Today we interview our fabulous pub sister, Jessica Arnold, whose debut novel, The Looking Glass, is out now! I'm so excited to read this book! It sounds spooky, creepy, and full of awesome!
Welcome to We Do
Write, Jessica. Tell us a bit about yourself.
Thank you! And thanks
for letting me digitally drop by! I’m Jessica and I love writing, puppies, and
fuzzy striped socks. I write YA and also work in the publishing industry, where
I code and develop digital books. I am good at Boggle. I stink at Chess. My
dearest ambition at the moment is to learn to do a handstand. That about sums
me up.
Good luck with the handstand! How long have you been
writing?
I decided to become an
author the way I make most of my important life decisions—on the spur of the moment.
When I was little, I swore I'd grow up to be ANYTHING BUT an author. Then one
day (about six years ago) I woke up and thought, "Hey, I should write a
book." Rational? Hardly. But no one has ever claimed that people who put
themselves through the madness of trying to publish are particularly same.
Tell us about THE
LOOKING GLASS. What’s the story about?
The
Looking Glass is about Alice, a
fourteen-year-old girl who is visiting a “haunted” hotel with her family. After
hitting her head on the bottom of the pool, Alice wakes up in the hotel lobby
with no clue how she got there. And, when she happens to glance into a mirror,
she sees her body being rushed to the hospital. Trapped, alone, and only able
to see the real hotel through the mirrors, Alice realizes that the place she’s
in is nothing more than a copy, and she herself is no better. The real Alice is
in a coma.
As Alice explores her
prison, she realizes that the hotel she’s stuck in isn’t an exact copy of the
modern one. Everything here is older, and everywhere there are portraits of the
same woman—an actress named Elizabeth Blackwell. When Alice discovers
Elizabeth’s bloodstained diary, she finds herself delving into the hotel’s
horrifying history, a never explained murder, and a curse from the 1800s that
might still be intact. And if Alice can’t find a way to break the curse before
it’s too late, her real body, still comatose in the hospital, will die.
Ooh! That sounds SO good! I can't wait to read it! How did the idea of
the story come to you?
Sadly it was inspired
by the tragic death of my roommate’s niece, who drowned in a swimming pool. She
was kept alive on life support for a few days, much as Alice’s body is kept
alive in The Looking Glass while she
searches for a way to break a deadly curse. I also happened to be reading “The
Yellow Wallpaper” in one of my classes at the time, which heavily influenced
the character Elizabeth’s mental decline.
Are you a plotter or a
pantser?
I plan like a plotter,
but write like a pantser, which I’m pretty sure is not a good approach. I plot
out whole story arcs and then, in the middle of writing them, change my mind,
start making different decisions, and have to map the story out all over again.
I think a lot of writer's do that. What’s the hardest
part of writing for you?
Starting! Once I can
sit myself down, close my Internet browser, remember where I left off, and
actually start writing, I do pretty
well. The first five minutes are the most crucial.
What do you absolutely
have to have nearby when writing?
Unfortunately …
Google. And Google always is nearby.
Which doesn’t do wonders for productivity, let me tell you … even when you’re searching
in the name of story research.
If only Google could search for the things we need and not let us get distracted. Right?
If you could have any
super power, what would it be?
If you could have any
super power, what would it be?
I want to write
something wise and philosophical here, but honestly all I want is the ability
to fly. Because that would be
AWESOME.
Speaking of Google, what's the weirdest
thing you've googled?
I don’t remember the
exact search terms, but at one point I had to figure out how one of my
characters was going to murder another one. Several searches for deadly poisons
later … I think it’s safe to say I’m on the NSA’s watch list.
Oh, me too. Don't worry! Finish this sentence:
If I'm not writing, I'm probably ...
Dead. Not to be
melodramatic, but … you know, actually I’m just going to be melodramatic. I do
have periods where I take a break from writing, but if I’ve stopped writing
permanently, I’m probably dead or dying.
And finally, where can
people find you and your books online?
My website is www.iamjessicaarnold.com and I tweet @jess_s_arnold. I love digital
friends, so don’t be shy!
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