Ask the Author: M.Q. Barber
Answered Questions (13)
M.Q. Barber
There is! Binding Their Hearts is the new release this month, and I'm working on Season of Gifts: Neighborly Affection Book 8 for a 2024 release. I'll be sharing sneak peeks in the newsletter as I'm writing it.
M.Q. Barber
This answer contains spoilers…
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M.Q. Barber
Hi, Rachel! I'm so sorry that I'm just seeing your question! You can absolutely get the back issues for Tuesdays with Jay. Just send me an email at mqb@mqbarber.com using the email you subscribed to the list with and put something like "TWJ back issues" in the subject line. I'll get them sent out to you. :-)
M.Q. Barber
I wish I had an answer for you, Diane! I don't have a publication date for the next book yet. I'll be shouting it from the rooftops when I do. ;-)
I'm not sure whether the series will get an audio release. I hope so, but that's a decision the publisher makes.
I'm not sure whether the series will get an audio release. I hope so, but that's a decision the publisher makes.
M.Q. Barber
Hi, Scarlett! I'm glad Henry felt less professorial for you -- possibly a combination of him being secure enough to relax a bit more around Alice and the fact that we got to see him out and about in more casual settings.
If I release a novella this year, it'll be a compilation of the Tuesdays with Jay series of short stories from my newsletters -- familiar to subscribers, but new to everyone else -- and possibly some other extra scenes. Beyond that, I'm working on a handful of novels for various things. :-)
If I release a novella this year, it'll be a compilation of the Tuesdays with Jay series of short stories from my newsletters -- familiar to subscribers, but new to everyone else -- and possibly some other extra scenes. Beyond that, I'm working on a handful of novels for various things. :-)
M.Q. Barber
Yes, and the discussion goes over a bit differently with each of their families. Some of those scenes are already written and others are collections of notes for now, but I do hope to eventually include them in the series.
M.Q. Barber
Do you really suppose Henry would allow that? He wouldn't even loan that boy out without a thorough background check, a 100-question interrogation, a supervised assessment of skills, and an oh yeah, not happening. ;-)
*sigh* I know, I've tried.
*sigh* I know, I've tried.
M.Q. Barber
Nope, I don't get to make changes once my editor passes the books up the chain at the publisher. That actually happens several months before publication; for instance, by the end of January, I'll be finished with edits for the book coming out in August.
The gallery show was always there, but it might have slipped your mind with everything that happened at the club after. From Henry's point of view, the gallery event was a good trial run for Alice's behavior outside the apartment. ;-)
The gallery show was always there, but it might have slipped your mind with everything that happened at the club after. From Henry's point of view, the gallery event was a good trial run for Alice's behavior outside the apartment. ;-)
M.Q. Barber
For the Neighborly Affection series? The idea came from a situation and a voice, which is how story ideas generally come to me. In this case, the situation was an intimate dinner party and the voice was Henry's. Chapter 3 of Playing the Game was the first part of the series to be written. Everything else grew from that.
The characters are characters; their traits grew organically as the story developed. I wasn't thinking of a particular real person when I created them. But of course I know people who are analytic, or who like cooking, or who own bikes. ;-)
The characters are characters; their traits grew organically as the story developed. I wasn't thinking of a particular real person when I created them. But of course I know people who are analytic, or who like cooking, or who own bikes. ;-)
M.Q. Barber
I know future events in the characters' lives that I'd love to include in the series, but I don't know the exact number of books that would entail, no.
The third book ends at a point of closure that comes full circle to the first scene of the first book, so those three tell a complete story, but there are more stories I'd like to tell.
I can only say for certain that the fourth book -- a prequel from Henry's perspective -- will be out March 17, 2015, and that the series has companion pieces (the short story Three-Way Tie and a newsletter-exclusive series -- Tuesdays with Jay -- on my website).
Beyond that, I'm almost finished writing another main novel for the series, so I'll pitch that to my publisher when I'm done and see what they think. I'd love to keep telling Henry, Alice, and Jay stories in between writing other characters I have on my mind.
The third book ends at a point of closure that comes full circle to the first scene of the first book, so those three tell a complete story, but there are more stories I'd like to tell.
I can only say for certain that the fourth book -- a prequel from Henry's perspective -- will be out March 17, 2015, and that the series has companion pieces (the short story Three-Way Tie and a newsletter-exclusive series -- Tuesdays with Jay -- on my website).
Beyond that, I'm almost finished writing another main novel for the series, so I'll pitch that to my publisher when I'm done and see what they think. I'd love to keep telling Henry, Alice, and Jay stories in between writing other characters I have on my mind.
M.Q. Barber
Whichever character was whispering in my ear at any given moment, in all honesty. I tend to think of writing as a form of empathy in which the author's job is to inhabit the worldview of each character and capture it on the page in a way that lets readers empathize with the characters, too (with the caveat that no character will resonate with every reader; the world would be a dull place if they did). I love writing Alice when she's overthinking and when she's leaping light-years outside her comfort zone. I love writing Jay when he's at his silliest and when he's at his most vulnerable. I love writing Henry when he's commanding and when he's coaxing. In the three main novels, of course, everything is filtered through Alice's point of view. One of the things I particularly enjoyed about writing the short story Three-Way Tie was the opportunity to balance their perspectives by writing a chapter in each character's voice. For me it's less about having a single favorite character and more about how the characters grow and change through interacting with each other.
M.Q. Barber
Not by itself, no; my technical skills and business savvy aren't that great yet. The story was originally available in the First Frost anthology, which did have a Nook-friendly version. The anthology's out of print, but someone might be able to lend it to you.
M.Q. Barber
I drew one answer that works for both: "A live studio audience."
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