Interview with Jennifer Laurens about the Heavenly Series

Interview with Jennifer Laurens about the Heavenly Series

Jennifer Laurens answered a few of my questions about the Heavenly Series.
I hope you enjoy the interview!

1 – Can you describe the Heavenly series to your readers in 10 or less words? 

Girl falls for autistic sister's guardian angel---hell breaks loose.

2 - What compelled you to write about angels? 

Having a child with autism causes one to ponder many issues and ask a lot of questions. There was so much about my daughter's condition I thought was the kiss of death. For a long time I felt hopeless. I did everything in my power to "heal" her...we tried every new "cure" that came out...for years.Accepting her condition was a process that took me from disbelief, to anger, to mourning and finally through a spiritual realization that enabled me to accept. Later, I decided to write about it--because our family ( not just me but all the children, my husband ) all dealt with her autism differently. I thought maybe there was a message of hope there for others.

3 - In the Heavenly series, who was the hardest character to write? 

Luke. My son still deals with drug addiction. It's him on those pages--a son I have watched slowly slip away. At least in the books I could control the outcome.

4 - Some of the characters in the Heavenly series have some unusual and interesting names. How did you come up with them?  

I wanted names that would be unique to my story. Matthias comes from a biblical reference of Matthew---without being as common as Matthew, plus it was a name popular when Matthias was born. Abria ( pronounced Uh-bree-uh)  is the name of a friend of our family. I'd never heard it before, and, with autism being a standout to write about, I thought her name HAD to be completely different, like the character, like the child. Zoe isn't super common, but different enough to embody the character of Zoe who is a personality and characteristic combination of my two oldest daughters.

5 - What would you say is the best part about being a self-published writer? 

Being able to have complete creative control over everything from story concept to cover design.

6 - Who are your favorite writers? 

Oooh, I adore Scott Spencer who wrote my fav book Endless Love. I also adore Markus Zusak, Josephine Hart and Celia Rees. And Nora Roberts.

7 - What about books? What are your favorite books? 

Books that knock me off my feet with beautiful expression and edgy mood: Endless Love, Damage, The Kite Runner, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, The Wish House, Inexcusable, Honest Illusions, Keturah and Lord Death, the Monstromologist to name a few. I also enjoyed The Hunger Games.

8 - Are you working in a new book right now? If yes, what can you let us know about it?

 

I'm actually juggling three books right now, trying to figure out which one to run with. I have to feel some connection with the current project, and I feel connected to all of them! It's a challenge I've had before, until one takes off, I'm going to keep on keeping on....

Thank you, Jennifer! :)