67. JESSICA JAMES: Mixing up beloved romance tropes with a Paramore-vibes band

Jessica James is a debut author in the romance world. Her first book, "For One Night Only" is about a band reuniting for once concert in order to get some good press. Yes, we've got fake dating and second chance all wrapped up in one story! Check out this conversation about romance, music, and some Twilight references.

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Transcript

00;00;03;21 - 00;00;20;15
Speaker 1
Hi and welcome to Literary Hype. I am Stephanie here literary hype woman and I am thrilled to introduce you to another debut author it is one of my favorite things. And this debut author is already making a pretty big splash with her book for one night only. This is a pop star romance. So celebrity romances are always fun.

00;00;20;16 - 00;00;43;02
Speaker 1
Plus, there's a lot of other fun tropes in this that you're going to want to check out. So Jessica James is this author's name, and she made an appearance at Emerald City Comic-Con so we took a little sidebar to talk about this book and all the fun things it includes. So is that any further ado? Here's my conversation with Jessica James welcome to Literary Hype.

00;00;43;02 - 00;00;50;12
Speaker 1
It's so exciting to have you on to talk about your debut novel for One Night Only. So for anyone who hasn't already seen this book all over social media, what's it.

00;00;50;12 - 00;01;15;02
Speaker 2
About for One Night Only is my debut romance novel. It is about a rock band getting back together because the former lead singer needs some good press. The trouble is, her co-lead singer is the guy whose heart she broke six years ago and it's the reason the band broke up. So there's a lot of tension, a lot of let's just say a lot of angst.

00;01;15;02 - 00;01;21;15
Speaker 2
They have a lot of history and they have to overcome that. But they'll have one summer to face the music and decide what the reunion means for their future, both on and off stage.

00;01;21;20 - 00;01;27;13
Speaker 1
OK, one summer to face the music is a great line. Did you come up with that or was that like somebody something marketing told you?

00;01;27;13 - 00;01;28;17
Speaker 2
Absolutely. My marketing team.

00;01;29;29 - 00;01;35;04
Speaker 1
I think that that smells of marketing, but you could be brilliant. But you have a brilliant marketing team.

00;01;35;07 - 00;01;36;08
Speaker 2
You have a brilliant marketing team.

00;01;36;23 - 00;01;42;07
Speaker 1
I mean, you're a Berkeley author, so they're they're known for being really good. Everybody wants to be in the Berkeley program.

00;01;42;07 - 00;01;43;06
Speaker 2
I'm really grateful.

00;01;45;02 - 00;01;53;09
Speaker 1
So this story has so many great tropes in it that are very beloved. Did you pick the tropes ahead of time or did they evolve naturally with the story?

00;01;53;13 - 00;02;10;06
Speaker 2
Yeah, to an extent. I mean, when I knew that it was going to be about a band getting back together, I knew that second chance was going to be a part of it. Naturally, the found family really snuck up because this is a it's not just a love story about this romantic relationship getting back together. It's the platonic love with all of their band mates.

00;02;10;06 - 00;02;33;15
Speaker 2
There's other than Valerie and Caleb the two main characters, they have three bandmates who are all very ingrained. And so that just they became really important part of the story. And so the found family was there. I really love fake dating, and so I wanted to put a spin on it where it like made sense. And this was more like they start fake dating because the fandom assumes they're back together.

00;02;33;15 - 00;02;41;09
Speaker 2
So they kind of have to play into it because the whole reason they're getting back together is for press. So that kind of came up from there. Yeah. Gosh. What other tropes are OK?

00;02;41;21 - 00;03;04;20
Speaker 1
I mean, yeah, like the second chance fake dating Celebrity Fam Family and just all wraps up so nicely into one. I think that is why everyone is like this. But I think you when you're deciding what tropes to use, do you think all the way down the end of the story or are you more of a panther and just fly by the seat of your pants as a as a whole?

00;03;05;01 - 00;03;26;00
Speaker 2
I definitely think to the end of my story, I don't just pick a trope for the sake of the trope. I usually come up with the concept first and then figure out what tropes organically come out of that. Like for my next project, it's very much friends to lovers. And so naturally there was some mutual pining some like it was always you, but it just kind of organically came from that.

00;03;26;15 - 00;03;35;19
Speaker 2
So I think if I can figure out the character arc and then the trope evolves from there, that's when I feel like it makes the most sense and feels almost natural to me as an author.

00;03;35;23 - 00;03;37;27
Speaker 1
What was the original spark for this story?

