Ask the Author: Jen Sternick
Answered Questions (6)
Jen Sternick
Tom and I are in daily email contact about our work. If one of us is stuck, we usually talk by phone and brainstorm where the scene/chapter/story/character should go next. Sometimes we’ll set a problem aside and write around it or come back to it. In extreme cases. One of us will let the other one take over the POV we’ve been writing to try a new approach.
Jen Sternick
Reader’s reactions! Also filling up a blank page is enormously satisfying…
Jen Sternick
Start writing! If it seems too daunting, try writing with a partner.
Jen Sternick
We’ve finished one novel-- a gay summer camp YA romance-- and now we’re writing a more complicated novel which involves a teenager in 2015 who is able to connect across time with one in the 1980’s. It explores the AIDS crisis and the idea of platonic soulmates.
Jen Sternick
Tom and I inspire each other, suggesting subjects, plot twists and ideas in-person, by phone,email and text. We’re both very excited to be working together, so the motivation is already there.
Jen Sternick
Snowsisters began as a short story in response to a call from our publisher for stories with winter themes. Tom’s niece attended a writing retreat for high school kids which gave us the idea for the setting. We wanted to write something in girls’ voices, and we settled on an “opposites attract” trope, since Tom lives in a city, and Jen has mostly lived in more rural areas. We spent alot of time talking about the differences for LGBTQIAP+ kids who are raised in urban areas, as opposed to those in more isolated communities. Those differences sounded like they would be interesting to explore.
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