Author Interview: Janet Gurtler (The Truth About Us Blog Tour)

I'm so excited to have Janet Gurtler here for an author interview today! Her newest book, The Truth About Us, just came out last Tuesday.

1. Without spoiling anything, could you tell us what was your favorite scene to write in The Truth About Us?

Well, I don’t want to spoil things, but there’s a scene late in the book that takes place on the beach that I really enjoyed writing. :) There may be kissing.

2. If you had to pair up your main character from The Truth About Us, Jess, with the main character from any of your other books, who do you think she would get along with best?

That’s actually really hard to think of! Jess is going through some “things” in this book and has a lot of growing up to do. By the end of the book, I think I’d most like to see her hanging out with Jaz from If I Tell. I think they would be really good for each other. Different people with different backgrounds, but they have a lot of core similarities and I think they’d mesh together well.

3. What comes easier for you, description or dialogue?

By far, dialogue flows easiest for me. When I’m writing a first draft I usually write dialogue and I’ll write, “description here” to fill in later. I like doing description but it takes me more thought and for me getting the characters and the story flow out comes from the dialogue and I build the scene later.

4. How do you go about naming your characters?

These days I often use psych sheets from my son’s swim meets. Psych sheets have all the competitor’s names. The names are all modern and popular names of kids around the same age as my characters. There’s some great names out there I still want to use.

5. For any aspiring writers out there - what's the best writing advice you've ever received?

Keep writing. That’s the best advice. Keep writing and be persistence. Okay, also find some craft books on writing that really speak to you and use them to write write write.

6. I've liked all of your books, but my favorite one would have to be How I Lost You. I know I'm terrible for asking this, but which one of your published books would you say is your favorite?

Thanks for that! How I Lost You thanks you too. I would have to say that Who I Kissed is my favorite published book. It was personal to me and really emotional to write because my son has peanut allergies, and I “may” have shed lots of tears while writing it. I actually felt awful for Samantha, the main character even though she caused one of my worst nightmares. She had a lot on her plate to deal with.

Thanks so much for stopping by Paperback Treasures on your blog tour!

Make sure to check out all the other stops of the blog tour, and keep your eye out for The Truth About Us, which was released April 7th. Here's what it's all about:

The Truth About Us by Janet Gurtler

The truth is that Jess knows she screwed up.
She's made mistakes, betrayed her best friend, and now she's paying for it. Her dad is making her spend the whole summer volunteering at the local soup kitchen.
The truth is she wishes she was the care-free party-girl everyone thinks she is.
She pretends it's all fine. That her "perfect" family is fine. But it's not. And no one notices the lie...until she meets Flynn. He's the only one who really sees her. The only one who listens.
The truth is that Jess is falling apart – and no one seems to care.
But Flynn is the definition of "the wrong side of the tracks." When Jess's parents look at him they only see the differences-not how much they need each other. They don't get that the person who shouldn't fit in your world... might just be the one to make you feel like you belong.