Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts. #129 Intentional About Structure: Dual Timelines and POVs As a Bridge Featuring Jessica Strawser
Jessica Strawser is editor-at-large at Writer's Digest and the USA Today bestselling author of suspenseful book club novels, including Almost Missed You; Not That I Could Tell (a Book of the Month pick); A Million Reasons Why; The Next Thing You Know (a People Magazine Pick), and her latest, Catch You Later, as well as The Last Caretaker, both instant USA Today bestsellers. She has written for The New York Times, Modern Love, Publishers Weekly and other fine venues, and is a popular writing instructor and freelance editor specializing in helping writers with their submission packages. She lives with her husband and children in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she was named 2019 Writer-in-Residence for the Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County and awarded an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award for 2024.
In this episode:
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The inspiration behind the story [2:48]
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How Jessica structured the dual POV, dual timeline narrative in Catch You Later [6:41]
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The concept of a reliable or unreliable narrator [11:08]
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How she built tension by giving readers more information than the characters have [12:30]
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The importance of friendship and friendship rituals as a central theme [15:07]
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Jessica's process for incorporating backstory [17:20]
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Throwing obstacles at her characters in an organic way [20:03]
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How she researched state troopers and highway travel stops for authenticity [22:15]
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The "murky middle" struggle and how she keeps her writing momentum going [25:58]
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Why she includes book club discussion questions [30:31]
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Why she overwrites [27:00]
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Jessica's disciplined writing routine—1,500 words a day, five days a week [27:29]
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Jessica's next book and plans for the near future [29:17]
Connect with Jessica
Website: https://jessicastrawser.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/Jessicastrawserauthor
Instagram: https://instagram.com/Jessicastrawserauthor
Catch You Later on Estelle's Bookshop
Jessica's prior appearance on the podcast
#96 Writing and Elevating a Suspense Novel
https://estelleserasmus.com/96-writing-and-elevating-a-suspense-novel-featuring-jessica-strawser/
Connect with Estelle Erasmus
Estelle Erasmus: an award-winning journalist, is the author of WRITING THAT GETS NOTICED (named a "Best Book for Writers" by Poets & Writers Magazine), a Contributing Editor for Writer's Digest, and host of the podcast Freelance Writing Direct. She is an adjunct instructor for NYU's School of Professional Studies/Center for Publishing and Applied Liberal Arts, has written for over 150 publications, including The New York Times, Next Avenue/PBS, WIRED, The Independent,The Washington Post, and AARP: The Magazine, and was the editor-in-chief of five national publications. Find out more at estelleserasmus.com and follow her on Substack at https://estelleserasmus.substack.com
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