Jasmine Evans knows one thing for sure… people make mistakes. After all, she is one. Jaz is the result of a onenight stand between a black football player and a blonde princess. Having a young mother who didn’t raise her, a father who wants nothing to do with her and living in a small-minded town where she’s never fit in hasn’t been easy. But she’s been surviving. Until she sees her mom’s new boyfriend making out with her own best friend. When do you forgive people for being human or give up on them forever?
What do you enjoy most about writing in general?
Writing is something that is kind of an innate part of one’s soul. That sounds hokey but it really is hard to explain why I love it so much. It completes me. It satisfies my need to create. Or perhaps recreate. I’ve always had a need to express myself in words, on the page. I guess in some ways I want to be heard, but since I’m an introvert at heart and I hate expressing my opinion in the spoken word, I am best able to communicate with the world through writing.
Where are the most interesting places you’ve found inspiration?
The best spot where I’ve been struck by epiphanies or writing ideas is on the treadmill at the gym. Maybe it’s the flow of oxygen to my brain, or maybe it’s just the huge influx of stimuli around. People, television screens, loud music. Whatever it is, it seems to be my place of inspiration.
Your contemporary books tackle serious issues from cancer in I’m Not Her to ethnic issues in If I Tell to serious regret in Just Breathe. Are you planning on tackling more issues in future releases?
I am drawn to write about things that influence people’s lives. The real, juicy bits. I love to look inside and explore a character’s truths about living with hardships, if that makes any sense. I love digging in and finding out what makes people tick in different circumstances, usually trying ones. So um. Yes!
I saw in your About page that you are now working on a paranormal YA book. What do you enjoy most about the change in genre form contemporary?
Eek. I do need to update my About page! I am still working on that darn paranormal, but I haven’t finished it yet. I wrote WHO I KISSED instead!
Contemporary comes most naturally to me, but I do like to write the paranormal genre as well. The books still tend to have characters with issues, but they might be solved in different ways that the purely contemporary books.
If you were to write a spinoff from one of your works, who would it be about and why?
Hmm. Good question. I think my book coming out this fall, WHO I KISSED, has a great character who kind of wants a book of her own. She’s the friend of the main character, and her name is Taylor. I’d like to explore her world and think she would have a great story to tell. She’s an athlete with a mother who would prefer her to be in the pageant circuit. I can see her going off the rails a bit before getting her life back on track. We’ll see. In WHO I KISSED, a couple of the characters from IF I TELL show up in a scene. See if you can spot them when the book comes out!
Assuming you could take on another job without it affecting your career as an author in any way, what would you like to do?
Well, I have a background in sales and have worked on and off as I’ve written over the years. I wouldn’t mind a part time sales job. I’d LOVE to work as a sales rep for a publishing company actually. That would be cool.
Anything else you’d like to add for readers?
Just that I appreciate so much the fact that people are picking up my books and reading them. It’s so great to have feedback from readers, which comes in many different forms. I love, love being able to write books for teens. Young adult fiction is just so amazing to read and to write! Thanks so much for interviewing me for your blog!
Janet’s road to author was a little windy. While in college, she worked as a DJ in a night club. After college she worked as an advertising copywriter for radio and then TV and eventually was lured over to sales and marketing. She missed writing though and, years later, she started her first book. She has been writing books ever since.
Author: Crystal
A story girl at heart, Crystal is a bibliophile who can easily spend the day immersed in a good read. She writes under the name Kristy Wang. You can follow her writing adventures on X and Instagram @_kristywang.
Gaby says
Well this was a fun interview. I will definitely be checking out If I Tell 🙂
Christina Kit. says
I love her answers:) So cool!
Thanks