Ask the Author: Jennifer Greene
Answered Questions (8)
Jennifer Greene
I'm currently working on the 2nd book in the Snowflake Sisters novels--the first one, I just finished---HIDEAWAY AT SILVER LAKE. It'll be out in January of 2023.
Jennifer Greene
This is probably a weird answer...but I find writing cathartic. I get to work through traumatic things that have happened to me, right wrongs, destroy the villains, exult in the good always winning.
More than that, often enough, I feel guilty to be paid for something I love so much. Most people never seem to have work they truly love. I know exactly how hard writing is--especially long term writing. But the creative and emotional payback is rare and wonderful.
More than that, often enough, I feel guilty to be paid for something I love so much. Most people never seem to have work they truly love. I know exactly how hard writing is--especially long term writing. But the creative and emotional payback is rare and wonderful.
Jennifer Greene
I would love to 'travel' to Williamsburg in early America--to set a book where there was a woman apothecary dealing with the same women's health issues we deal with today.
I love that era. Although so much of our world is hugely different today, when I study history I find the opposite. We're the same. We struggle to find moral values, to do the right thing, to create families and marriages and 'lives' that are enabled to thrive. Men and women still have different medical ideas--different financial values based on gender. From birth control to STD's to abortions to childbirth issues--women then, as now, found ways to better their lives. And as now, they sometimes had to go outside the law (or their religious values) to achieve that goal.
I love that era. Although so much of our world is hugely different today, when I study history I find the opposite. We're the same. We struggle to find moral values, to do the right thing, to create families and marriages and 'lives' that are enabled to thrive. Men and women still have different medical ideas--different financial values based on gender. From birth control to STD's to abortions to childbirth issues--women then, as now, found ways to better their lives. And as now, they sometimes had to go outside the law (or their religious values) to achieve that goal.
Jennifer Greene
The next book I have coming out is for Avon--next January. (Can't wait!)
But initially the gang--editor/publisher/agent/me--all talked about wanting a Christmas or winter book. A soft heart book. An easy read, with humor. Characters who are real and yet fun.
So that was the frame on the picture, but not the picture itself.
I see--and know--so many great women who are stretched thin. They have serious, wonderful jobs--a family to care for--a house to take care of--friends and family who need their time. They wake up exhausted and they go to bed exhausted. They don't want to give any of this up--they love their lives, their work, their families. But they're so tired they're close to breaking.
That's my heroine. Who doesn't know how to fix herself or her life, but is painfully aware she simply has to change her life as it is, or she's not going to make it.
Sharing: that's not the story they asked me for. But trying to share a key to writing. You find out what the trends are, what's selling, why it's selling. And use that for the frame--but you create the picture inside the frame, something personal to you, to your readers, something that matters to you--and hopefully that readers your readers as well.
I loved writing this one. For just those reasons. But I also because I could put spaghetti ice cream and an Irish Wolfhound in it. :) :)
But initially the gang--editor/publisher/agent/me--all talked about wanting a Christmas or winter book. A soft heart book. An easy read, with humor. Characters who are real and yet fun.
So that was the frame on the picture, but not the picture itself.
I see--and know--so many great women who are stretched thin. They have serious, wonderful jobs--a family to care for--a house to take care of--friends and family who need their time. They wake up exhausted and they go to bed exhausted. They don't want to give any of this up--they love their lives, their work, their families. But they're so tired they're close to breaking.
That's my heroine. Who doesn't know how to fix herself or her life, but is painfully aware she simply has to change her life as it is, or she's not going to make it.
Sharing: that's not the story they asked me for. But trying to share a key to writing. You find out what the trends are, what's selling, why it's selling. And use that for the frame--but you create the picture inside the frame, something personal to you, to your readers, something that matters to you--and hopefully that readers your readers as well.
I loved writing this one. For just those reasons. But I also because I could put spaghetti ice cream and an Irish Wolfhound in it. :) :)
Jennifer Greene
Everywhere in life. My favorite themes involve women's rights/women's issues--not in ANY political way. But I believe books reach readers--in a non-judgmental, easy way. Fiction doesn't tell you what to do. Fiction shows you how characters behave...if you're talking women's stories, you're talking how good men behave, what defines good women and good men. Everyone has trouble. Everyone has something in the closet they don't want discovered. Everyone wants to believe someone would be there for them--even if they knew the dark secrets, the mistakes, the fears.
The best books come from the gut. Honesty doesn't come from a moral code; it comes from the heart. No matter how long you've written, there are always stories 'down deep'...the more you can be 'real' with the reader, the more you offer them a read that hits home.
You could write a book today---and twenty years from now write the same book. I had a humorous battle with a dear dear writing friend--we'd both written books, on the same themes, for years, without once being aware we were doing 'the same thing.' Of course we weren't. No one can write a book your way but you. That book won't be 'less' 20 years from now. It would just offer new ways of thinking and believing that you didn't know back then.
Trying to say: most authors find they tend to love a certain theme or range of themes. That they tend to be inspired by the same type of conflict. Half the time, we don't know that when we first start? But if you can identify, at the gut level, what really matters to you, that core heart theme, you'll find what your strongest inspiration is.
The best books come from the gut. Honesty doesn't come from a moral code; it comes from the heart. No matter how long you've written, there are always stories 'down deep'...the more you can be 'real' with the reader, the more you offer them a read that hits home.
