Ciera Burch wanted to write about how queerness and growing up can be confusing, so she wrote "Out of Step, Into You."
What was your inspiration behind your "Out of Step, Into You?"
My initial inspiration was the inherent queerness in so many female friendships, or at least in my own, growing up, before I even knew I was queer in any way. So many AFAB people are socialized with deeper, often more emotional and physical than AMAB friendships might look like. Girls are always touching each other — doing hair or makeup or playing hand clapping games. They’re often sharing a bed during sleepovers and telling stories with the door open while they pee. There’s so often a freeness in those friendships, but they come with a deep emotional core and depth, so that when they end it truly does feel like a breakup.
I wanted to explore those feelings — and what happens when both girls are queer and there’s something else blossoming there alongside the friendship. What happens when it ends? I still have all my original notes in my phone where I jotted things down like “the childhood self who you were with them and the new, teenage self you are now and falling back into old roles with this person who is a stranger now.”
So, yes, my inspiration was just girls and how deeply they feel and love and are and how queerness can be confusing and so can growing up and so can understanding (or trying to!) other people.
What does Reading Rainbow mean to you?
To me, it means happily and proudly reading queer stories. It means seeking them out and advocating for more and asking my library to get new queer titles or posting about the ones I’m excited about online. It means reading books with queer characters on the covers — out and about in public, for me, but maybe more secretly for someone else, as long as we’re still reading and loving and embracing these stories that have queer people across al spectrums front and center.
Why do you feel representation of a variety of people is so important when it comes to writing books?
Because a variety of people exist and will continue to exist in the world, and books should reflect that! It does wonders for people to see themselves in a book, but it also does wonders for people to feel seen, to consider and question things they might not have had the opportunity to in their real, day-to-day lives. Whether books help someone understand themselves better, understand more of where a friend or neighbor stranger might be coming from or dealing with, or simply inspire more empathy in a person for the breadth of humanity and all our differences, that’s no small feat. That is important. That is powerful. That is affirming. People wouldn’t be trying to ban books if it wasn’t.
Tell us a little more about the book and why you decided to write it
"Out of Step, Into You" is what I like to call my friends-to-rivals-to-lovers book. It’s about two teen girls, Taylor and Marianna, who were best friends at one point and broke apart after one moved away. Shortly after, they became the captains of rival cross-country teams and the rivalry of the sport helped old feelings fester between them, Then, Mari moved back and they’re on the same team again, having to navigate old grudges and bitterness, but also those former feelings of connection and the uncertain, blossoming romantic feelings that had begun cropping up in their past.
I wrote it for all the girls who’ve been ever experienced homoerotic close friendships, anyone who has experienced a friendship break up and how painful those can be, teens and anyone who feels like they aren’t sure what to do next in their loves, and also dog lovers.
What can fans expect from your book?
Pining, girls arguing, girls kissing, lots of cross-country running, cute dogs, slight family drama and parentification, teen angst, and human connection.
What's up next for you in the bookish world?
My next book is a MG about a young girl discovering she’s aroace (aromantic and asexual)…and turning literally invisible because of people’s lack of belief in her/her orientation.
