Guest Author: Jodi Thomas – Interview

Today have bestselling author Jodi Thomas here to talk about her latest release, Somewhere Along the Way, the second book in her Harmony, TX series.  Stick around to check out an excerpt and read a note from Jodi later today.

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Book Binge: Both Harmony books have the feeling of people coming home – realizing that Harmony and the people in it have found something that they want to keep. Was that your intention when you started the series?
Jodi Thomas: I’m not sure I was limiting the theme to just coming home for all Harmony books but more like a feeling of being happy with where you find yourself in life. Home is more than a place.

BB: Why small town Texas? Not that small town isn’t wonderful, but do you avoid the bigger cities on purpose?
JT: In a big city I’d have so many people my head might explode. J In truth, I liked the small town because I’m from a small town. I like the sense that everyone cares about everyone else, worries about them, talks about them. I’m not avoiding the cities, I just don’t understand big cities the way I do small towns.

BB: Will Claire ever stop killing men in her paintings?
JT: I don’t know. I’m finishing up book 3 and she’s still going strong. Sometimes I feel like I’m watching the characters to see what they do. People don’t believe us, but sometimes writers write later at night so they can find out what happens.

BB: Will we meet new characters in the next book or will this be a wrap up of the characters in the first 2 books?
JT: Both. I continue some stories—like Tyler and Kate, bring minor characters on stage for their own story—like Ronelle Logan and Brandon Biggs, and touch base with stories in other books—like Saralynn Hank’s little niece and Reagan and Noah’s maturing relationship.

BB: What’s your favorite aspect of this series?
JT: I love that the people of Harmony care about one another. I know that the world of both reality and fiction is full of bad guys, but not all people are bad or just looking for an angle, some just want to help others. Sometimes I sit down to watch TV and it’s hard to find a show that doesn’t have a victim in it. Yet in life I see people doing little things all the time just helping out.

BB: Were you sitting around one night and Regan’s character came to you or were other characters first?
JT: Reagan was the first view point character but I think Tyler was the first I thought about. When she stepped into Harmony at sixteen without a place to call home or a single person in the world who loved her, I knew she’d be with me through all the books. I wanted to see my town through her eyes.

BB:  Do you think of one character and build from that or do you picture and plan the town first and then fill it with residents in your mind?
JT: Four years ago I remember having lunch with my editor and saying, “I want to write a series about a small town and one of my main heroes is going to be a 40 year old funeral director who is a little overweight.” She said, “I don’t think that would work.” I went on to describe several other people who live in Harmony. Six months later, I sent her the first draft of
WELCOME TO HARMONY and she said, “It works!” I like to write the beautiful people, but sometimes the real heroes are just regular folks doing the best they can.

BB:Will the series only be these 3 books, or do you plan to return to Harmony later?
JT: There will be more than three. I’m thinking six.

BB: Will any of the characters from Harmony show up in other books in the future?
JT: Yes, just as now and then characters form TWISTED CREEK and REWRITING MONDAY will. I’m writing about three small towns that are only thirty miles apart.

BB: What are your plans once this series wraps up?
JT: I plan to sleep for a few weeks. Oh, maybe you mean plans in writing.

BB: Are you already plotting something new?
JT: There is always a line of people in my brain waiting for their story to me told. When I started writing I thought I’d get to them all, but the line seems to be growing. For me the characters make the story. They come to me, I get to know them, and then they tell me the sorry.

A fifth generation Texan who taught family living, Jodi Thomas chooses to set the majority of her novels in her home state, where her grandmother was born in a covered wagon.   A former teacher, Thomas traces the beginning of her storytelling career to the days when her twin sisters were young and impressionable. 
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Do you have a question for Jodi? Leave a comment here asking and we’ll throw your name in for a copy of Somewhere Along the Way. Ends 11/1 @ 11:59pm.

This book will be available from Berkley Nov 2, 2010. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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