Wattpad interview number two with the talented Janet Maire Grivois.
1.) With the completion of JADES, do you feel there is anything you could have done differently with the characters?
No, each character is rather organic and grew from the events of the story but they didn't change all that much. I think Jo and Emma changed the most really. Emma was the fashion plate who now wants to fight crime and her powers gave her that direction, before she was a very flighty character. Jo went through physical changes but stays the hero and feels the need to protect. Amy also changed but she was/is a drug addict and at times, Jo is her drug, and later on, Dylan is. Darci has an anger to her from her father leaving (which is shown much later in the s*t*a*r*s series, the anger that is) and Shelby was still the stubborn young woman, who wouldn't let anything get her down. Nat is innocent but grows into a strong woman to deal with things that happened around and to her but she is always the optimism. There is always a sweep to my stories, a small bump then a larger dilemma in the story and I like that feel. Roller coaster ride : )
2.) In a lot of the parts/chapters of JADES they have started/ middle/ended with poems, where those poems specifically written for those chapters?
Most of the poems were/are written for my Fan Fiction (I used to write L-Word fan fiction over at l-word.com under Janet MG, and theJadedRogue, and under Jaded_Wind - some of the Fan Fic incorporates variations of the J*A*D*E*S/stars characters but don't necessarily follow the time line in stars). I write poems in class, a typical thing for me if we are covering stuff that I feel like I know already. This is also where snippets of story lines come to me for various novels, shorts, books, whatever you want to call them. I always carry a small notebook in my back pocket and I scribble lines of poems. They usually go well with the stories because they are what I'm thinking about. I'll check a chapter and think, oh, that poem would work. (I have over 300 pages of poems written).
3.) I myself enjoyed the poems in JADES and they went pretty well with the story line. The poems in general had a dark feel to them, are they written from personal experience?
I think good poetry comes from the soul, from experience and from life. So if its good and its touching, yes, they are written from personal experience and from things observed. Certain songs make me think of lines that I might apply towards a story. I'll go months w/o writing a poem then write 10 new ones. It's an odd way of writing poems I've been told.
4.) Will stars have poems written of or previously written for it?
I think there are a sparse few, since stars hasn't had those crux moments yet. There is no romance yet, and it's really 5 ppl who are fractured and thrown together, trying to make the pieces fit. Once they are friends I think the poems will come into play. They aren't a unit..... yet. I think the poems lend themselves better once they are a unit, they are friends, they need and want each other as friends. Really, why should they be friends? Because their mothers were friends? That's a lame reason. Because they have powers? Eh, still a bit lame but more personal. Because they really do fit together and they are each other's missing pieces? That's a true reason to be friends.
5.) Some people might consider JADES to be controversial due to its lesbian content, and why I understand people have the choice to read or not to read certain books that could offend them. Do you consider JADES to be controversial due to its content?
OH MY GOD THERE IS LESBIAN CONTENT IN J*A*D*E*S??? I don't think JADES has a lesbian storyline. (I just heard the gasps). I think it has a ROMANTIC storyline, several in fact, one happens to be a gay one. I have this theory that if gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender ppl simply acted like themselves, didn't make a big deal about coming out that it would be easier for society to accept them as "normal". When I started dating my girlfriend I didn't stand up on the kitchen table and say, "HEY, I'm screwing a girl now!" nor, when I was dating a guy, stand up on the kitchen table and say, "I'm screwing a guy now!". The whole thanksgiving announcement thing is silly and should be kept in Hollywood movies. Why do gay ppl have to come out? Really? We are here, we are queer, so why are you coming out? Sorry, I'm rambling.
