Ask the Author: Jenna Blum
Answered Questions (13)
Jenna Blum
What a great question, Mariia! I've been writing since I was four, so it has always been part of my identity. And until I got published, in my early thirties, that was my single-minded goal in life. So I didn't feel more like a writer per se when I got published, but it helped ease some of the weight I felt to accomplish my goals--tremendous validation. I could breathe a little easier. And once I hit the NYT list with my first novel THOSE WHO SAVE US, thank You, God--and readers!--I could breathe a little more easily still.
The goal remains the same: to bring readers a good story well told that hopefully they remember, carry with them, and love always.
The goal remains the same: to bring readers a good story well told that hopefully they remember, carry with them, and love always.
Jenna Blum
I read so many books a week for A Mighty Blaze (that's my literary digital marketing company--we link authors with readers in the age of Covid and beyond! www.amightyblaze.com ....) so I have stacks and stacks of books. I recommend Pam Jenoff's THE WOMAN WITH THE BLUE STAR, and I'm about to read Nickolas Butler's GODSPEED.
Jenna Blum
Whatever this says about my psychology, I'd go to The Hunger Games book world because I would love to get archery lessons from Katniss.
If it were a nonfictional book world, I'd love to visit the Little House On The Prairie setting...because my mom's people helped settle rural MN not far from many of the sites, and I'd love to time travel there! (Which I hope to do through writing fiction about it....)
Thanks for asking!
If it were a nonfictional book world, I'd love to visit the Little House On The Prairie setting...because my mom's people helped settle rural MN not far from many of the sites, and I'd love to time travel there! (Which I hope to do through writing fiction about it....)
Thanks for asking!
Jenna Blum
It would be political, so you probably don't want that. ;)
Jenna Blum
Ah yes--you are not the only "Name That Tune" reader to catch that error! Believe it or not, every book published gets proofread several times: copy edit (which should pick up exactly this error), second copy edit, proofread 1, and proofread 2....and THE LOST FAMILY was copy-edited in the Netherlands AND the States...and this is all on top of my own trying very hard to make sure there are no historical errors! Because as a reader, I get popped out of the fictional dream when there's an error, so I know how you feel. All this said..... the Amish include a deliberate error in their quilts to signify that only God is perfect. That wasn't exactly my M.O. but I guess...only God is perfect. :)
I hope you didn't get too kicked out of the dream.
I hope you didn't get too kicked out of the dream.
Jenna Blum
Hi Megy! Thank you so much for reading THOSE WHO SAVE US & reaching out with this question. I’d love to give you a more detailed answer but am afraid it contains spoilers, so may I ask you to write to me at my personal email? That’s jenna@jennablum.com ....I’d be delighted to answer at greater length.
Shorthand (which I hope gives nothing away!): the daughter being half-Jewish is such a big sea change that to address it would require a whole different book!
Please write to me & we’ll chat. :) Thank you for reading and loving my novel!
XOXO Jenna.
Shorthand (which I hope gives nothing away!): the daughter being half-Jewish is such a big sea change that to address it would require a whole different book!
Please write to me & we’ll chat. :) Thank you for reading and loving my novel!
XOXO Jenna.
Jenna Blum
Dearest! Everyone, the questioner is Louise Miller, who is a chef by morning, author by afternoon. Her novels are heartfelt and delicious! (with recipes....)
I absolutely disappear down the research rabbit hole, which is part of the process. Before I write any part of my historical fiction, I allot a few months just for research. This takes the form of a lot of reading, reading, reading, with highlighter in hand. Once I've underlined pertinent passages, I hand-copy them into a notebook I use--I'm still old-school that way! The Internet helps by providing images for my image boards. I have them for every character. The Lost Family was especially fun because there are three POV characters: Peter, in 1965; his wife June, in 1975; and their daughter Elsbeth, in 1985. They each had their own image board in my study!
