Jules Adrienn

Jules Adrienn is the fiction-writing alter ego of an award-winning author from the Midwest. She’s a world traveler, a homebody, a belly-laugher, a bawler, a lover, and a fighter. Stay tuned in to her latest adventures in writing (and life)—she’s always up to something.

Instagram: www.instagram.com/julesadrienn/

Twitter: twitter.com/AdriennJules

Facebook: www.facebook.com/JulesAdrienn/

What television sitcom is most like your family? Why?

The television sitcom that is most like my family is “The Kids Are Alright,” which is about a working-class, Irish-Catholic family. Although my family isn’t Irish-Catholic, I think it touches on many of the “big family” dynamics of my family. There’s the mother who controls everything quietly (and sometimes not-so-quietly) behind the scenes. The dad who keeps order, dispenses advice and suffers no fools. And there are the kids who are constantly messing with each other. Shifting loyalties, backstabbing, adventures, alliances—it’s Game of Thrones, the family edition😊

What’s your favorite thing to do to relax?

My favorite thing to do to relax is read a quick mystery or romance novel. If it’s a romance mystery, even better! In the summer, I’ll do this sitting in my giant Adirondack chair with a cool glass of lemonade. During colder months, I’ll read while curled up in my favorite bean bag chair with a blanket and a hot tea.

If you could go back in time to when you were seven years old, what wisdom or advice would you pass on to yourself?

I would tell myself to pick a sport and try really hard to excel in it. I’m getting older and I sort of regret not testing the limits of my body back when I was in my prime!

For what are you grateful?

I am grateful for this beautiful planet we live on. Everyday I look around and feel lucky to live in a world filled with so many treasures- the smell of a hyacinth flower, an evening’s soft, glowing light, the taste of a fresh tomato. It’s corny, I know, but I’m in love with these little things!

At what age were you the happiest? What triggered such joy?

I’m the happiest right now. I followed my dream and I’m getting books published. I’m proud that I stuck with my passion. I love when readers dive into the worlds I’ve created and live adventures through my characters. My happiness is at its highest when one of my novels is released. Publishing is the end result of a tons of work and it makes me soooo happy to see one of my stories take its first step into the world. It’s a great feeling😊

What is the number one lie you tell yourself? How is that working out?

The number one lie I tell myself is that I don’t have time to make breakfast in the morning. Most mornings when my alarm goes off I hit snooze a few times, creating a situation where I “run out of time” to brew my own coffee. But you see, it’s all by design, because running out of time at home means that I get to stop at my favorite coffee shop for a croissant and a chai latte. If you ask the delusional version of myself, I say that this is working out great. If you ask the practical version of myself, this lie is causing weight gain and financial ruin.

Now about you as an author…
What authors had an impact on you growing up and as an adult?

The books that I enjoyed most when growing up were stories of adventure. J.K. Rowling, of course, was highly influential, not only because of the amazing story she told with Harry Potter but also because of her success (I mean, c’mon—who doesn’t want to be successful, right?). I also really loved the C.S. Lewis books, many of which told of harrowing journeys and great adventure. I also enjoyed authors who wrote with great detail, like Laura Ingalls Wilder. She made it so easy to imagine that you were right there with her on the prarie! I think that is partially where I learned to appreciate the small details of life that I am still so fond of.

Did anyone in your life influence you or encouraged you to be a writer?

I don’t think anyone ever encouraged me to be a writer. I guess you could say that other authors were my encouragement. I remember when I decided I was going to be a writer. I had a book that was so good that it kept me reading into the wee hours of the morning. I just couldn’t put it down—I had to see what happened. After I finished it, I remember thinking, “I wish I could entertain someone like that.” From then on, I started writing novels. Never took a class. Never wrote short stories. I just started writing novels. The classes and conferences and writing groups came later— after I figured out that writing is a hard artform to master. But my origin story as a writer is a direct result of my love to read.

What is your favorite aspect or writing? Your least favorite?