00;03;38;04 - 00;03;57;08
Speaker 2
The original spark for this story is that I have a bachelor's in music and I can't help but put music into all of my books. And actually I started at the beginning of the pandemic really missing, being able to make music with people and wanting to like be in those collaborative spaces where you're with people that you really like to be around and making music and working on art together.

00;03;57;19 - 00;04;11;05
Speaker 2
And so I was consuming a lot of art about music, and I wanted to write about people who got to do it after not being able to do it for a really long time. And the romance kind of came from there. I was also really upset about the cancelation of Julian the Phantoms.

00;04;12;04 - 00;04;15;17
Speaker 1
I did have a note because I saw a meme that she had posted about that.

00;04;16;24 - 00;04;23;06
Speaker 2
And so that wasn't the spark, but that was definitely the impetus for me being like, OK, now I really want to write a rockstar romance. So we're doing this.

00;04;23;21 - 00;04;33;28
Speaker 1
So this band is called The Glitter Bats. There is an origin story for the bands in the book. What was the origin story of coming up with Glitter Bats for you?

00;04;34;05 - 00;04;39;02
Speaker 2
Oh goodness. So the origin story in the book is not my origin story for this band.

00;04;39;18 - 00;04;43;28
Speaker 1
But it works so well because that is immediately what I went to. I went to Twilight.

00;04;43;28 - 00;05;05;18
Speaker 2
I love it so much. Yes, it's a moment for the toy hearts. I honestly, I think my spouse and I were keeping like a running tab of band names just for fun. I was just keeping track on my phone. And when we came up with Glitter, I don't know if it was like watching Stranger Things and Eddie Manson and all of the bats or if it was like, I'm a slip, do you like Glitter?

00;05;06;20 - 00;05;23;03
Speaker 2
But whatever that once I have that name, I'm like, Oh, that's just like a pop punk band. And then it kind of was like, that informs where this book is going. So the glitter box there that was the first thing I had for this book. Actually, I didn't know Valerie's name. I didn't have Caleb's name. I had the band name, the glitter parts.

00;05;23;19 - 00;05;32;10
Speaker 1
So with the glitter match, it gets a Twilight reference as the band name. But Paramore is also kind of a Twilight reference because they have the song as well. And there's a Paramore reference in this book.

00;05;32;17 - 00;05;50;12
Speaker 2
Yes, there is apparent reference that was not intentional. There are a few things that were not intentional that ended up in this book, and that was definitely one of them. But I was thinking about it because I actually got the news that my book was going to second reads at Berkeley, which is what it means when an editor really likes your book.

00;05;50;12 - 00;06;05;13
Speaker 2
And so they send it to other people on their team to be like, Hey, I think we should buy this. What do you think? I got that like two days before I was going to a Paramore concert and at the concert I saw people streaming Twilight during to code. So it's like, Oh.

00;06;06;14 - 00;06;19;28
Speaker 1
Don't don't. Yeah. I mean, that's a great song, too. It is. It's so perfect for that movie. So you're from the Pacific Northwest in this area. What's it like for you to be at a Comic-Con in your home area promoting your debut book?

00;06;20;09 - 00;06;41;08
Speaker 2
It's amazing. I mean, I'm not currently living in this part of the state, but Seattle has always been like a big part of my life. I was born here. I have family here. And so this is actually my first Comic-Con and getting to be here promoting my book about a band that got their start in Seattle which was definitely an homage to all of the grunge bands that got their start in Seattle way back in the day.

00;06;41;08 - 00;06;47;24
Speaker 2
And so I'm kind of getting to echo back that and then be here. It feels very meta and very cool. And I'm very glad to be doing it.

00;06;48;06 - 00;06;52;04
Speaker 1
I mean, this year's theme is grunge, too. Yes. Are you going to grunge prom?

00;06;52;20 - 00;06;54;04
Speaker 2
No, I didn't know about it.

00;06;54;10 - 00;07;07;06
Speaker 1
It's tomorrow night. There's grunge promise. That's amazing, right? Yeah. So since you're from Seattle and this band is from Seattle, were there any special Easter eggs to your childhood in your life? That you worked into this story?

00;07;07;17 - 00;07;37;17
Speaker 2
Oh gosh, nothing specific. So I was born here. I'm I wasn't raised here. So there are a couple of things that are a little bit reminiscent of my childhood. Like, I talk about a 24 hour pizza place in the back, and we had a 24 hour diner in my hometown just kind of you kind of as an author, you kind of mine things, and sometimes they creep up on you and you don't even realize they're in there until you're like, Oh yeah, I'm probably actually talking about this thing that I knew about when I was a kid.

