Ask the Author: Jenna Miles
Answered Questions (10)
Jenna Miles
Someone told me I can never write again. I am now an accountant.
Jenna Miles
I often catch myself wishing I could be transported into the life of the fictional heroines of the books I read! Everyone from Lizzie Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, to Olive in The Unhoneymooners or Tate in Twice In A Blue Moon. But sometimes I have to be careful not to let my obsessiveness with fictional worlds make me unhappy with my own life, which is pretty great by any objective measure. I have a loving, supportive husband who not only accepts me for the weirdo I am, but LOVES that about me! I have three healthy, amazing daughters, and I live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet. What's not to love about my own life?
Jenna Miles
At this point, I think my goal is to read as many books by Christina Lauren as I can! Up next for me is Love And Other Words.
Jenna Miles
I think a lot of things about the end of my marriage to the father of my daughters could be turned into the plot of a book. There are still many things I don't know or understand about what happened. Maybe one day I will write about it, but right now, while my daughters are still kids, is definitely not the time.
Jenna Miles
The burst of inspiration that led to The Catch came from re-reading the Jane Austen novels Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion.
What gets me every time in both novels are the themes of regret and redemption. In Pride and Prejudice, both Lizzie and Mr. Darcy work so hard to redeem themselves to each other after his disastrous first proposal.
And my heart breaks every time for Anne's bitter regrets in Persuasion. That choice she made so many years ago not to accept Frederick's proposal will haunt her for the rest of her life. What joy at the end when she gets her second chance! It led me to wonder - what if Anne had not been at liberty to take her second chance with Frederick? What if she had married someone else in the interim? Could she dare to hope for a third chance somewhere down the line?
I wanted to take this idea and set it in a fishing village because the fishing industry, which features prominently in The Catch, has always fascinated me - the villages, the boats, the life on the water. It all seemed so exotic to a girl who grew up in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas, and didn't see an ocean until she was ten years old.
What gets me every time in both novels are the themes of regret and redemption. In Pride and Prejudice, both Lizzie and Mr. Darcy work so hard to redeem themselves to each other after his disastrous first proposal.
And my heart breaks every time for Anne's bitter regrets in Persuasion. That choice she made so many years ago not to accept Frederick's proposal will haunt her for the rest of her life. What joy at the end when she gets her second chance! It led me to wonder - what if Anne had not been at liberty to take her second chance with Frederick? What if she had married someone else in the interim? Could she dare to hope for a third chance somewhere down the line?
I wanted to take this idea and set it in a fishing village because the fishing industry, which features prominently in The Catch, has always fascinated me - the villages, the boats, the life on the water. It all seemed so exotic to a girl who grew up in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas, and didn't see an ocean until she was ten years old.
Jenna Miles
It just kind of happens. I don't really go in search of it. A topic will fascinate me, like fishing, and I'll want to write a story about it.
Jenna Miles
I'm currently conducting a lot of research in order to write a short story about the time when William went to Alaska to work on the crab fishing boats. It may develop into a novella or a section in another novel; we'll see. Among other things, it will be about a friendship he forms with another deckhand. It will be more friendly to both male and female readers.
Jenna Miles
Just write. Don't worry about whether it's garbage or not. Don't worry about whether anyone else will want to read it. Just write.
Jenna Miles
I think it's just being able to create a universe, and share it with people. Writing is a sort of a madness. It's also as close to a spiritual experience as I've ever had. Crazy as it sounds, at times it felt like the story was being told through me, rather than by me. I really had no idea I had this stuff was in me. And the characters became who they were going to become; they had a will of their own. The finished product was quite different to what I had in mind when I started writing. It's really cool to watch it all happen.
Jenna Miles
I just write, and I refuse to worry about whether it's garbage or not. I can always go back and fix it later. I have tons of material that I ended up changing or cutting out of the final draft of The Catch. I can always use it in another story!
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