Lexi: Tragedy can bring two people together, but what happens when they’re hiding their pasts and searching for each other's secrets to expose them? That’s what you get in SOME OF IT WAS REAL and you do not want to miss it! And here to talk about it today is the author—welcome, Nan Fischer!
Nan: Thanks so much for reading SOME OF IT WAS REAL and interviewing me Lexi! I’m thrilled you loved the story and so happy to answer your questions.
Lexi: Reading the blurb for this book makes me want to shove money at my bookstore and immediately receive a copy! You set up two characters who have deep, emotional scars against one another—and nothing is black and white! Do we get both Sylvie and Thomas’ POVs throughout the book?
Nan: Yes you get both POVs throughout the story in alternating chapters. Sylvie and Thomas were really interesting characters to write. Sylvie suffers from imposter syndrome despite the fact that her psychic abilities have helped so many people. Part of this is because she doesn’t know her own origin story (the early memories that explain who we are and the choices we make), and part is because of the immense pressure she feels to help people who are suffering. Thomas, on the other hand, is an investigative journalist and very certain that the world is black and white. Writing a character who has his beliefs challenged and struggles to hold on to them allowed me to write for the skeptic in all of us. Plus, Thomas and Sylvie have a delicious game of cat-and-mouse and more in common than they originally imagined!
Lexi: I love being able to see the story through both sides. On one hand you have the psychic medium, Sylvie, who is gaining fame doing shows. On the other hand you have Thomas who is about to lose his reporting job unless he can crack a huge story—exposing Sylvie as a fraud. Which POV was easier for you to write?
Nan: Once I developed both characters’ back stories they were equally fascinating to write. I think all of us suffer from imposter syndrome at some point in our lives and I’m no exception, so I could relate to Sylvie’s fears and ultimately her courage. And Thomas is so intractable at the start of the book, and I can understand being stubborn and holding on to beliefs, so it was fun to create a situation where, bit by bit, Thomas had to open his mind to possibilities and face his own faulty origin story, which required great courage, too.
Lexi: What isn’t easy is the relationship that grows between Sylvie and Thomas. Thomas deals in cold, hard facts while Sylvie’s talent is an intangible one. Two opposing sides. How did you research this book with such different characters?
Nan: I spent a lot of time watching shows about psychic mediums, reading articles written by people whose life’s work is to expose psychics as grief vampires and frauds and researching the history of psychics from both sides. I thought after going down the rabbit hole of research I’d emerge with a definitive answer as to what I believe. Instead, I realized that as long as a psychic isn’t trying to steal someone’s money/life savings and is attempting to alleviate their client’s angst and grief that it doesn’t matter what’s real to me. Sometimes a psychic has the ability to do what years of therapy can’t—help people move on!
Lexi: Well, we’re definitely one sided about SOME OF IT WAS REAL and it’s 100% excited!! Thank you so much for stopping by, Nan. Cheers to your upcoming release!
Nan: Cheers to you and thanks so much for the lovely chat!
About the Book
by Nan Fischer
Paperback, 352 pages
Published July 26th 2022 by Berkley
ISBN0593438698
A psychic on the verge of stardom who isn’t sure she believes in herself and a cynical journalist with one last chance at redemption are brought together by secrets from the past that also threaten to tear them apart.
Psychic-medium Sylvie Young starts every show with her origin story, telling the audience how she discovered her abilities. But she leaves out a lot—the plane crash that killed her parents, an estranged adoptive family who tend orchards in rainy Oregon, panic attacks, and the fact that her agent insists she research some clients to ensure success.
After a catastrophic reporting error, Thomas Holmes’s next story at the L.A. Times may be his last, but he’s got a great personal pitch. “Grief vampires” like Sylvie who prey upon the loved ones of the deceased have bankrupted his mother. He’s dead set on using his last-chance article to expose Sylvie as a conniving fraud and resurrect his career.
When Sylvie and Thomas collide, a game of cat and mouse ensues, but the secrets they’re keeping from each other are nothing compared to the mysteries and lies they unearth about Sylvie’s past. Searching for the truth might destroy them both—but it’s the only way to find out what’s real.
About the Author
Nan Fischer is the author of Some Of It Was Real (July 2022, Berkley Publishing), and the young adult novels, When Elephants Fly and The Speed of Falling Objects. Additional author credits include Junior Jedi Knights, a middle grade Star Wars trilogy for LucasFilm, and co-authored sport autobiographies for elite athletes including #1 ranked tennis superstar Monica Seles, Triple Crown race winning jockey Julie Krone, Olympic gold medal speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno, legendary gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi, and Olympic gold medal gymnasts Nadia Comaneci and Shannon Miller. Honors include:
Two-time Oregon Book Award Finalist
Parade Top 20 Most Anticipated Books
#1 on Bookstr’s Top 15 Unputdownable YA Reads
The Culturalist Top Ten Most Anticipated YA Books
Hypable Books You Can’t Afford to Miss!
Bookstr 10 Amazing New YA Books Adults Will Love, Too
Missouri Gateway Reader Award Nominee
Hypable 15 Best YA Novels of 2019
Buzzfeed Most Anticipated Contemporary YA New Releases
A graduate of Cornell University and former Traveling Writer for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and Senior Campaign Writer for The University of California, San Francisco, Nan’s articles have appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, The Huffington Post, Powell’s Book Blog, YA Books Central, Germ Magazine, Hypable, and School Library Journal.
Nan lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, Henry, and sometimes vorpal, but always lovable, Vizsla, Boone. When she’s not conjuring a story or reading, Nan can be found hiking, biking, kitesurfing, skiing or planning her family’s next adventure.
Website: https://nanfischerauthor.com/
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