Conceptualizing the characters, the world, the plot and the story are my favorite parts. I think it’s the favorite part for many people who aren’t writers too! So many people have so many great ideas😊 My process starts with my ever-watchful brain. It’s always subconsciously sifting through what I’m experiencing—searching for my next great idea. It usually comes to me as a glimpse of a scene in an as-yet-to-be-filmed movie. And there’s always a character there. Someone who isn’t real, but who I recognize immediately. The character is key for me. Once I have a good character, the story is off and running.
My least favorite aspect of writing is writing the first draft of a novel. Spinning ideas into a novel is a herculean feat that demands talent, experience and most of all, persistence. I have to transport myself into the world I’ve made up, slip into the point of view of the character I’ve conjured, and then write down what I see, feel, hear, taste, and smell as I inhabit that character. And I have to make sure I’m doing it in a manner that is not only understandable to readers, but also entertaining. By the end of a writing session, curls of smoke are coming out of my ears. Seriously. But it’s not all bad. Sometimes, it can be great fun to experience the adventure my character is undergoing as I’m writing it. It’s probably as close to an out-of-body experience as a person can get.

What aspect of writing would you most like to improve on?

I’m not as free and fast with my writing as I used to be, and I wish I could get that back. Everything I write seems to teach me a little more about writing, which is a good thing, but it also makes me more deliberate. I slow down. I delete whole sections as I go. I polish and repolish the same sentences again and again. It sometimes feels like every day is two steps forward, three steps back. Progress eventually comes, but it’s always too slow for me.

Do you have any “must haves” with you while you’re writing?

I always have a glass of water and for certain scenes I need a music playlist. Most of the time I can’t play music while I’m writing—it messes with my thought process. But there are scenes that I just can’t write without having music playing. The kind of music depends on the scene and my mood. Right now I’m listening to my “laid back” playlist. Here are a few songs: Babylon by David Gray, Finally Moving by Pretty Lights, 5 Years Time by Noah and The Whale, Fire and Rain by James Taylor, Love is Found by Sade, I Can’t Tell You Why by the Eagles, I Keep Forgetting by Michael McDonald, Friend Like You by Joshua Radin, Tin Man by America, Back To Life by Soul II Soul, and lots, lots more!

Do you have a common theme or item that appears in each of your books?

I’m not sure why, but I usually write about characters who are experiencing what is commonly referred to as “the hero’s journey.” My characters come from humble beginnings. They’re just living their life, doing their thing, and then they’re thrust into some kind of quest by forces beyond their control. Dark forces and/or people are bent on their destruction. And, try as they might, my characters are continually overwhelmed and on the edge of ruin. Can they overcome the forces against them? Will they win in the end? This is the general theme of much of what I write. But if you want to know if my characters win in the end, you’ll have to read one of my novels.

What have you learned the most from being in the writing business?

It’s easy for me to get sucked into aspects of the business that have little to do with writing a great story. How to write a query letter. How to get reviews on Amazon. How to outline a story. Advertising. Social media. Blah, blah, blah… All of it is important, but I think none of it matters if you don’t have a story that people want to read. So, to answer your question, I’ve learned that the business of writing—for me—is mostly about storycraft. Writing the best story I can every time I write a novel is my primary goal. And I have to add—all the other stuff is a lot easier than writing a great story. I do my best to keep doing the hard work of writing. Now if I could just get faster at it!

Tell us about your latest release:

My YA Romance novel, AVA THE BRAVE, is scheduled to be released in March 2020. Here’s the synopsis:

In her homeland of the Reserve, Ava Phoenix is a member of the Braves, a martial arts team coached by her father. Competing at the champion contest, she narrowly defeats the grand praetorian’s son. Furious, the grand praetorian murders her father and sends a battalion to burn her village. As Ava races home to save her people, she is hunted by the most dangerous teenage fighters in the world. Outnumbered and with little time, her will to fight is kept alive by a white-hot desire for revenge and Beau, a teammate who has captured her heart. With all the power of the Reserve standing against her, she is sure of only one thing—that the survival of her village and herself will be earned, one fight at a time.

