Author Interview: Lorraine Zago Rosenthal

 A little bit about Lorraine:

"I was born and raised in New York City, where I went to high school in Queens at St. Francis Prep: www.sfponline. I graduated from the University of South Florida in Tampa: www.usf.edu with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a Master's degree in Education. I also earned a Master's degree in English, with a concentration in American and British Literature, from Northern Kentucky University: www.nku.edu which is located just across the bridge from Cincinnati.

In addition to writing, I enjoy reading, exercising, and spending time with my husband. I'm also a  movie buff and an amateur film critic.

Other Words for Love is my first novel. I'm currently working on another YA novel that is also set in NYC."-from Lorraine's website

 Lorraine has agreed to do an interview with me here at Friendly Reader. She is the author of Other Words For Love. Without further ado, here is the interview!

What was your favorite thing about writing Other Words For Love?

I honestly enjoyed writing every part of this book. I loved creating Ari’s character, her family, and her surroundings. It was fun to write the scenes when things are going well between Blake and Ari and she’s on top of the world, and it was challenging and interesting to write the scenes in which she goes through an emotional breakdown. I really liked writing the scenes between Ari and her mother, too. But if I had to pick a favorite scene, I’d say it’s the last scene with Ari and Blake. It’s filled with complex emotions and hope—it’s the type of scene that can make you smile, cry, or both

Describe your book in three words:

Ari grows up.

What's the craziest thing you've ever done?

Honestly, I don’t do a lot of crazy things. I’ve always been pretty sensible. Yeah, I’m boring that way.

Who do you relate to most in Other Words For Love?

I relate to all my characters. If I didn’t connect with them and understand them, I couldn’t write about them! But I think the character I relate to most is my main character, Ari. I really feel for what she went through during the story.

Did you have a playlist for writing the book? If so, what were some of the songs on it?

I sure did! Music always inspires my writing. It helps me to feel what my characters are feeling. Other Words for Love is set in the mid-to-late 1980s, and music also helped to transport me to that time. The novel contains some scenes in which Ari and her friends dance the night away at a club in Manhattan, and listening to songs from that era made it easy to visualize those scenes.  But not all of the music that inspired me is from the 1980s. The playlist is long, it’s eclectic, and it has songs from various decades and different artists. Here are some of the songs on that list:

1.      Breathe Your Name by Sixpence None the Richer;

2.      If You Were Here by The Thompson Twins;

3.      Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer;

4.      Taking it All Too Hard by Genesis;

5.      Modern Love by David Bowie;

6.      Borderline by Madonna;

7.      Tunnel of Love by Bruce Springsteen;

8.      The Reflex by Duran Duran;

9.      Here’s Where the Story Ends by The Sundays; and

10.  Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order

If you could meet any YA book character in person, who would you choose to meet?

I would love to meet Mattie Ross from the novel (and movie) True Grit by Charles Portis. True Grit is an adult novel, but it has a YA protagonist. I really admire Mattie’s strength and her ability to ignore negative people. She just pushes them out of her way and moves on. I’d love to meet her and tell her how inspirational she is. I would also like to meet Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye. He’s just so witty and clever. Some of the things he says in that book made me laugh out loud.

Thanks again for doing the interview and thank you readers for reading it;)