114. KRISTIN DWYER RETURNS: Publishing a book when BTS is making a comeback

This week on LiteraryHype Podcast, Kristin Dwyer returns and she's getting really real. She's opening up about her emotions of releasing a book into the world the same month her favorite band, BTS, is making their post-military comeback. That alone brings big feelings, but so does her latest book, In Time With You. It's a college romance where a girl is so distraught over losing her boyfriend to a tragic accident that she triggers a shift in time and finds herself back a year before it happens. Will the butterfly effect save him or will he end up dying in front of her twice? 

While we won't answer that question, we will talk all about BTS, Gilmore Girls, grief, fandom, and her new obsession with making Heated Rivalry stickers.

Kristin's previous episode - #22

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Transcript

00;00;03;11 - 00;00;10;02
Unknown
Hi and welcome to Literary Hype. I am Stephanie here. Literary hype woman back with another author conversation for Literary Hype podcast.

00;00;10;06 - 00;00;21;03
Unknown
Today I have a returning guest and one that I deeply adore. She is so sweet, so kind, so funny, so smart, and just really loves helping other authors learn how to tell their story.

00;00;21;08 - 00;00;23;15
Unknown
Plus, she loves to break our hearts in the process

00;00;23;19 - 00;00;37;17
Unknown
that author is Kristen Dwyer. Her new book is called In Time With you, and it is a college romance with some speculative twists to it. Also, she are sheep. I did not notice them when I first looked at the cover. And the sheep are a very important part of the story.

00;00;37;19 - 00;00;51;25
Unknown
So we're going to talk about the sheep. We're going to talk about speculative and magic and timelines and of course some K-pop. So here's my conversation with Kristen Dwyer.

00;00;51;28 - 00;01;07;01
Unknown
Welcome back to Literary Hype. It's so exciting to talk to you again. It is so great to be back here with you. And we have a brand new book, baby, to talk about in Time with you. But the most important question we got to talk about, what's it like having your book come out in the month of BTS's epic comeback?

00;01;07;02 - 00;01;24;17
Unknown
For me personally, I don't really care about the book as much as I care about BTS, and I'm like, so I need I need to really start focusing on this because all I can think about is like, I got tickets, did you get tickets? I got it, okay? And I'm like, actually didn't get tickets. But a friend of mine, she was like, I got his tickets the second week.

00;01;24;17 - 00;01;47;08
Unknown
Got it because I because now there's so many of us, right? There's so many people that are army. And I'm like, I don't want to fight for these tickets. It's it's insane how much it's grown. Like back in the first concert, the first K-pop concert I went to was BTS's Permission to Dance LA. Oh, wow. Okay. And I was still on the like, probably too old for this, but then seeing Christina.

00;01;47;08 - 00;02;07;22
Unknown
Lauren. Yeah. Get together a bunch of authors at that concert, and I was like, oh, I'm not too old for this. It's okay to be a fangirl still. No. I think at those concerts in L.A., I saw a woman who was literally pushing her walker, and she's like, I'm 80. I'm 88 and I love Namjoon. And I was like, oh, of course you do.

00;02;07;25 - 00;02;25;15
Unknown
Yes you do. And I love you for that because he's a strong, capable man. Yes, yes, yes. And he's so esoteric and he's always, you know, asking the same questions I know. Last time we talked, you said that your bias changed. Has it changed since? Well, here's Jin and I broke up, you know, and we're still divorced.

00;02;25;18 - 00;02;48;00
Unknown
It's. I have not come back from that, and that's okay. But my my bias is I'm still biased, but it's been Jungkook for a little bit, and it's kind of embarrassing because everybody likes Jungkook and I. Golden maknae. But he just turned to a man and I just can't do it. Yeah, because seven came out since the last time.

00;02;48;07 - 00;03;09;01
Unknown
Yes. Well, you know that song Shot Glass Full of Tears? I was listening to it with a bunch of my writer friends who are also BTS fans, and we were listening to the album, and it got to that part where it says, like 42 in her body, and I'm like, I'm 42 years old. He wrote the song about me, and they have this video of me, like unhinged being like, this song is about me, you guys.

00;03;09;02 - 00;03;26;07
Unknown
He wrote it for me and they're like, he did not write this for you. And I'm like, prove to me he didn't. You can't. Therefore, that song is about me and more in love. And I'm like, you're married. And I'm like, shut up. No, I have multiple husbands. My my actual husband knows that he is my future second husband.

