Usually, I write a long, rambling author’s note an hour before I hit publish on my books. With Just a Taste, I thought I’d try something different, write a Q&A for readers. But then I wrote an author’s note anyway, so here’s the Q&A.
What do you think? What’s your favorite format? Author’s Note, Q &A, “What’s Happening”? Let me know in the comments (or reply to one of my emails).
What exactly is Just a Taste?
Just a Taste is a reimagining of Sing Your Heart Out, now mostly from Miles Webb’s POV. It’s the same basic story, filtered through the lens of his experiences. Which means it’s a lot of new content. Totally fresh scenes and scenes that were in Sing Your Heart Out, now from his POV.
If you’re on the fence, I’d recommend reading the first few chapters. If they feel fresh, I promise the rest of the book will feel fresh too.
Why did you include scenes of Meg’s POV?
Just a Taste was originally conceived of as a small project. An extra four or five chapters from Miles’s POV, as some kind of bundle bonus. In fact, I’ve been sitting on those five chapters for two years no.
When I started writing it, I wanted to expand that idea but keep it in line with the original idea. Only, once I started from the beginning, I found myself expanding Miles’s scenes, adding new material, adding scenes of all the guys in the band together.
After about a week and a half, I hated myself for trying to keep both POVs. It was way too hard to figure out where to switch, where to add, where to cut! I wish I had decided to do a straight Miles book… a prequel even. But once I started mixing, I realized I couldn’t do him justice without hearing from her too.
If you started from scratch, would you do just his POV?
Definitely. Though, if I had to start from scratch, I’d probably write something totally different!
What made you decide to write Just a Taste?
Sing Your Heart Out has always had a special place in my heart. It’s the first thing I wrote that I loved that other people loved too.
When I was still writing screenplays, I had a lot of positive reactions to one screenplay, a romantic comedy about a teenage girl who pretends to be a boy online, who then ropes her sister’s boyfriend into posing as her alias to win the affection of her crush. (Of course, she inevitably falls for the other man. I am planning to write a novel version one day, but that is another story). Even with some attention, and a lot of positive feedback, it never went anywhere. Which was part of why I started writing books… but my first three books (a trilogy) were a huge failure! People didn’t like them AND they didn’t sell.
At that point, I went back to the drawing board. I was committed to finding a way to write full-time, but I didn’t understand what romance readers wanted. So many people told me that romance needed this type of hero or that type of plot, that it had to be angsty, or that it couldn’t be heavy, that it needed to be realistic, or that it needed all fantasy, no rough edges. I was totally lost! Even though I loved the idea of romantic stories, I didn’t get the genre. I asked myself: well, what do I understand, that people seem to like? And the answer was: crushing on musicians.
This is a really long story, isn’t it?
It is. But here’s a picture of a tattooed guy to make it up to you <3
When I was trying to write romance that fit into what was popular, I struggled. I couldn’t understand why a strong woman would put up with a guy who was so hot and cold… so difficult… until I went back to my high school crush on one particular lyricist. His lyrics always had this quality of pushing me away then pulling me in. It was totally addicting. And I was even more mixed up when his next album released and he was pushing more than he was pulling. Why didn’t he want to let me in? Why wouldn’t he let me love him!?!?!
The book was–is–about my relationship to that guy, the version of him that exists in my head. In high school, I loved him, yeah. But I wanted to be him more than I wanted to be with him. I wanted to be the one who captivated people with my beautiful, damaged soul. I wanted his respect more than I wanted his body. (I certainly wanted his body, but I wanted him to tell me I was an amazing writer then fuck me senseless).
I still remember sitting down at a coffee shop near my dad’s house, sipping my Moroccan Mint, scribbling lyrics in a notepad. I felt like I’d finally achieved my dream–I was the beautiful broken lyricist.
Is that why Meg is so uninterested in Miles as a rock star?
I wouldn’t say she’s uninterested exactly. More that she is embarrassed by her feelings for him as an artist. She doesn’t want him to know how much he’s affected her. And she can’t square the idea of this guy who’s a soulful poet one minute and a cocky player the next.
Why did you write Just a Taste Now?
You mean, besides torturing my readers by not writing it last year?
The truth is… I needed to write it. I lost my mojo and I didn’t know how to find it. Going back to Miles felt like the best way to get in touch with what I loved.
I don’t like to complain about sales. Or really talk too much about business. Business is business. It’s readers job to read and enjoy what they enjoy (and hopefully leave some five-star reviews), not to enjoy what I think they should enjoy.
But the truth is… it sucks when you write something meaningful to you and it gets a meh responds. It’s hard to see lower sales and know you could have spent your time elsewhere and made more. Mostly, it’s hard to feel like people aren’t reading your book. Like they aren’t appreciating the way you poured your heart and soul into it.
Broken was my heart and soul book and it didn’t do that well. I didn’t think it would be a big deal to me–I’ve had plenty of books do so-so or even flop–but it was. For the first time, I lost direction. I couldn’t figure out why I was writing. Yes, I knew I had a release schedule. I knew I needed to put out books if I wanted to make the money to pay my mortgage. But I didn’t know what drove me as an artist.
This story I told myself, that if I just followed my heart people would love it, the story I told myself since Sing Your Heart Out did well–
That story didn’t make sense anymore. I didn’t know what I was following.
There’s nothing wrong with writing for money, first and foremost, but that’s never been enough to drive me. I didn’t know what drove me.
So I thought I’d go back to the book where things first clicked for me. The one where I could get back in touch with my muse… the actual physical person. Well, my idea of him. (Dear god, I hope we never meet). What drove me when I was seventeen isn’t necessarily what drives me now. But there’s also no escaping what drove me at seventeen. It’s always going to be a part of me.
