“A Marine never says die. Neither does his princess.”

Losing My Breath – J Rose Black

After recently reading J Rose Black’s fun, thought-provoking romcom, I’ve been dying to get into the hows and the whys of this author’s storytelling, and I think this might just be one of my favourite interviews yet! It’s a long one, so grab a tea or coffee (or hot choc, if you’re me) and enjoy! Please do check out my latest review for Losing My Breath here!

1. It’s clear you had a lot of fun creating Callan and Meridian! Where did you get the inspiration for these characters?

Well, this is a can of worms. I started off Writing anime fanfiction back in the early 2000’s (until ~2008), and picked it up again in 2020 during lockdowns / due to a sort of online reunion. Which means I more or less have a set cast of characters that run amok in my head (noooo, I don’t hear voices, who said I hear voices?)

It’s one of the reasons I provide disclaimers  that I don’t stay in one sub-genre. I’m super guilty of taking the same core characters and putting them in different “universes” – as opposed to inventing one universe and creating more characters for that realm.

Which is to say that if you liked Callan and Meridian, you’d probably like some of the characters in my short stories inside of Vengefully Yours (particularly “Behind the Eight Ball” and “The Nightmare”), as they also feature my protective alpha military MMC guy paired with a somewhat pampered but truly kindhearted and equally strong & stubborn FMC.

I have others in my cast / repertoire, of course, as I wrote for close to a dozen different series over the years. We’ll see more of said “cast” as I work through my upcoming series. But I’m absolutely the type of writer that will put a core group of characters in a 1940’s detective mystery one minute and send them off into futuristic space the next.

2. Callan’s PTSD added so much to his character and always had me thinking about his past. How did you carry out your research for this? Did you find it difficult?

I read several psychological research studies on different aspects of PTSD. Symptoms, treatments, how and why PTSD presents. I read articles where veterans were interviewed about their treatment programs. And a few articles about those who lost someone dear to them due to the disorder and the depression that comes along with it.

I also read numerous accounts of life as a sniper, what snipers study. How they train to take the “kill” shot. What they have to endure to do the job. They may have to stay awake for up to 72 hours, waiting, but alert enough to take the shot. 

The breathing techniques they used to keep themselves steady, to prevent an elevated heart rate or even their breath from impacting aim / their shot seemed like a recipe for dissociation, almost by design, really. Like taking on the job of a sniper in and of itself seemed to require an ability to detach beyond what the majority of the armed forces may require. At least that’s how it seemed in my research.

I also read various firsthand accounts of IED explosions. 

The stories were horrible. At least the clinical research was, well, clinical. And this piece was necessary to understand how the disorder presents in a very logical way. Tying the clinical descriptions to the more personal stories helped to orient me to how it would present inside a person’s head.

While this had its challenges, it wasn’t nearly as difficult as the time I tried to write something from the POV of a meth addict. I managed a short story starting from the point of relapse – and discovery by the woman he once loved. I really wanted to tell the story of the process of rehab and recovery, but the level of depression I had to emotionally sink myself into was too much. I ended up doing all the research and then walking away from the idea altogether.

I tried to hint at it in a few different ways, but Callan had already seen some dark days. And he had friends (Rayan, Watts) that provided support. Those experiences helped him recognize warning signs that he wasn’t coping.

3. Who do you think would play Callan and Meridian if Losing My Breath ever hit the big screen?

It’d be amazing to have one of these stories play on a screen outside of the one in my head.

I’m a little partial to the Amell brothers. I think Robbie’s a dead ringer for the Callan in my head (although ahem Green Arrow and older brother Stephen is also a swoon-worthy choice…)

Meridian, wow, she’s a tough one. I think Angourie Rice would be a phenomenal choice, though. Has that look like: I’m down for this fight, but still feminine and has a softer, vulnerable side as well.

4. What was your process when writing this book? Did you have a plan in the early stages or did you just write and see where the words took you?

Process. Yes. Writers have those. So, the funny thing is, I saw this meme where a really hot guy was up on a ladder and the joke was: I don’t know what he’s fixing, but mine just broke.

And I was like: oh no, this is a plot bunny and I have this other slow burn scifi romance thing I’m working on. I know, I’ll offer the meme to my writing group as a way to get other people to write amusing stories so I don’t get distracted. I was on maternity leave from work with baby #2 (second and last), so sleep deprivation and losing track of days was real. 

