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Today on TextbookNova, we\u2019re excited to welcome Cara Newman<\/a>, author of Trail of \u201998<\/em><\/a>, a young adult historical adventure inspired by the Klondike Gold Rush and the dangerous journey along the historic Trail of \u201998. In this interview, Cara shares how a train ride through Skagway, Alaska sparked the idea for the novel, why she built the story around Salik\u2019s deeply personal mission to help his sick\u00a0mother, and what it was like to write and publish a book at just 14 years old. She also reflects on the lessons she learned from finishing her first novel, her approach to the upcoming Shattered Trails<\/em>, and her advice for other young writers hoping to bring their own stories to life.<\/p>\n Textbook Nova: <\/b>What inspired you to write Trail of \u201998?<\/p>\n Cara Newman:<\/strong> I was on a train ride in Skagway, Alaska, on this route called the White Pass and Yukon, and I remember just being completely in awe of everything around me. At one point I saw a sign that said \u201cTrail of \u201998,\u201d and something about it just stuck with me. In that moment, I could almost picture a story forming around it, like everything clicked all at once. I didn\u2019t overthink it\u2013 I actually started writing a draft right there on the train while everything was still fresh in my mind, just trying to capture everything before it faded away.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n TBN: <\/strong>What drew you to setting the story on the \u201ctrail of \u201998\u201d and around the search for gold?<\/p>\n CN: <\/strong>I chose the Trail of \u201998 because it represents this really intense part of history where people were willing to risk everything and push themselves to their absolute limits for the idea of gold and a better life. That kind of determination and desperation felt like a powerful foundation for a story. I didn\u2019t just want it to be about gold itself, but about what people are willing to go through when they believe something bigger is waiting for them at the end of a dangerous journey. I wanted that same sense of urgency, struggle, and adventure to really drive the world of the book.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n TBN: <\/strong>Your book follows Salik as he tries to help his sick mother. Why did you choose that emotional motivation for the story?<\/p>\n CN: <\/strong>I gave Salik that motivation because I wanted the story to have something deeply personal at its core. The Gold Rush setting is huge and chaotic, with all these external dangers and challenges, but I didn\u2019t want the story to just be about survival on the outside. His mother gave him something emotional to hold onto\u2013 something that grounds him and explains why he keeps going even when everything is stacked against him. It turns the journey into something more than just adventure; it becomes about love, responsibility, and the idea that sometimes the strongest motivation comes from the people we care about most.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n TBN: <\/strong>How did you research the historical setting for the novel?<\/p>\n CN: <\/strong>I did a mix of research and imagination. I looked into real accounts of the Klondike Gold Rush and the Trail of \u201998 using sources like the National Park Service and History.com to get a sense of what the journey and conditions were actually like. Then I took that information and used it as a foundation for the story, filling in the gaps with imagination to make sure it still felt engaging while staying grounded in real history.<\/span><\/p>\n TBN: <\/strong>What was the hardest part of writing a story focused on danger, survival, and sacrifice?<\/p>\n CN: <\/strong>The hardest part was balancing the action with emotion and making sure the story didn\u2019t just become nonstop intensity. With a setting like the Trail of \u201998, there\u2019s already so much built-in danger, but I didn\u2019t want it to feel one-dimensional or like things were happening just for the sake of excitement. I wanted readers to actually care about Salik and what he was going through, which meant slowing down in certain moments and focusing more on how the challenges affected him emotionally, not just physically. It was a challenge to make those intense scenes feel meaningful and connected to his motivation instead of just being dramatic moments.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n TBN: <\/strong>Since you wrote Trail of \u201898 at age 14, what was the experience of publishing a novel so young?<\/p>\n CN: <\/strong>It was honestly kind of crazy. At first it didn\u2019t even feel real that something I wrote could actually become a book. But it was also really exciting, because it made me realize that age doesn\u2019t really matter as much as people think if you\u2019re willing to put in the work. I published it through Kindle Direct Publishing, which I found with the help of one of my uncles, and that made the whole thing feel a lot more possible. I had to figure a lot of stuff out along the way, which wasn\u2019t always easy, but it made it way more rewarding when I finally saw the finished book out there.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n TBN: <\/strong>What did you learn about yourself as a writer while working on your first book?<\/p>\n CN: <\/strong>I learned that I can actually stick with something long enough to finish it. Writing a book isn\u2019t just about having an idea\u2013 it\u2019s about continuing even when it gets hard or you lose motivation. I also learned that not everything has to be perfect. At some point, you just have to decide you\u2019re done and stop stressing over every little detail, or you\u2019ll never finish. That was probably the biggest thing I took away from it.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n TBN: <\/strong>What do you hope teen readers connect with most in Trail of \u201998?<\/p>\n CN: <\/strong>I hope they connect with Salik\u2019s determination. Even though his situation is extreme, the idea of pushing through challenges for someone you care about is something a lot of people can relate to. I also hope they take away that strength doesn\u2019t always look big or obvious. Sometimes it\u2019s quiet, like choosing to keep going or being there for someone else. And even if you feel small or overlooked, that doesn\u2019t mean what you carry isn\u2019t heavy\u2013 or that you\u2019re not strong enough to handle it.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n TBN:<\/strong> How has writing Trail of \u201998 influenced the way you\u2019re approaching Shattered Trails?<\/p>\n CN: <\/strong>It\u2019s made me a lot more patient with the process. With Trail of \u201998, I kind of rushed myself because I wanted it published by a certain deadline\u2013 my birthday\u2013 and that made things more stressful than they needed to be. This time, I\u2019m not doing that. I want to take my time, make sure everything flows better, and actually enjoy the process more instead of just trying to finish as fast as possible. I think that\u2019s going to make the story stronger in the end too.<\/span><\/p>\n TBN: <\/strong>What advice would you give to other young writers who want to finish and publish their own book?<\/p>\n CN: <\/strong>Don\u2019t wait until everything feels perfect\u2013 just start writing and stay consistent, because finishing your first book is the hardest part. Also, don\u2019t expect everything to go smoothly, especially with publishing\u2013 finding a publisher quickly is actually really rare. If you\u2019re writing to express yourself or tell a story you care about, I\u2019d recommend self-publishing through something like Kindle Direct Publishing or IngramSpark since it\u2019s more accessible and lets you get your work out there. But if your goal is traditional publishing, you have to be ready for the process\u2013 it can take weeks or even months of reaching out, and you\u2019ll probably hear \u201cno\u201d a lot, which can be discouraging, but it also teaches you a lot and builds real-world skills, so it really depends on what you want and what you\u2019re willing to go through.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today on TextbookNova, we\u2019re excited to welcome Cara Newman, author of Trail of \u201998, a young adult historical adventure inspired by the Klondike Gold Rush and the dangerous journey along the historic Trail of \u201998. In this interview, Cara shares how a train ride through Skagway, Alaska sparked the idea for the novel, why she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[62,340,339],"class_list":["post-1480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","tag-author-interview","tag-authors","tag-interview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbooknova.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbooknova.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbooknova.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbooknova.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbooknova.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1480"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/textbooknova.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1485,"href":"https:\/\/textbooknova.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480\/revisions\/1485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbooknova.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbooknova.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbooknova.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbooknova.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Cara](\"https:\/\/textbooknova.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-2-279x300.jpeg\")
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