dozens of beloved books that have collectively sold more than 11 million copies and have been translated into more than twenty languages.
Raised in Washington State, Bybee moved to Southern California in the hope of becoming a movie star. After growing bored with waiting tables, she returned to school and became a registered nurse, spending most of her career in urban emergency rooms. She now writes full time and has penned The Not Quite series, The Weekday Brides series, The Most Likely To series, and The First Wives series.
Bybee's new novel is All Our Tomorrows.
My Q&A with the author:
What’s in a name?Visit Catherine Bybee's website.
After forty plus novels sometimes the names I pick depend on what I haven’t used in the past. But most of the time I choose names that represent both the age and the nationality or background of my characters. When I start a new cast of characters, I ask myself who their parents were. Would the hero have his father’s name? If his parents were hippies from the 60’s, is the name on his birth certificate Moon Child? These two characters would likely have completely different childhoods and different challenges they would need to overcome in the story that I’m telling. If my characters are in law enforcement or the military, I have many people in the story call them by their last names.
In the case of All Our Tomorrows, my hero’s name suits both his age and his background. Male, one syllable names are often viewed as strong and capable. That is certainly the truth about Chase Stone. His deceased father was entirely too narcissistic in life to believe anyone could live up to his name, and certainly wouldn’t have given his first name to his son. At the same time, he would have wanted his son to have a strong name. A name like Bartholomew wouldn’t work. While Bartholomew is a nice name, it doesn't scream confidence and powerful.
Conversely, Piper, my heroine, has a name that feels soft. Yet she is anything but. Much like the name of her dog… (I’ll let you read the book and discover that gem).
Names are super important to my writing process. I like nicknames that my characters create for each other. As with Piper and Chase. Piper rubs in Chase’s new-found billionaire status that he’s completely uncomfortable and unfamiliar with, in an effort to keep him down to earth.
How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?
Shocked. It often comes as a surprise to my readers that I was not the best student in high school. I barely pulled a C out of English Lit and still struggle with spelling. However, I have always been a fantastic storyteller. And thankfully technology has removed the obstacles that would have prevented me from my current career. The craft of this novel would
e amazed me, the content however, wouldn’t have. I’ve always read books with happy endings. I knew if I ever actually wrote a book, it wouldn’t be one where the hero or heroine dies at the end.
Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?
Getting started is a challenge, but once I’m in, I’m good. The middle is the struggle. It is often where a reader will lose interest if plots aren’t twisting and questions aren’t being asked. So long as I remember what plots need to be tied up, the ending takes care of itself.
Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?
Yes, yes and sometimes. It is difficult not to interject my personality with my characters. There have been flat-out plots I’ve used pulled out of the pages of my life. My last two series are prime examples of that. Why reinvent the wheel whenyou don’t have to? I’ve colorful life and see no reason to not use that in my work. If I’m writing about a character with abandonment issues…I know that life. Been there, done that. Is my character a parent? A single parent? Have they lost someonWhile everything I just mentioned are circumstances, these are the things that shape the nature of my characters. Are they led by fear or strong despite how they grew up? I write by the rule, “If I’m not crying laughing or swooning as I’m writing a book, my reader isn’t either.” So yes, I see myself in my books often.
As for the characters that are nothing like me, I try hard to put myself in their shoes as I’m writing. I feel like I’m role playing all alone in my office at my computer. It’s awesome!
There are an infinite amount of personalities out there.
I’m a professional people watcher. Utterly fascinated by the difference between each and every one of us.
Yet we all have one thing in common. At the end of the day…we are all heroes of our own story. Even the bad guys.
What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?
My personal struggles of course. I was an ER Trauma Nurse for many years. If you read the Author’s Note in the back of All Our Tomorrows, I spell out exactly what influenced this book.
I travel as often as I can and those experiences and the people I meet along the way, inspire locations and characters that I write about. I’ve also lived 55 years on this floating rock, have two grown children and a completely different life than I had ten years ago.
Inspiration is everywhere. You just need to open your eyes and look.
--Marshal Zeringue