Ask the Author: Jodi Meadows
Answered Questions (46)
Jodi Meadows
While it isn't a *sequel* sequel, it's set in the same town, and you'll see some of the same background characters and locations! It's called CONFESSIONS FROM THE GROUP CHAT, and it will be out this October!
Jodi Meadows
This is a great question! Thanks for asking!
Honestly, I think there are a lot of very universal experiences that transcend age -- awkward buddy romances being among them! The main difference, imo, is experience levels. So even though I'm an adult, I'm still experiencing awkward relationships, miscommunications, and friendship breakups. It's just not my first time for most of these things, so I have experience teaching me how to deal with them. A middle schooler has less experience in these areas, though, so that's one of the main things I think about when I'm writing a 13yo's response to different conflicts.
Hope that helps! <3
Honestly, I think there are a lot of very universal experiences that transcend age -- awkward buddy romances being among them! The main difference, imo, is experience levels. So even though I'm an adult, I'm still experiencing awkward relationships, miscommunications, and friendship breakups. It's just not my first time for most of these things, so I have experience teaching me how to deal with them. A middle schooler has less experience in these areas, though, so that's one of the main things I think about when I'm writing a 13yo's response to different conflicts.
Hope that helps! <3
Jodi Meadows
First of all: Thank you! <3
Second . . . keep an eye out around February, because I will have NEWS. And something pretty to show you. :)
Second . . . keep an eye out around February, because I will have NEWS. And something pretty to show you. :)
Jodi Meadows
Oh thank you! I'm so glad you like them!
Inspiration comes from lots of different places and it can be hard to pin down where something started, but one thing I really wanted to explore was the relationship between people who'd helped each other during a really desperate time--and then were separated for years. Bringing them back together was very exciting for me. :)
Inspiration comes from lots of different places and it can be hard to pin down where something started, but one thing I really wanted to explore was the relationship between people who'd helped each other during a really desperate time--and then were separated for years. Bringing them back together was very exciting for me. :)
Jodi Meadows
Yep! It will be on Amazon Prime sometime later this year (assuming the schedule holds!). Filming just wrapped!
Jodi Meadows
I am! I'm currently working on Dawnbreaker -- the sequel to Nightrender (just released in January!) -- and the third Mary book, which comes out Summer 2023.
So I have three books coming out in the next couple of years:
-My Imaginary Mary - August 2, 2022
-Dawnbreaker - January ??, 2023
-My ??? Mary - Summer 2023
So I have three books coming out in the next couple of years:
-My Imaginary Mary - August 2, 2022
-Dawnbreaker - January ??, 2023
-My ??? Mary - Summer 2023
Jodi Meadows
Originally, it was called something else, but my publisher didn't like it. They wanted a title that was about Wilhelmina, the protagonist, and they were right. We discussed a few different ideas and came up with The Orphan Queen. Wil is an orphan, and she was meant to be queen. :)
Jodi Meadows
I won't say I'll never go back to that world, especially since I do have more ideas for it, but The Orphan Queen and The Mirror King were planned and written as two books. I don't anticipate writing a direct sequel in that series, since the main conflicts of Wilhelmina's life during this time are resolved. But there's always a chance I'll go back to the world one day. . . .
Jodi Meadows
I definitely have ideas for new stories in that world, but I don't have plans to write them right now. Unfortunately, the decision to revisit my fantasy worlds really depends on sales -- whether it would make sense financially to go back to something with a limited audience, or move forward to something with a potentially wider audience.
I know that's a pretty cold and unappealing way to look at creative decisions, but the truth is that money has to be a factor, since writing is my job and without books moving off the shelves, my cats would starve to death.
That said . . . if I had an idea that I really, really loved beyond reason, I'd go for it anyway. But it would have to be a really special story.
I know that's a pretty cold and unappealing way to look at creative decisions, but the truth is that money has to be a factor, since writing is my job and without books moving off the shelves, my cats would starve to death.
That said . . . if I had an idea that I really, really loved beyond reason, I'd go for it anyway. But it would have to be a really special story.
Jodi Meadows
Not sequels, either! None of the Janies books have the same characters, and they're not even in the same worlds. The books are just Brodi, Cynthia, and me going around history and telling stories about girls named Jane. :)
Jodi Meadows
I don't know how you didn't know!!
The next two haven't been released. My Plain Jane comes out in June 2018, and the last book will come out in 2020.
