Bestselling author connects love of history, fantasy in captivating young adult books

You might say that Alexandra Bracken's writing career is part author fairy tale. Bracken, who is not yet 30 years old, began writing YA fantasy novels about a dozen years ago while at The College of William and Mary - studying English and history - and sought to get them published. She got an offer of representation from an agent on her 21st birthday and then one morning during her senior year, Bracken got the call that she'd sold her first novel.

Today, Bracken is a No. 1 New York Times best-selling and USA Today best-selling author of several series of books for young adult readers. While she worked for a few years in the publishing industry, she now writes full time from her home in Arizona, where she is originally from.

'I don't think people are born writers, but some people are born with that instinct and drive to write, to put pencil to paper and write down songs or stories,” she said. 'From a young age I was a really avid reader. And a part of me always knew that writing would be as fun as reading. Now I know that sometimes it is and sometimes it is hard work.”

Her 'Darkest Minds” series, published in 2012, was an instant hit with fans and is currently in development for a major motion picture at Fox. Then she was asked to write a Star Wars tie-in novel ('Star Wars: A New Hope: The Princess, The Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy”) - which was particularly exciting for Bracken as her dad is a Star Wars collector and she grew up going to Star Wars conventions with him. And now her latest books, 'Passenger” and it's follow up 'Wayfarer” (which just hit shelves in January) are exploring the world of time travel, family secrets and star-crossed lovers, dazzling readers all the while.

'I think it was inevitable that I'd write a book about time travel because I love history so much, and I like to draw parallels from the past to today,” Bracken said, noting that she has a particular interest in the Revolutionary War, part of the setting for the 'Passenger” series.

Writing the two books, Bracken said, involved a lot of research. '‘Passenger' and ‘Wayfarer' were really research intensive because it wasn't just looking at small details like what shoes they would be wearing or what would they be eating but also considering how a biracial character interacts with a certain time period and how would people respond to him. And the crazy thing about writing about time travel is that you have to put a lot of rules in place. But then I get to play with alternate histories and timelines. It's an adventure from page one to the very end.”

Bracken said she, like so many readers, is drawn to the YA genre because of the high stakes - literally life or death in some cases - involved.

'It's an interesting, juicy genre because it is such a fascinating time in people's lives where there are so many defining moments and transitions. And there's something really compelling about the struggle to navigate the space between worlds, whether figurative space between childhood and adulthood or a literal fantasy world. And I like that in the books the characters themselves are shoving up against limitations,” she said.

Bracken said she tries to balance her work day - which she tries to keep to a 9-to-5 schedule - with writing and keeping up with her fans on social media. 'It's interesting to have such direct access to readers and have them have direct access to you. You want to be authentic and invite readers to see your world but you need boundaries too.”

'And I am kind of always working on three books at one time,” she added, noting that right now she is revising one manuscript and working on developing a new one. Her next book, a middle grade story about a lucky family who realizes an old family curse may soon bring their luck to an end, will be out in the fall of 2017.

'I am so grateful that I get to do this job,” Bracken said. 'It's really the only job I've truly ever wanted to have and I feel very lucky that it happened for me.”

For more information on Alexandra Bracken and her novels, visit www.alexandrabracken.com.