Episode 65: The Art of the Sequel – Interview with JoJo Moyes

by Gabriela Pereira
published in Podcast

Hi there Word nerds! I’m so excited for today’s interview with bestselling author JoJo Moyes on the art of the sequel.

Jojo Moyes is the New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You, One Plus One, The Girl You Left Behind, The Last Letter from Your Lover, Silver Bay, The Ship of Brides and Honeymoon in Paris. She lives with her husband and three children in Essex, England.

Me Before You was truly a word-of-mouth sensation, launching Moyes to worldwide acclaim. It spent more than 65 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list and worldwide sales exceed five million copies. Reviewers, booksellers, and readers all raved about Me Before You for its unforgettable romance and emotional, challenging storyline. Moyes’ books are now available in 36 foreign languages and have sold more than nine million copies in total. Her newest book, After You: A Novel, sequel to Me Before You, is out now.

In this episode JoJo and I discuss:

  • Sequels, and how they are not always planned.
  • How to write that sequel that can stand alone.
  • Writing grief in your characters.
  • Switching point of view in your novel.
  • The experience of working on the screen adaptation of her novel, Me Before You.

Plus, JoJo’s #1 tip for writers.

Resources

AfterYouAbout AFTER YOU

When one story ends, another begins. The sequel to the beloved New York Times million-copy bestseller, Me Before You. How do you move on after losing the person you loved? How do you build a life worth living? Louisa Clark is no longer just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. After the transformative six months spent with Will Traynor, she is struggling without him.

When an extraordinary accident forces Lou to return home to her family, she can’t help but feel she’s right back where she started. Her body heals, but Lou herself knows that she needs to be kick-started back to life. Which is how she ends up in a church basement with the members of the Moving On support group, who share insights, laughter, frustrations, and terrible cookies. They will also lead her to the strong, capable Sam Fielding—the paramedic, whose business is life and death, and the one man who might be able to understand her. Then a figure from Will’s past appears and hijacks all her plans, propelling her into a very different future. . . .

For Lou Clark, life after Will Traynor means learning to fall in love again, with all the risks that brings. But here Jojo Moyes gives us two families, as real as our own, whose joys and sorrows will touch you deeply, and where both changes and surprises await. After You is quintessential Jojo Moyes—a novel that will make you laugh, cry, and rejoice at being back in the world she creates. Here she does what few novelists can do—revisits beloved characters and takes them to places neither they nor we ever expected.

Link to Episode 65

(Right-click to download.)

If you want to know more about JoJo Moyes and her fantastic books, check out her website, or you can follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

 


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Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome.

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