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Kristen Sheley has been writing stories since the age of nine. Her first "novel" was called Casey and her Pesky Brother - the first in an original series following the trials and tribulations of 12-year-old Casey Jennings. Kristen admits this first effort is now cringe-worthy in retrospect, but she did write about Casey for two more years - cementing Kristen's love for ongoing tales about her fictional creations.
No Time Like the Present is her first published novel, which debuted in October this year through iUniverse, Inc. It is the debut story in an ongoing young adult series to be produced for her "Partners in Time" series.
Between the Casey Jennings stories and this new series focusing on 15 year olds Sam Foster and Meg Clayton, Kristen has become well-known for writing fan fiction based on her desire to continue the adventures of Doc Brown and Marty McFly of Back to the Future fame. She credits writing BTTF fan fic for teaching her the discipline to write every day and also for inspiring her to try out her own time-travelling series, which is what "Partners in Time" is all about.
Sam Foster is a 15 year old whose present time is 2005. He has just created a working time machine and his first trip is back to 1850 Oregon. (Kristen is an Oregon native, having been born, raised and educated at the University of Oregon and Pacific University in Portland.) Upon returning from 1850, Sam discovers he's brought Meg Clayton back with him. He plans to take her right back, but technical difficulties and mysterious stranger might change everything.
I was interested in finding out about the evolution of Sheley's writing and her new young adult series - and how much BTTF had influenced this new project and whether she'd made any references to the film trilogy in her writing.
Crossoverman: Most readers of BTTF.com and Future Features know you for your Back to the Future fan fiction, have you written any other kind of fan fiction?
Kristen Sheley: Nope. BTTF is the only fandom that really grabbed my by the throat and hasn't let go. I've been fans of other series -- "Sliders", "Quantum Leap", etc -- but I never felt a compulsion to write stories. Maybe this had to do with those being TV shows, not films, so there was never this feeling that more stories needed to be told so much.
Keith: No Time Like the Present is your first published novel. Have you had any other original fiction published elsewhere?
Kristen: Excepting publication in school newspapers.... No. The first story that I had printed was a short story called "Friends Forever" that I wrote when I was a freshman in high school. It was this tale about a teenage girl who lost her best friend in a car accident. I submitted it to the high school newspaper, Savant, and was stunned when they wanted to print it. My joy lasted until I saw it in print -- and noticed they rewrote some portions of it, most notably the beginning! It was my first realization about how writers can sometimes have their stuff manipulated by editors, and since then I've been hyper vigilant about that. (When I wrote articles for the school paper a couple years later, I would lay them out myself to make sure everything was the way I wanted it to be.) I had a couple other short fiction stories published in the newspaper during high school, my last one -- "Joyride," about teens running from a cop car who was going to pull them over for speeding -- coming when I was a senior, and getting into the brand new literary magazine.
Keith: Obviously No Time is the first in your "Partners in Time" series. How many other books have you already planned? Do you see this as an ongoing series or a finite one?
Kristen: I've sat down already and plotted the story and character arcs. The characters are 15 years old when the series begins, and will be 25 when it ends. So if I wrote about 4 books per character year, that would give me about 40 books to tell the tales I want to tell. But this is a very rough estimate. My characters are going to age and change and grow, though -- no running in place like a lot of young adult book series do! And I intend to write all the books myself. I'm hands-on in that way.
Keith: Will the books all be stand-alone or will there be some continuing stories that link one book to the next?
Kristen: There will always be a thread or two that hangs to the next tale, with an overall story that weaves through every book - the love-hate relationship between the two main characters. I tried to write the first one so it could stand alone and be a good base for the series, which is pretty challenging. A few people have already pointed out one thread I left hanging - on purpose - and I find myself trying to assure them, "No, I didn't forget. Yes, this will be addressed very early on in the next book."
Keith: BTTF has obviously been a big influence in your life. Was this the inspiration for your writing in general?
Kristen: I was writing way before the BTTF bug bit me. I actually had no intention of ever writing fan fiction -- I didn't even know what it was! -- and was going to write only one BTTF story when I did decided to do that. I was 13, and my mom suggested it -- "If you want to see more stories, why don't you write them?" The irony is, I really don't think I could be the writer I am now if I hadn't gotten into writing fan fiction. I learned so much about writing and storytelling and all that stuff during the last decade by trial and error. It wasn't until I started writing BTTF stories that I found myself writing every single day -- before that, I'd write for a week or two, then let whatever project it was slide by the wayside. And that is absolutely required if you want to be a writer -- you need to write every single day; it's the only way to get better! My fanfic was also how I met my writing mentor, Mary Jean Holmes, who has taught me a lot!
Keith: What other films do you enjoy?
Kristen: I like comedy in films, mostly, and movies that mix up genres. I love the BTTF films because they are so tightly plotted and the characters are fantastic! The Frighteners is a favorite film of mine -- love the supernatural stuff in it, and Michael J. Fox is a favorite actor of mine. It's a Wonderful Life is my favorite "old" film. It's got a wonderful message to it and great characters. I also like the 1998 comedy Can't Hardly Wait -- it still makes me laugh, even after a few dozen viewings. My tastes are pretty diverse, I guess.
Keith: Any other writers that have inspired you?