Did it work? I’m not sure. I fell in love while I was writing this book… but other things in my life went topsy-turvey. I spent a lot of time traveling, losing all my footing. I also went through a painful, extended “friend break up” right as I was finishing this book. With the person who was my closest adult friendship. Who also shares my interest in aforementioned lyricist (I mean, she knows he’s mine. Or she did. But we would talk about music, laughing about damaged boys, mock and/or praise histrionic lyrics, like we were teenagers. And now… we don’t. And I don’t have anyone to share this with).
What was your favorite thing about writing Just a Taste?
Miles, Miles, Miles. The book was about my high school crush. Writing from Miles’s POV was even more like finally achieving muse status. He’s not exactly like the musician I still, erm, used to crush on. But I can see the bones of that guy, the talks I used to have with my best friend, the endless afternoons watching music videos, and the nights I drove around in my car, listening to that album on repeat.
It’s still my favorite album. I still feel it in my soul. Even though I’m almost twice as old as I was when I first heard it. Hell, except for a few old friends and my family, that’s my oldest intimate relationship! Getting to be on the other side… it’s exciting.
It’s so funny. So much of my career was built on Sing Your Heart Out/ Sinful Serenade and the beautiful broken bad boys within. And so much of that is built on my muse/my favorite album. I don’t know if I’d be here if I hadn’t fallen head over heels for that music. It’s so much a part of me. The songs have worn a groove into my soul.
I guess that’s why I love being inside miserable mens’ heads. It takes me back to that feeling I had when I was sixteen, of falling for this beautiful broken boy and wanting every thought in his head. Wanting to save him with my love. At, ahem, thirty, I know such things aren’t possible. I try to write in a way that makes it clear that everyone saves themselves. But love does play a part. Sometimes, love is enough to convince us to try.
What was your second favorite thing?
I’m kind of cheating here, because this might have been my favorite thing. But OMG the band chemistry! I loved the band chemistry. I love writing these guys. I love Dangerous Noise too, but I think they’re a bit more functional than Sinful Serenade, which isn’t quite as much fun.
What was the biggest challenge?
Sing Your Heart Out was the fourth book I ever wrote. The first romance novel I wrote with genre conventions in mind. I’d written many screenplays, yes, but plotting was never my strong suit. In fact, I used the solo POV as something of a crutch… if I didn’t go into the guy’s POV, I didn’t need to figure him all the way out. It ended up giving the book–and the series–a really great what is he thinking, why can’t I find a way into his heart quality. But it also meant that I had no idea why Miles did certain things in certain scenes.
A lot of stuff just didn’t work from Miles’s POV. And it was much harder than I expected to develop him over the book, to find the places where he needed to grow. I loved writing those early scenes, where he was miserable, but the ones where he was falling in love? I didn’t know how to write Miles falling in love. Partly because Miles didn’t know how to fall in love. He was so unwilling to believe it, to even acknowledge that possibility.
Can we expect anything similar in the future?
I never say never. But I will say that I base my decisions on a mixture of business and personal. And the business part comes down to sales. At the end of the day, I write the book that is going to sell the best. And, so far, Just a Taste is not one of those books.
I have a lot of readers tell me they want more of something, and I really appreciate that. But if you are a reader and you do want more of something, don’t just tell the author. Tell the world! Tell your friends, tell your followers, tell your enemies. At the very least, post a five-star review!
This goes for every author and every book, not just my books. Buy, read, review. As with all things in life what you do is more important than what you say.
I’m not planning more retellings, mostly because I’m not expecting great sales on Just a Taste. It was a gift to readers. And to myself. Like any gift, I want people to appreciate it for what it is.
I do plan to bring some of Miles into a future book. Not his character, exactly. More his state of mind. Miles is one stitch away from falling apart. He’s on the edge and he teeters there for a loooong time. I’m not sure I’ve ever written a guy so in fluxx. It was a lot of fun. I’d like to do it again.
Okay, but if you did write the rest of the Sinful guys, who’s POV would be the most fun?
Tom. For sure. He is so confused about what he wants, which is always interesting. He’s also a really loud character. It’s always fun to figure out what makes those guys tick.
Drew would be the hardest, because he was always the guy I understood the least. I shouldn’t have a hard time writing anger or jealousy, because I am very familiar with those feelings, but I do. I guess it’s more accurate to say I have a hard time writing it in a way that isn’t alienating. Anger scares people. It pushes them away. It locks them out.
(A sidenote that Netflix original Dead to Me had one of the best portrayals of female anger I’ve ever seen. Also accurate in its Orange County-ness, which is always important).
Pete would be interesting. He’s the least guarded, the most willing to wear his wounds on his sleeve. But he’s not as in touch with himself as he thinks.
What’s next?
Did you see my mention of mojo earlier? Well, my mojo is still in flux. (The trip and the friend breakup really did not help). So I’m kind of experimenting. I’ve picked up some old projects. I wasn’t sure about that choice, but I’m having a blast. I can’t wait to announce them!
All I can say is… are you ready to see a very damaged hero as a POV character? One who’s been to hell and back and back to hell? I hope so, because I am LOVING writing this guy.
Okay… I’ll also say Beauty and the Beast vibes. Only kinky.
Why are you so awesome?
Okay, no one asked me that. But if I could be asked one thing… it would be something about craft. I’d rather talk about craft than about myself. (Does it count as talking about myself if I’m talking about my approach to craft?)
Thanks so much for reading Just a Taste. If you’re yet to read it, what are you waiting for! Check it out using the links below:
Amazon US -> amazon.com/dp/B07Z38RK1J
Amazon UK -> amazon.co.uk/dp/B07Z38RK1J
Amazon AU -> http://bit.ly/JustATasteAU
Amazon CA -> http://bit.ly/JustATasteCA
