Ask the Author: Janelle Brown
Answered Questions (9)
Janelle Brown
Hi! Well, when it came to Bozeman some of my writing was based by the time I spent there in the 90's, when my family had a home near Bridger Pass. Other research was done by going through government and local Web sites and doing lots of searches! I knew about the Gallatin High mistake - this was supposed to have been fixed in copy edits and somehow made it through. I can't believe I missed the Montana State mistake, thank you for flagging that (and Walgreens, that's news to me!). Usually fact checkers find those kinds of errors but clearly they didn't this time. Glad you enjoyed the book despite the local mistakes!!!
Janelle Brown
Then you'll love my books because that's exactly my M.O.! Watch Me Disappear and Pretty Things are both what I would call "literary suspense" - lots of twists and turns, but also lots of character development. This Is Where We Live and All We Ever Wanted Was Everything are more what you might call "domestic drama" - also twisty and turny, but more about relationships than mysteries or crimes. All of my books have multiple perspectives!
Janelle Brown
Thank you so much, so glad you enjoyed Pretty Things! I am working on another book right now -- it's a bit more of a mystery -- but I've got a ways to go. Hoping to have it finished next year! Stay tuned...
Janelle Brown
No plans to write a sequel at the moment but you never know. So glad you enjoyed it!
Janelle Brown
So glad that you enjoyed Watch Me Disappear! I thought I knew the ending when I started... but it ended up changing. Three times, in fact. So the book evolved a lot as I wrote it, and the twists and turns evolved with it. I've found that to be true for all three of my books, actually - they change organically during the writing process, as the characters come to life.
Janelle Brown
I wish I could pinpoint exactly where the inspiration for my books comes from, but I can’t. They usually creep in to my mind when I’m not paying attention. I am a voracious reader of news and magazines and books; and I listen to tons of podcasts too. So I’m always absorbing stories and ideas and scenarios that interest me – even though I don’t necessarily write them down – and what seems to happen is that all that stuff I absorb starts to percolate and synthesize and then suddenly one day I’ll be struck by an image or a fragment of an idea. And without quite realizing what has happened, it will begin to grow into a concrete story and the next thing you know I have a book idea.
Janelle Brown
Find (or start) a writer’s group with other aspiring writers; or take a workshop with a professional. Feedback is your best friend when you’re learning to write: The fastest way to improve your writing is to find people you trust who will read it and tell you what they think. (It’s best to find a handful of readers, for the inevitably differing opinions.) I wrote my first book almost entirely in workshops and writers groups; and to this day, I still rely on my group of trusted readers to give me the feedback that makes my novels work.
Janelle Brown
The stories. I get to read great books and call it work. I get to meet amazing authors. I get to spend my days immersed in stories, and what could possibly be greater than that? Books are my greatest love (ok, my greatest non-human love) and I get to spend my life surrounded by them, thinking about them, writing them -- and engaging with readers who feel the same way about the stories *I* am tellling. If that’s not amazing I don’t know what is.
Another great thing about being a writer: The lifestyle. I take my laptop to cafes and bars and sit there with writer friends (who are also writing) and actually do my job like that Thinking, writing, chatting, drinking coffee, watching the world go by. The hours are great, too – there’s no way I could write for 8 or 9 hours a day, so I top out at 5 or 6, outside of occasional, superhuman days when I’m running up close to my deadline. That means that I’m done with writing most days by 4pm and am able to spend the rest of the time with my kids.
Another great thing about being a writer: The lifestyle. I take my laptop to cafes and bars and sit there with writer friends (who are also writing) and actually do my job like that Thinking, writing, chatting, drinking coffee, watching the world go by. The hours are great, too – there’s no way I could write for 8 or 9 hours a day, so I top out at 5 or 6, outside of occasional, superhuman days when I’m running up close to my deadline. That means that I’m done with writing most days by 4pm and am able to spend the rest of the time with my kids.
Janelle Brown
I step away from my computer. Get out of my office altogether, if possible. I’ll go on long runs in which I listen only to pensive music (Radiohead works well; so does Massive Attack) so that I can let my mind work through the creative issues I’m up against without any distractions. I’ll go on pointless drives, for the same reason. (Bad for the environment, yes, but good for the brain.) Sometimes it helps to get out of town – I often go on a self-imposed “writing retreats” in Ojai, where I hole up in a rental house with a writer friend and just try to get away from it all. Ideally, a rental house without Internet access.
Puzzling out my “problems” with friends can really help. One of my biggest epiphanies when writing Watch Me Disappear – the epiphany that changed the entire second half of the book – came early on when I was feeling stuck and venting to a friend about how I had no idea what I was doing with one aspect of the story. She made an off-handed comment with an idea and boom, it was like I’d been hit in the head with a brick: Of course. The next day I took off with that idea and never looked back.
And yet – sometimes none of these methods work. I’ve had writer’s block bouts that lasted months. And then suddenly, one day, I’ll see what I have to do and get back down to it. I just have to coast through these periods and trust that eventually I’ll get my mojo back.
Puzzling out my “problems” with friends can really help. One of my biggest epiphanies when writing Watch Me Disappear – the epiphany that changed the entire second half of the book – came early on when I was feeling stuck and venting to a friend about how I had no idea what I was doing with one aspect of the story. She made an off-handed comment with an idea and boom, it was like I’d been hit in the head with a brick: Of course. The next day I took off with that idea and never looked back.
And yet – sometimes none of these methods work. I’ve had writer’s block bouts that lasted months. And then suddenly, one day, I’ll see what I have to do and get back down to it. I just have to coast through these periods and trust that eventually I’ll get my mojo back.
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