So I offer up this writing prompt for the month of November (2020) and then I’m like: well, I need to contribute a little thing. I’m sure I could write a little cute thing about neighbors and the girl who just moves in, she’s not really got a handle on some of the maintenance kinda things of living on her own – needs a fan, help hanging pictures – so her hot neighbor comes over and helps her out. Except he’s got to be kinda grumpy about doing it.

starts writing And why would the hot guy be grumpy about helping out his hot chick of a neighbor? Hmmm… 

And my process mostly looked like me typing into my phone in the middle of the night with no plan. And each chapter starting with some word that I had no idea why it was there. 

When I got to the chapter marked “Desperation”, I realized something else was going on with those words….

5. What do you think is the secret recipe to a memorable romcom?

I think Truby has all the different genres mapped out to scientific beats and the like. And I probably should have spent time mapping my story against the formula, but I didn’t. I wrote the story I believed the characters wanted me to tell. And there’s a point in the story that everything leading up to that moment, lots of things could have been altered, but you can’t change that moment. So I didn’t do some of the things I should have. But as opposed to beats or formulas, I think what’s most memorable are the characters.

I love Meridian in every incarnation I imagine her in. She is, to me, the heroine I most admire. She’s not perfect, but she’s not afraid to be wrong, to admit when she’s failed. And she picks herself up, head held high and still finds a way to be vulnerable and compassionate. She is strong in a way Callan isn’t. For all his “I finished the mission with a broken bone in my leg” and super sniper prowess, when it came to the challenges of regular life, he couldn’t cope without closing himself, his emotions off. And Meridian was the one who could face a cold and broken world and still open her heart to people.

She needs a little less compassion when the dude has a knife. But that’s what makes Callan feel needed. And it was a language he could understand. He could physically protect her. He was good at that. Trained for it. 

I think when you have interesting characters who come together and they complement each other: equals in many ways but two different sides of the same coin, so to speak. I think when you start with those ingredients, the dance between the two as they initially chafe and conflict and rub away the rough edges until they ultimately realize their hearts are the same… I think you put that story in any kind of coat and varnish and you find something that can stay with you when the last page has turned. Maybe not all of it, but a line or a scene or impression that becomes etched in our memory.

6. In your opinion, what’s the best thing about being an author?

I’m a little weird about definitions in this space. I’ve been a writer for a long time, so, I’ll just speak from that POV instead of the “being an author” adventure of late that’s been more about publishing and marketing.

The best thing about writing and sharing the stories I’ve written, is when something you’ve written “contributes” in some way. It’s the email from a person who feels such a keen connection that they share how real this scene was for them, that it helped them realize they’d never fully grieved their aunt’s death. 

It’s the review that someone left me a few days ago that said they were torn apart and mended back together by the end and had to journal about how they felt after reading Losing My Breath.

It’s the review on an old fanfic where someone dropped by, fifteen years after I wrote it, because it came to mind and they were feeling nostalgic. They just wanted to read it again (150k words, mind you), and realized they’d never thanked me for the countless hours I must have spent writing it. And they wanted to tell me how much that story had meant to them as a young adult.

I don’t say these things to brag. I’m saying at book two, 7 months into being an “Indie author”, these are the reasons I do what I do.

7. What are some of your favourite books and which authors have been your biggest inspiration as a writer?

Oh dear. I’m a bit all over the place, to be honest. I grew up reading classic literature and mysteries. Mostly, anyway. The 3 Musketeers, the complete Sherlock Holmes, Pride and Prejudice – I’m pretty sure I’ve worn out multiple copies of these over the years. My parents bought me a set of abridged classics for kids and I read the first set and had to be given a second set – everything from War of the Worlds to A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations and Gullivers Travels. And then everything we read in school? Yeah, you couldn’t give me book 1 of something and expect that I’d be satisfied with that. I read all of the Lord of the Rings, after we read The Hobbit. I read all of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe series. All of the Wrinkle in Time series. 

I really think Madeline L’engle and C.S. Lewis sparked something in me – those are two authors who really captured my imagination as a young reader. Don’t count out the myriad of authors who kept me in Nancy Drew mysteries well into my teens. But I think the next author to have a really profound effect on me as I grew closer to adulthood was S.E. Hinton and her book The Outsiders. I read all of the related books, there, too. (surprised? I bet you’re not)

As I got older, I read gobs and gobs of cozy mysteries. Caught up on all the Miss Marples and Poirots of Agatha Christie. I read all of Jane Austen’s books. 

