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A Discussion with Jessica Titone: Introduction

This article is a part of a new series of blog entries, which I refer to as “Authors Talk”. You can think of it as an author interview and, indeed, that is the name of the blog category. However, I prefer to see it as a friendly chat between fellow authors. Today I’m having this virtual chat with Jessica Titone, author of Watermarked, a fine example of modern literary fiction (you can read my review of Watermarked here). A detailed list of useful links to Jessica Titone’s work can be found at the end of this article.

A Discussion with Jessica Titone: General

Chris Angelis: Let’s first hear a couple of words about you as an author. Give us some background information: what kind of books do you write, for how long have you been a writer, and anything else you think readers would find interesting.

Jessica Titone: I’m contemporary fiction writer by nature, currently dipping my toes in to test the waters of YA Fantasy. If reading were a sport, I would do it competitively, but I’m the slowest writer in the entire world. Probably because I suffer from rampant perfectionism.

As the oldest of three kids and spent a lot of time in my room alone playing pretend, which organically evolved into an insatiable reading habit. I’m from a small town, so our library was equally small. In a few years’ time, I had read pretty much every age-appropriate offering they had. So I started writing my own books in the back of recycled school notebooks via flashlight when I was supposed to be sleeping.

As a consequence for bad behavior, my dad used to have me write essays. He learned pretty quickly that it would never work as punishment, but it did help me hone my skills. He’s also the one who insisted I learn how to type when I was a melodramatic fifteen year old moaning that “I’d never use it” in my future career as a visual artist.

All that considered, I suppose I’ve been a writer forever. It’s always been second nature for me. Besides a brief stint in college where I wrote Newsies fanfiction, I’ve neglected writing until recently. Fun fact: Watermarked actually evolved from one of those fanfiction pieces. You can probably find it online somewhere if you look hard enough.

Guerrilla Writing Techniques

Chris: What does writing mean to you, on a personal level? For instance, is writing something you do when you are stressed?

Jessica: It’s a compulsion. I get vivid ideas for stories – usually at an inopportune time like when I’m driving 70 mph down the interstate – and they become all I can think about.

I enjoy having written a book far more than I do writing it. The actual process of writing is stressful. It’s a mix of “let’s think everything to death before we actually put any words down” and constant revisions. I’m great at beginning a story and at ending it, but all the pages in the middle are a struggle.

To add to the difficulty, I have two tiny kids who are pretty violent toward anything that gets in the way of my giving them attention. I’ve had to employ guerilla techniques to get any writing done – short, frantic bursts where I attempt to ignore all the distractions being thrown at me until I can’t possibly stand it for one second longer. It’s not a preferred strategy and often leads to me deleting a lot of what I’ve written, but it’s become the only way I can meet my daily word quota.

Recent and Upcoming Projects

Chris: Any recent or upcoming books you’d like to talk about?

Jessica: I’m working on more “Arcadian” stories, which is the universe that Stolen inhabits. It’s as much a surprise to me as it is to anyone else. Stolen was supposed to be a one-off, but it’s evolved and gotten away from me. I’ve recently joined Wattpad and am using it as a “test kitchen” for short stories involving a few side characters. There’s one up about Liesel right now.

As for full-fledged novels, I’m writing parallel story from Jesse’s point of view. A partner for Stolen, if you will. He was absent for most of the first book, and readers seemed really intrigued about what happened to him. At first I thought I’d add an epilogue or maybe a short story to explain, but when I got down to it, the story couldn’t be boiled down to a few measly pages. The novel will retain the same dreamy, YA fairy tale vibe, but it is a few shades darker than Stolen. More psychological. I also have very preliminary plans for a prequel about Gwenyth, and true sequel to Stolen.

There is a Watermarked sequel on the horizon, but I’ve put it on hold. I drafted the first half of it, but started feeling bogged down in its complexity. There are a lot of significant, heavy storylines in it, and I began to feel a little lost as to how to convey them correctly. Right now, I’m in the Stolen headspace, and it’s more productive for me to stay there and ride it out for a few more novels before switching back. I’m also hoping that time will afford clarity as to how to proceed on Book 2 of Watermarked (titled XO).