Kristen: I used to read whatever sounded interesting, as a child, then I got into reading only specific authors, and now I'm into reading whatever sounds interesting again. Some writers I've enjoyed consistently, though, are Dean Koontz and Christopher Pike. I also dig some of Stephen King's works (The Stand) and Michael Crichton's (Jurassic Park; Timeline). I like books that can mix up genres, just like I like films that can do that, too. I also enjoy tales that follow the same characters through the years as they age and change. Recently I discovered Connie Wills, who's written a few neat time travel stories (The Doomsday Book) and Rebecca Wells, who did The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood. There's also the classics, like Little Women and Jane Eyre. Great stuff! My "guilty pleasure," though, is reading young adult novels. I really like teenage characters, writing them and reading about them. This may be why I always wanted to write for young adults.
Keith: How did the concept of "Partners in Time" come about? Was it a story you original thought of doing as a BTTF fan fic? Or was it a concept you thought could only be done completely separate from the BTTF universe?
Kristen: "Partners in Time" came about in 1993. I had a lot of trouble writing consistently on original stories, and I had this little epiphany -- if I liked writing BTTF stories so much, and time travel, why not create my own time travel series? I think I came up with this idea during that summer -- I have a piece of paper with some early notes, where I whittled down names for the two main characters and the general concept. I didn't start writing the story until 1994, when I pulled out the early notes and fleshed our the two main characters much better. This may be why they start out at the age of 15; I was 15 when I began the story.
Keith: Tell us a little bit about the concept - who are the main characters and what is the thrust of the first story?
Kristen: Sam Foster and Meg Clayton are the two main characters. Sam is this sort of geeky but smart teen from the present -- well, 2005 -- who has this whole fascination with time travel. Sam sort of came about, originally, as what I saw was The Perfect Guy for me -- when I was 15. A character that I would've liked to befriend and hang out with. (This may very well be why he is a Back to the Future fan.) Anyway, Sam tries to make his own time machine, and after some false starts he actually pulls it off. He goes back to his hometown, O'Hara, Oregon, in the year 1850 and returns home almost immediately because a wild animal is about to attack him. He doesn't know that right behind him is a local, fifteen-year-old Meg Clayton, who is accidentally taken into the future with him. Sam's time machine has a technical break down and can't immediately return Meg home, which creates a few problems. Sam also has more to deal with when he finds out that most of Meg's family is going to meet a dire fate, later on in the day that she left. This story establishes the characters, the families and situations of both Meg and Sam, and a bit about some of the moral or ethical choices and responsibilities that having a time machine could bring about.
One of the things I really wanted to play around with in the story, too, was perspective -- this is why this book and the whole series is written the way it is, in first person with alternating viewpoints between Meg and Sam. There is also the idea of: "How would someone from the mid-1800s react to the world today? What would they think about it?" And I really liked the differences between Meg and Sam, these two people who have little in common. Both are smart in their own ways, and both have a lot of flaws that they will eventually learn from and grow up. That was a huge reason why I titled this story "No Time Like the Present" -- each believes their time to be better than the other's.
Keith: Do you envision doing one "Partners" book every year? Will we see "Partners #2" in 2003?
Kristen: That's the plan. I believe I can definitely do one book per year, even if I work full time. (Teaching school gives you the summers off, too.) If I was able to make a living off writing alone, then I could do maybe two or three books a year. We'll see what the future brings...
"Partners in Time #2" is about 3/4ths of the way complete right now, in the rough draft. I started it on Halloween last year and stopped around June because I wasn't satisfied with something in the tale. I decided to take a break to gain some perspective, and to write a BTTF fanfic. Once that fanfic is done in a couple months, then I'll go back to "Partners in Time #2" and finish it off. My hope is to have it out around this time next year, and I think it's not too unrealistic of a goal.
I actually spent most of the summer of 2001 outlining the histories and futures of my three main characters. (Sam's best friend, Alex McCoy, will later play a larger role.) So I definitely know where I'm going, ultimately, as well as where and when the future stories will take place. Knowing, for me, is half the battle. One reason the first story took so long to write was that I didn't have a clear idea on where I was going with it for a long time. After I finally outlined the story, I finished it in six months.
Keith: Is "Partners" your only focus right now or is there other original fiction in the works as well? Will we continue to see BTTF fiction from you in the future?
Kristen: "Partners in Time" is my only original focus right now. I've got a ton of ideas for other stand-alone original stories, but I lack the time and the drive to really go beyond a sentence or two of brainstorming. As for BTTF, I have no intention of stopping the writing of those stories now -- this is sort of my little hobby, and I still have ideas for Marty and Doc. My output might go down to one new story a year (I was knocking out 3 to 4 for a few years), but I won't be stopping now that I have this published series! The writing of these is quite different from "Partners in Time", so it gives me a sort of mental and creative break when I switch between projects.
As fans of Kristen's work can see, she is rather busy right now. In between all this writing, she is also studying to gain her Masters in Arts so she can fulfil another dream - to become a high school language arts teacher. She is fulfilling her teaching requirements at Southridge High School in Beaverton, Oregon, and will graduate from Pacific University in June 2003.
And as for any trivial references to BTTF throughout her first "Partners in Time" book, No Time Like the Present, check out the BTTF References section here!
"Partners in Time #1: No Time Like the Present" (ISBN: 0-595-24687-7) debuted in October 2002 as a 6 X 9 trade paperback. The 262 page novel retails for $14.95. It is available from Ingram Book Group, Baker & Taylor, and from iUniverse, Inc. To order call 1-877-823-9235. Or check out Kristen Sheley's page at iUniverse.com
It is also available through Barnes and Noble and eventually through Amazon.com
Check out the full press release here
NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT, an interview with novelist KRISTEN SHELEY was first published on November 25, 2002.
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