00;07;39;05 - 00;07;41;13
Speaker 2
But other than that, nothing too specific.

00;07;42;20 - 00;07;46;05
Speaker 1
One thing that Caleb and Valerie Bond over is their mommy issues.

00;07;46;05 - 00;07;46;18
Speaker 2
Yes.

00;07;47;01 - 00;08;01;09
Speaker 1
They're different sides of problems with their mothers, but the general vibe of mommy issues is a very key to their bonding so talk a little bit about crafting those separate issues and blending them into one relationship.

00;08;01;19 - 00;08;20;06
Speaker 2
Yeah. So thinking about the mom issues was definitely an early part of the story because I was by the very nature of a second chance romance, you have to know the history between these characters and thinking, like, what brought these people together and knowing Valerie had mom issues was really natural because often we see women in the media being exploited by family members.

00;08;20;06 - 00;08;21;28
Speaker 2
Like, just look at what happened to Britney Spears.

00;08;22;00 - 00;08;23;06
Speaker 1
Jeannette McCurdy.

00;08;23;06 - 00;08;49;05
Speaker 2
Yes, yes. Absolutely. Jeanette Purdy. That came really naturally that she had a momager who was toxic and emotionally abusive. And I wanted that to go back to her childhood and she and Caleb have been best friends as they were kids. And so just having them connect over him, having an absentee mom and him being expected to kind of parent his younger sister and it felt like two sides of the same coin almost.

00;08;49;07 - 00;09;14;22
Speaker 2
But I think there's really subtle ways that our moms can hurt us and so looking into their background that way, it really informed their character. It's like Valerie's response to having mother issues is seeking approval and for her, that means seeking fame. With Caleb, his response has been taking on a lot of responsibility and feeling really anxious. And so it kind of helped their characters develop from there.

00;09;14;25 - 00;09;21;21
Speaker 1
You mentioned your background in music. How did that help you with some of the songwriting throughout the song? The story?

00;09;21;28 - 00;09;46;10
Speaker 2
Yeah. So I have a B.A. in music, but it's in classical music, and I did jazz in college, so I never really wrote songs. But as far as like talking about the visceral making music with people, like feeling the rhythm of the drums and like how it feels when you harmonize with people. That was really informed by my experiences, but I did have to take an online songwriting class because I tried not to write the lyrics and my agent said I wasn't allowed to not write them.

00;09;46;10 - 00;10;02;02
Speaker 2
So she challenged me to try, and it forced me to kind of get out of my comfort zone a little bit and really stretch some creative muscles that I hadn't used in a while, which was really rewarding. I definitely don't think that I'm the next Hayley Williams, but it was really fun to try that well.

00;10;02;02 - 00;10;08;17
Speaker 1
And you call these song lyrics cheesy, so was it like intentional to make them cheesy? Yes. Just just checking.

00;10;08;28 - 00;10;13;21
Speaker 2
Yeah, intentionally made them cheesy because rock songs you write at 17, 18, 19, they're going to be a little cheesy.

00;10;13;28 - 00;10;16;29
Speaker 1
Was there a particular band you had in mind when you were crafting these characters?

00;10;17;13 - 00;10;49;21
Speaker 2
Not necessarily. I mean, they're definitely a little bit of Paramore influences. But I was thinking more that they were influence, not contemporaries, because Paramore started way before they would have been on the scene. If we're assuming this book happens in 20, 25 and thinking about like 5 seconds a summer and a little bit of panic at the disco, I thought about the fandom similar, even though One Direction is not pop punk, I was really thinking of like One Direction or when I was crafting this band that had a fandom where people are writing fan fiction about these people that are shipping these people.

00;10;50;12 - 00;11;01;04
Speaker 2
So it kind of came from that. And I think they also would have been influenced by like Green Day, but also like these are rock nerds. So they were influenced by Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam and The Clash, and you see that in the book.

00;11;01;16 - 00;11;08;06
Speaker 1
So if this book were to become a movie, who would you want to cast as these main characters?

00;11;08;13 - 00;11;35;14
Speaker 2
Oh gosh, sandcastles are hard for me. I don't know that I have specific like face casts for Caleb or Valerie. Maybe Caleb might be a little bit Sean Mendez, the like. There are a couple photos out there of Sean Mendez with eyeliner and like, yeah, that's that's kind of the vibe as far as Valerie goes. I don't know there are a lot of really talented blond actresses who could probably pull it off.

