Saturday, October 20, 2012

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! :)

12 comments:

  1. Great interview! I like how the book deals with tough subjects but presents it in a relatable way. I really need to read the rest of these!

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  2. What a beautiful interview. Such tough things to think about. She does a wonderful job!

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  3. great interview, I like part question about interesting names (question 4)

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  4. Great interview. I have already had first book of this series, and can't wait to read it. The story sounds really great.

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  5. This definitely sounds like an emotionally draining journey for Jennifer Laurens, and I can't help but want to go and pick this book up to see what the outlet Heavenly has become. I feel . . . wow. My heart. Is hurting. And I NEED TO READ THIS.

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  6. This is such a great interview!
    Really touches on some great things.
    I'm definitely going to pick up the first in this series!

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  7. Great interview! I have Heavenly sitting on my shelves for quite sometime now and I should definitely put it on schedule to read it soon.

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  8. Great Interview! The author has taken up some serious issues and I am sure it must have been tough for her to write about those things.

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  9. Great interview! I own a few of her books but haven't gotten to them yet. They seem really good though! :]

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  10. Such beautiful and cool interview - I liked especially the explanation about name choosing - thought that was pretty awesome! <3

    personaldeath (at) gmail (dot) com

    Ana Death Duarte

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  11. Great interview. i appreciated that Jennifer open up about her daughter autism and to write the books based on her experience.

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