This past week I had the privilege of interviewing the amazing author Jennifer Laslie. We talked about everything from her writing process, cocky gate, and favorite books. Oh, and guess what? She just so happens to have a new release Mermaid Adrift—and you know how much I love mermaids! (You can grab the book here @ http://books2read.com/mermaidadrift. FROM NOW UNTIL MONDAY – MAY 28TH 2018) So keep your eyes out for a book review later next week.
I learned a lot from Jennifer during this interview process. One thing that we did not discuss in the interview that I think is pretty darn awesome—she makes dragons! It’s just as cool as it sounds!
If you want to take a look at these cute dragons, check out her Facebook page @
I hope you guys enjoy this interview as much as I did!
What was the first story you wrote? Has it been published or is it sitting in a document or notebook unpublished?
I wrote small stories for school when I was in grade school, but those aren’t published. They were always fun projects for me, though. You remember those projects. The ones where they gave you the paper with the lines at the bottom for the story and a space at the top to draw a picture to go with it? I still have a few of those in storage. In high school, I started writing poetry. I do have those published under “Pieces of Me”, but my very first full length novel is Persuading Tomorrow.
Is that when you knew you wanted to be a writer or when did that moment of knowledge hit you? How did you feel?
I started out in the blogger community as an avid reader (which I still am). My older son experienced bullying in school and went through severe depression and anxiety. It was hitting this low with him that I realized I wanted to put that feeling into words. Between author friends of mine pushing me to write and the story burning in the back of my brain, Persuading Tomorrow was born. I published it back in 2014. I’ve been struggling to write the second book to it. I’m still trying to figure out exactly how I want the story to progress. I want to include other books about the minor characters in the first book as well and encompass stories of teenagers facing other adversities like bullying such as sexuality or abuse.
What would you describe your writing process as?
I started out as a “pantster” meaning I literally had an idea in my head and just sat down and let the words flow. I’m slowly trying to learn to outline so I can write faster. It’s a process, but I’m at least doing vague outlining so I can make sure the story flows better.
What is something you want your readers to know?
This may take a while… haha! I’ll just jot down a few things though. I work full time, but I’m trying my best to get the words on the page in my spare time. I live in Louisville, KY with my husband, two kids, mother in law, four dogs, and ten cats. Yes, you read that right. It’s not a typo. We have LOTS of animals.
There’s a new reader browsing Amazon and they’re looking at your books—which book do you want them to read first? What would you say to them?
That’s a tough decision. Dystopian is both my favorite genre to read and write. I’d probably point them to Untreatable. If they weren’t into Dystopian, I still have a wide range of stories up, some free in anthologies. That way you can give my reading a test drive!
OK this is a totally unfair question, so I am going to let you list 10. What are your favorite books?
This is still a trick question, because who can list only ten? I’ll do my best. And it goes without saying that I may only list ONE book from each other, but I love anything they write!
1) My all time favorite author is Jacqueline Carey, so Kushiel’s Dart is #1 on that list.
From there, in no particular order.
2) Delirium by Lauren Oliver.
3) Evermore by Alyson Noel.
4) Matched by Aly Condie.
5) Divergent by Veronica Roth.
6) Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. (Yes, I love Twilight!)
7) Switched by Amanda Hocking.
8) Shadow Touched by Heather Marie Adkins. (She’s also my BFF and I’ve learned so much from her about writing!)
9) Iron King by Julie Kagawa. (I’ve met her in real life when she taught a dragon making class in Oldham County!)
10) Falling into You by Jasinda Wilder. (This book made me ugly cry!)
What is the last book you read and your thoughts on it?
I just finished The Labyrinth Queen by Tansey Morgan. It’s the start of reverse harem series. I loved the cover and I’ve never read a RH book before. The writing was spectacular, but the book only slightly touched on the RH storyline. I’m in the midst of wanting to learn the reverse harem story lines because an author friend of mine suggested we co-write one together.
Have you ever had a moment when writing and in your mind, you’re just like wow—I wrote that! What scene (without spoilers, of course) or book was that for you?
My first wow moment was the prologue in Persuading Tomorrow, because it’s deep, really deep. She’s at rock bottom and trying to muster up the courage to commit suicide, end it all, and make the pain go away. It was both a wow moment and an ugly cry for me. I hope you’ll never know the fear of wondering if your child would ever do something like that.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Find your tribe. Find people you connect with in the author community and let them help build you up. Learn from them, ask them questions, and get all of your ducks in a row before you publish that first book. If I knew then what I know now, it would have made the process so much easier. I have my tribe now. They lift me up on the days that I doubt myself. It also makes me feel good to be a part of a group that I can give back to by sharing and promoting their works as well.
What are your thoughts on the #cockygate drama? Do you think authors should be able to trademark a word?
I think if authors were able to trademark any word that the publishing world would become a scary place. It would get the point where new authors wouldn’t be able to write anything. We’re supposed to be helping each other, not hindering.
How do you feel about the issues with Amazon and reviews getting removed? Do you think that reviews should be monitored in such a way?
There’s a fine line here. On one side, I don’t think people should be able to straight up pay a person to put a good review up for their book (especially if they never read it), but there should be some monitoring done. It seems things have gone to the extreme. The Zon holds all the power and never likes to deal out any of the answers. I think special consideration should be given to those people who are bloggers who have been stripped of their reviews. Maybe if Amazon could give them a chance to prove they’re a legitimate blogger and provide website lines and such.
Has any of the restrictions that websites such as Amazon/etc affected you?
Fortunately, no. I started out writing YA and I’m not in KU. I’m branching out into PNR though, and I’m not going to lie, the thought is scary. What if I have the wrong words in my book and Amazon considers it too racy and they take it down?
What is the hardest thing you’ve had to face as an author? Have you ever suffered writers block? If you ever got a bad review, how did you cope with it?
All of the above? I have days where the creative juices just refuse to flow and other days where I have so many ideas, but I’m stuck at the day job. I’ve gotten those one star reviews and they hurt, but I’ve learned to move on. I don’t go on Amazon or Goodreads as often as I used to, which has helped, but sometimes it’s the great reviews that keep me going!
What is something you’re passionate about?
There’s a reason I have ten cats in my house. We’re passionate about animal rescue. We’ve fostered before and it’s one of the reasons we have so many. I used to host the Louisville Authors Event and the last year I did it was 2017. We did a ton of raffle baskets and all proceeds from that and whatever funds I had left over went to Operation Catsnip to help them to continue to rescue cats, neuter/spay them, and keep them fed until they can find their forever homes.
I’m also passionate about charities such as free2luv.org who are trying to put a stop to bullying. I’ve donated proceeds from my book sales before for them.
I hope you guys enjoyed this interview. Go ahead and give Jennifer’s website a visit and be sure to follow her on Facebook & Twitter!
Website: authorjlaslie.com
Facebook: facebook.com/authorjlaslie
Twitter: twitter.com/authorjlaslie
Are there any other authors you want to here from? Let me know in the comments below!
Serendipity Minds 