00;03;26;07 - 00;03;44;29
Unknown
And then there's about 20 others. Yeah. It's fine. But like, I had the same kind of thing with, J-Hope and, killing it girl. Yes. Because at his tour, I was barricade, and he held my hand and blew a kiss at me and took my phone. It's a new picture. No, you're married now. Like legally. Legally we're married.

00;03;44;29 - 00;04;03;16
Unknown
He is my husband. Yes, but then when the Killing It Girl video came out. Alissa is a redhead, and I'm like, it's me. I yeah, he was picturing dancing with me. He did that for you. Like you saw that, right? Like, yes. The W is like. It's my favorite part about fandom is you can just be so in hinge, and it just it makes my soul happy.

00;04;03;18 - 00;04;21;00
Unknown
So with your last book, you had some K-pop references in it? Yes. Do you have any K-pop references in this beauty? I can't imagine that. I don't, but I don't know specifically what they are. I was like, I feel like there's got to be something in here, but it's not like screaming obvious. Yeah, I feel it's not sugar, that's for sure.

00;04;21;02 - 00;04;43;26
Unknown
Yeah. Or Keith. Yeah I know. I was just like, what are K-pop boobs? I love Keith. He will always be my my baby. But I, I don't I don't know, I know that they're in there, especially that they're an art school. And I feel like K-pop transitions because it's so visual. Right? Like, there's so much that you're doing that is like art in itself.

00;04;43;26 - 00;05;02;23
Unknown
In K-pop, it's not just singing, it's not just dancing. It's not just it's like the visuals. It's everything you're doing. It's the way that people are. The same but different in the groups and things like that. So I, I don't know what it is, but it's in there. I don't know. This is I'm busy right now with BTS, so please don't ask me on my book Arirang.

00;05;02;26 - 00;05;21;23
Unknown
Yeah. And the one is your love song. I mean, what's going on? What does it mean? I well, I just had me and I don't have this screaming in the car, like, what does it mean? Yeah. I feel very unhinged right now. It's fine. We're fine. Everything's fine. We're right. But are you fine? Because this is yet another book about grief.

00;05;21;24 - 00;05;40;10
Unknown
I why do I why do you break our hearts? Girl I wish I knew like so. The way this book came to be was my editor. I was pitching my next book and I was like, oh, I have this book. And it's very angsty. I love, I love me some angst. And she's like, okay, that's great. That looks like a really good book.

00;05;40;10 - 00;05;55;26
Unknown
But also, what if you didn't do that? And what if you wrote a book that was speculative and it was like, oh yeah, I mean, like, I could totally do that. And then I hung up with her and I was like, I cannot do that. Like what? Why did I just assign myself magic in a book? Like, I can't do that.

00;05;55;28 - 00;06;13;11
Unknown
And, I thought about it a lot, like every night before I went to bed. It was like the thing that was like, oh, my God, what are you going to do, Kristen, you idiot? And then I was like, all right, what if there was a girl who was so sad and broken up about her boyfriend that she went back in time?

00;06;13;11 - 00;06;33;05
Unknown
And I think, because I have been through so much grief in my life, I that's like the easiest vein for me to like to tap into some probably I'm not okay, is what you're asking. But that's why I wrote the book. Because it was. It was just something that I could easily access. And then I was like, okay, then she can go back in time.

00;06;33;10 - 00;06;39;04
Unknown
And then I was like, magical, awesome. What if it was? What if was yarn?

00;06;39;07 - 00;06;54;27
Unknown
It was like your magic system, so unique. And I was like, yeah, it truly is. And I didn't notice the sheep on the cover at first. And so when they're, like, popping up and I'm like, where is the sheep? Okay. Yeah. Which let's talk about the sheep for a minute because they're named after Gilmore Girls characters. Yeah. Where did that idea?

00;06;55;04 - 00;07;11;21
Unknown
I don't know, I think I was rewatching Gilmore Girls at the time, and I was like, you know what? I'm just going to. There's like six of these sheep. I'm just going to give them Gilmore Girls names and like, just go with it, because I feel like Grandy watched Gilmore Girls, like, secretly in her room by herself. And she was like, I'm going to, I'm going to watch this.

00;07;11;21 - 00;07;30;21
Unknown
So, to me, that made sense. And then you could like so also, I'm a Logan girly, like massively a Logan. Yes. He's the best. Yes I said what I said internet. Yeah. And I love that for you. Because people will like, fight you like Dean. Everybody. Everybody hates Dean, right? Jess? Girlies are like, oh my God.

00;07;30;21 - 00;07;49;25
Unknown
But look at and I'm like, I have so many reasons why Jess is the worst. He just really is not. He's so whiny. But Logan and Logan is a trash bag, but he never, like, hides his trash bag. Exactly. And so I really wanted to redeem Logan. And so Logan, in the end of the book, really redeems everything.

