We’re delighted to welcome you to the YALC socials, would you like to introduce yourself?
Hi everyone! Thanks for having me. I’m Jo and I write hopeful, uplifting, joyful LGBTQ+ YA novels. I discovered YALC way back in 2017 when I was at Comic Con with my best friend Andy, and there was a huge sign with an arrow saying BOOKS. Needless to say, I followed the arrow, and I’ve been a massive fan ever since.
Could you introduce your new book to us?
Absolutely. Run Away With Me is a road trip romantic thriller, following two girls – Jessie and Brooke – as they run away from their homes in Seattle in Brooke’s vintage Mustang. As they get further and further away from home they start to trust each other, and you finally find out what they’re running from…
And if you had to do it in just 5 words or less, what would they be?
SAPPHIC ROAD TRIP ROMANTIC THRILLER
RUN AWAY WITH ME is a coming-of-age thriller-romance with a mystery at it’s heart – what inspired the story/ where did the spark of inspiration come from?
I’ve not really made a secret of the fact that the music video for Crazy by Aerosmith kick-started this whole novel. It stars Alicia Silverstone and Liv Tyler and if you haven’t seen it, go and watch it right now – it’s on YouTube!
One of the things I love about being a writer is being able to take inspiration from a 30 year old music video and giving the characters backstories and issues and wants and dreams. I think if you’ve read the book and seen the music video you can draw the parallels between them, but they’re actually pretty different if you don’t know about the connection.
Your chapter headers are all classic songs/ albums, and the book is full of musical references – can you tell us a little about how and why you chose them?
A lot of the albums are ones my parents used to play in the car when I was a kid, like Michael Jackson’s Dangerous and Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell. But the mix of albums featured in the book is really eclectic – it goes from Dolly Parton to Notorious BIG and Nirvana to Mariah Carey. The most important thing to me was that the music fit with what was happening in the story in that chapter, so it kind of acts as something in between a spoiler and a vibe check.
Almost right from the start I had chapter one labelled “Born to Run – Bruce Springsteen” because it made so much sense to me, and it was only as I was writing that I created this backstory about Brooke’s car having an ancient sound system that can only play cassette tapes.
Your road trip is based in the US, what led you to this setting? Did you do any on the ground research?
I have friends who live in Seattle, where the story starts, and Orlando, which is where Jessie and Brooke decide to drive to, and I really liked the idea of connecting the two cities. I’ve spent quite a bit of time in both places though I’ve never driven between them. One day I’d love to hire a vintage red Mustang and recreate the journey from the book.
How important to you was representing diverse romance in this story?
I think it was something that ended up happening really naturally – I never felt under pressure to shoehorn in any kind of representation for the sake of it. The next few books I’m working on all contain sapphic romances, though I’ve got ideas for more stories that showcase different types of relationships.
Can you tell us your favourite things about Jessie and Brooke (no spoilers!)?
I love the journey that Jessie goes on, from the girl who’s nicknamed Mouse (and hates it) to someone who is willing to fight – literally – for what she believes in. Brooke’s why not? attitude is something I’d love to adopt more of myself… when she sees something she wants she’s going to go and get it, no matter what anyone else thinks.
Can you tell us about your journey into writing this book, and your experience of studying for a creative writing MA?
I’ve been writing as a hobby since I was a teenager, and I found lots of great communities to share my writing in throughout my twenties. During the dark days of lockdown in 2020 I decided I wanted to take the next step and do something with my writing, and since I did my undergraduate at Bath Spa, it made sense to look at their creative writing courses. I ended up finding their Masters in Writing for Young People, which has launched the careers of so many wonderful children’s’ and YA authors, including several who became my tutors/mentors. I feel incredibly grateful to have had such a great start to my writing career with them.
I was really lucky to study with an immensely talented group of writers who saw RAWM in its very earliest stages. I’m still working through the list of ideas for books that I generated while on the MA – give me another decade or so and I might get around to writing them all!
What was the book that made you a reader, and was there one that made you a writer?
When I was a kid I bought myself a copy of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park because I was obsessed with dinosaurs but my parents said I couldn’t watch the film because it was too scary. Looking back, they probably should have policed my reading more than they did! But that was the first book that I completely fell in love with. I’ve read it at least 20 times.
The book that made me a writer was probably The Hunger Games. I can remember reading it and thinking oh my God, I want to write characters like that. I loved how flawed Katniss was – not a picture-perfect heroine, but raw and messy and complex. More than that, though, was how Suzanne Collins created a world that feels so real and immersive. She doesn’t shy away from bringing difficult topics to a YA audience either, which I find very inspiring.
I don’t write sci-fi or dystopian novels, which just goes to show how inspiration really does come from anywhere and everywhere.
What is your favourite genre to read/ write in?
You know, a few years ago I would have labelled myself as a hardcore romance novel girlie, but I recently challenged myself to read more in genres I wouldn’t normally reach for, which has led me to some absolutely incredible books. Apart from horror (which I can’t touch because I’m a total wuss) I’ll read pretty much anything.
Where do you write?
I have to give a shout out to the various coffee shops and cafés around Bristol (where I live) because a lot of the people who work in them recognise me when I go in with my laptop! I very rarely work at home – I like being somewhere where there’s a bit of a buzz, people around me, conversations or music. Trains are also great for that. I have ADHD, so sitting alone in a silent room trying to focus is the worst possible scenario – my mind can, and will, wander.
Have you read anything brilliant recently?
SO MUCH. I love Grace Curtis, her books are amazing. Olivie Blake’s Masters of Death rocked my socks, and I will never stop recommending Krystal Sutherland’s The Invocations (I know I just said I don’t read horror but this one was worth the scares). I loved Sunrise on the Reaping, what another absolute banger from Suzanne Collins. I also got to read an advance copy of Cynthia Murphy’s Keep Your Friends Close, which is coming out this September, and totally loved it.