INTERVIEW: Jennifer Sturman

Today while I'm away, who better to share an interview with than Jennifer Sturman who's latest book, And Then Everything Unraveled takes place in New York! Thank you Jennifer!

1. All of your novels thus far have involved a mystery, what is it that draws you to them? Are there any downsides to mysteries?

I love puzzles – lining up the clues and teasing out the answers – and as a writer, mysteries provide a nice mix of structure and flexibility. There’s a built-in plot – a crime must be solved – but also endless variations of who/what/why. As for downsides – some people simply don’t like mysteries, so they’ll never buy my books!


2. What differences do you find when writing for teens rather than adults? Do you prefer one to the other?

For me, the key difference is the age of my heroine, which shapes her day-to-day reality and how she thinks about it. It’s not just that being younger affects her ability to take (or not take) certain actions, it’s also that so much is new to her, which is really refreshing to think through as a writer. As for which I prefer – I don’t know if I have an answer for that! A lot of the fun in writing is creating the worlds in which your characters live, and that’s true regardless of the age of your characters or your readers.


3. Can you tell us a bit about the sequel to And Then Everything Unraveled?

AND THEN I FOUND OUT THE TRUTH picks up right where UNRAVELED leaves off. Here’s the draft copy for the inside flap (though I should warn you it’s a bit of a spoiler for those who haven’t read UNRAVELED):

Delia Truesdale didn’t think life could get more complicated. After all, her mother’s on the run in South America and won’t be coming home anytime soon – at least, not until Delia can outwit the evil-doers who are out to destroy them both.

But it’s hard to thwart evil-doers from an entirely different continent, especially when everyone thinks you should be doing your homework instead. And Delia’s stuck in Manhattan, along with her slightly insane Aunt Charley, her completely uptight Aunt Patience, a petulant psychic, a love-struck detective, a boy-crazy brainiac, and Quinn, who defies description but has kissed her twice.

The answers are waiting in exotic Buenos Aires, and time is running out. Delia might not know how to tango, but she does have a passport. Will she be able to uncover the truth — before it’s too late?


4. On your website you mention your love of teen movie classics from the '80s, what is your favorite and why?

VALLEY GIRL. It has it all in one wonderful package: romance, comedy, drama, amazing music, some outfits that seriously defy description, and a fabulous prom scene.


5. I'm a huge fan of New York City, what's your favorite thing about living there? One thing you could live without?

I know it’s a cliché, but there really is a very special energy to NYC. I love how there are so many different worlds all occurring in parallel – pretty much anything you can imagine is going on somewhere in the city at any given moment. The biggest problem is that it’s impossible to take advantage of more than a tiny percentage of the possibilities.