00;07;49;25 - 00;08;16;04
Unknown
And that was for him. That was for that character. I appreciate that everything I do is is in service to my love of, like, that archetype of male characters of just like rich trash bag boys. I just, I love them and my guys, my daddy issues are like really front and center all the time. So with the speculative aspect, was that what made it the hardest book for you, because you wrote in the acknowledgments that it was like way out of your comfort zone?

00;08;16;04 - 00;08;43;02
Unknown
Yeah. Yes. It really was, for me, super difficult to incorporate those aspects of it. I have a friend, Ava, who Ava Deloria, she writes amazing contemporary books, romance The Chef's Kiss. But she's always like, I, with every book, tried to, challenge myself in a way. And I was like, yeah, I have done that too, but not on purpose.

00;08;43;05 - 00;09;04;28
Unknown
Like, I it just, I feel like it's so easy to do the same thing. Right? So writing something that would be straight, like just straight romance would have been lovely. But then you're adding this like time loop element and then like, well, how does that play against the romance? And what if the time element was not even about you, you know, like that kind of stuff?

00;09;04;28 - 00;09;30;07
Unknown
So I don't know, it, it was difficult in that sense that I was also juggling kind of plot. It's almost like, well, I don't do black, I do feelings. And so I'm like, they have to be doing something active. No. That's crazy. The butterfly effect of this could either make it way more complicated to write or give you a lot of freedom, since you don't have to fully keep track of what's going on.

00;09;30;11 - 00;09;46;07
Unknown
Yeah, which was it for you? I thought I was reading so good at, like, how it all on this whiteboard. And then my editor was like, you know, none of this makes sense. And I was like, darn, this is like it really? She was like, so yeah. And then she gave me a lot of like, great ideas. But I will still get like in the comments.

00;09;46;07 - 00;10;02;02
Unknown
Like, I really loved this book, but I did not understand the magic system. And I was like being too girl, like me too. Or they'll be like, I found the magic system to be a bit overcomplicated. And I was like, really? Because I try to make it as simple as possible so that I could follow it, but also it's fake.

00;10;02;02 - 00;10;27;15
Unknown
So it's not supposed to make sense. That's like color is so important in this story. And words with colors is an interesting combination. So what was it like for you to process the color aspect of this story through words? And part of the magic? I actually don't have any of these things. Like as for like I like color, I think it's like great or whatever.

00;10;27;16 - 00;10;47;28
Unknown
My daughter's an artist and she ascribes sounds to color. Like she would tell me, oh, this when she was little, but this song is purple. And I'd be like, synesthesia. Is that what it is? Yeah. Okay. I'm like, you've lost your mind. It's like a part of ADHD. Yeah, that makes sense because she's got the ADHD is like, big time.

00;10;48;01 - 00;11;13;20
Unknown
Talk to Delilah. Delilah Dawson. She's the one who taught me about it. Oh, awesome. Yeah. Like numbers or have emotions and like. Yeah, like all of this weird things where you're assigning. And so I felt like this character would do that with words. Right? Because like, my, I can kind of do it sound. So it's kind of like my marriage to my daughter because this is like, I just think it's so cool and fascinating, and I, I don't share that.

00;11;13;20 - 00;11;43;04
Unknown
But, yeah. And I do feel like there is a color hierarchy in my, second book. I talked about, like the popsicles having, like, a hierarchy. And then I'm like, I think that all color, like, has something that, like, you could assign to it. So you know how, like, I don't know if you know any of the doTERRA or like, young Levine girls that are had the like the little potions of like essential oils that they're always like, if this is going to heal your blah blah, blah and like, well, what if that was color, you know, like instead of lavender?

00;11;43;04 - 00;11;58;07
Unknown
For my I don't even know what lavender heals because I like I'm going to take Advil. I'm sorry. Like I'm just going to just go take Advil. So like I was like, that'd be cute. So she has some very strong feelings about colors at the beginning. Do you have strong feelings about any colors? I don't wear a lot of color.

00;11;58;07 - 00;12;18;23
Unknown
I don't know if you can tell, but I do. What I don't wear is in color. And, I think that like, at the very beginning when she's talking about, like, her grandmother doesn't want her to wear black and, in, in my family color was like, well, you don't wear this color on these days. And like, it was very superstitious.

