I haven't read any of Jesseca's books yet, but if the results I'm seeing on the book awards are anything to go on, she's a pretty good author. My mom bought one of her books, and I do plan to read it in the soonish future.
Jess Wheaton
Christian/Historical Fiction
Hi Jessica! I just read Beyond the Horizon this week, and I really enjoyed it. What made you think to do a retelling of Cinderella in a WWII setting? And as someone who just finished writing a story set during the time period, I'm also curious about what intrigues you most about it?
ReplyDeleteHey Hazel! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for reading. :)
DeleteWell, WWII fascinates me. And Cinderella is my favorite fairytale, but I'm not a fan of all the magic in it. I finally got around to watching Diseny's 2015 Cinderella, and I LOVED how it had a historical backdrop. And I mentioned to a friend how I wished someone would make Cinderella set with WWII as the background. A month later, I had the entire first draft completed. ;)
Hehe, can I say everything intrigues me? There are so many different, diverse areas of WWII. So many mysteries that still surround it, and so many brave men and women who lived during that time in history. And it really didn’t happen all that long ago.
I think another thing that really got me interested in it to begin with was the fact that there are still people alive who remember the second world war. For them it wasn’t something they learned in history class. This was their life. They remember seeing Hitler rise to power. They felt the icy breath of war envelop the country when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Their accounts of it are chilling. To think that this man I talked to fought in the battle of Iwo Jima. This man was there. It just opened my eyes, and I wanted to be able to tell their stories before they were gone. These men and women truly served for a greater purpose than themselves, and they deserve to be remembered.
Well I think it worked. I love writing retellings so I am always interesting in what inspires people to come up with particular ones.
DeleteI feel a lot of the same about WWII there are just SO many aspects of it. I only just wrote a shortish adventure novel about spies and stuff, and while doing so really for the first time realized just how vast the time period really was. And the fact that you can still actually talk to eye-witnesses is definitely a sobering thing. To me it seemed like it was such a different time period that sometimes we forget it didn't happen all that long ago.
Who designed your covers?
ReplyDeleteWeellll . . . I've had fun with different cover designers, so I've had three different people doing them! ;)
DeleteWillowy Whisper designed the cover for Beyond the Horizon , an I think she did a great job capturing the feel of the story, as it has a more romantic bend. However, my other stories don't have that, so I decided to go with different cover designers for my other two. Amanda Tero designed the cover for The Silent Blade , and she also did the spine and back cover for A Question of Honor . So far, she's probably been my favorite cover designer to work with. She's very flexible, and her pricing is very reasonable!
And then the front cover for A Question of Honor was designed by Kaitlyn K. I loved the way she caught the historical feel in her covers, so that's why I used her! :)
Hello, Jesseca! Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions!
ReplyDeleteI'd like to know: how did you decide you wanted to write historical fiction? Also, what's your favorite period of history? I'm guessing WWII, since you've written two books in that time, but I'm still curious. Lastly, what's your best strategy for defeating Writer's Block?
Thanks again!
Of course, Sarah! :)
DeleteWell, historical fiction is my favorite genre to read, so when I started writing, I never really considered anything else ... I wrote what I wanted to read!
And yup, WWII is my favorite time period. So many fascinating things happened during that time, and it covered such a broad range of cultures. There's always more to learn about it! ;)
Defeating writers block ... A lot of times, since I write historical fiction, I'll often watch a movie set in that time period. Many times that is enough to push me to write again, because I get so passionate about the time period.
Other than that ... writing from a new POV is often helpful. And sometimes writing a scene that happens later often helps, just to get my brain off my problem and where I'm stuck. :)
Cool. Thanks so much for answering my questions!
DeleteI NEED to get my hands on A Question Of Honor, I've heard such good things about it! Who designed the cover for it, and what gave you the idea for it?
ReplyDelete~ Savannah
scattered-scribblings.blogspot.com
If you do read it, I REALLLLYYY want to hear your thoughts on it. ;)
DeleteKatilyn K., a blogger friend of mine, who is amazing at graphic design, designed the cover for me. I was so happy with how it turned out! The idea? Well, I've always been interested in WWII, and I ha come across some vintage pictures on pinterest. Around the same time, I finished watching a movie on the Battle of Britain. All those combined to give me the spark of the idea, and it kinda went on from there!
Well, whenever I read it, I'll probably post a review on it - so you'll definitely get my thoughts! ;)
Delete~ Savannah
scattered-scribblings.blogspot.com