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Welcome to our New Faces column, where you can meet debut romance authors and find out about their books. This time we're visiting with Julie James, whose debut romance is Just the Sexiest Man Alive, an October release from Berkley. Let's meet her.
Julie, welcome to TRR! Tell us about yourself. Thanks for including me in your New Faces column! I live in Chicago with my husband and son (and our golden retriever). I've lived my whole life in Illinois (even college and law school) except for one year when I clerked for a federal judge in Jacksonville, Florida. Are you coming to romance writing from another job? I actually started with romantic comedy writing for films. I'm a former trial lawyer-- I practiced law at a large firm in Chicago where I specialized in employment discrimination defense cases (sexual harassment, sex and race discrimination, etc.). A few years ago, while working at my firm, I came up with what I thought would be a good idea for a movie, so I sat down in the wee hours of the night and wrote a screenplay. I knew no one in Hollywood, so I did things the old-fashioned way: I queried agents and managers. There was some interest in my script, so I signed with an agent who got it optioned to a producer within a few weeks. I wrote a second script, which also was optioned, and that was about the time I started thinking about writing full-time. I struggled with the decision for over a year, wrote two more scripts during that time, then ultimately decided to leave the firm. I've been writing full-time for two years now. What led you to write romance? You know, I didn't actually realize I had written a romance until I submitted the manuscript to my agent! I had been thinking in terms of film, so I called it a "romantic comedy." I'm a huge fan of romantic comedy films-- actually, I'm a big movie buff in general-- and I especially love the older, dialogue-driven romantic comedies where it's all about the back and forth banter between the heroine and hero. In terms of novels, I'm very new to the romance genre, but now I'm having a blast discovering all these new-to-me authors and I'm trying to devour, like, everything in my spare time! Tell us about your road to publication. The option on my first screenplay expired, and my film agent suggested that I turn it into a novel instead. While I knew nothing about writing a book, I felt that the story was fun, and one worth telling, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I wrote the first one hundred pages of the manuscript and sent it off to my film agent, asking him to tell me if it was total garbage and, if so, that I'd stop right there. But he liked it, and he sent it on to a literary agent friend of his, and she called and told me to finish the book and that she'd represent me. So I finished it, sent it to her, and waited for her to tell me at that point that it was total garbage. But instead she liked it and about a month later we began sending it out to publishers. When my agent called me and told me that Berkley wanted to do a two-book deal, I was beyond thrilled and excited! It was at that point that I began to think that maybe I had written something at least halfway decent. What kind of research was involved for your first book? I'm probably not supposed to say this, but really none. I had to look up a few little things on the internet like whether anyone had ever been named a three-time Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine, what a top actor's life-time box office gross would be, things like that. But since the heroine in the story practices the exact type of law I used to practice, the book was for the most part drawn from my own personal experiences. Tell us about your debut book. Just the Sexiest Man Alive is about a lawyer from Chicago named Taylor Donovan, who is sent by her firm to Los Angeles for a big sexual harassment trial. While she's out there, her firm asks her to work with the biggest actor in Hollywood, Jason Andrews, who is about to start filming a legal thriller and wants tips on how to look like a real lawyer. Taylor reluctantly agrees to fit this into her very busy schedule and then is quite displeased-- to say the least-- when Jason blows off their first two appointments to go on a gambling spree in Las Vegas. When Jason finally does show up, Taylor tells him exactly where he can stick his big-shot movie-star attitude and storms off. Jason, used to having women fall at his feet, finds Taylor's attitude refreshingly intriguing and decides to not let her get away so easily. Hijinks ensue. Who are your influences as a writer? My biggest influence as a writer would have to be Jane Austen, especially Pride and Prejudice. I love the idea of the man who every woman wants finding the one woman who wants nothing to do with him-- and having no problem telling him that. In terms of contemporary fiction, I recently discovered Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series and love her style of humor. Also Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is an amazing writer. What does your family think of having a published romance author in their midst? My family has all been very supportive and excited, especially my husband. He's the only person I give my screenplays/manuscripts to before sending them off to my agent, and he is also my best and toughest critic. He has absolutely no problem telling me when something stinks, so if I make it past him I usually feel at least somewhat okay with what I've written. : ) Tell us about plans for future books. My second book, Practice Makes Perfect, will be released in March 2009. The heroine and hero are lawyers who can’t stand each other and have to fight it out for the one partnership spot at their firm. It’s another romantic comedy, a battle-of-the-sexes story with a lot of humor and hijinks and a hero and heroine who think they’re totally wrong for each other. In addition to that, I recently signed another two-book deal with Berkley and am currently working on my third book, another romantic comedy with a suspense subplot, about a female Assistant U.S. Attorney who inadvertently witnesses a high-profile crime and the FBI agent assigned to protect her. How can readers get in touch with you? I love to hear from readers! Anyone who is interested can find out more at my website, www.juliejamesbooks.com. There they can find excerpts of both Just the Sexiest Man Alive and Practice Makes Perfect, as well as reviews of the book, etc. And anyone who wants to email me should free feel to do so at info@juliejamesbooks.com
Julie, thanks for joining us, and best of luck! |
