Special Spaniels News
May 26, 2010
Jennifer Lauren's Interview
Our friend and author, Jennifer Laurens, has given us an interview to discuss her life and new book, Heaven. We are big fans of Jennifer's writings and we have listed her books on our website under the FAQ/Links/Bookstore. Many of our teenage and young adult friends enjoy reading her books and highly recommend that you check them out. And Jennifer has donated 2 of her books for our 1st Annual Raffle, June 1-15. Please contact Julie at 219-378-6956 if you would like to purchase a raffle ticket or you can contact Julie by email here.
You can follow Jennifer on her blog and on her facebook at Jennifer Laurens.
What is your playlist when you write?
I use a different playlist for each story. Usually, my daughter puts together an awesome collection of songs for me because she's totally in tune with what I'm writing.
How did you get interested in writing?
I've written since junior high school. I am an only child and wrote stories about big families living in bliss. ( LOL ) Now, I have 6 children and the stories still center around families, but reality has taught me that the bliss comes and the bliss goes.
How do you go about naming your characters?
I spend a significant amount of time with a story and characters formulating in my head before I start writing. Names and settings come about during that process.
What's a typical working day like for you? When and where do you write? Do you set a daily writing goal?
A typical writing day is to start as soon as the kids are out the door for school and squeeze in as much writing as I can until 5. I used to write in our home office, but my husband also works out of there, so now I sit at the kitchen table, which is much harder because there are a lot of distractions!
What is the hardest part of writing for you?
Transitions scenes. ( scenes between significant happenings. )
What's the best thing about being an author?
Creating memorable stories.
What are you working on now?
What I'm working on now is a re-write of my very first story ever. I love the story, and wouldn't dream of leaving those wonderful characters forever stuck in their quagmire.
What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Read, read, read and write. Join a critique group of people who will give you their honest opinion so you can grow and learn. Take their suggestions with your mouth closed.
Do you have any favorite authors or favorite books?
Fav authors and books: Markus Zusak: Fighting Ruben Wolfe, Getting the Girl. Scott Spencer: Endless Love. Nora Roberts: Honest Illusions and the Quinn series, Pen Williamson and her "Sin" series. Other fav books: Notes on a Scandal, Night, The Outsider, Les Miserable, Lord of the Flies, Wages of Sin.
What question have you always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?
How much of what you write comes from your life? I constantly pull little and large details from my life and work them into a story. Sometimes it's merely for quick convenience. Other times, like with the Heavenly series, I wanted to write about something I knew others struggled with just like our family has struggled with it, i.e.: autism, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, family problems. With the light romances I wrote, like Falling for Romeo and Magic Hands, the events in those books came from my then teenaged girls' lives. They'd come home and tell me all this stuff happening at school and I had to write about it.