Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Until I Break
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.karabietzauthor.com/
CITY: Houston
STATE: TX
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2016146896
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2016146896
HEADING: Bietz, Kara
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100 1_ |a Bietz, Kara
370 __ |f Texas |2 naf
372 __ |a Young adult fiction |2 lcsh
374 __ |a Authors |2 lcsh
375 __ |a Women |2 lcsh
377 __ |a eng
378 __ |q Kara M.
670 __ |a Bietz, Kara. Until I break, 2016 : |b t.p. (Kara Bietz)
670 __ |a Amazon Oct. 31, 2016 |b (Kara M. Bietz holds a degree in child development and works in the guidance counselor’s office at a large high school. Until I Break is her debut novel. She lives in Texas)
PERSONAL
Married; children: two.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, novelist, and librarian. Works in a high school library, TX.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Kara M. Bietz grew up in New England and works in a high school library in Texas. Bietz, who began writing when she was child, got her first writing credit when she was eight years old and wrote a poem about her father published on Father’s Day in her hometown newspaper. On her website, Bietz states that she wanted to be a writer ever since she was in the third grade but basically gave up the idea when she enrolled in college. Years later, while Bietz was pregnant with her second child, her husband found some old writings Bietz had stored in the attic. After reading them, he convinced Bietz to try writing again.
In her debut young adult (YA) novel, Until I Break, Bietz tells the story of two high school students and a school shooting. The novel is narrated by Sam North. Commenting on having a teenage boy as the novel’s narrator, Bietz told a contributor to the Autography LL.C. – the Art of Authorship website : “When I sit down to write, usually what comes out is the voice of a teenage boy. I don’t know what that says about me, honestly, but it’s a voice I’m very comfortable with.”
Sam tells the story in a series of flashbacks that lead up to the novel’s opening scene, a school shooting. Bietz commented in her interview for the Autography LL.C. – the Art of Authorship website that she did not begin writing a story that jumped back and forth in time, noting: “As I wrote that draft, I kept thinking that it would be a much more interesting story if we knew the ending first, and then went back and built on why the heck this kid was standing in the school hallway with a gun.”
Sam attends Broadmeadow High School and readers learn that a year before the shooting Sam is looking at a promising future. However, his teammate on the high school football team, Ace Quinn, has been bullying Sam for some time, even though the two have been neighbors for years. In an interview for the YA Book Traveler website, Bietz noted that the idea for the story stemmed from some minor bullying her son experienced when he was young. “Many of my story ideas come from asking myself “what if?” questions,” Bietz said in the YA Book Traveler website article, adding that she asked questions such as:. “What would happen if a little boy continued to be bullied all through elementary and middle school and right through high school? What kind of effect would that have on a boy’s emotional growth? What if that boy also had trouble connecting with the adults in his life? What if this particular boy didn’t look like a typical bully victim?”
Ace’s father has been abusing him for some time, primarily for what he sees as Ace’s failures on the football field. Ace, however, has successfully hidden his tormented mental state from everyone except for Sam. Now Sam is also nearing the breaking point as no one know just how much Ace has been taking out his frustrations on Sam over the years. Eventually Sam becomes convinced that Ace plans on hurting a girl that they both have had a crush on since childhood. “As flashbacks lead up to the opening scene, readers must puzzle out which character will ultimately become the aggressor,” wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor.
Both Sam and Ace are dealing with issues of masculine identity. In Sam’s case, he recalls how his grandfather always told him how men are supposed to be strong, stand on their own, and take care of their problems themselves. It is likely that Ace’s father had taken a similar stance with his son. “Until I Break is a deftly crafted and compelling read from cover to cover,” wrote a Children’s Bookwatch contributor.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Children’s Bookwatch, March, 2017, review of Until I Break.
Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2016, review of Until I Break.
ONLINE
Authorgraphy LL.C. – the Art of Authorship, http://kcmaguire.com/index.html/ (March 14, 2017), “Author Interview: Kara Bietz (Until I Break).”
Kara M. Bietz Website, http://www.karabietzauthor.com (August 28, 2017).
YA Book Traveler, http://theyabooktraveler.com/ (June 8, 2016), “Meet the Newbies: Kara Bietz – Author of Until I Break.”*
Kara Bietz grew up in New England but now resides near Houston, Texas with her husband, two kiddos and three dogs. She’s been dreaming up stories as long as she can remember; sometimes she puts them on paper and sometimes they just live in her head. Her first literary credit was a poem about her Dad, published on Father’s Day in her hometown newspaper when she was 8. Kara is represented by Courtney Miller-Callihan at Handspun Literary.. Her debut novel, Until I Break, is slated for a November 2016 release from Albert Whitman.
