Author Crush Friday: J.A. Redmerski
Glitter girls, you have pressing questions for your favorite authors and we have their answers. Welcome to our weekly segment, Author Crush Fridays.
We love asking questions and we love the answers from some of our favorite authors. Today we’re talking to J.A. Redmerski, author of The Moment of Letting Go (August 11, 2015; Forever). Thank you for talking to us today, J.A.! We’re honored!
GLITTER: How did you come up with the plot for The Moment of Letting Go?
J.A.: Three things help the plot come together in The Moment of Letting Go– my love for travel, my fear of heights, and my fascination with extreme sports. Of course, I could never do any extreme sports myself because of my fear of heights (and dangerous things in general), but I think my fear is precisely what draws me to it, especially to BASE jumping. The story was originally going to be about a girl on a job in Hawaii who meets this sexy, laid back guy who shows her how to live and thrive and be happy doing only what you love without being a slave to money and work. Well, the plot deepened after watching a documentary titled Journey to the Center, and then everything else just fell into place from there.
GLITTER: What was it like writing two polar opposite characters?
J.A.: I love writing about characters that are very different from one another! I think it makes for a much more interesting and diverse storyline when the characters are so different. I find that sometimes when I read a book I get bored fast if the main characters are too much alike, so I try to make the characters in my books as different from one another as they can be.
GLITTER: How does the past impact the future in your novel?
J.A.: The past greatly impacts the present and futures of my hero and heroine in The Moment of Letting Go. Luke is stuck in the past, unable to get over losing his brother, and he can’t move forward. Sienna, having watched her parents struggle to raise her, uses her past to dictate everything she does. Both of these people learn from each other how to let the past go so they can breathe again. Of course, our pasts are also what help shape and define us and our futures, and like everyone, Luke and Sienna use what they learn from it in everything they do in the future, long after they’ve overcome.
GLITTER: Where’s your favorite place to write?
J.A.: The only place I can write is in my bedroom-slash-office. I’ve tried writing in a Starbucks, a bookstore, the library, even in my hotel rooms while traveling, but I just can’t do it.
GLITTER: What character do you relate most to?
J.A.: I would definitely have to say Sienna. She’s afraid of heights – just like me. She has always struggled to make something of her life and have a good career after growing up poor and seeing her parents struggle while raising her – just like me. And there are a few other less significant things about Sienna that I took from myself: her independent nature, her love for photography, even her obsession with painting her toenails!
GLITTER: What one YA novel do you wish you had when you were a teen?
J.A.: That would have to be Harry Potter and the Twilight saga. I think both (though HP isn’t technically considered YA) have really done so much to attract hundreds of thousands of new readers in such a short time. It’s a phrase I’ve heard on so many occasions: “I never liked to read until Harry Potter came along,” – the same with Twilight. I’ve been writing since I was thirteen, but admittedly, I wasn’t much of a reader when I was a teenager and I wish that I had been. I often wonder if I had something like the Harry Potter and Twilight phenomenon when I was younger, not only would I have learned more about how to write properly sooner (because you MUST read in order to write), but I wouldn’t have missed out on so many years of getting lost in good books.
GLITTER: Do you have things you need in order to write ie. coffee, cupcakes, music?
J.A.: I cannot function without my morning Grande Iced Vanilla Latte from Starbucks. It’s a costly monthly habit, but a necessary one.
GLITTER: Favorite show on TV right now?
J.A.: Vikings comes in first place, and Game of Thrones follows it closely behind. The Walking Dead comes in third, though it used to be first – but don’t get me on that rant!
GLITTER: What are you working on now?
J.A.: Actually, I’m working on a super secret project right now and I can’t talk about it!
J. A. Redmerski, New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, lives in North Little Rock, Arkansas with her three children, two cats and a Maltese. She is a lover of television and books that push boundaries.
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