You could write a book today---and twenty years from now write the same book. I had a humorous battle with a dear dear writing friend--we'd both written books, on the same themes, for years, without once being aware we were doing 'the same thing.' Of course we weren't. No one can write a book your way but you. That book won't be 'less' 20 years from now. It would just offer new ways of thinking and believing that you didn't know back then.
Trying to say: most authors find they tend to love a certain theme or range of themes. That they tend to be inspired by the same type of conflict. Half the time, we don't know that when we first start? But if you can identify, at the gut level, what really matters to you, that core heart theme, you'll find what your strongest inspiration is.
Jennifer Greene
If you want to write, WRITE. Don't waste your breath saying you don't have time or you don't know how and all that la de da. Do it. Make time for it. The only way you can grow as a writer--and to discover if you really want to be a writer -- is to do the work.
Most people want to 'be a writer' but they don't want to write. If you don't want to write, this career would be painful and discouraging. No one learns to write by wishing they could. It takes draft on draft on draft. Throwing all that out and starting again. I had six manuscripts in the closet before I sent out to publishers. (But at this point I've written/sold somewhere around 87 books.)
Not saying that to discourage you but to encourage you. If you just thought all you'd need was to put the words down once and send it in, you're not likely to 'hit' success--at least most of us having. If you know that you need practice and skills and that you can be ruthless about your craft--it won't seem so terrible to know you need to do rewriting. It can be satisfying. Creatively and personally. You wouldn't want a brain surgeon to pick up a scalpel before he went to med school, would you? Love the work and it'll love you back. Give it a chance.
Most people want to 'be a writer' but they don't want to write. If you don't want to write, this career would be painful and discouraging. No one learns to write by wishing they could. It takes draft on draft on draft. Throwing all that out and starting again. I had six manuscripts in the closet before I sent out to publishers. (But at this point I've written/sold somewhere around 87 books.)
Not saying that to discourage you but to encourage you. If you just thought all you'd need was to put the words down once and send it in, you're not likely to 'hit' success--at least most of us having. If you know that you need practice and skills and that you can be ruthless about your craft--it won't seem so terrible to know you need to do rewriting. It can be satisfying. Creatively and personally. You wouldn't want a brain surgeon to pick up a scalpel before he went to med school, would you? Love the work and it'll love you back. Give it a chance.
Jennifer Greene
Humorous answer--to be locked in an elevator with a dozen politicans
(I know. That's not two sentences. But am certain I could make a horror story out of that.)
Serious answers--this isn't strictly a horror story, more of a horrifying story--
But I can see a young girl trapped by adult she's supposed to trust--who everyone else respects and likes. She sees an evil noone else sees, and has to find a way to protect herself when no one else believes her.
(I know. That's not two sentences. But am certain I could make a horror story out of that.)
Serious answers--this isn't strictly a horror story, more of a horrifying story--
But I can see a young girl trapped by adult she's supposed to trust--who everyone else respects and likes. She sees an evil noone else sees, and has to find a way to protect herself when no one else believes her.
Jennifer Greene
Lots of ways. Burnout is different from writer's block--but WB is when you're stuck on a story, don't know where to get next, what should happen.
1) When you finish a chapter or scene, and are hot to quit for the day--don't. Splash out some things you want to do next; the conflict you want to work with; bits of dialogue--whatever comes to mind. The point is: give yourself a place to start the next day instead of facing a blank page.
2) Make a board that you can keep in sight. Put pics of your characters/names/their homes--e.g. you don't want to have to relook up info and put yourself in a stall. Have the theme, the conflict easy to remember. Put something at stake in every scene.
3) Give yourself physical triggers to get back in the story. Chose some music/song that puts you in the mood of the story. I put a bowl of Georgia clay when I was writing a story set in Georgia. Had a cameo on my desk as a symbol/talisman for a different story. A bowl of jelly beans for a different story. Saying: give yourself sensory triggers to climb back into the story and your characters' lives.
4. Stressed about real life? Hey, me too. Give yourself a set time when you can wring hands all you want. But when you sit down at the computer to write, give yourself permission to lock the stress in a closet. This is your time. Nothing gets to intrude.
5. I know it sounds a little silly--but you need to have fun with your writing. I don't mean the story has to be fun; it can be as dark as you want. But every writer stalls if the work is onerous--writing is exhausting, but it CAN give back to you if it's creatively satisfying. You have to protect that right...and only you can.
1) When you finish a chapter or scene, and are hot to quit for the day--don't. Splash out some things you want to do next; the conflict you want to work with; bits of dialogue--whatever comes to mind. The point is: give yourself a place to start the next day instead of facing a blank page.
2) Make a board that you can keep in sight. Put pics of your characters/names/their homes--e.g. you don't want to have to relook up info and put yourself in a stall. Have the theme, the conflict easy to remember. Put something at stake in every scene.
3) Give yourself physical triggers to get back in the story. Chose some music/song that puts you in the mood of the story. I put a bowl of Georgia clay when I was writing a story set in Georgia. Had a cameo on my desk as a symbol/talisman for a different story. A bowl of jelly beans for a different story. Saying: give yourself sensory triggers to climb back into the story and your characters' lives.
4. Stressed about real life? Hey, me too. Give yourself a set time when you can wring hands all you want. But when you sit down at the computer to write, give yourself permission to lock the stress in a closet. This is your time. Nothing gets to intrude.
5. I know it sounds a little silly--but you need to have fun with your writing. I don't mean the story has to be fun; it can be as dark as you want. But every writer stalls if the work is onerous--writing is exhausting, but it CAN give back to you if it's creatively satisfying. You have to protect that right...and only you can.
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