Brenda Janowitz, author of Scot on the Rocks and Jack with a Twist
BRENDA JANOWITZ
Author of Scot on the Rocks and Jack with a Twist
Red Dress Ink
Describe your path to becoming a published author.
I’ve always been a writer. In fact, that’s the reason why I became a lawyer in the first place—trying to find a career where I could write full time. But I’ve always had a real love for fiction, and I’d find myself practicing law and thinking about these fictional stories that I wanted to write. I practiced at a large law firm and also did a federal clerkship, but couldn’t find the perfect niche for myself in law. So, I decided to pursue my dream of being a fiction writer.
When I was invited to my ex-boyfriend’s wedding, my life slowly but surely began to resemble some of my favorite chick lit novels, and I said to myself, ‘I’ve just gotta start writing this stuff down….’
I began working on my manuscript while I was still working full time as a lawyer—it took me around 9 months to complete. Since I had the basic idea for the story in my head, it flowed well for me. I knew the way I wanted the scenes to play out, the character arcs, and then from there, I just let things grow on their own. Basically, I wrote whenever I could. Instead of renting a movie on a rainy night, I would just sit down and write. After 3 more months of editing, it took another 3 or 4 months to find an agent. There was a lot of rejection at first, but then I met Mollie Glick. It was an instant connection and I immediately knew that I wanted her to represent me. Mollie then took it from there and found the perfect home for my book with Selina McLemore at Red Dress Ink, who offered us a two book deal.
How did being a lawyer prepare you for your life as a writer?
I’d say it’s the discipline. As a lawyer, you learn to work hard—really punishing hours—to get what you want. You learn the value of organization and how to be professional. Also, you have the ability to sit in front of a computer for hours on end, which is a good thing when you’re trying to write a three hundred page novel!
Why do you think so many lawyers become writers? What is it about the legal field that lends itself well to being a writer?
It’s true—so many lawyers become writers! In large part, this is probably because many lawyers love to write. I also think it’s the skill set that we’ve developed as lawyers that enables us to transition so easily to the writing life.
You have stated that you write a lot from real life, your real life inspires your literary world. Does that pose any problems? Where else do you find inspiration?
It is true, I do write a lot from life. I get inspiration from everywhere I go, everyone I meet, anything I see.
I’m often asked about how much of SCOT is taken from my experience of going to an ex’s wedding. 1% is straight fact, the rest is fiction. It is true that there was a Scottish guy, and that I did go to my ex-boyfriend’s wedding, but the rest of the story is fiction. Like I tell my students in my Mediabistro classes, real life is just real life. Fiction should have a structure to it. In fiction, you can mine from your real life for your novel, but you then fictionalize it to give it structure and make it more interesting.
I talked about whether or not I get in trouble over my real life inspirations at my NYC Barnes and Noble reading. You can check out a clip here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywcLBh2RxNw
What are your feelings about the term “chick lit?” Why is it looked down upon when so many women can relate and identify with it?
For me, chick lit is just smart, funny fiction that reflects our lives today. If publishers want to use chick lit as a marketing term and help women to find the sorts of books that they want to read, then I really have no problem with it.
Chick lit as a genre is almost always under attack. It’s relatable and fun, and it’s the sort of thing that my friends and I love to read. It very much reflects our lives today in an accessible way. So many women are working these big time jobs and when they get home after a long, long, LONG day, I think it’s fun to read a book that is a great escape from life, but one that also reflects your life in some way.
As for books like THIS IS NOT CHICK LIT and other attacks on our genre, like the piece Maureen Dowd wrote for the New York Times, I find it disheartening that female authors feel the need to disparage other female authors. You don’t see Michael Chabon saying nasty things about Carl Hiassen and Nick Hornsby.
Describe a typical day in your life.
There is no typical day—every day is different for me! Most days, I try to get some writing done, and there are days when I can get pages upon pages written, and there are days when I don’t even write a word.
I teach one night a week, and during the week, I always have my students’s writing to review. In addition, as a writer, I think it’s also very important to read a lot, so I read a different book every week.
I just try to stay organized and stay on top of everything I need to do. I also love to cook, and as a newlywed, it’s important to carve out time for my husband, so at the end of most days, I find myself at 11 p.m. just wondering where my day went!
Describe your writing process. Do you outline?
I really just go with whatever works for the project. It’s been different each time.
When I wrote SCOT ON THE ROCKS, I had a general idea of where it was going, but by no means a real outline. I just let the story take me where it wanted and I did a lot of editing and re-writing to keep it tight and make it work the way I thought it should.
For JACK WITH A TWIST, I created an outline first to show to my editor so that she’d have a sense of the type of story I wanted to tell. I found it fun to work off of an outline since it gives you the opportunity to layer on the things like themes and symbols that I added to second and third drafts of SCOT ON THE ROCKS. I feel that it made for a much richer first draft.
What are you currently reading?
I read so many different things, it’s hard to keep track! I like to read broadly across genres. Right now, I find myself reading a lot of women’s fiction, since that’s where I feel the natural progression of my writing is going. Right at this minute, I’m reading THE MYTH OF YOU AND ME by Leah Stewart.
I recently finished THE LACE READER by Brunonia Barry, FINISHING TOUCHES by Deanna Kizis, THIS CHARMING MAN by the fabulous Marian Keyes (who gave me a fantastic blurb for JACK WITH A TWIST!), THE ICE QUEEN by Alice Hoffman, WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen, SUMMER SISTERS by Judy Blume, THE DIVORCE PARTY by Laura Dave, ANY PLACE I HANG MY HAT by Susan Isaacs, TWILIGHT by Stephenie Meyer, JINX by Meg Cabot, THE NEW YORK TRILOGY by Paul Auster.
What is the advice you give to your students?
The most important bit of advice that I can give to any writer is to keep writing! It’s so easy to get discouraged or feel like you don’t have the time to write. But like anything else that is important in life, you have to work at it and make the time for it.
Edit! Editing your work is almost as important as the writing itself. Sure, you’re telling your story, but it’s also important to consider the way that you tell it. You want your writing to be tight, elegant and polished. It can only get to be that way through careful and thorough editing.
Develop a very thick skin. You’re putting yourself out there when you write and not everyone is going to love what you do. But that’s okay! You’re not writing to please everyone out there. You’re writing because you have a story that you want to tell. So start getting used to criticism and then see tip #1—keep writing!
Will we see Brooke again?
I have no immediate plans for a third book featuring Brooke Miller. I do have a free online short story running on Red Dress Ink’s website, though:
http://www.eharlequin.com/article.html?articleId=1362
It’s for anyone who ever wondered whether or not Brooke would be inviting Trip to her own wedding….
In SCOT ON THE ROCKS, your main character attended the wedding of an ex-boyfriend. What are your feelings on relationships with exes?
This is a tricky one! I think that there are some exes you can stay friends with and some you’d rather never see again in your life.
It’s nice if you can stay friendly with an ex. After all, this is someone who was a major part of your life for a while. But there are some break-ups that make it simply impossible for a couple to transition to just friends.
Check out Brenda’s site at www.brendajanowitz.com.
Thanks, Brenda! Keep us posted on your next novel and we hope you stop by BookFinds again!
