Ask the Author: Jen Blood
Answered Questions (5)
Jen Blood
Hi Cheryl,
Thanks so much for the question! I am absolutely planning to continue - in fact, I'm finishing up the next book in the series, White Out, and that will be out in July/August. The book follows Jamie and her crew as they search for a group of teens who have gone missing during a Maine dog sledding expedition. As research, I even got to spend a couple of days on the slopes dog sledding with Mornington Crescent Expeditions of Newry, Maine! You can sign up for my mailing list at www.jenblood.com, and I keep folks posted there about any upcoming releases. Thanks again for the question!
Thanks so much for the question! I am absolutely planning to continue - in fact, I'm finishing up the next book in the series, White Out, and that will be out in July/August. The book follows Jamie and her crew as they search for a group of teens who have gone missing during a Maine dog sledding expedition. As research, I even got to spend a couple of days on the slopes dog sledding with Mornington Crescent Expeditions of Newry, Maine! You can sign up for my mailing list at www.jenblood.com, and I keep folks posted there about any upcoming releases. Thanks again for the question!
Jen Blood
Great question, Matty! I thought I had most of the series worked out when I first started -- there were graphs, there were flow charts, there were Venn diagrams and vision boards... Many of those original ideas remained with me over the years, and there were definitely several major plot points that I knew from the outset. However, there have also been pieces that surprised even me.
One of the biggest surprises has been the evolution of Jack Juarez's character. In the first draft of All the Blue-Eyed Angels, Jack and Erin had actually been high school sweethearts (and Diggs, incidentally, was the bad guy)... That storyline had obviously been scrapped by the time I finished the final draft of Angels, and the Juarez who emerged was the quintessential tall, dark, and dreamy action hero. As I got to know Jack a little better, however, he started to show some of his true colors. The journey of discovery with all the characters has been interesting, but I think Jack's is my favorite because he was so unexpected.
So... I think I knew a lot of the plot when I first started, but occasionally my characters had their own ideas about the twists and turns. As the author, I felt it was my obligation to pay attention to my people's protests (Erin, in particular, proved to be unwieldy at times -- shocking, right?). I'm glad I listened, though... It turns out they usually knew what they were talking about.
One of the biggest surprises has been the evolution of Jack Juarez's character. In the first draft of All the Blue-Eyed Angels, Jack and Erin had actually been high school sweethearts (and Diggs, incidentally, was the bad guy)... That storyline had obviously been scrapped by the time I finished the final draft of Angels, and the Juarez who emerged was the quintessential tall, dark, and dreamy action hero. As I got to know Jack a little better, however, he started to show some of his true colors. The journey of discovery with all the characters has been interesting, but I think Jack's is my favorite because he was so unexpected.
So... I think I knew a lot of the plot when I first started, but occasionally my characters had their own ideas about the twists and turns. As the author, I felt it was my obligation to pay attention to my people's protests (Erin, in particular, proved to be unwieldy at times -- shocking, right?). I'm glad I listened, though... It turns out they usually knew what they were talking about.
Jen Blood
Live your life, read everything, and write it all down. The two best resources you can have at your disposal are life experience and a diverse knowledge of great (and not-so-great) literature. Travel. Pursue other interests. Master other skills. Writers who spend their whole lives just writing? Frankly... Not that interesting. Once you get to that part of life where you're actively pursuing a writing career, then it's important to keep your butt in the chair x-number of hours a day (you decide the number, and stick to it) and get those words out... But if you're in your teens or twenties and still figuring things out, don't close yourself off to the world around you in the interest of a fiction career. Fiction thrives on life experience.
Jen Blood
I'm working on a couple of projects, actually. I have a prequel to my Erin Solomon Pentalogy that will be out in June, called Midnight Lullaby -- that novel takes place in the summer of 2000 in Portland, Maine, during the first investigative story Erin and her former mentor (Daniel "Diggs" Diggins) take on in a more...ahem, adult capacity. The story is told from Diggs' perspective, and follows the duo as they investigate a series of ritual murders targeting the African immigrant population in Portland.
BELOW, POTENTIAL SPOILER FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT READ THE FULL ERIN SOLOMON PENTALOGY:
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The book I'm actually writing at the moment is a follow-up to my Erin Solomon Pentalogy -- a new series featuring search-and-rescue dog trainer Jamie Flint and FBI agent Jack Juarez. My target launch date for that book is November, 2015.
BELOW, POTENTIAL SPOILER FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT READ THE FULL ERIN SOLOMON PENTALOGY:
****
****
****
The book I'm actually writing at the moment is a follow-up to my Erin Solomon Pentalogy -- a new series featuring search-and-rescue dog trainer Jamie Flint and FBI agent Jack Juarez. My target launch date for that book is November, 2015.
Jen Blood
I don't actually believe in writer's block -- I'm from the school where you either write or you don't write, and waiting for the Muse to whisper in your ear is career suicide. Personally, I sit my butt in the chair during the hours when I'm supposed to be writing (6am to 11am, usually), I have a word count I'm shooting for and specific scenes I'm working on, and I get it done. There are days when my writing sucks... That doesn't mean I'm blocked, it just means I'll have to work a little harder on revisions for that section when the time comes. The point is to get the words on the page -- you can always fix them later.
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