So...
I've been getting a lot email about JULIET IMMORTAL. Which is awesome! I love your emails. I love hearing your thoughts on the story, so keep those coming. But!--
A lot of you are asking the same questions, so I thought it would be good to take one of the emails and answer the queries within on the blog. That way, the next time a lovely reader writes with one of these same questions, I can direct them here. (I love to answer your email, but sometimes I just don't have time to go super in depth in my response. I have to leave myself time to revise and edit and write the next book and pick up my kids from school and play with them and use the bathroom. Stuff like that.)
Anyway! The lovely Reader Ashley gave her permission for me to answer her queries here. So I have done so.
Reader Ashley: I love the story of Romeo & Juliet and I just wanted to ask you some questions about it and your book. In your book, you split Romeo and Juliet up...Did you believe that Romeo and Juliet were too good to be true and really weren't meant to be together?
Stacey: The major problem I've always had with
Romeo and Juliet is the fact that Romeo is desperately in love with another girl (Rosaline) mere minutes before he meets and "falls in love" with Juliet. I believe that people can fall in love quickly, but not
minutes after they've been moping over someone else. This made Romeo an untrustworthy character for me. I hated to see innocent Juliet falling for him so quickly. I could see how horribly awry that story could have gone even if they weren't from warring families.
And I think that is
exactly what Shakespeare intended--he was a genius after all. I think that aspect of Romeo's character was Shakespeare adding another tragic detail into the larger tragedy of the story. These poor kids killed themselves for what--on Romeo's part at least--was probably just another crush, a momentary infatuation that would have faded away the next time he met a pretty girl at a party. Sad. *sniff* But then I'm not a fan of stories where people die at the end. I've had too many people I love die, I suppose.
Reader Ashley: Where did you get the idea to write this story?
Stacey: As I said, I've never been a Romeo fan. I am, however, a Juliet fan. I wanted to see this character who was manipulated by almost everyone in her life have the chance to make her own decisions, to be a brave, strong character who takes back her own story.
Reader Ashley: I love to write, and I was wondering if you had any advice for young writers like me?
Stacey: Read as much as you can. Read a wide variety of books. Write every day. Repeat.
Reader Ashely: Also although your book was a fictional story, did any of the ideas or characteristics or thoughts of Juliet come from any of your own life?
Stacey: The idea that we need to learn to forgive ourselves for past mistakes is definitely something I pulled from my own life. I'm a type A personality, but I'm also very impulsive. (I've tried to remedy that. It is impossible. Sometimes we just are the way we are.) The combination can make for some harsh self judgment at times. It took me a long time to learn that what I was doing was harmful--not only to myself, but to the people I love, who I was unable to love in the way they deserved because I was too busy beating myself up. I think this is a problem for a lot of people, especially young women, who look for someone else to love them in order to prove they are lovable, rather than realizing they are lovable already to begin with.
If there's one thing I hope readers take away from this book is that they should give themselves a break. You're going to screw up and make mistakes. And then--even though you'll try to learn from them--you might even make the same mistake again. That's why I chose to mirror Shakespeare's play and have Juliet fall in love very quickly the second time.
Everyone makes mistakes and a LOT of us need to make those mistakes several times before we learn from them. It's okay. As long as you try your best to be a good person and do no harm to yourself or others, you're doing the best you can do. The mistakes are okay.
And sometimes, they might not turn out to be mistakes. One day, many years ago I impulsively quit my waitress job in New York and moved to Los Angeles. In L.A. I couldn't find a job. Anywhere. I almost starved. I lived in a constant state of terror and ended up making several poor life decisions because of that. Several years later I impulsively quit my tutoring job and decided to write books. I'd never written a book. I had no idea what I was doing. By all rights, it should have been another dumb mistake. But six years later, I'm multi-published and earning a living. (Not a great living, but a living. Certainly MUCH better than I did as an actor and eating oatmeal three meals a day.)
So yeah...life happens. As long as you're not a douche, give yourself a break. *hugs* *passes around some cookies* *looks like some of you could use a cookie*
Reader Ashley: Also Gemma was a whole other story yet to be discovered and told. What, in your mind, happened to her to make her...? She seemed so troubled, so lost.
Stacey: You'll find out in Romeo Redeemed. Gemma's back story was firm in my mind when I wrote JULIET IMMORTAL, but there wasn't a chance to deal with her issues in that story. We learn more about her in ROMEO REDEEMED.
Reader Ashley: Your book was extremely inspirational for me as a writer and thank you for writing something so powerful and wonderful!
Stacey: Thank you so much. I'm so glad you enjoyed the read.
*end Q and A*
Hope that was helpful, and thank you again to everyone who has written to chat about Juliet. Your emails make me smile and think and feel very grateful for the opportunity to tell you stories.
Stacey