I know that's a long time to wait between books, but they aren't a series, so you won't have to remember anything in between them, and there are no mean cliffhangers!
The next two haven't been released. My Plain Jane comes out in June 2018, and the last book will come out in 2020.
I know that's a long time to wait between books, but they aren't a series, so you won't have to remember anything in between them, and there are no mean cliffhangers!
Jodi Meadows
First, wow I'm sorry you're dealing with anxiety. That sucks a lot.
Second, BSI is my seventh published book. (And I wrote many, many stories before I got published.) While Incarnate does deal with mental troubles in a small way, it took me a long time to decide I was ready to write a character with anxiety -- something I struggle with, too -- front and center in her life.
I waited so long because for years I was still trying to figure out what it was, how to deal with it, and learning what anxiety meant for other people as well. Then, I had to decide if it was even something I *wanted* to bring up in my writing. (No one is obligated to write about something just because it's part of who they are. It's okay to keep things private.)
Ultimately, Mira decided for me. If I wanted to write this book, it had to include anxiety because that's part of who Mira is.
Writing it wasn't always easy. Having real experience with something can make it even harder to put it on the page, because it has to be accessible for people who haven't experienced it, too. And because I had to really examine what anxiety and panic attacks feel like for me, I had to take a lot of steps back to look at it from a safe distance.
For me, that meant getting my anxiety under control before I could even think about writing the book. It's still there. I still have panic attacks. But I recognize it for what it is, and I know better how to take care of myself. Does that make sense?
Another thing that helped: inserting real differences between my anxiety and Mira's. This goes back to not being obligated to write about your own experiences, but it also helps create a barrier.
I hope that helps!
Second, BSI is my seventh published book. (And I wrote many, many stories before I got published.) While Incarnate does deal with mental troubles in a small way, it took me a long time to decide I was ready to write a character with anxiety -- something I struggle with, too -- front and center in her life.
I waited so long because for years I was still trying to figure out what it was, how to deal with it, and learning what anxiety meant for other people as well. Then, I had to decide if it was even something I *wanted* to bring up in my writing. (No one is obligated to write about something just because it's part of who they are. It's okay to keep things private.)
Ultimately, Mira decided for me. If I wanted to write this book, it had to include anxiety because that's part of who Mira is.
Writing it wasn't always easy. Having real experience with something can make it even harder to put it on the page, because it has to be accessible for people who haven't experienced it, too. And because I had to really examine what anxiety and panic attacks feel like for me, I had to take a lot of steps back to look at it from a safe distance.
For me, that meant getting my anxiety under control before I could even think about writing the book. It's still there. I still have panic attacks. But I recognize it for what it is, and I know better how to take care of myself. Does that make sense?
Another thing that helped: inserting real differences between my anxiety and Mira's. This goes back to not being obligated to write about your own experiences, but it also helps create a barrier.
I hope that helps!
Jodi Meadows
That is a longer answer than we really have space for! But the short version is this:
I think of my characters as fully formed people, and it's my job to get to know them well enough to translate them to the page.
It's also my job to become a skilled enough writer to be able to put characters on the page in a clear enough way for people not living in my head (readers) to be able to understand what's happening.
Those, to me, are two different things, and they level up at different speeds.
While I don't have a full checklist of things I need to know about my characters, I spend a lot of time thinking about their goals, histories, desires, secrets, fears, reactions, skills, and other things that will help me in my drafting. Those all guide me in how characters will take action, how they will react to situations, and why they do what they do.
For me, characters drive the story.
I don't always get it right the first time. I'm working on FI2 right now, and a couple of early readers had to come in and tell me they didn't believe the way a character behaved, because it seemed inconsistent with her actions and mindset before. So I'm fixing it. Good writing is really just good revising. :)
I think of my characters as fully formed people, and it's my job to get to know them well enough to translate them to the page.
It's also my job to become a skilled enough writer to be able to put characters on the page in a clear enough way for people not living in my head (readers) to be able to understand what's happening.
Those, to me, are two different things, and they level up at different speeds.
While I don't have a full checklist of things I need to know about my characters, I spend a lot of time thinking about their goals, histories, desires, secrets, fears, reactions, skills, and other things that will help me in my drafting. Those all guide me in how characters will take action, how they will react to situations, and why they do what they do.
For me, characters drive the story.
I don't always get it right the first time. I'm working on FI2 right now, and a couple of early readers had to come in and tell me they didn't believe the way a character behaved, because it seemed inconsistent with her actions and mindset before. So I'm fixing it. Good writing is really just good revising. :)
Jodi Meadows
Hi!!