00;11;37;01 - 00;11;40;24
Speaker 2
Maybe someone like Doug Cameron I don't know.

00;11;41;04 - 00;11;50;14
Speaker 1
They're very specific makeup and hair color references in this. Did you pick them for ones that you have and like or did you like how what was that process like?

00;11;50;17 - 00;12;10;04
Speaker 2
Caleb's eyeliner is real life. The urban decay perversion pencil is like my holy grail. When I'm going out and want to like really have a dramatic I Valerie's hair color, I was just making stuff up because I, I don't know why. There are certain brands that I decided to fictionalize and certain brands that I decided to use real ones.

00;12;10;04 - 00;12;24;23
Speaker 2
And that was more to immerse you in the story. So like, you could imagine that this is happening in real life, even if not all of the bands I'm referencing are real not all of them like cosmetics. I'm referencing her real. But yeah, I just kind of had fun making up colors.

00;12;25;11 - 00;12;36;04
Speaker 1
On good reads. It says this book is Glitter Bats number one. Tell us what you can about Glitter Bats. Number two, that is implied by having a number one.

00;12;37;05 - 00;12;56;29
Speaker 2
So I can say that it is a series fair. We had a two book deal and another book is planned. I can't talk about it much right now, but I can say that if you read book one, you probably have a pretty good guess about who book two is about. And you're definitely going to see some familiar faces.

00;12;57;12 - 00;13;06;17
Speaker 1
All over your book. Secret is a lot of baking and cookies. Yes. What do you love about baking that has helped you be more creative in your writing?

00;13;06;29 - 00;13;28;25
Speaker 2
Oh gosh. I think I became a better baker when I really started following the directions like super accurately. And I also became a better writer when I started outlining better like I have learned over the years to bake. Like I can make it look pretty and make it look like the picture. If I follow the dang directions and use like the tips that I've learned to make it better.

00;13;28;25 - 00;13;42;24
Speaker 2
And I think that's kind of how works as an author. Like you learn tips and tricks and ways to hone your craft. And I did include my a little bit of my love of baking in the book. I have a it feels like a throwaway line that Riker is a stress baker, but he definitely is. That comes back in books too.

00;13;43;08 - 00;13;52;05
Speaker 1
Well, and there's a line that you had on your Instagram and one of the pictures of your cookies of like doing something that's not tied to accomplishment. So talk a little bit about what that means to you.

00;13;52;06 - 00;14;12;22
Speaker 2
Yeah, I think it's really easy as an artist and a creator to monetize all of your passions. And I started writing because I needed a break from music, like music. I love I love making music, but music is burning me out. And so I started writing just because I wanted to and I thought it'd be fun. And then it became a thing I was pursuing as a second job is really what it's become, which I absolutely love.

00;14;12;22 - 00;14;40;04
Speaker 2
I love that I get to write and get to share my characters with the world, but sometimes you just need to do something creative. There's no stakes. Like if I'm baking, all I have to do is make something give me and I know I can do that. And so it takes all of that pressure off and it's just like, Hey, I get to make really I mean, talk about cookies and it just makes my day a little better and my spouse's day, and it's just nice to have that level of creativity where you're not like trying to sell something.

00;14;40;16 - 00;14;44;14
Speaker 1
Last question we always ask because this is literary hype. What books are you hyped about right now?

00;14;44;28 - 00;15;10;08
Speaker 2
Oh, my gosh. I just read Kimberly Lemming is Berkeley release. I got abducted by aliens and I'm trapped in a romcom. So fun. It's the most fun I've had in a really long time. Every time I read Kimberly's books, I'm laughing so hard. Another book that I'm really hyped about is, Oh my gosh, I just got my Ark of the Sun in the Moon by Rebecca Fabian, and I'm really excited to start reading that next.

00;15;10;15 - 00;15;14;26
Speaker 1
Awesome. Well, thanks so much for taking time at Emerald City Comic-Con to talk to literary hype about 41.

00;15;14;26 - 00;15;16;11
Speaker 2
I'd only thank you so much for having me.

00;15;22;00 - 00;15;38;10
Speaker 1
Thanks to Jessica for hanging out with me at Emerald City Comic-Con to talk all about her book for one night only. If you'd like to check out from One Night Only by Jessica James. Failing to do so is down in the show notes for you, as well as where to find her on social media. If you enjoyed this conversation, don't forget to subscribe to the literary podcast.

00;15;38;20 - 00;15;43;12
Speaker 1
Give us some stars and share it with a friend. Thanks so much for listening to the Literary Hype podcast.