My Adult Thriller Romance, TWO DAYS TO DIE, is scheduled to be released in May 2020. The storyline is as follows:

Detective Gabriel Emory has it all. Muscle. Smarts. Survivalist skills. And drop-dead gorgeous detective, Anita Wolfe, flying with him to an all-expenses-paid island vacation. Too bad their trip is really an escaped convict’s game designed to punish those who put him in prison. And now Gabriel must use all his muscle, brains and survival skills to win a race through a desolate wilderness. But how does he save himself and Anita in a race where only the winner can live? It’s a race for their lives, and it ends in two-days. Tick, tick, tick…

How did you decide on your story plot?

My first vision of AVA THE BRAVE was seeing the exotic fighting teams riding their horses over a blazing hot windswept plain toward a distant city. I had a vision of the Arch Angels, all dressed in white, with their falcons on their shoulders. The Natty Rebels twirling their steel poles. The 54s whirling their chains. The NightCrawlers all in black. And all the other strange and wonderful teams, but especially the Braves, looking like a sword-carrying biker gang in their vests and jeans and boots. From there the plot built itself. I knew they were all riding to the city for an annual fighting contest, but I also knew there was a special girl on the Braves. A girl who had never been in the contest before. A girl with no chance to win, because she was facing a far more experienced fighter who bullied her the minute she entered the city. But the girl—Ava Phoenix—doesn’t know she’s supposed to lose. Her epic fight sets the stage for a plot that has great victory followed by heart-rending defeat, first love, ultimate loss, and a quest for revenge that may or may not destroy Ava and all her teammates, the Braves.
TWO DAYS TO DIE is my take on what I call a ticking-clock plot. What I mean by this is that the plot revolves around a high-stakes game with a timeline. The first person who crosses a remote island wilderness in two days lives. Everyone else dies. Add in a pack of wolves, competitors trying to outsmart one another, raging whitewater rivers, booby traps, ruthless killers and, of course, a budding romance between an alpha male and female, and you have a thriller that’s built for speed.

How did you choose your characters names and location for your story?

The names of my AVA THE BRAVE characters just seemed natural, like they were characters who were always there, just waiting for me to find them. Beau is Ava’s love interest, so of course he’s her “beau,” or boyfriend. Ava is the most important woman of the fictional world I’ve created. In some sense, she’s the first woman of her kind, kind of like an “Eve,” but with a twist, which translated for me into “Ava.” The bad guys, Stefan and Lorelei Pleasant came fully formed to my mind. Their names are contrasts to their nature, which I always find interesting. Having “Pleasant” as a last name and being anything but pleasant creates tension whenever they’re in a scene. There are so many characters in this story that I can’t go over every one of them, but I can tell you, they all had names the moment I wrote them into the story. I don’t think there was one character name that I had to change over the course of writing this novel, and that is not normally how my process works.
I had some definite inspiration for the names of a few characters in TWO DAYS TO DIE. The main protagonist’s name, Gabriel, is the name of an angel, actually an archangel, which I interpret as being a person of beauty, strength and power. His love interest’s first name is Anita, which just sounded right to me. But her last name, Wolfe, says it all. She isn’t someone to mess with. Beautiful, wild and dangerous. Together they make a good team.

Do you have a favorite scene? Why?

I do have favorite scenes in both novels, but I can’t describe them—it would be giving too much away. My favorite scene in AVA THE BRAVE is a moment of quiet in a story that’s filled with noise and violence. It’s a scene that broke my heart when I wrote it, and it still breaks my heart every time I read it.
The scene that stands out to me in TWO DAYS TO DIE is simply heart-pounding. I was very uncomfortable writing it—it almost gave me a panic attack, no joke. In a story built on action and bad situations, this scene is my favorite.

Do you have a character that you identify with? Who and why?

I identify with every character, good and bad. I think characters act out of wants and needs, which I can identify with even if I don’t like a particular character. This may just be a writerly thing to say, or it may just be a me thing, but I have to find a reason for why a character acts the way they do. This allows me to understand the character and be able to write from their viewpoint. There are times I’ve found that a character can act out of a base primal instinct to protect their position or status. I understand this—it’s something I see quite often in the workplace and in social groups. But it can lead to all kinds of convoluted logic that justifies bad behavior. So, in the end, I can identify with characters good and bad. That doesn’t mean I condone their behavior—it just means I understand it.