We’re joined in this episode by Jennifer Armentrout. Jen is the #1 international and #1 New York Times bestselling author of over 40 books, including Wait for You, the Lux series, the Dark Elements series, and Til Death.
In our interview we cover everything from her writing process to her love of llamas to the life altering diagnosis she received in 2015 and how she’s handling the knowledge that she’s losing her sight. We also get the scoop on her latest book, Moonlight Sins, the start of a sexy and intriguing new series that follows the three notorious de Vincent brothers.
You can follow Jennifer on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram--or find out more on her website.
Some of the highlights from our conversation include:
-Her first intro to writing--poetry on her bedroom wall in permanent marker as an adolescent. She wrote her first book in 9th grade algebra.
-First intro to romance was around age 11 or 12 with Johanna Lindsey and Brenda Joyce historical fiction that she picked up in the free books section of the library.
-Her funny and interesting source of inspiration for her new de Vincent series--a house on The Dead Files TV show that had all kinds of awful things happening and they decided the land was cursed and nothing should have been built there. That concept combined with the idea of Kennedys of the South--a family who has everything in terms of wealth, power, and prestige...but ultimately have nothing--formed the basis of the series.
Moonlight Sins is out now! (Lucian's book)
Moonlight Seduction out in June (Gabe's book)
Moonlight Scandals out in January (Deb's book)
-Why writing sex between characters who don't know each other well is challenging.
- How Apollycon started as a way for her not to have to do a book signing alone.
-The Origin event is starting November 3rd in Austin, Texas this year. There may be a few tickets left here.
-How the expectations that come with a growing fan base can make writing harder and impact or influence your writing.
-Why she rarely reads reviews of her work.
-Why the moment you start believing your own hype is the moment the quality of your writing is going to go down.
-The fact that James Patterson was #2 to her #1 on the NYT bestsellers list was what helped her husband to realize the magnitude of what she was doing with her work.
-Her rocky road to publication--She received over 150 rejections before she got an agent--including one from the agent who ultimately signed her.
-How she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa diagnosis in 2015. RP is a rare group of genetic disorders that means she’s eventually going to go blind.
-What it’s like to be told that you’re going to lose your sight and there isn’t a treatment for it.
-How we all take our senses for granted.
-Why her writing output actually increased after her diagnosis rather than decreasing while she processed her new reality.
-How people disregard silent disabilities.
-Her writing process—7 days/week, she tries to finish a chapter per day.
-What the mid book crisis looks like when you think the book sucks and you want the whole cast of characters to die. She jumps ahead and writes the ending of the book, which gives her motivation to finish and helps her not to rush the ending.
-She writes with TV on in the background and has become known for subtle TV show references making their way into her books.
*Books mentioned in this episode:
Moonlight Sins by Jennifer Armentrout
Hearts Aflame by Johanna Lindsey
The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith
Secret Circle by L.J. Smith
Books by Richie Coosick
The Carpathian series by Christine Feehan
Lover Eternal by J.R. Ward
*By request, we have included Amazon links above for ease of ordering digital copies, but if you plan to read in print, please consider purchasing from The Ripped Bodice and supporting one of our favorite small businesses!
Special thanks to our Editor, Chris Willett.
If you’re lucky enough to be listening to this before February 9th, Jennifer is doing an awesome Swag Pack promo that you should jump on. The details are below and you can access and submit the form by clicking this LINK.
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