In my early 20’s, I tripped and fell into fanfiction and spent years reading almost nothing but fanfiction. Romantic suspense with an advanced technology flair seemed to be where I “lived”, but I also wrote some full on science fiction (loved Star Trek & some of Star Wars – and yes you can be fans of both), and then I had this random idea to write a bodyguard romcom, which won me my first fanfiction award. And I went from that to having this bizarro idea show up that was like a 1940’s era detective mystery – and I had NEVER read any of the hardboiled stuff. The Maltese Falcon was a pretty amazing movie production, but read anything of it? Nope. So, I set about reading all of Dashiel Hammet’s stuff and several works by Raymond Chandler. Wow, I love Chandler. His voice, his turns of phrase, he uses language like I could only dream.

And yes, I realize how bizarre it is that on the one hand, I would gladly declare Pride and Prejudice my favorite book of all time – one that Jane Austen described as “too light and bright and sparkling”, and also how much I admire Raymond Chandler with his hardboiled, sardonic, not-quite fatalistic, but no one would call it “light” tone and turns of phrase. I cannot explain this, it just is.

8. Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

Old. I will be old.er. No, well, yes, but probably not much has changed, to be honest. I’m at a certain point in my tech career at a company that I only have so much farther to “climb”, and if I could make it my home, could retire from there in the next 15 or so years. 

So, probably still doing that, still tearing my hair out over my children’s antics – caught between the “they make me crazy” and the “some day I’ll miss this time and their smallness / cuteness / closeness” that is #momlife. And I’ll either have figured out how to manage a reasonable production schedule in Indie authorland, or I’ll be writing anime fanfiction. Or both (I’m hoping for both, but we’ll see).  

9. What are you currently working on?

Ah. Yeah, the next thing. I’m working on the novel that is the full story of Breslin and Olivia (and their friends) back in college. 

Who are Breslin and Olivia? You can find them, today, actually, in a sports romcom short story that’s available on my website called: Off the Record. I wrote it a while back and shared an earlier version on my livejournal way way back in the day, always wanted to continue it, but couldn’t really settle on where I wanted it to go. Skip ahead…15 years in my life – and the flashback from Off the Record showed up on the page, becoming a full scene and then some, set backwards in the characters’ lives (Breslin and Olivia), to when they were in college.

I’m currently working with a cover artist and editor to get the short story “Curveballs and Ice Cream” (based loosely on the flashback in Off the Record) ready to release late Feb / early Mar to my VIP newsletter friends.

10. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to new authors?

Oh, I’m the worst at “general advice”. I’m much better at 1:1 mentoring or support. 

On the one hand, new writers, seriously, don’t give up. Write. Write the great ideas and the terrible ones, too. Sometimes you’ll find out the terrible ones have more merit than you gave them credit for, and the “great” ones are the most cliched yuck ever. But the only way you figure out what works is if you start with writing what’s inspiring you / what’s in your heart. Good and bad can be sorted out later. And as they say: nothing is written, it’s rewritten. 

And then study craft. None of us are born being great at all the aspects of writing. But craft is essential, and it will continue to grow in importance as time and technology marches forward.

On the other hand, for new Indie authors, or even if you just published via your first traditional contract and are struggling under the weight of: hey, I thought this would be easier / more lucrative, etc. 

Be very specific about your goals and intentions. Write them down. Be clear how you define your success. And stick to that. Don’t let the rest of the world and comparative data distract or discourage you. We’re all curious and trying to figure out where we are on a map, but each of our maps is different, and we’re not all heading to the same peak. 

Celebrate the wins and take some timeouts here and there. I think most writers need to be kinder to ourselves overall. 

About the author

J. Rose Black weaves stories about obsession, redemption, and the transcendental power of love. From her early days writing fanfiction for a passionate following of international readers, to crafting novels with her own characters, Rose has always been drawn to broody protectors and plucky, no-nonsense women ready to fight for what they believe in.

When Rose isn’t deeply immersed in her latest manuscript, she’s working in cyber security and thwarting the next generation of internet bad guys. Out of the office, she’s #Shipping with friends over her favorite, swoon-worthy couples, heading to the gym to battle the great evil that is Unmovable Baby Weight, or complaining about her husband’s addiction to 3D printing. Also: nagging her children to eat something other than cheese.

Follow J. Rose Black over on Twitter and Instagram for more updates on her books!

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