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! :)
