Reality Gold
Tiffany Brooks
Published by: Dunemere Books
Publication date: May 22nd 2018
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
“There are only two ways to survive Internet infamy: drop offline and play dead or give everyone something bigger and better to talk about. I’ve tried the first strategy. Now it’s time to try the second…”
A year and a lifetime ago, Riley Ozaki was just an ordinary high school junior in San Francisco, stressing over boys and grades. But an ill-conceived editorial in her school paper brought her an internet avalanche of public-shaming and ruined her life.
Now Riley’s on a helicopter dropping into a deserted island with nineteen other teens, to star in a reality show that will be her redemption. She has no other choice. National attention was what got her into this mess, and only the same level of exposure can get her out. Besides, Riley has a few tricks up her sleeve.
With a cast of vivid characters who will stop at nothing to win the show, a cursed island setting, and a priceless treasure waiting to be discovered, Reality Gold will drop readers right into a scheming web of lies, love, and betrayal.
Guest
Post:
Do the characters all
come to you at the same time or do some of them come to you as you write?
When
I’m writing a book, I always seem to start with an idea first, and then the
main character comes pretty soon afterward. If that doesn’t happen—if I’m
working on a story and mapping it out and a character doesn’t come to me—then I
know something isn’t right and I need to go back to the idea stage. That’s what
happened with Reality Gold. At first I envisioned the book without the reality
show, which seems crazy now that it’s finished. I can’t even imagine this story
without the reality show piece. I had originally mapped it out as a past /
present novel, with scenes cutting back and forth between when a treasure being
stolen and hidden, and then present scenes when it was found. I loved the idea
of it, but I could never get a feel for a main character. Riley sort of came to
me one day when I was watching one of those reality shows about mining for gold
in Alaska, and I started playing the “what if” game. What if there was a girl
totally out of her element, trying to find a treasure all while figure things
out in front of cameras… and then the story grew from there. The rest of the
cast—that’s what these characters are, a cast on the show—came slowly as the
plot began to emerge. It’s funny how certain characters that I thought would
stick around really didn’t, and others that I never thought would play a big
role kept popping up. AJ, for instance, was one of those characters—I always
pictured him as this self-confident nerd calling out “pick me, pick me” every
time a scene began, as if I were a dodgeball captain at recess choosing my
team. At first I’d think no, not you! But after ignoring him several times I
finally went with it, and he ended up becoming one of my favorites to write. It
was really important to me that the characters felt as real on the page as they
did to me—I hope that comes through for readers. I’m working on Book Two now, and
this one features Maren. She’s another one of my favorites, and I wanted to
follow her on a further adventure.
Author Bio:
Tiffany Brooks lives in San Francisco with her family and a bunch of pets, who luckily don’t object to being featured on her Instagram. The best thing about living on the west coast is she can find out what happens on Game of Thrones three hours ahead of air time. That, plus not having winter weather, means she’ll never move back east, although that doesn’t stop her New England family from asking when she’ll be moving “back home” to NYC or Connecticut. Reality Gold, her debut novel, kicks off the Shifting Reality Collection, a YA trilogy.
2 comments:
Thanks for being on the tour! :)
I enjoyed reading the guest post & learning about this book, thanks so much! :D
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