Interview & Review | Stacey Wiedower

To an outsider, Amelia’s life looks great. She’s a successful novelist, whose first book is about to be made into a major motion picture. What people don’t realize is that she’s falling apart inside. She hasn’t even started writing her third novel of the four contracted in the series, and she’s increasingly anxious that Noah will find out about the books and realize they’re all about him! And just because she hasn’t fully put her past behind her, doesn’t mean she’s not ready for the future…right?

My heart wrenched in sadness for what Noah did to destroy his relationship with Amelia all those years ago. It’s incredible how one bad decision can ruin someone’s entire life, especially when that other person is your whole world and the foundation for your entire future. How do you move past total grief over the ultimate betrayal? Not only did Noah’s betrayal lose him his fiancée and his future, but it made him lose his belief in his ability to love.

My Rating: 5/5 Stars

Author Interview with Stacey Wiedower

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Amazon | Goodreads

1. Would you like to start by introducing yourself?

Sure! I wear tons of hats—wife, mom, freelance writer, author and interior designer. My freelance writing is mostly about homes and design, and so is my novel-in-progress. Apart from writing, I love to read, travel and draw.

2. Can you give us a brief overview of your latest novel and the inspiration behind it?

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE is my second book to be published, but it’s actually the first book I wrote. Its main character is a writer whose novel series is being turned into a movie. As she rises to fame as an author, her past (which inspired her books) gets all tangled up into her present. She becomes a paparazzi target and a household name, all the while trying to come to grips with her fame.

As for my inspiration, I was watching the special features on a DVD for a movie that was based on a book. In an interview, the author was asked, “Are any of your characters based on people you know in real life?” She answered “no,” of course (because authors always answer “no” to that question, whether it’s true or not), and that got me thinking, “What if they were?” So I invented my own author/character who gets herself into trouble by turning pieces of her real life into a fictional story that makes her famous.

3. How long did it take you to write Now a Major Motion Picture? What is your writing process like?

The book took nine months to write. At the time, most of my friends were having their second babies, and everyone joked that my second baby was a book. It’s true, in a way.

My writing process varies widely based on what’s happening in my life. I wrote NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE mostly late at night after my son was in bed, but I also wrote scenes with him on my lap, while riding in cars, while flying on planes, while sitting in waiting rooms. I was a woman possessed when it came to writing NAMMP. I wrote my first published book, 30 FIRST DATES, largely in coffee shops. I write when I can.

4. Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on at the moment?

Yes! I’m writing my first novel-length story that draws on my interior design experience, which is super-fun. The main character is a designer who gets herself in trouble at work and has to employ every skill in her arsenal to redesign her career and love life. It’s called HOW TO LOOK HAPPY, and it’s coming in January 2016.

5. If you were given an offer to turn Now a Major Motion Picture into a movie, who would you want to see playing the roles of Amelia and Noah?

The actors who look most like Amelia and Noah look in my head are Odette Annable and Chace Crawford. Odette has a quiet, mysterious beauty and a girl-next-door quality that make her a dead ringer for Amelia. As for Chace, it’s mostly the eyes—deep blue. Those eyes make you understand how Amelia could pine for him years after she let him get away.

6. Did you always want to be a writer?

I would say yes and no. I have a bachelor’s degree in journalism and I worked as a reporter and editor for years before I knew I was meant to be a writer. I left journalism for a time, and it was while I was working full-time at an interior design firm that I realized how much I missed writing. I started my first novel then, and that’s when I truly fell in love with the craft of writing and knew I’d found my calling.

7. Who are the authors that inspire you and what genres do you enjoy reading?

The author I find most inspiring is Edith Wharton. I feel a sort of kinship with her because she was also a writer and an interior designer, and she combined the two by incorporating beautiful details into her settings. Reading her work is like taking a master class in world building and character development. I’d love to publish a non-fiction book about design one day, as she did. As for a contemporary author, I greatly look up to Mary Kay Andrews. Again, we have writing and design in common, and MKA started out as a reporter, like me.

As for books I enjoy, I read in a wide variety of genres. I love chick lit and rom-com, of course. But I also read a lot of literary fiction, YA and classics, and I’ve recently started reading more mysteries.

8. What kind of environment do you write in?

I’ll write anywhere, truly. I think years of working in a newsroom taught me to effectively tune out background noise and distractions. But my favorite place to write is in the good old, clichéd coffee shop. My brain knows that when I’m sipping a latte, I’m living in the fictional worlds in my head.

9. Is there one book that stands out in your mind that you wish you’d written?

Yes—The Age of Innocence. Not only because it won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (making Edith Wharton the first female novelist to win the Pulitzer), but because it’s captivating and haunting and so very, very vivid. It is easily my favorite book.

10. If you could be plopped down into any book, which one would it be?

For this, I’d pick the world of Emma Woodhouse. Any of Jane Austen’s books would be great fun to live out in real life, I think. That woman knew the power of a happy ending, and she wrote about the most exciting time of life (coming of age) in a fascinating, elegant era.

11. What are the things you can’t live without in your wardrobe?

Right now I’m obsessed with a jean jacket I bought when I was probably 12. It’s back in style—which makes me feel old, but I’m proud that it still fits! It looks good with everything. Apart from that, I love dresses. Since I spend so much time wearing yoga pants in front of a computer, when I go out I like to dress up.

12. What would we find if we looked in your handbag right now?

Hmm… Along with the usual keys, wallet, phone and lip gloss, you’d find crumpled up receipts, crayons and random small toys (the life of a mom), at least five pens, and loads of Post-its with scribbled notes for some upcoming writing project. Honestly, I should probably dig around in there and find some of the ideas I’ve jotted down and forgotten.

13. Where is your favorite place in the world? 

This is a tie. If I could teleport to anywhere in the world right at this moment, I’d land in Paris. Everything about the city is inspiring to me. My dream of dreams would be to live in France and spend absolutely all my time creating fiction and creating art…and eating pain au chocolat.

BUT, I equally love my mother’s hometown of Norwich, England. It’s quaint and modern all at once, sort of a microcosm of all of Britain. When I get to visit (which isn’t often enough), I feel as if I’m standing in a postcard.

14. If you could plan the perfect holiday, what would it be?

The answer to that last question notwithstanding, the trip I’m dying to take right now is Greece. My perfect holiday would be spent island hopping in the Greek Isles, with a long stretch on Santorini.

Now that you’ve read my review and learned a bit more about Stacey, go ahead and get yourself a copy of her novel Now a Major Motion Picture!