Five Fun Facts
1. I lived in the same town for the first 18 years of my life. Since then, I have lived in six different states!
2. I work in a high school library.
3. I like to cook, but I'm not very good at it. I set the fire alarm off in my house almost every night.
4. My husband and I went to Disney World on our honeymoon.
5. I knew I wanted to be a writer way back in third grade but I abandoned my dream around the time I started college. When I was pregnant with my second child, my husband found some of my old notebooks in the attic and convinced me to start writing again. Until then, he didn't know I had ever wanted to be a writer.
Author Interview: Kara Bietz (UNTIL I BREAK)
3/14/2017 0 Comments
Picture
Last week at a Highlights workshop, I was lucky enough to meet Kara Bietz, a YA author whose recent debut, UNTIL I BREAK deals with the difficult and often morally charged issue of school bullying. Kara was kind enough to share her work with me and her insights into her process in the following interview, as well as to give us a sneak peek into what she's working on now. I hope you enjoy our conversation ...
KC: The first thing that struck me about your debut YA novel, UNTIL I BREAK, (after the arresting cover design) is the way you handle the movement of time in the book, jumping back and forth from the present to the past. What were the main challenges of writing with that kind of structure, and how did you go about it?
KB: The first draft of this story certainly didn't start off this way! As I wrote that draft, I kept thinking that it would be a much more interesting story if we knew the ending FIRST, and then went back and built on why the heck this kid was standing in the school hallway with a gun. As I worked through a backwards version of what I had already written, I had another thought...that going backward wasn't getting to the heart of what was happening, either. That I also needed an element of "future". It was a very muddy writing process, that's for sure, but when I finally landed on the back and forth structure, the story unfolded easily. One of the challenges I did have once I decided on the structure was making sure that each individual timeline could stand on it's own, as well as mesh seamlessly with the other timeline.
KC: The book is written in the first person POV from the protagonist's (Sam's) perspective. Did you have any difficulties writing a first person narrative in the voice of a young man?
KB: When I sit down to write, usually what comes out is the voice of a teenage boy. I don't know what that says about me, honestly, but it's a voice I'm very comfortable with.
KC: The story is fraught with moral complexity. There are no real "good guys" or "bad guys." All the characters feel more like "works in progress," trying to cope with their pasts in a way that helps them to handle their futures, even when their decisions are troubling or morally ambiguous. Thus, they all feel very rounded and true to life. How difficult was it for you to craft characters who are neither all good, nor all bad, but who all make troubling choices?
KB: I think we all have those moments in our past when we've made REALLY TERRIBLE decisions that affected not only ourselves but the people around us as well. No one out there is perfect, and I think it's important to show that one bad decision doesn't have to define you. Will it change your life? Absolutely. Can you recover from it? Absolutely. Life is a series of these decisions...sometimes you make the right one and sometimes you don't. I believe it's imperative that, as writers, we write real people. The good, the bad, the ugly, terrible choices and all.
KC: Can you name some of the authors/books who have influenced you most as a writer?
KB: My favorite writer of all time is Laurie Halse Anderson. Her book SPEAK is what made me sit down and start writing again after many years of keeping that part of me silent. While there are several authors that write about difficult topics, that book in particular showed me that it was okay to write about the not-so-pretty parts of adolescence. The gritty and real things not everyone wants to talk about. Some other influences were Chris Crutcher, Francesca Lia Block and E. Lockhart. During the early drafting phase of Until I Break, I read Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson. I remember finishing it and thinking HOLY CRAP...THAT'S how you tell a story. That, in addition to Speak, are books that have stayed with me for years.
KC: What are you working on now?
KB: I am in the thick of a first draft for a new contemporary YA that will be released from Riptide Publishing in the Fall of 2018. It is called UNAFRAID and it is an LGBTQ contemporary YA retelling of the Marius and Eponine story in Les Miserables, set in a football-obsessed, small town Texas high school. I'm really excited about it and proud to be writing it.
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and your process with us, Kara! We look forward to UNAFRAID!!!!
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June 8, 2016
MEET THE NEWBIES – KARA BIETZ {INTERVIEW + GIVEAWAY!}
Meet the Newbies: Kara Bietz – Author of Until I Break
Meet the Newbies
Meet the Newbies is a blog event hosted by Rachel at A Perfection Called Books dedicated to introducing you to the “newbie” published debut authors. In this event, expect to learn more about the authors, their books, and silly fun facts!
