Q&A with P.S. Baber discussion

Hey all,

For the rest of this week I'll be here (in the Cassie Draws the Universe Q & A Group) responding regularly to any and all questions I receive, so please feel free to post any questions or comments related to Cassie Draws the Universe (or anything else, for that matter) and I'll answer them as soon as I can.

psb

Hiya P.S, I adored reading your book and would like to know which authors or particular book inspired you to write?

Nicolle wrote: "Hiya P.S, I adored reading your book and would like to know which authors or particular book inspired you to write?"

Hi Nicolle. Thanks so much for the kind words. I'm really glad you enjoyed Cassie. I can't say there's one particular book or author that has inspired me to write. I've always loved books. I love the transformative power of literature. I love reading something that leaves me feeling like a different person when I reach the words, "The End." When exposed to literature like that, I find that I want to emulate it, and I guess that's what made me want to write a book like Cassie Draws the Universe. A VERY brief, non-exhaustive list of works that I have found personally "transformative" would include Moby Dick, The Scarlet Letter, Slaughterhouse V, Grendel, The Crying of Lot 49, Lost in the Funhouse, and the poetry of T.S. Eliot and Wallace Stevens. The list could go on, of course, but those are the ones that spring to mind immediately.

psb

Hello P.S. and thanks for answering our questions!
I would like to ask you two questions:
1. Was the book "Cassie Draws the Universe" inspired to you by one of your own experiences?
2. What decided you to become a novelist?

Aline wrote: "Hello P.S. and thanks for answering our questions!
I would like to ask you two questions:
1. Was the book "Cassie Draws the Universe" inspired to you by one of your own experiences?
2. What deci..."

Hi Aline. Thanks for the questions.

1.A lot of Cassie Draws the Universe was influenced by my own experiences growing up in rural Kansas. Like Cassie, I went to a consolidated K-12 school in a small Kansas town. The classroom scenes are an amalgam of imaginary and actual experiences I had as a student in Kansas and also as a high school teacher in Florida. Cassie’s nameless hometown is modeled after a particular small town in Kansas (which shall remain nameless), her house is modeled after a house along a highway I drove by every day, the grain elevator is modeled after an abandoned grain elevator near the house I grew up in. Etc.

2.Reading good literature always inspires me to write my own. I’m not sure why. That inspiration seems very natural to me and I personally don’t understand how other people can read good literature and NOT be inspired to start writing immediately. Most of my life has been a struggle NOT to write. If I had my way, I would spend half my hours reading and the other half writing. Unfortunately, the exigencies of living don’t really allow me that luxury. Perhaps someday I’ll write a best-seller, and then I’ll be able to write as much as I would like. :)

"Perhaps someday I’ll write a best-seller, and then I’ll be able to write as much as I would like. :) "

I hope it for you!
Thanks a lot for answering my questions.

Aline wrote: ""Perhaps someday I’ll write a best-seller, and then I’ll be able to write as much as I would like. :) "

I hope it for you!
Thanks a lot for answering my questions."

Thanks Aline!