Here's a rare Saturday post for you! What's the special occasion? We're chatting with author Brooklyn Skye about her novel STRIPPED.
Welcome to We Do Write, Brooklyn! Tell us a bit about yourself.
Hi! Thanks for having me. I’m excited to be here!
About myself? Hmm…do you ask this to watch people squirm? (Can you tell I’m avoiding the awkwardness of talking about myself?) Anyway, I’m just a girl who’s obsessed with words, who writes stories about the messy in-between time in people’s lives—also known as New Adult.
How long have you been writing?
Seriously, for a few years now. Before that I dabbled in writing fiction, but college sort of got in the way.
Tell us about STRIPPED. What’s the story about?
College freshman Quinn Montgomery will do anything to avoid the mistake her sister made—killing herself over a boy. But when she is forced into nude modeling at a local college to support her family after a bankruptcy, she begins to crack, just enough to let Torrin, the university’s top varsity oarsman, see that the real Quinn is not as feisty and unapproachable as she wants everyone to think. But letting someone in comes at a steep cost and, it turns out, Torrin is connected to Quinn’s family in more ways than she could ever imagine.
SPOILER: Torrin is totally swoon-worthy! He’s my new favorite book boyfriend. (Is that fair to say seeing that I wrote him?)
Of course! How did the idea of the story come to you?
The story is a mish-mash of ideas I had. I’d had the character Quinn in my head for quite a while, but until STRIPPED I wasn’t quite sure what her story was. One day while writing another manuscript, I logged in to my email and featured on the “news” section was an article about college girls modeling nude for extra money. At the time, New Adult wasn’t a thing—writing college-aged protagonists was sort of a no-no so I wrote it as YA. It didn’t really work so I set it aside until last year one of my critique partners suggested I rewrite it as NA. And here we are!
Do you have a critique group/partner or beta readers, or do you self-edit?
This manuscript endured the eyes of five beta readers, two critique partners and was edited by Taryn Albright (who is absolutely a dream to work with).
Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Panster for draft one then plotter (or outliner?) during revisions. Lately I’ve been plotting out scenes before I write them to help stay focused, so there might be a bit of transition coming my way (gasp!).
Perfectly normal, I say. What’s the hardest part of writing for you?
Finding quality time to work on it. Most days I wake at 4:00AM just to have a good chunk of writing time before life gets in the way.
I hear ya! What do you absolutely have to have nearby when writing?
Pandora and sticky notes.
If you could have any super power, what would it be?
Would tuning out distractions count as a super power? That would be awesome!
Right? I agree! What's the weirdest thing you've Googled?
It wasn’t something I Googled, but a few months ago I entered a hackers’ forum to try to learn their lingo for an author I was working with. I posed as a hacker myself and was so scared authorities were going to be knocking at my door that night!
Yikes, that's scary. Bravo to you for being so brave in your research. Quick writing test! Use the following words in a sentence: syrup, stirrup, and stressed.
Sticky syrup dripped from the stirrup as the doctor muttered, “Geez, could I be any more stressed?”
Don’t ask why there was syrup in an OB-GYN office, LOL!
LOL! Okay, I won't. Finish this sentence: If I'm not writing, I'm probably ...
reading manuscripts. (My editorial assistant job has sort of taken over my life. Sigh.)
Here’s the part where you thank the people who are supporting you. Let's hear your shout outs.
Thanks to everyone who’s supported STRIPPED thus far. And to all of you who plan to read: I hope you all love Quinn and Torrin as much as I do!
And finally, where can people find you and your book online?
Kobo
iTunes
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