KARA BIETZ
DSC_6137 copyMost Likely To Be Found In Dark Corners With A Flashlight And A Notebook
Nickname: Bear
First Day of School: Until I Break (formerly called SLIP) releases on November 1, 2016.
Homeroom: Albert Whitman Teen
Grade: YA Realistic Fiction
Extracurricular Activities: Drama Club Stage Manager, Chorus, Observing people, Collecting tidbits and writing them down.
Favorite Class: English, Psychology, Technical Theater, Art
Favorite Quote: Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light. -Madeline L’Engle
INTERVIEW!
1. I noticed that you changed the name of your book. Why did you decide to change it from Slip to Until I Break?
The decision to change the title came from my editor. When an author finishes a book, we know that it may not stay completely in it’s original form. While sometimes it’s difficult to give up some things you may adore about your book, ultimately these decisions are for the best. A title change isn’t uncommon, and I knew it was a possibility. Thankfully, I absolutely love the new title and I think it captures the spirit of the novel beautifully.
2. In my opinion there aren’t enough YA books with male main characters, so thank you for doing that! What made you decide to have two guys as your main characters?
When the idea for this book first hit me, I immediately felt that the main character was a boy. Sam’s voice was so strong in my mind, I knew his was a story that was begging to be told. Ace’s voice came a bit later, but I knew the that the most effective voice for his character was going to be male also.
3. You deal with some heavy topics, what was your inspiration behind the book?
As a little boy, my own son dealt with some very minor bully issues. Many of my story ideas come from asking myself “what if?” questions. From there, the story grew. What would happen if a little boy continued to be bullied all through elementary and middle school and right through high school? What kind of effect would that have on a boy’s emotional growth? What if that boy also had trouble connecting with the adults in his life? What if this particular boy didn’t look like a typical bully victim? Inspiration comes in so many forms, but I truly believe that a story starts from the very smallest spark and can grow by leaps and bounds if you let your imagination wander just a little bit.
4. What do you hope readers will walk away with?
I’m hoping that my readers will walk away satisfied…but I also hope that I make readers understand that bullies and victims don’t always look how we imagine they should look. Everyone you meet may be fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Be a friend. Be available.
5. What was the most difficult thing to write in your book? The most fun?
Many of the scenes in which Sam is bullied were incredibly difficult for me to write. These characters became very real to me, and it was difficult to put them into sticky situations! Some of the most enjoyable scenes for me to write were interactions between Sam and his best friend JC. Their banter and good-natured goofing came very easy to me and I loved coming up with silly “terms of endearment” for each of them.
ABOUT THE BOOK
51E2yG3m-XL._SX332_BO1,204,203,200_-2-2 (1)UNTIL I BREAK
BY KARA BIETZ
Two boys: One, a star athlete and top student with a deep-seated need to prove himself. The other, a chip-on-his-shoulder quarterback who will never settle for second best. When gunshots echo through the halls of Broadmeadow High School, whose finger is on the trigger?
A year before the shooting, Sam North has a bright future as a well as a problem that nobody else seems to see—Ace Quinn, his neighbor and teammate. For years, Ace has been bullying and harassing Sam, yet he’s managed to deftly conceal his actions and threats from the rest of the world. As Ace’s secret rage intensifies, Sam becomes more desperate to stop him. But how far will he go? And what if Ace takes his threats even farther? ADD BOOK TO GOODREADS SHELF
ABOUT KARA BIETZ
Kara Bietz grew up in New England but now resides near Houston, Texas with her husband, two kiddos and three dogs. She’s been dreaming up stories as long as she can remember; sometimes she puts them on paper and sometimes they just live in her head. Her first literary credit was a poem about her Dad, published on Father’s Day in her hometown newspaper when she was 8.
Visit Kara online at: http://www.karabietzauthor.com TWITTER: @KaraMB75
Kara Bietz: UNTIL I BREAK
Kirkus Reviews.
