Interview with Nita Tyndall, author of Who I Was With Her

Welcome to a new feature on the Pride Book Tours website, author interviews! This week, Pride Book Tours launched our tour of the wonderful Who I Was With Her by Nita Tyndall and I was so excited to get to ask Nita themself some questions about their debut! For more exciting content to do with Who I Was With Her, don't forget to check out our Instagram page! Enjoy! - Sasha <3

Hiya Nita, it’s great to talk to you about your upcoming debut, Who I Was With Her! Can you tell us a little about it?

Hi, absolutely! Who I Was with Her follows a bisexual teenage girl named Corinne who's secretly dating the captain of the rival cross-country team, Maggie Bailey. But when Maggie suddenly dies, Corinne has no one to turn to, as no one knew about their relationship. It's about grief and coming out and dealing with loss while still being in the closet. 

What was your first inspiration or idea for Who I Was With Her and how has the book changed from there?

I always start with first lines, and the line "When I hear that she's dead, I run" just popped into my head one day and I knew I had to tell that girl's story and figure out who she was. The line hasn't changed since my first draft, and while the core concept has stayed the same--a girl dealing with her secret girlfriend's death--a lot of things have changed, such as Elissa (Maggie's ex)'s role in the story and Corinne's own personal journey.

What was the most difficult thing about writing Who I Was With Her, and what did you enjoy most?

Dealing with Corinne's grief and being in her head for a long period of time was difficult, so I definitely found myself taking breaks or trying to work on the flashbacks that deal with the happier parts of her and Maggie's relationship. Honestly, I enjoyed all the research the most--I didn't do any sort of sports in high school so getting to research cross-country and what that recruiting process was like was incredibly fun for me!

Grief and dealing with loss is a significant part of Who I Was With Her. Can you tell us a bit about this theme in your book and what made you want to write about it? 

Sure! I really wanted to explore what loss would be like if no one knew you were even grieving someone, particularly in the age of social media, where grief is still something that's both intensely private and very public--I've found out about friends or people I knew dying via Twitter or Facebook, and there's still something really jarring about that, so I wanted to explore what it would be like for Corinne, who can't have that public grief for herself (and who feels like she doesn't deserve to grieve Maggie anyway, since no one knew about them.) 

I’d love to hear about your taste in books! What have been your favourites of 2020 so far and what are you anticipating for this or next year?

Yes! This year I've absolutely adored several sapphic books, like Leah Johnson's You Should See Me In a Crown and Adiba Jaigirdar's The Henna Wars. On the adult side of things I'm reading Mexican Gothic right now and LOVE it. For next year I'm super excited about Malinda Lo's Last Night at the Telegraph Club and Emery Lee's Meet Cute Diary, as well as A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee.

Who I Was With Her is out now and available to purchase! What’s one thing you hope readers take away from your book?

I really hope readers take away that it's okay to not know who you are at seventeen, that you can take your time to come out and come out on your own terms, and that being out is an intensely personal decision that only you can make for yourself. No matter where you are on your journey, that's valid. 

Thanks so much to Nita for answering my questions with such wonderful answers, this makes me even more hyped to read Who I Was With Her!

If you feel the same, don't forget to add Who I Was With Her on Goodreads or buy a copy on Hive, Amazon, Waterstones or your local indie!