Getting to know Time for Once: a blog series
Welcome to the third installment of an off-the-cuff blog series on the debut women's fiction novel Time for Once (slated for self-publication by the end of 2022!). I realize the "getting to know" part has been focused on the author (that’s me), rather than the story or the characters. Today, however, I'm going to introduce Jolie, which ties into the question for this week: Am I nervous for friends and family to read the story?
Yes.
Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.
Okay. In less sarcastic seriousness — the characters in Time for Once, Jolie in particular, are where the majority of this yes lives when I think about friends and family reading the story.
Here's the thing, Jolie is not completely organic but she grew into her own (as did all the characters in Time for Once). After those first few chapters, Jolie became less dependent on my memories to guide her through the story and relied more confidently on herself, as the main female protagonist in Time for Once.
You'll meet Jolie at age twenty and follow her over the span of ten years. She's a bit lost in the beginning, trips over her heart often, falls into mistakes—sometimes more than once—and brings you along for it all. It's a bumpy ride of relatable coming-of-age struggles that Jolie experiences through the lens of love and relationships.
Are there scenarios Jolie finds herself in that have also happened to me? Yes and then no, not at all.
Are her struggles a mirror to those I used to have? Yes, some of them.
Is she an accurate representation of who I was during that time of my life? No. This isn’t a memoir!
It's funny. Had this been a memoir I'd be less nervous at the thought of those who know me reading it. This may seem counter-intuitive but hear me out and then I'll go. There's no room for interpretation. There is no doubt for the reader to question who the story is based on because it's a memoir.
What I can say is this, friends and family who plan to read the book, I hope you can remove me as the author and embrace the characters that can't wait to tell you their story.
Next up (and the last question): How personal is my first book?
Thank you for being here,
Jes