(Oct. 15, 2016):
COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Kara Bietz UNTIL I BREAK Whitman (Adult Fiction) 16.99 ISBN: 978-0-8075-7438-6
Flashbacks explore events leading up to an incidence of school violence.The opening scene is full of gripping sensory
details: “The barrel of the gun is warm against my temple….[Ace’s] eyes are wide and
wild.” But it’s the careful narrative withholding of the holder of the gun's identity that really makes
the rest of the novel so interesting. As flashbacks lead up to the opening scene, readers must puzzle out which character
will ultimately become the aggressor. Sometimes it seems the shooter must be Ace, the star football player whose
father brutally punishes him for perceived on-field failures and who has a history of secretly tormenting the narrator,
Sam. But other moments suggest that it’s long-suffering Sam who may become violent. Increasingly agitated
by Ace’s bullying, Sam also starts to believe Ace plans to harm their shared childhood crush. Armed with the
knowledge of the boys’ inevitable confrontation, readers will become increasingly concerned as Sam
internalizes his grandfather’s motto, “Men are supposed to stand on their own two feet. Men
don’t ask for help. Men take care of things on their own,” a motto Sam’s and
Ace’s fathers would likely endorse as well. Ultimately their definition of masculinity may lie at the heart of
the violence. The novel is as cagey about racial identity as it is about the shooter’s, offering little by way of
description or cultural cues. Though the ending lets the shooter off rather lightly, it doesn’t negate the
novel’s cautionary message. (Fiction. 12-18)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Kara Bietz: UNTIL I BREAK." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Oct. 2016. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA466551540&it=r&asid=891b5a274f78252a0c1c5b2c3c496088.
Accessed 14 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A466551540
---
8/13/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1502683559291 2/3
Bietz, Kara: UNTIL I BREAK
Kirkus Reviews.
(Oct. 15, 2016):
COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Bietz, Kara UNTIL I BREAK Whitman (Children's Fiction) $16.99 11, 1 ISBN: 978-0-8075-7438-6
Flashbacks explore events leading up to an incidence of school violence.The opening scene is full of gripping sensory
details: "The barrel of the gun is warm against my temple....[Ace's] eyes are wide and wild." But it's the careful
narrative withholding of the holder of the gun's identity that really makes the rest of the novel so interesting. As
flashbacks lead up to the opening scene, readers must puzzle out which character will ultimately become the aggressor.
Sometimes it seems the shooter must be Ace, the star football player whose father brutally punishes him for perceived
on-field failures and who has a history of secretly tormenting the narrator, Sam. But other moments suggest that it's
long-suffering Sam who may become violent. Increasingly agitated by Ace's bullying, Sam also starts to believe Ace
plans to harm their shared childhood crush. Armed with the knowledge of the boys' inevitable confrontation, readers
will become increasingly concerned as Sam internalizes his grandfather's motto, "Men are supposed to stand on their
own two feet. Men don't ask for help. Men take care of things on their own," a motto Sam's and Ace's fathers would
likely endorse as well. Ultimately their definition of masculinity may lie at the heart of the violence. The novel is as
cagey about racial identity as it is about the shooter's, offering little by way of description or cultural cues. Though the
ending lets the shooter off rather lightly, it doesn't negate the novel's cautionary message. (Fiction. 12-18)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Bietz, Kara: UNTIL I BREAK." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Oct. 2016. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA466329290&it=r&asid=e6e6cc801ed5b1a185721bfc24fcb6c3.
Accessed 14 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A466329290
---
8/13/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1502683559291 3/3
Until I Break
Children's Bookwatch.
(Mar. 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/cbw/index.htm
Full Text:
Until I Break
Kara Bietz
Albert Whitman & Company
250 South Northwest Highway, Suite 320, Park Ridge, IL 60068
www.albertwhitman.com
9780807574386, $16.99, HC, 256pp, www.amazon.com
"Until I Break" by Kara Bietz is the story of two boys: One is a star athlete and top student with a deep-seated need to
prove himself. The other is a chip-on-his-shoulder quarterback who will never settle for second best. When gunshots
echo through the halls of Broadmeadow High School, whose finger is on the trigger? A year before the shooting, Sam
North has a bright future as well as a problem that nobody else seems to see--Ace Quinn, his neighbor and teammate.
For years, Ace has been bullying and harassing Sam, yet he's managed to conceal his actions and threats from the rest
of the world. As Ace's secret rage intensifies, Sam becomes more desperate to stop him. But how far will he go? And
what if Ace takes his threats even farther? In a novel that could be ripped from tomorrow's newspaper headlines, "Until
I Break" is a deftly crafted and compelling read from cover to cover. While very highly recommended for high school
and community library YA Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Until I Break" is also
available in a paperback edition (9780807574409, $9.99) and in a Kindle format ($9.49).
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Until I Break." Children's Bookwatch, Mar. 2017. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA491086426&it=r&asid=738e2f906196610d386b98b85efcc52d.
Accessed 14 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A491086426