A Discussion with Jessica Titone: Watermarked & Stolen

Chris: Any background in regard to the inspiration for the stories? Ballet seems to be the common denominator uniting these otherwise very different works, is ballet something close to your heart?

Jessica: I’m a lifelong admirer of ballet but have never been a participant. I love the storytelling and the visual beauty of it, the athleticism and the grace. I also love how the dancers are so committed to perfection, I didn’t think to insert ballet into my writing until about the third or fourth rewrite of Watermarked. After reading A Song of Ice and Fire, I decided to implement shifting viewpoints. Ray and Flynn were initially side characters. Flynn’s story developed easily enough, but Ray’s needed more oomph. I’d based her loosely on two of my friends, who both happened to be dancers. It seemed natural to make ballet Ray’s “thing,” and from there, a compelling story emerged.

Watermarked is autobiographical in many ways. A sort of collection of everything that I knew about life up to a certain point, in novel format. I studied visual art in college, so making Audrey and Flynn a photographer and a painter seemed like a no brainer. The characters are mashups of myself or other people that I knew. A good bit of inspiration came from songs, as pathetic as that sounds.

Stolen, on the other hand, was more of an experiment. Everything about it was intentional. YA Fantasy is a genre I like to read, but I was tired of the constant recycling of the same themes and devices. I wondered if I could combine elements of other genres that I love (namely literary and historical fiction and fairy tales) to create something a bit different. The plot is a loose interpretation of The Snow Queen.

Should Writers “Stick to what They Know?”

Chris: Speaking of, do you think writers should “stick to what they know” or try and place themselves in situations they are unfamiliar with? Is it stressing or, rather, exhilarating to write about something you don’t know well?

Jessica: Writing would be a lot easier if I’d just stick to what I know. `

Experience gives your writing a certain authenticity. For example, I can’t imagine trying to construct a scene about being in love or grieving over the death of someone if I hadn’t lived through those things. So the “guts” of your story needs to come from what you know. As for the other elements, choose things you’re interested in, even if you’re not an expert. That’s what will keep you motivated to continue the story when you’re slogging through a chapter at 11:30 pm in a vain attempt to meet your daily word quota.

Having the courage to write about things beyond your personal expertise is both exhilarating and frustrating. On one hand, you’re never bored and the endless research you’ll be doing ensures that you’re always learning new things. On the other, you run the risk of an actual expert pointing out all that you got wrong. My goal is always 100% total accuracy and have had my heart broken a few times when readers have pointed out my errors. But it’s never made want to stop writing about ballet. Or London. Or one of the other countless things that I have no firsthand experience of.

Literature, Life, and Balance

Chris: Another common element in both stories seems to be the struggle between following your dreams and submitting to a different plan. Is it possible to strike a balance between the two, is it possible to learn to recognize the signs that tell you a different course of action is needed? And how important is it particularly for younger audiences of Stolen?

Jessica: I honestly did not realize how big this theme had become in my writing until the question pointed it out. Reflecting back on it, it’s hugely important to me, personally. So important, I suppose, that subconsciously invades every plotline I construct.

Life is all about striking a balance, particularly between the things we want to do and the things we should. Sometimes we get lucky and those things align, but for me, it’s always been a constant battle between the two. I imagine that it’s the same for most other humans.

Dreams Can Be Blinding

There’s a lot of pressure these days – from society, parents, etc – to be successful, and there’s a predetermined path for that success. We’re all familiar with it. It starts by getting into the most prestigious college that will take you and ends somewhere around the six-figure income, spacious house, and family on the side. Rarely does anyone stop to think, “Hey, is this really what I want?” No, we’re much more likely to struggle through it, berating ourselves the entire way for being not quite good enough to achieve our dreams.

