Living with Jennifer Lawrence

Q & A

This is such a random question but what did Jen name her daughter?

I actually didn't give her a name!

What inspired you to write this story?

Ah, such a good question. I remember when I was in high school and I had a friend who loved writing and introduced me to wattpad. I fell in love! I thought this was the perfect opportunity to share my writing with the world. I wrote ABJL and LWJL around the time when the Hunger Games was HUGE and Jennifer Lawrence was (and still is) my favorite actress. I kept on seeing "Adopted by..." stories and thought, 'why not write one of your own?' Thus, these stories were born.

Who helped you along the way?

I want to say I did 99% of the work myself. I, of course, used Google and other books/articles for inspiration and other research, but other than that, I didn't really get much help.

Did you plan the ending from the beginning? If not, when did you think of it?

Actually, when I first started writing the first book, I had no idea what I was doing. Well, I got inspired from a book I read, and knew a little bit, but after that, I kind of just took it day-by-day and found inspiration from everywhere. I remember wanting to have a killer ending. Haha, get it? But Maddie dying wasn't my first idea. I kept wondering: 'how am I gonna end this?' I kept brainstorming, and I had a few crappy ideas in mind, and one day, it came to me. And no, it didn't have to do with Allegiant, though I understand why you might think that.

What was the hardest thing about ending the series?

You all thought it was hard for YOU when I ended this series? It was hard for me as well. I think the hardest thing was knowing that there's no more updates. I literally grew up with Maddie. I spent four years looking up pictures, interviews, anything I could to make the story more realistic. I was emotionally invested in these stories. I wanted to make my readers FEEL things. I wanted it to be an emotional rollercoaster, because in my opinion, that's part of what makes a great book. 

Why did it have to end?

Aww, haha, this is so cute. It had to end because if I stretched it out longer than it needed to be, I probably would've lost more readers. It probably would've gotten boring, or I would've ran out of ideas. Plus, I want to create more stories for you all!

Which was the hardest to write?

This is a really good question, and it took me a moment to think about my answer. In reality, both books were hard to write, but I think the second one was more challenging to write. I, like Maddie, had grown up and matured, and I wanted to talk about more things, even controversial topics and I wasn't sure how you all would respond. It was kinda scary, writing about something new or different and I haven't brought it up before. Or the rape scenes. Rape is a sensitive subject and I didn't know how to make it not only realistic, but also how much or how little detail I needed to include to get the point across. 

Which was the worst to write?

Um, I wouldn't way one was better or worse when it came to writing. Book two was definitely harder to write. I had to make sure I didn't repeat myself, still keep the story interesting, etc. But certain chapters I didn't enjoy writing, and I'm sure you can figure those out for yourself. 

What was your favorite chapter to write?

There's a few that are up there. I definitely loved writing the proposal chapter for sure. For one, I love, love, LOVE Joshifer, and I know that the chapter was long overdue. Also, I'm a hopeless romantic and it was so much fun coming up with the cute moments between Jen and Josh.

Did you ever want to quit?

YES. Most definitely. When I first started writing, I planned on writing three books, one hundred chapters each. I know that that was a lot to write, but I wanted to challenge myself. Not everyone who reads this will know this but I actually took a long break from writing. Over a year, I believe. I completely lost motivation, I wasn't inspired to write. I thought my writing sucked, and I didn't know what I was doing. Life was crazy, I had so much going on. I didn't even have much time to write because I went to college and that's a huge change in itself, especially since I live far from home. BUT, I ended up finishing the series because I wanted to do that in this lifetime. Whoever still gave my stories a chance deserved to know how it ended, and so I finished it. 

Have you experienced anything written in these books?

That's a HUGE yes. There's so much I've pulled from my life and included it in my stories. I think many writers do this. I don't even know where to begin. I don't want this response to be longer than it needs to be. For example, the prom chapter. I, in fact, went to prom, and there was an actual girl in a wheelchair who was ignored. She looked so beautiful (her name isn't Loren) and nobody paid any attention to her. I noticed her (I'm a very observant person) and we danced (how that looked like? we used our arms and moved them, and I believe we shimmied and stuff like that). I did help her use the bathroom when she had to go, and I did pick her up and twirled her around so she could have an idea of what real dancing was like. But there's SO much more and if you're that curious, just shoot me a message.

Were Ryan's pictures pictures you took?

Haha, no, but I wish! I went on instagram and did some digging. I kept looking for a baby that could represent Ryan in my story, and I wanted several pictures of them I could use for different chapters, if that makes any sense. I just found a lady on instagram and used those pictures.

Did you intentionally choose madDIE's name?

You see, about that- That was entirely a coincidence. So, I picked the name Maddie because I liked the name. I didn't want to kill her off in the beginning. But when I thought about killing her off, I realized that the word 'die' was in her name and thought, 'this will work.'

Do you want to continue writing? Will there ever be more from you?

YES, YES, A THOUSAND TIMES YES. Writing is my passion. My dream is to become a successful and maybe even famous author. I'm a Creative Writing major in college, haha, so let that speak for itself. I haven't written much lately because I'm in college and I'm very busy all the time, and my life has been crazy. But you better believe I'll be back in the summer. I want to finish Red Roses since I'd gotten a good response on it. I wanted to try something different. So yes, expect much more. This isn't the last you'll see of me.

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Well, if you have any more questions, I can always add on to this, or simply just message me. Thank you again for reading this far, I love you so much!! 

(written march 2018)