I also do what one reader kindly called "method research" but what one might also call "craziness." I try to emulate as much of my characters' lives as possible while writing. I listen to the music they would have. Read the books they would have read. I bake and cook everything that appears in my novels--for Those Who Save Us, which is set half in a bakery, I baked everything in it!, and for The Lost Family, which features Peter's 1965 Manhattan restaurant, Masha's, I created and kitchen-tested the menus. (With the enthusiastic aid of my fiancé and our black Lab, who were the taste testers.) I dress like my characters if I can--while writing June, whose section is set in 1975, I wore bell-bottoms and a FEMINIST t-shirt. And I travel to the settings whenever possible. I went to Germany four times to research Those Who Save Us. Went stormchasing for 8 years for my second book, The Stormchasers. And went to New York and Minneapolis with The Lost Family (arguably not quite as exotic but just as fun!).
Is this rabbit-hole enough? :)
I really LOVE the research process and highly encourage you and all writers not to be intimidated. Choose subjects you love and you get to live an alternate life! Also, it's tax-deductible.
Love,
Jenna. XOXO!
I absolutely disappear down the research rabbit hole, which is part of the process. Before I write any part of my historical fiction, I allot a few months just for research. This takes the form of a lot of reading, reading, reading, with highlighter in hand. Once I've underlined pertinent passages, I hand-copy them into a notebook I use--I'm still old-school that way! The Internet helps by providing images for my image boards. I have them for every character. The Lost Family was especially fun because there are three POV characters: Peter, in 1965; his wife June, in 1975; and their daughter Elsbeth, in 1985. They each had their own image board in my study!
I also do what one reader kindly called "method research" but what one might also call "craziness." I try to emulate as much of my characters' lives as possible while writing. I listen to the music they would have. Read the books they would have read. I bake and cook everything that appears in my novels--for Those Who Save Us, which is set half in a bakery, I baked everything in it!, and for The Lost Family, which features Peter's 1965 Manhattan restaurant, Masha's, I created and kitchen-tested the menus. (With the enthusiastic aid of my fiancé and our black Lab, who were the taste testers.) I dress like my characters if I can--while writing June, whose section is set in 1975, I wore bell-bottoms and a FEMINIST t-shirt. And I travel to the settings whenever possible. I went to Germany four times to research Those Who Save Us. Went stormchasing for 8 years for my second book, The Stormchasers. And went to New York and Minneapolis with The Lost Family (arguably not quite as exotic but just as fun!).
Is this rabbit-hole enough? :)
I really LOVE the research process and highly encourage you and all writers not to be intimidated. Choose subjects you love and you get to live an alternate life! Also, it's tax-deductible.
Love,
Jenna. XOXO!
Jenna Blum
My sister, who's also a writer, had a great answer to this a few years back: "I go get trolleyed at Schiller's Liquor Bar." (I have no idea where that is.) Generally, I don't try to force solutions. I free-write about what the problem I'm having (or the story is having) and possible ways I can fix it, and if those answers haven't arrived yet, I take another piece of advice, from Grace Paley, whom I had the great good fortune of hearing speak at Grub Street Writers Muse & Marketplace conference one year: "If you're not feeling it, go do something else for a while." I bake. Cook. Take walks. Gentle, repetitive physical activity. And I keep asking the questions about what will help solve the problem. The answers will come.
Jenna Blum
When I'm in the zone--fully immersed in the world of the story--there's no better feeling in the world. x
Jenna Blum
A Winston Churchill quote I have above my desk: "Never give in, never give in, never give in." Also: read voraciously. Also: create something. It doesn't matter if it's good or bad to start. Just tell the story. x
Jenna Blum
I'm working on the promotion for The Lost Family, the new novel out June 5....and on my fourth novel, which will also be historical fiction. x
Jenna Blum
Generally, I have people walking around in my head who won't leave or be quiet. I start by writing a short story about those people, and if they still won't simmer down, I write a book.
Jenna Blum
I'll be posting that answer on my updated website closer to the pub date for The Lost Family and will share it here--stay tuned! And thank you for the question!
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