Written by Teralyn Mitchell
Rachael Sparks’ debut novel, Resistant, released last month and she was kind enough to answer some questions from Teralyn about her novel, upcoming projects, writing, and more!
Tell us a little about you as a person!
I’m an unapologetic geek. I love science and have been lucky to spend my life around it and have careers that assigned reading microbiological studies as a job requirement! Cooking is another science I adore. Pasta consumes about an hour’s worth of daily thoughts, followed by cheese, bread, and beer (yea ferments!). I have a beautiful daughter and a funny, talented husband and thought we’re native Texans, we live in the mountains of Asheville, NC. If you haven’t visited, you should.
What made you want to become a writer?
I’ve always adored words. A dictionary was pleasant pastime for me as a child. Poetry and prose and the infinite ways to weave together words fascinate me. I also think writing can move mountains, can change a person’s most stalwart perspective, and that makes me want to write stories that open minds to new possibilities.
Can you describe a typical writing day?
I’d be lying if I pretended there’s any typical day in my life! My writing has to be wedged into the schedule when it can fit or when I stretch my waking hours to accommodate it. But when I write, I like to put on the soundtrack to my work-in-progress, close the office door, and get as many chapters out as I can. The closest I get to plotting is that snooze time in the morning when my daughter is still asleep.
What do you like to do when you are not writing?
Spend time with family, cook for as many people as will fit in my dining room, and explore the areas around Asheville. I love to garden and try to grow plenty of herbs and veggies for my own cooking. And when I make time for exercise, I have some podcast addictions: MBMBaM, RadioLab, and way too many political/comedy ones.
What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?
When I am just stewing ideas, I save studies and articles that inspire ideas. But mostly, I tend to research as I go, confirming that my plot will adhere to scientific fact as we know it, or looking for a loophole to twist through. When I need inspiration for settings, my secret ingredient is the New York Public Library’s digital collection. It’s an enormous trove of art and photography that I could get lost in for hours.
What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Read, write, and review. More detail below…
Read. Read a few genres you might not even prefer, because reading is training.
Write. Don’t worry about quality, just get ideas on the page. Nora Roberts (and about 20 other authors) said, “Just write, even if it’s crap. You can fix crap, you can’t fix nothing.”
Review. This goes 2 ways. First, find an honest source of feedback and develop a thick skin. Feedback is great; you don’t have to take it all, but you should appreciate it as proof that everyone has distinct tastes, including yourself. Second, review some other books thoroughly, if privately, to refresh yourself on what mistakes and weaknesses you don’t like in other people’s work.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Storytelling makes you happy. You should practice it more.
Resistant has such an intriguing premise. Can you tell us a little about the book?
Thank you! It’s set a few years in the future, when our irresponsibility with antibiotics and climate have pushed us back to Civil War medicine. A seventh of the world’s population have died from antibiotic-resistant infections, and it picks up after that with the story of Rory and her father. They are both brilliant scientists, but surviving off their farm after Rory’s mother died of an infection. When a young combat veteran shows up and asks for work on the farm, they both have no idea he will reveal secrets Rory’s parents kept from her. Her immune system has a secret. The government wants to commercialize a cure, the Resistance against the government wants a cure to give to all, and Rory becomes the pawn between them.
What was the inspiration for the story?
Partly a lifetime of watching the abuse of antibiotics and the rise of antibiotic-resistant infections. By 2050, it’s estimated that 10 million people will die of antibiotic-resistant medicines. That’s the entire population of New York City and Chicago combined.
I also had a dream that was a view of the final scenes, with this young soldier whose face was marked with odd, dark colors. Readers now know him as Navy, but at the time it was just a mystery I had to write a story to explain!
What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
I hope they say, “What a fun ride! I’d get on that one again!” because I have a sequel and other books in the works! But I also hope they have a deeper appreciation for not abusing antibiotics.
Does one of the main characters hold a special place in your heart? If so, why?
Navy is fascinating for me to write about because he is quite stoic and not forthcoming. It’s a challenge to dig out what motivates him. But I’d really like to write more about AJ, because she’s based on a close friend and there is so much more to explore about her.
What is the future for the characters? Will there be a sequel?
Definitely. Rory’s got more maturing to do, and especially in light of recent news events, it isn’t difficult to find inspiration for what might happen to a group of people with a radical idea to stay loyal to their integrity and improve the world. There’s more exploration of how climate change has broad impacts: a race for scarce resources, international espionage, and emerging diseases we haven’t seen for centuries.
Are you working on anything presently that you would like to share with us?
[high pitched squeee of delight] Yes, please! I’ve just finished a new manuscript for a novel set in Maine, both in present time and early 1700s. It’s about a CDC doctor, an epidemiologist with a secret to hide, who takes her last case in coastal Maine to help two tragically ill boys.
She’s suddenly sucked into a mystery 300 years old and hauntingly connected to her own family history: a witch accused of killing two little girls in 1722, found guilty, and executed. Her visions—memories of her ancestor’s love for a famed privateer, and her subsequent trial for accusations of witchcraft—seem oddly aligned with her own life and the secrets she left in Africa.
It’s a dose of science + historical mystery-romance + modern adventure with a pinch of witchcraft.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for us?
That’s a tall order! I’ll stick to my recent reads for fiction: I am loving The Seclusion by Jacqui Castle. Andrew Mayne’s The Naturalist series are fantastic suspense + legit science. David Walton’s The Genius Plague was…wow. For nonfic, The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone and always, always, any works by my secret crush, Erik Larson—though I’d start with Isaac’s Storm if you are new to him. It’s a brilliant telling of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900.
Resistant is available on Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
