no idea how the novel would end before I started writing it. It’s funny, because I spent most of my career as a journalist, and when writing articles, I am meticulous about planning out an entire piece before I even start writing the first line. I create detailed outlines, down to which quotes I am going to insert where in my story.

 

But when I write fiction, I just start with a premise and see where the story takes me. With The Accident, the twists and turns in the plot were just as unexpected for me as I hope they will be for the reader.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?

 

A: The is a story about secrets and lies, choices and consequences, and what happens when you follow your heart instead of your conscience.

 

I hope readers will come away with the understanding that every choice has repercussions, and that not doing anything—and not saying anything—is also making a choice. That there can be more than one version of the “truth,” and that culpability is not always black and white.

 

Above all, I hope readers get deeply engaged in the narrative and empathize with my characters.  

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m working on another YA novel that takes place in Paris. I also have a dystopian YA novel in the works—I use the second one to procrastinate when I get stuck on the first one.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I’d love to visit teen—or any—book clubs who choose to read The Accident, and I’m hoping to eventually visit schools to do writing workshops for teens and talk to them about the writing process. I love inspiring young writers, just as my teachers over the years encouraged me.

 

Interested book clubs or school visit coordinators can contact me through my website, www.lorimillerkase.com, where readers can also find out more about me, my writing, and my upcoming book events.

--Interview with Deborah Kalb