In 2019, we made it our goal is to work with as many debut authors as possible and to spread the word about their debut novels. It was such a success last year that we decided to continue the fun for years to come! Follow us this year as we pick the minds of the 2021 debuts and chat with them about their writing process and what it's like to be a new author. Also stay tuned for news of giveaways, Twitter chats, and more!
At the end of 2020, we Tweeted about wanting to discover more debut authors and their books. We ended up finding Jessica S. Olson and her novel SING ME FORGOTTEN, and we have been interested in it ever since. We are so excited to have Jessica on the blog today to answer some of our questions!
Jessica S. Olson claims New Hampshire as her home, but has somehow found herself in Texas, where she spends most of her time singing praises to the inventor of the air conditioner. When she's not hiding from the heat, she's corralling her three wild—but adorable—children, dreaming up stories about kissing and murder and magic, and eating peanut butter by the spoonful straight from the jar. She earned a bachelor’s in English with minors in editing and French, which essentially means she spent all of her university time reading and eating French pastries.
Jessica: Thank you so much! Being a debut author is something I’ve been dreaming of since I realized at age eleven that this was a thing I could do someday, so to say that actually having that dream come true is surreal and overwhelming would be an understatement. I’m grateful and terrified and honored and nervous and pretty much every other emotion you could think of. But also just so incredibly excited to embark on a new journey as a published author, hopefully with many more books to come.The Book Bratz: In your opinion, what's the best part of the writing process? What's the hardest?
Jessica: The best part of the writing process, for me, is near the end, when things are finally clicking together. It’s when the hours of detangling plot threads and filling in the holes and typing and deleting and typing and deleting become worth it because I start to glimpse the golden story I’ve been working for months to create. There’s nothing quite like the pride of accomplishment when the book starts to look like the book I hoped it could be. The hardest is definitely the beginning—brainstorming, outlining, first draft. Because right then is when it is the furthest from that beautiful moment, and I know just how far I have to go and how hard it will be to get to that moment from the beginning. But you never get to that moment if you don’t start!
The Book Bratz: Where did you get the idea for SING ME FORGOTTEN?
Jessica: I can’t pinpoint a moment where the idea for Sing Me Forgotten first took root. I think it was a combination of a lot of things over the years that eventually wove together into a story. I always loved The Phantom of the Opera—both the musical and the book (as well as the lesser-known but beautiful stage musical, Phantom, the American Musical Sensation by Maury Yeston). I grew up listening to the music and dreaming of being an opera singer like Christine. But it wasn’t until I finally saw the stage production at the Majestic Theater on Broadway in New York that I fell in love, truly, with the Phantom character. Because of an eye condition I was born with that has affected the way I look, and, in turn, the way people have treated me my whole life, I connected with his side of the story very deeply, and wanted to explore how someone could be forced into such a tragic, angry, hateful existence. An existence I related to much more intrinsically than I ever realized before writing this book.The Book Bratz: Who was your favorite character to write? Who was the most difficult?
Jessica: Emeric, the sunshiney cinnamon roll with his messy dark hair and dimples was by far the most fun for me to write. He was a breath of fresh air, and was such a release to write. Don’t get me wrong, I love the dark, morally gray, unlikeable bad boys as much as the next girl, but there was something so much fun about writing a love interest who was good and kind and sweet, who wanted nothing more than to show the girl he loved the beauty he saw in her. The most difficult character for me to write was Cyril, my main character’s caretaker. He was by far the most complex, with many different layers that took drafts and drafts and drafts to get right. But I think the final result was worth the work it took. J
The Book Bratz: Are there any other authors or books who gave you inspiration for your own writing?
Jessica: JK Rowling was the first who inspired me to want to write, back when the Harry Potter books first started coming out. Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted made me love the beautiful duet of magic and romance. Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass books taught me how to go there as a writer—to not hold anything back and to do the most disastrous things to my characters because that would make their stories mean the most to readers. And Victoria Schwab’s work inspired me to make the atmosphere and setting their own characters. To treat prose like poetry. To find magic in the minutiae.
The Book Bratz: What do you hope that readers will take away from SING ME FORGOTTEN?
Jessica: The entire book is all about what makes a person monstrous, and I hope that people will leave the story realizing how much the words they say and the things they do have an impact on others, for good or bad. I hope that they will think twice before categorizing someone as unlovable or monstrous, and instead look past appearances to the things beyond the surface. And I hope people will choose to love first and fear later (or not at all).
The Book Bratz: Do you plan on returning to the world of SING ME FORGOTTEN in the future, or do you have any other projects in mind? Can you tell us anything about them?
Jessica: Sing Me Forgotten has been, from the very beginning, a standalone. The story is finished at the end of the book, and I think it would do readers a disservice to decide for them what happens after the last page. However, I wouldn’t be opposed to writing a prequel novella someday… we’ll see how things go. J As far as other projects, I have a second gothic fantasy YA releasing from Inkyard/HarperCollins in 2022 (another standalone) that I hope readers of Sing Me Forgotten will enjoy. And I’m always working on the next thing, so hopefully there will be many more stories to come—all with healthy doses of murder, magic, betrayal, romance, and darkness.
Title: Sing Me Forgotten
Author: Jessica S. Olson
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Publication Date: March 9th, 2021
Summary: Cast into a well at birth for being one of the magical few who can manipulate memories when people sing, she was saved by Cyril, the opera house’s owner. Since that day, he has given her sanctuary from the murderous world outside. All he asks in return is that she use her power to keep ticket sales high—and that she stay out of sight. For if anyone discovers she survived, Isda and Cyril would pay with their lives. But Isda breaks Cyril’s cardinal rule when she meets Emeric Rodin, a charming boy who throws her quiet, solitary life out of balance. His voice is unlike any she’s ever heard, but the real shock comes when she finds in his memories hints of a way to finally break free of her gilded prison. Haunted by this possibility, Isda spends more and more time with Emeric, searching for answers in his music and his past. But the price of freedom is steeper than Isda could ever know. For even as she struggles with her growing feelings for Emeric, she learns that in order to take charge of her own destiny, she must become the monster the world tried to drown in the first place.
Thank you so much to Jessica for stopping by and answering our questions! We are super excited about SING ME FORGOTTEN and can't wait for it to be out in the world on March 9th!
Thanks for letting us know about Jessica Olson's book. It sounds marvelous! Can't wait to read it!
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