Book Tour: OUT OF CHARACTER by Jenna Miller review + interview

 

Book Details

Title: Out of Character
Author: Jenna Miller
Publisher: Quill Tree Books
Publication Date: February 7, 2023
Genre(s): Young Adult, LGBT, Romance
Pages: 375

     

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Reading Details

Finish Date: February 7, 2023
Format: Physical
Representation: Lesbian
Trigger/Content Warnings: None

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Rating: 5/5

Review: 
Note: Due to the current strike occuring at HCP, I will not be posting my full review on other sites until the union has reached a deal.

This book was absolutely fantastic and I am so glad that I was able to read it before it's release. I spent a lot of time annotating this book and I think that enhanced my experience.

I found Cass to be a very relatable character and she was amazing! I loved her so much, but there were also some times were she became quite...irritating. Even when she was though, I still liked her as a character. She got on my nerves but I understood what she was doing and why she was acting the way that she was.

I am trying very hard to avoid any spoilers, but I absolutely adore the drama that took place in this book. It all felt perfectly built up and it worked so well considering the age of these characters. It was just so good!!

This was one of those books that I found myself instantly drawn to and once I was attached, it was hard for me to set the book down. I just kept wanting to read more and more of it!

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Author Interview:

When you first started writing, what would you write about?

I started with song lyrics and poems when I was in 6th grade, so a lot of it was angsty young teen emotions, which later progressed to short stories. When I started writing novels, my first book was actually Adult and featured a straight, middle-aged man… so you could say things have shifted quite a bit! No matter what I’m writing about, there’s always been a central theme of the internal struggle and an ultimate question of, “Do I talk about X, or should I keep it to myself?” But within that, there’s always elements of love and joy.

What drives you to write?

The voice inside my head that won’t leave me alone until I start telling the next story it wants me to tell! Sometimes it’s just a nugget of an idea, sometimes it’s something massive, and sometimes it’s just a specific type of character or setting that wants to feel heard. I’m also driven by the need for more queer stories, more fat stories, more nerdy stories, etc. There are so many teens in the world who feel so alone or unheard/unseen, and I want to keep telling stories for them so they know they’re not alone and they deserve to be seen and heard.

What was your favorite part of creating this book?

I absolutely loved creating the roleplay world that Cass lives in. The friendships and drama and roleplay scenes were so much fun to write, and I loved giving her an online space to call home when her real world felt messy and too real.

What was the hardest part of creating this book?

I struggled with a lot of the family stuff, mainly because I’ve been through it with a family member (though very different from Cass). I spent a lot of time separating her story from my own and not letting my own reality shape hers, but I’m proud of where things end up for her and her family. It’s what she deserved.

Where did the idea for the main character being a roleplayer come from?

Short answer: Me! Longer answer: I started roleplaying between my junior and senior years of high school, something I carried through to my early 30s. I always knew I wanted to write about that part of my life in a very fictionalized way, and this story helped me do that.

Hopefully without spoilers, what was one of your favorite scenes to write?

I had a lot of fun writing the Chicago scenes, particularly the part when Cass and Rowan go ice skating. They’d met for the first time in real life, and it was fun writing out how easy it was for them to fall into the groove of their friendship as if they’d always been in-person friends. I also loved how deeply they connected through sharing personal things that hadn’t come up in their friendship yet.

Did you have to do any research when creating this book?

Most of my research revolved around making sure ideas fit into the modern world. A lot of my roleplaying was in the earlier 2000s, and I needed to translate my old school AOL Instant Messenger (RIP) and Xanga blogging into Discord and Tumblr.

Do you have a set writing space to help you stay focused?

The main place I write is at my desk in my bedroom. Everything I need is there, as well as all my books from people who inspire me. But when I need a change of scenery, I usually find a coffee shop to hole up in. This wasn’t possible during the first couple years of COVID, of course, and I rarely do it now, but pre-2020 I LIVED in coffee shops. I love feeling the energy around me and smelling the coffee while creating new worlds.

Did you do (or are you planning on doing) anything to celebrate the finishing/release of this book?

For me, the book launch party and book tour I have planned are my celebration! I’m seeing a lot of friends and family across the country in February and March. I planned a longer tour so I could spend time with people and truly take it all in, meet readers, celebrate with loved ones, etc. I’m so excited!

While this tour is focused on your book, do you have any books you'd recommend to people who enjoyed reading your book?

Absolutely! Thinking of other books coming out in 2023, I highly recommend the following:
· Always the Almost by Edward Underhill
· NerdCrush by Alisha Emrich
· Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell by Tobias Madden
· Seven Percent of Ro Devereux by Ellen O’Connor
· The Wrong Kind of Weird by James Ramos