00;12;18;25 - 00;12;43;18
Unknown
So I think I pulled a little bit from there. But I also love somebody who's like, I'm Irish, so, like, we are superstitious. Like, there's a thousand different, like, superstitions that we're always like, don't do that, don't do this. And some of it and like, is this cultural or is it just because we're weird, you know, like, I can never tell with the color and the sheep comes the yarn, which is part of the magic system.

00;12;43;21 - 00;13;02;24
Unknown
What was your research process like into learning about all of these, like how to do the yarn and the sheep and all that terminology and fun stuff? Yeah, so words are hard. Yeah. I did a ton of research on the internet. Like, I don't know if you know this, but YouTube can teach you anything batshit crazy. And then I have a friend.

00;13;02;24 - 00;13;20;10
Unknown
Her name is Casey Kirsten, and she is magical. And she is. She does fiber like a ton of fiber. Art and things like that. And so I she read the book and she's also a writer, and she was like, so everything you just said was wrong. And I was like, okay. She's like, you can just like add like, you can't knit.

00;13;20;10 - 00;13;36;05
Unknown
And then crochet. And I'm like, I think you could. And she's like, you really can. So it's like, okay, so I had her help me because I do crochet, but I don't knit. And she's like, and you can't like mix these two things like, you would never do this. And I was like, oh, you ruined everything. It's eight.

00;13;36;10 - 00;13;50;28
Unknown
But yeah, mixing knitting and crochet, that would not go well. I mean, I feel like you could do anything if you put your heart into it. I mean, maybe if you like, knit a section and crochet the section and then, like, stitch them together, maybe I don't like switching because then you'd be going from one hook to two needles, and that just seems complicated.

00;13;51;01 - 00;14;06;00
Unknown
I feel like you're probably right and Casey would agree with you. I'm not a good crochet or my grandma tried it. She was like, are you sure you graduated college? Oh, and I was like, what do you mean? And she held it up. Just like this is supposed to be a square. And you made a triangle because I, you know, dropped a few stitches.

00;14;06;00 - 00;14;27;01
Unknown
It's fine. It's for narrow people at the top, there's a line about I will never eat a Brussels sprout, no matter what somebody does to it. Is, is that your personal feelings or is there a food that you will not touch no matter what people do to it? I actually love brussel sprouts like I do, but I know people that are like, I will absolutely not eat a Brussels sprout.

00;14;27;01 - 00;14;45;09
Unknown
I hate mushrooms, I don't I why are they slimy? Why are they this way? If they grow on random things, why would I eat them like they grow on dead bodies? By which? On so many things. On so many things. That thing on poop. Like, I am not gonna eat this. No. And my husband loves a mushroom. He hates tomatoes.

00;14;45;09 - 00;15;04;27
Unknown
And I would eat a tomato. I hate to make this plain like, but I won't do lettuce on my sandwiches because hot lettuce is crazy. And so, like, on, like, tacos or anything. When people put lettuce when they moved to the Carolinas, they put, lettuce in their burritos and I am beside myself about that, that it's unnecessary and like, in your burrito.

00;15;04;27 - 00;15;29;16
Unknown
Yeah. So I, I have very strong feelings about, like, how lettuce gets into my system throughout this book. There are a lot of flashback scenes. Did you write those as you were writing, or did you write the flashbacks and then and the current timeline separately? I wrote the current timeline, and then I added a lot of the flashbacks, a lot of some of them, like I think chapter 21, that one was always there, like, because I knew I needed that one there.

00;15;29;16 - 00;16;02;11
Unknown
That's like right after New Years. And so I knew the timeline was going to change then. And so I wrote that one. But typically I wrote them, I like added them in after. And there's like a very specific flashback that's like from the beginning of the book that goes all the way through. That is kind of like the theme of the book and, that that I had to, like, sprinkle in afterwards and make sure that that really was at the forefront of the book, because I felt like that was so important to the story, like this one pivotal moment where she thought something happened, but something else actually had happened.

00;16;02;18 - 00;16;31;13
Unknown
So. You had a really fun moment with this book where, people magazine, this was in people magazine. I the same magazine that covers beats. I can't even I like I, I, I'm a millennial. I grew up people magazine. It's it is is my holy grail. And I was like, why do they know my name? Like, when my, when my publicist sent me, she was like, so people magazine is going to feature your book.

00;16;31;13 - 00;16;50;17
Unknown
And I was like, why are they doing that? Don't don't perceive me at all. Like, it's like the time that numbs. You made eye contact with me because that happened. That was real. I, I'm like, I cannot be perceived. But it it was so big. And I think too, the thing with people is that, like, I can take this to my grandmother and be like, look, I'm a famous now, you know?

