Beautiful and Terrible Things follows a twenty-nine-year-old woman who manages a bookstore who meets a quirky man, and takes a chance stepping out of her comfort zone and making new friends. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

First, I decided what age group I wanted to dig into. I was bothered by the stereotype of Millennials as self-indulgent, unmotivated and entitled. That does not describe my daughters or their friends at all. So I decided to feature a more realistic cast of Millennials in my novel.

I also liked this age for my characters because people on the cusp of 30 are grappling with major life decisions about marriage, children, careers, etc.

Once I had the age down, my goal was to depict both the beauty and the destructive power of friendship by building a cast of characters that reminds readers of New Girl, Friends or The Big Bang Theory. Making the lead character, Charley, an introvert with borderline depression gave me lots of room to explore that concept and show her personal growth. And quirky Xander was the perfect foil for her, one capable of pulling her out of her self-imposed social isolation.

What were some of the emotional and moral guidelines you followed when developing your characters?

Emotionally, my six main characters bring very different sensibilities to the table. My guideline was simply to make them as real as possible. Morally, my goal was to present differing views on difficult subjects. For example, the friends spar over the issue of undocumented immigrants. But most important for a story featuring six individuals of varied race, heritage, gender identity and sexual orientation was to be sensitive to how I depicted them.

I was fortunate to have the guidance of many sensitivity readers on the cultural, race, mental health and immigration aspects of the book. I even got feedback from a Filipino artist, who matches one of the characters!

What are some things that you find interesting about the human condition that you think make for great fiction?

First, that we don’t always do what’s best for us, sometimes because we don’t see it, sometimes because we don’t want to see it, and sometimes because we acknowledge it but for some foolish reason think it might, against all odds, work out differently.

Second, that in trying to do right by one person, we sometimes hurt another. Such is the case when Jessica, in Beautiful and Terrible Things, makes a major sacrifice to help pull Charley out of her depression, but her actions end up hurting another loved one in a very tragic way.

What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?

My next novel, 101 Ways to Screw Up a Kid, is about the toll that secrets take on a family. It features a (hopefully) loveable curmudgeon similar to Elizabeth Zott in Lessons in Chemistry. And I’m co-writing a true crime memoir, which is a bit different for me. It’s a highly compelling story about how a rape victim and the investigating detective work together to catch the suspect, and then fall in love years later. I’m working on securing agents/publishers for both.

Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website | Instagram