Dreams can be so big that they’re blinding, and ultimate happiness (at least the way that we’ve come to envision it) is often a myth. There are going to be things in life that you don’t want to do, like going to work for the sake of being self-sufficient. But it’s also vastly important to be able to step back from your life, evaluate the decisions you’ve made, and be bold enough to make a change if what you’re doing is not working. It’s ridiculous to expect that you have enough knowledge at seventeen or eighteen to make a decision that shapes the rest of your life.

To the younger audiences of Stolen and maybe even those a little older who read Watermarked: It’s important to note that the path to success (whatever that might be) is not easy. There’s pain and difficulty, and feeling sad or discouraged sometimes doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It’s part of the package. Sacrifices are necessary, determination usually pays off, and no experience is ever wasted. The best outcome might not be the one you first envisioned for yourself, but it’s never, ever too late to change your mind.

A Discussion with Jessica Titone: Writers’ Life

Chris: How do you feel when you read a book that has received a lot of attention but which you personally find to be mediocre?

Jessica: I usually only have one reaction: “I can do better than that.” Maybe that line of thinking is diabolical, but I find it encouraging. I’m always really hard on myself and my work, so seeing that mediocrity is being rewarded makes me feel like I might actually have a shot at a viable writing career.

Chris: Can an author make a living from her/his writing? Should s/he?

Jessica: The answer to both those questions is yes, but the reasons for it are complicated.

We live in a world defined by algorithms. Amazon, Facebook – they’re everywhere. The assumed algorithm for any sort of “job” is that if the work you do requires “x” amount of time/effort, you should expect to get paid a corresponding amount for that work. It would be lovely if that always held true, but it’s definitely not the case in the writing world. Unless you’re able to sell your book to a major publishing house, it’s unlikely you’ll see a payoff for your work until years down the line. And then, only if you’re willing to put in work to learn the industry, implement the strategies properly, write something worth reading, and get lucky enough for the right readers to discover you.

It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try, but you’ll need to thoroughly commit, grow a thicker skin, and definitely keep your day job. Even if you potentially do everything right, you still may not succeed because luck is also involved.

“Our Glorious Modern World”

In our glorious modern world, it is easier than ever for creators to share their work. Self-publishing has given hopeful authors opportunities to distribute their work, and let’s not forget about all of the other avenues of entertainment that are free: videos on YouTube, art on Instagram and Tumblr, and live video game streams on Twitch. The average person is inundated by entertainment choices, and because of those choices, they’ve become picky. If a potential reader isn’t interested in the book you’ve poured your heart and soul into, they’ve got lots of other options. It’s not enough to have written a book anymore. It’s got to be better and more appealing than anything else out there for people to consider spending money. This is true about everything from the actual story to the marketing and everything in between.

Is Literature and Knowledge Under-appreciated?

Chris: Would you say literature (and perhaps knowledge in general) is under-appreciated? Why do you think that is?

Jessica: I’d say no on both accounts. Knowledge is, perhaps, more sought after than ever. It might not be the academic sort of knowledge that people are in pursuit of, but since Google came along, we all have the means to satisfy our innate curiosity. The kind of knowledge we each choose to pursue is varied, but most of us crave it in some form. As for those who don’t (or who crave the wrong kinds of knowledge), well, that’s probably been constant throughout all of human existence. History is full of idiots. The only difference is that now they have a platform to advertise their ignorance to the world, so we’re all more aware of them.

Literature, in the traditional sense, is not something I feel goes unappreciated, but I’m of the belief that it’s a dying art. All readers are appropriately in awe of masterpieces, but they’re not something everyone enjoys reading. Or in writing, for that matter. Whereas reading books used to be the primary form for knowledge acquisition, it’s now become more of a source of pleasure or entertainment. That shift has given birth to every kind of genre or subgenre one could imagine. Readers have more choice. Not everyone is wired to enjoy serious, intellectual writing, and now they don’t have to.

Jessica Titone: Important Links

Below you can find links to Jessica Titone’s work:

Personal Website
Goodreads Author Page
Amazon Page

Interested in other author interviews? Check out my author talk with Bryce Paradis and Evan Coupland. Or, if you want to know more about me, see my answers to some of your questions!