00;16;50;17 - 00;17;09;25
Unknown
And she's like, oh my God. People magazine as to where like, you know, if I'm like, oh, I won this like award or something. My grandma was like, that's nice, you know? So it was crazy. I did want to give you a second to talk about Story Breakers and your mentorship program. So how has that helped you in your writing process itself, but also getting to see it going forward?

00;17;09;25 - 00;17;37;12
Unknown
I love working with other authors. It's like one of my favorite things that I do for my own process, specifically because when you're talking about story and you're seeing somebody whose work, you know, especially when they're being vulnerable enough to share their work with you, any art, right. Like, it's such a such a sacred thing. And then having somebody like, share that I'm learning so much from them too, because no matter what stage you're at, everybody's good at something, right?

00;17;37;13 - 00;18;00;12
Unknown
Nobody. Nobody's like, oh, you know, like I'm bad at everything or like I'm, you know, not good at everything either. So I feel like I get to learn so much from my mentees about like, about storytelling because I'm constantly trying to tell them what they're good at so that they can, like, really understand their strengths as much as they can understand, like, you know, the things that they need to improve.

00;18;00;12 - 00;18;24;06
Unknown
And and then also I do this thing where I'm like incorporating all of the people that I find really interesting in, in this industry, like other writers, like, marketing people, like my editor comes and talks to them like agents come and talk to them. People that are in different places. I get to, like, interview them and learn what they're doing too, which is just like, so freaking cool.

00;18;24;11 - 00;18;44;28
Unknown
Like, I just I love learning and I'm a nerd. I just I love it. So, you know, you're a sticker nerd, too. Oh my God. So how many stickers did you bring? Probably like a thousand and of, like, 500 of them are heated rivalry themed. Like, I am embarrassing, but I don't buy a cricket. Don't do it like you are going to think.

00;18;44;28 - 00;19;02;01
Unknown
Oh, I will be able to like, just make some things every now and then. No, no, it becomes an addiction. And then you're like, you know, listening to audiobooks and making stickers like unhinged. And you're like a significant other comes in there, like, what are you doing? You're like, it feels like you have to shower and you're like, I can't, I've got to make these stickers.

00;19;02;07 - 00;19;19;21
Unknown
It's like, okay, wow, I bought a new printer because I was like, I need a new printer. And it's like, oh, right. Wow. So I'm looking forward to the stickers that you'll be making very soon that I will be giving out at the concerts is my freebie. Like, I can't wait. I'm going to be like, you get a sticker, you get a sticker, you get a sticker.

00;19;19;24 - 00;19;49;09
Unknown
It's going to be in sport. I guys I can't wait, cannot wait, can't wait for the concert. Also, my book comes out, but mostly the concert. The book comes out, you get like two weeks with that. And then it's the concert and then the concert start. Yes. And like the album comes out and then like my favorite thing is concerts, like watching all the videos that come out from it and like watching like so I ami is so great about preventing content for BTS, and we've got to get them over here so that they can, you know, give us their give us their goods.

00;19;49;11 - 00;20;11;13
Unknown
And last question we always asked because this is literary hype. What books are you hyped about right now? I'm hyped about, the River she became, which is Emily Vargas next book. I love that book. It's a duology, and I've gotten to read the second one, and it's phenomenal. She also has an adult book coming out called Crown Blood, which is like, oh gosh, romance is the best.

00;20;11;13 - 00;20;26;25
Unknown
I just love romance. Emily's book, that's what I'm really excited about. Well, thanks so much for taking time to talk to literary hype about In Time With you. Thank you for having me. Appreciate you. You're the best.

00;20;26;27 - 00;20;44;12
Unknown
Thanks again to Kristen for hanging out with me at Love Y'all Book Festival in Atlanta. We probably could have talked for a lot longer, but they had a nice, tight schedule to keep us on which kept us in line. Otherwise we would have been talking about Jungkook for probably another two hours. I'd apologize, but that's just who we are as people

00;20;44;15 - 00;20;47;06
Unknown
and I make no apologies for being a fan girl.

00;20;47;08 - 00;20;47;27
Unknown
Neither does she

00;20;48;01 - 00;20;55;09
Unknown
With that being said, if you'd like to check out her book in time with you, the links to do so are down in the show notes for you, as well as where to find her on social media.

00;20;55;13 - 00;20;57;24
Unknown
If you enjoyed this conversation, don't forget to subscribe

00;20;57;24 - 00;20;59;17
Unknown
Give us some stars and share it with a friend.

00;20;59;20 - 00;21;02;13
Unknown
Thanks so much for listening to the Literary Hype Podcast.