MFRW: |
How much of your personality and life experiences are in your writing? |
MFRW: |
Do you feel humor is important in fiction and why? |
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JJ:
MFRW:
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I suppose quite a bit of my personality is in my writing. Just the words I choose to use reflect that. I don’ t know any way I could keep who I am out of my books. My life experiences, while not detailed or copied, except in one book, influence my writing. My experience in life, my age, and the fact that I’ m married and have children, are all factors in developing my understanding of people, my compassion, my passion, and morality. Of course, having ten years as a single woman between marriages gave me quite a bit of experience with the opposite sex. Enough said.
Tell us about your latest book. What motivated the story? Where did the idea come from? Where do your story ideas usually come from?
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JJ:
MFRW:
JJ:
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To me, humor is essential both in my writing and in my life! Without humor, tragedy would take over. I use lots of humor in my writing, because people and animals are funny. And guys together, like athletes, are hilarious. I raised two sons, so I had a little ear-to-the-wall on this. Trust me. Guys are funny
Bubble baths or steamy showers? Ocean or mountains? Puppies or kittens? Chocolate or caramel?
Bubble baths, when I have the time. Both ocean and mountains. I had ocean when I was young and single. Now I’ m a mountain woman. Caramel is bad for your teeth. Chocolate is an essential food!
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JJ: |
I have no idea where my ideas come from, but my latest book came from the strangest place ever. There was a car parked on my block in NYC with a California license plate. It was a small car, two-seated BMW. I wondered what it would be like to drive across the country in such a small car. Then I figured, it’ s a luxury car and probably pretty comfortable. I saw the car two more times on my block, many weeks later.
That rolled around in my head until it formed into a story. What if a ball player bought a fancy car in L. A. and decided to drive it across the country to NYC? Would he meet a woman along the way? Thus, Jake Lawrence, Third Base was born.
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MFRW:
JJ:
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Which comes first, the story, the characters, or the setting?
What comes first is usually the phrase,“ What if?” That starts the wheels of a plot turning. And with those, characters develop. Then they start interacting in my head and I’ m off to the computer to get it down before I lose it or it spins out of control. Frankly, that’ s often the best part.
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