HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Talk about suspense and terror! I met Lisa Barr at the auditions for the Jewish Book Festival. Do you know it? Authors travel to New York city, and they have exactly two minutes--I mean exactly, they will pretty much yank you away from the podium if you go too long--to pitch your book to an audience of representatives from temples across the country who MAY invite you to speak at their book groups. It's a fabulous series of events and I adored it, but wow. The auditions were terrifying.
(I almost went over because I forget to allow time for laughter. Word to the wise.)
Anyway, there as this gorgeous slinky woman sitting next to me and of course, we were instant BFF's because we were bonded by our shared nervousness. We've been pals ever since, and her newest book THE UNBREAKABLES is out this week!
We are so pleased to have the amazing Lisa Barr--check out that bio below!--with us today. And she is taking us into dangerous territory: breaking your personal brand!
From Historical Thriller to Sexy Beach Read:
Here’s Why I’m a Literary “Mutt"
As a journalist for more than 25 years, I have covered everything from terrorism in the Middle East to Sex & Relationships (Yes, I did an actual story for a major newspaper on the “love muscle” – don’t ask).
As an author, I went from writing award-winning historical fiction to penning a hardcore sexy beach read. And guess what, shhh … I’m thinking of jumping ship again. I just turned in a new manuscript to my agent, which is very suspenseful.
In the publishing world, Genre Jumping is a cardinal sin. Your “brand” is your brand and it’s engraved in stone: You can’t write love stories if you’re a crime writer. You can’t write Sci-fi if your readers are expecting Erotica. You can’t write a war story if you’ve been named one of Goodreads top Romance writers. In other words, you’re locked in, and that key is tossed.
I guess I’ve always been the girl who can’t sit still, who can’t be pinned down, who never takes No for answer.
But here’s the thing … I’m not all over the place. There is a method to my madness; a thread running through all of my work. It comes down to this: How far would you go for your passion?
Crime writers give us bullets to the brain, romance writers focus on bullets to the heart. My take is that both tend to lead us to the very same place. Finding your passion is both the journey and the destination behind a really good character.
In my first novel Fugitive Colors, a suspenseful tale of an artist’s revenge on the eve of WWII, passion drives all of my characters, who live in a world where a paintbrush is more lethal than a gun. One young artist steals art, another dies for his art, and another stands up for art at his own expense.
In The Unbreakables, Sophie Bloom, my protagonist, loses her marriage, her besties, and her art. In a nutshell, she is living a passion-less life and has to go find herself once again. In my work-in-progress, a young journalist’s deepest passion is getting to the truth no matter the cost, nearly losing everything in the process.
Passion: Would you die for it, kill for it, or stand up for it? This genre-jumper takes this theme, asks these questions, wherever she goes. As a novelist, I think like a journalist. Here’s how I recommend finding your characters’ raison d’etre. Let's go Old School:
Who: Your protagonist and minor characters all have a passion that drives him/her. What is it, and how does it intersect with the other characters?
What: If passion is the carrot, what is the stick? What gets in the way of your characters’ passion? A problem arises …
When: In love and war, timing is everything. Go strong, go fifth gear, make us feel that passion being taken away in a pivotal moment. Because later on, when they get it back, the reader will truly feel the impact.
Where: Where does all this action unfold? The setting must have a powerful pull for our characters. It, too, must feel sexy, enticing; a place where passion meets its environmental match.
Why: Is fighting for this passion worth a full book? Is it worth a reader’s time? Tell me through the character’s actions and thoughts why I should care? Why love/art/money/romance/power (name your passion) is worth 350 pages to get it back.
How: This is what makes or breaks your book. How is your protagonist going to get what she wants in the end? How much rope will you give her to get it?
I may be a mutt of a writer, but the one constant in everything I do – writing/parenting/wife-ing—is passion. How far will I go to get it? The distance, baby.
HANK: So agree--every day, I think: what what does my character want, and how far would they go to get it. But! In real life do I think that? My Mom used to say--"You will if you want to."
What's a moment where you did something you never thought you would--because you wanted something so much? How did that work out?
OR: Do you mind if your favorite author tries something new?
Lisa Barr is the award-winning author of THE UNBREAKABLES (Harper) and the historical thriller FUGITIVE COLORS, a suspenseful tale of stolen art, love, lust, deception, and revenge on the eve of World War II. The novel won the Independent Publishers Book Award (IPPY) gold medal for "Best Literary Fiction 2014" and first prize at the Hollywood Film Festival (Opus Magnum Discovery Award).
In addition, Lisa has served as an editor for The Jerusalem Post, managing editor of Today’s Chicago Woman, managing editor of Moment magazine, and an editor/reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times. Among the highlights of her career, Lisa covered the famous handshake between the late Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, the late PLO leader Yasser Arafat, and President Bill Clinton at the White House. Lisa is also the creator and editor of the popular parenting blog, GIRLilla Warfare . She has been featured on Good Morning America, Today, Fox & Friends, and the Australia morning news show Sunrise for her work as an author, journalist, and blogger. She lives in the Chicago area with her husband and three daughters (aka Drama Central).
THE UNBREAKABLES
A delicious, sharp novel about a Chicago woman who jets off to France after her perfect marriage collapses, putting the broken pieces of herself back together while rediscovering her own joie de vivre—a lust for life, art, and passion.
“Artful, feminist, and emotionally gripping. The Unbreakables is a remarkable tribute to a woman’s strength in the face of heartbreak and adversity.”
— Helen Hoang, author of The Kiss Quotient
The worst birthday ever might just be the gift of a lifetime...
It’s Sophie Bloom’s forty-second birthday, and she’s ready for a night of celebration with Gabe, her longtime, devoted husband, and her two besties and their spouses. Dinner is served with a side of delicious gossip, including which North Grove residents were caught with their pants down on Ashley Madison after the secret on-line dating site for married and committed couples was hacked. Thirty-two million cheaters worldwide have been exposed...including Sophie’s “perfect” husband. To add insult to injury, she learns Gabe is the top cheater in their town.
Humiliated and directionless, Sophie jumps into the unknown and flees to France to meet up with her teenage daughter who is studying abroad and nursing her own heartbreak. After a brief visit to Paris, Sophie heads out to the artist enclave of Saint-Paul-de-Vence. There, for the first time in a long time, Sophie acknowledges her own desires—not her husband’s, not her daughter’s—and rediscovers her essence with painful honesty and humor, reawakening both her sensuality and ambitions as a sculptor.
As she sheds her past and travels the obstacle-filled off beaten path, Sophie Bloom is determined to blossom. Allowing her true self to emerge in the postcard beauty of Provence, Sophie must decide what is broken forever...and what it means to be truly unbreakable.
