#129 Intentional About Structure: Dual Timelines and POVs As a Bridge Featuring Jessica Strawser

Jessica Strawser is editor-at-large at Writer’s Digest and the USA Today bestselling author of suspenseful book club novels, including Almost Missed You; Not That I Could Tell (a Book of the Month pick); A Million Reasons Why; The Next Thing You Know (a People Magazine Pick), and her latest, Catch You Later, as well as The Last Caretaker, both instant USA Today bestsellers. She has written for The New York Times, Modern Love, Publishers Weekly and other fine venues, and is a popular writing instructor and freelance editor specializing in helping writers with their submission packages. She lives with her husband and children in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she was named 2019 Writer-in-Residence for the Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County and awarded an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award for 2024. 

 

In this episode:

• The inspiration behind the story [2:48]

• How Jessica structured the dual POV, dual timeline narrative in Catch You Later [6:41]

• The concept of a reliable or unreliable narrator [11:08]

• How she built tension by giving readers more information than the characters have [12:30]

• The importance of friendship and friendship rituals as a central theme [15:07]

• Jessica’s process for incorporating backstory [17:20]

• Throwing obstacles at her characters in an organic way [20:03]

• How she researched state troopers and highway travel stops for authenticity [22:15]

• The “murky middle” struggle and how she keeps her writing momentum going [25:58]

• Why she includes book club discussion questions [30:31]

• Why she overwrites [27:00]

• Jessica’s disciplined writing routine—1,500 words a day, five days a week [27:29]

• Jessica’s next book and plans for the near future [29:17]

 

Connect with Jessica

 

Website: https://jessicastrawser.com 

Facebook: https://facebook.com/Jessicastrawserauthor

Instagram: https://instagram.com/Jessicastrawserauthor 

 

Catch You Later on Estelle’s Bookshop 

https://bookshop.org/p/books/catch-you-later-jessica-strawser/21194221?aid=98827&ean=9781662510236&listref=authors-who-have-appeared-on-freelance-writing-direct

 

Jessica’s prior appearance on the podcast 

#96 Writing and Elevating a Suspense Novel

https://estelleserasmus.com/96-writing-and-elevating-a-suspense-novel-featuring-jessica-strawser/

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