Thank you for reading the OQ books! While I do have ideas for other stories -- and even an epilogue or third book -- in the OQ universe, I don't currently have plans to write them. Not because I don't want to, but because I don't have time with my current schedule. And . . .
The ugly truth about writing spinoffs (at least for me) is that it'd have to be really worth it in a $$$ kind of way, because at the end of the day (and several times throughout), I still have to feed my cats. Sequels and spinoffs rarely do as well as the first books, at least for midlisters like myself, so as gross as it might be to say, my publisher would have to convince me that it would help not only maintain my career, but grow it, too.
But if you are into fanfiction, I am not an author who minds that being out there (even though I'm not allowed to read it)! :)
Thank you for reading the OQ books! While I do have ideas for other stories -- and even an epilogue or third book -- in the OQ universe, I don't currently have plans to write them. Not because I don't want to, but because I don't have time with my current schedule. And . . .
The ugly truth about writing spinoffs (at least for me) is that it'd have to be really worth it in a $$$ kind of way, because at the end of the day (and several times throughout), I still have to feed my cats. Sequels and spinoffs rarely do as well as the first books, at least for midlisters like myself, so as gross as it might be to say, my publisher would have to convince me that it would help not only maintain my career, but grow it, too.
But if you are into fanfiction, I am not an author who minds that being out there (even though I'm not allowed to read it)! :)
Jodi Meadows
Right now, the plan is to release Fallen Isles 2 one year from now - so next September-ish - and the third a year later. Of course, plans can change. There were about five minutes earlier this year when we thought book 2 would come out next summer, but then it moved back to September. (Good for me because I want the time to work on it!)
And since there was a brief period when the book was coming out nine months after the first, I did have to hurry and find the right title for it, so it has one . . . but I can't say what it is yet. Book 3 has about 2/3 of a title.
And since there was a brief period when the book was coming out nine months after the first, I did have to hurry and find the right title for it, so it has one . . . but I can't say what it is yet. Book 3 has about 2/3 of a title.
Jodi Meadows
Haha, yes, this was intentional! We added lots of lines to that book just to make one another laugh, and that was one of them!
Jodi Meadows
Clever!! Yep, that was intentional. Partly because I had to really start wrapping things up at that point in the book (I'd probably have shared more about that time if there'd been a third book), but also because Melanie just didn't want to talk about it. (A third book would have allowed her more time to find the best way to tell Wil.)
As for a followup? Hmm. It's not out of the question. I do have an idea to write a novella about Melanie and that point in her life. It's just a matter of time, at this point, and (unfortunately) whether it would be worth it money-wise. (Novellas mostly aren't, but they can be very emotionally fulfilling. Still, a girl has got to eat.)
So, I won't say no, it's never happening. Because it totally might. But don't count on it yet. :)
As for a followup? Hmm. It's not out of the question. I do have an idea to write a novella about Melanie and that point in her life. It's just a matter of time, at this point, and (unfortunately) whether it would be worth it money-wise. (Novellas mostly aren't, but they can be very emotionally fulfilling. Still, a girl has got to eat.)
So, I won't say no, it's never happening. Because it totally might. But don't count on it yet. :)
Jodi Meadows
Nooo! I can't answer questions about favorites. Too hard.
Okay, okay. Of books I've read that really stuck with me: Roshani Chokshi's THE STAR-TOUCHED QUEEN, Stephanie Garber's CARAVAL, Stacey Lee's OUTRUN THE MOON, SABA TAHIR's A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT . . .
Just to name a few. I didn't have much time to read in 2016, but I'm making more time this year (by giving up most of my social media, haha) so I'm definitely going to read more.
Okay, okay. Of books I've read that really stuck with me: Roshani Chokshi's THE STAR-TOUCHED QUEEN, Stephanie Garber's CARAVAL, Stacey Lee's OUTRUN THE MOON, SABA TAHIR's A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT . . .
Just to name a few. I didn't have much time to read in 2016, but I'm making more time this year (by giving up most of my social media, haha) so I'm definitely going to read more.
Jodi Meadows
Yep! Like all my series (so far), she's the main character of all three books.
Jodi Meadows
There are too many! I don't think I have an absolute favorite. But if you reeeaally need me to name one, I'm pretty invested in Laia and Elias from An Ember in the Ashes.
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