I'm beyond thrilled to have Jen Turano here on my blog today. A few months ago, I saw one of her books come up for review and, after finding out that my closest reader friends hadn't read her (and thus couldn't give an opinion of her), I decided to try her out. Wow. I don't know that I've laughed quite so much at a book before! But you can read her books later. For now, the interview.
When did you first begin
writing? How long after that was it before you got published?
I first
began writing when my son was in the third grade. We’d gotten through this rather horrible
series - okay, we only got through book
six and I’ve never owned up to the fact there are…six more books – but…he said
that the stories I made up for him about dragons when he little and needed to
stay in his jogger stroller while I ran were more interesting. So…we decided to create our own book. It was called Fanglers, had smelly creatures
in it, and while it certainly never got published, I realized that I’d missed
using my brain. Not that I didn’t love
staying home with my son, it’s just, brains are a horrible thing to let just
sit. As the years went on, I wrote here
and there, some middle grade, some YA, some contemporary romance, and over those
years I was getting a lot better with query letters. Agents didn’t seem to want to sign me on, but
they would call me, talk about my unusual writing voice, and then they’d give
me pointers. Apparently I had a bit to
go with my actual writing craft. I
started really looking at all the books I read, figured out what I was doing
wrong, and then by the time my son reached middle school, I landed my first
agent and then she sold my first book a year later – so…yeah…it took me a while
to get published.
That is so neat!
Your books have many
"laugh out loud" scenes. Does humor just flow from your fingers or do
you work on tweaking scenes to make them humorous?
It takes about four edits
for me to start getting funny. I’ll have
the scene down, but the dialogue might not be clicking as well as it
should. However, by the fourth edit, the
characters are really developed, so it’s easier for me to know how they’re
going to interact, and that’s when the humor happens. I delete a lot of words – I never save
anything that I’ve written because I’ll think that something is brilliant, a
quirky turn of phrase, or a specific scene – but it just doesn’t work, so if I
don’t delete it, I’ll try to force it into the story and it won’t come across
as humorous, just dumb.
I think that's encouraging to a lot of aspiring writers. We all like to think that if someone's published it means they're talented -- not that they had to work to get there.
What is your favorite type
of character? Bold? Shy? Secret? Independent?
I like strong women who
have a sense of humor, but who are, at heart, kind.
Just reading one of your books, I can clearly see that. :)
Besides writing, what are
some of your favorite things to do?
I love walking, or more on
the lines of power-walking. I do about
five miles a day. Then, I love meeting
friends out for dinner, and Al (husband person) and I love to visit little
towns out here in Colorado. We browse in
obscure little shops, looking for unusual things. I found the coolest metal junkyard dog sculpture
a few weeks back, but oddly enough, Al was not exactly as enthusiastic about it
as I was, so I didn’t bring him home with me.
That right there is why we’ll be going back this weekend to see if it’s
still there (I’ve named him George) because…George shouldn’t have been left
behind, and did I mention he’s got a spike collar made out of old metal – oh,
he’s fabulous…
Haha! That's great!
What is the easiest part of
writing for you?
Editing is the easiest part
for me.
What is the hardest?
The first draft – all of
those pesky blank pages – staring back at me – day after day after day.
Do you find your real life
reflected on the pages of your books?
Not much, although I have a
really odd sense of humor, so some of that does come through on the pages.
Who are the authors that
have most inspired you?
Susanne Elizabeth Phillips,
Julia Quinn, Jayne Anne Krentz, and J.K. Rowling
What is the #1 thing you'd
say to an aspiring writer?
Don’t rush to publish. It can kill any chance you have at a
successful career if you put stuff out there that’s just not ready. Take your time – concentrate on the writing
at first – not on your platform, not on your pitch – you need to write the
book. Not everyone is a storyteller, no
matter that you hear otherwise all the time.
If you can get a complete story written that’s
compelling – that’s the trick. And, more
importantly, if you want to be published – it’s not about the author – it’s all
about the reader. You have to know your
target audience and what they expect in a book of that particular genre, and
then you need to deliver that.
Great tip that we need to be reminded of! Thanks so much for joining me here today!
GIVEAWAY
7 comments:
interesting interview,some things I knew about this author and I love to read her books so guess I am like her son in that regard. thanks for sharing with us.
I love Jen's books. She is definitely a favorite. Thanks for the post and the contest.
Your books look very interesting to read
Great interview with Jen! Thank you for the giveaway.
What a fun interview!! I've not yet had the pleasure of reading anything by Jen yet, but I've read really great reviews on her books and they make me excited to check them out! I also love a book full of humor, something that makes me laugh throughout the story. :-)
I enjoyed this interview. Thank you!
Thank you all for your comments! I definitely had a lot of fun doing this interview with Ms. Turano! :)
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