Q&A with Abbi Waxman

 

Photo by Leanna Creed

 

 

Abbi Waxman is the author of the new novel Christa Comes Out of Her Shell. Her other novels include The Bookish Life of Nina Hill. She lives in Los Angeles.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Christa Comes Out of Her Shell, and how did you create your character Christa?

 

A: I wanted to write about a woman who didn’t need people, or didn’t feel that she did. I was interested in the impact of sudden reappearances too, so I created a scenario where her father (supposedly lost in a plane crash 25 years earlier) came back from the dead.

 

It’s outlandish, but that was the point. What do you do about someone who chose to completely disappear, and what do you do now they’re back?

 

Q: How did you research this novel, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: Christa is a marine biologist, so I did a lovely lot of research about the animals and environments that mean so much to her. I learned a lot, but my favorite fact is that violet sea snails float about on little rafts made of their own snot. Each to his own, I guess.

 

Q: What do you think the novel says about fame, and about the media spotlight?

 

A: Christa was forced into the public eye as a child, and then underwent a very painful public immolation as a teen. I was interested in looking at how that impacts her take on the human race, and on the trauma she has to deal with when the public comes looking for her again. 

 

Q: Publishers Weekly called the book a “lively take on legacy and manipulation.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I’m glad they enjoyed it, lol. Manipulation within families is another important theme of the book, how we influence our family members to view us a certain way, or behave in a certain way, and how our views of each other can get set in amber when we’re young, and are hard to change.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

  

A: Right now I’m finishing up edits on my next book, which comes out in 2025.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: My next two books are going to be the first in what I hope will be a series of detective novels…time to switch genres for a while. I’m very excited about it; my mom was a detective novelist, and it’s the genre I grew up on and which I prefer to read, so I’ve always wanted to write them. Fingers crossed.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Abbi Waxman.