After being involved in our Women in Horror Month celebrations earlier this year, I again talk with author Jennifer Anne Gordon about her new novel Pretty/Ugly. We look at what's new since our last interview, how she came up with the plotline of the story, and more facets about the novel which is set to be released in the coming weeks.
Me: Hello, and thank you for agreeing to return? How have you been since last we spoke?
Jennifer Anne Gordon: Hi Don! Thanks so much for having me back. I’ve been good. I think. Honestly, this tail end of the pandemic has all been a blur of vaccine lines, and the slow process of trying to remember how to be social again. I feel like a feral barn cat most times, I am getting used to being “peopley” again. I have spent a lot of time writing and gearing up for the release of the new book!!
Me: Your new release, "Pretty/Ugly," is about to come out. What can you tell us about it?
JAG: I am so excited for this release. I have been working on it in some way, shape or form, since before Covid, so I am thrilled to introduce people to my main characters.
Pretty/Ugly is a literary modern horror novel with aspects of gothic fiction and dystopian. It is my first published novel that is not set on my fictitious haunted, Dagger Island.
The book follows the characters of Omelia, an Instagram influencer, and Sam, a failed politician. Both characters are living lives that on the outside seem glamourous and exciting, but inside they are still very broken individuals who have never learned how to get over things that happened in their childhood. Also, the world has been infected very rapidly with a virus (NOT COVID), that leaves the “survivors” with severe facial scars. So if you do survive, you end up scarred.
This book follows these two characters are they figure out how the end of the world and the end of “who they seem to be” coincide. It’s a story about grief, loneliness, learning to love another person, learning to forgive yourself. So there’s body horror and sentimentality. Think Lost in Translation meets Contagion.
Me: How did the story come together involving the characters of Omelia and Sam? Was there anything special to the characters you felt you needed to bring to life?
JAG: I think I fall in love with all my characters when I write them. When Omelia and Sam were just in my head, before they lived on paper—I thought I understood them. I was wrong. I spent a lot of time before I was writing this book trying to figure out a way to write a snarky rom-com that happened to take place when people were dying of a virus.
But then, the world changed, and so many people were dying of a virus, and I realized maybe my characters were a little snarky, but why were they like that, what was it hiding. In the end, I realized in both they lost the most important person in their lives when they were young. So to me, that was the heart of both characters. Writing a realistic portrayal of long-term grief and how that shapes a person. The virus/end of the world that they experience is almost nothing compared to the emotions they had felt when they were young.
Me: Given that both characters are battling psychological issues of their own, how did you approach creating the varied storylines?
JAG: I have spent the past year exploring grief writing. I have taken some workshops with the incredible Diane Zinna (author of The All-Night Sun), and attend her weekly grief writing classes on a regular basis. Through this, I have developed a lot of different ways of how to write grief and handle it on a personal level. It has also been incredible to learn to write grief stories with a different way in. Kind of a back door or shortcut to get to the emotion of the story and to the very heart of these characters. I found that a lot of the small moments in my life that I have experienced have found their way into the hearts of these characters. Though I have never experienced the loss that either of them has.
It was also important for me to give them incredibly different types of lives, especially during their young years. Showing the way both were feeling when they were young, the different family dynamics etc. I think it made for a beautiful and haunting story when they finally do connect to each other.
Me: How much of your past writing style came into play while writing the book?
JAG: I will say that a lot of my style, my poetic nature, my use of language, and the rhythm of words are still there. I still use A LOT of heavy emotional objects both symbolically as actual supporting characters in a way…but I think I relied much less on weather and atmosphere in this novel. When writing my other books about Dagger Island, the island and the elements are almost as much of a character. I did not have that in this book—though I think that is where the virus comes into play. It is my “other character”.
Me: What are you most looking forward to with its upcoming release?
JAG: I have my first ever in-person book signing and launch event with my favorite bookstore Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, NH. As of this interview, I was just informed that there were only 4 tickets left available for it—so this is exciting for me. I am also just excited to be talking about this book. I finished it quite a while ago, way back when I knew there were vaccines, but I had no idea when or if I would be able to get them. So to have the book release and have the world starting to open up again feels very good.
Me: Lastly, what else are you working on that you'd like to share with our readers? Thank you again for your time!
JAG: I am actively working on something, though I cannot really talk about it. I signed with an Agent over the spring (Paula Munier at Talcott Notch) and I pitched an idea to her that she loved, but then I was sworn into silence about it. But I am working on something.
I have also been dabbling in some psychological horror short stories, and some auto-fic stories with a horror twist, as well as some personal essays. Some of those may see the light of day before my “top-secret project” does.
Other than that I have been focused on hosting Vox Vomitus with Allison Martine (we are now the number one show on the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network), as well as being a co-host on the show Writer’s Showcase.
To check out her new book, you can find it at the link below:
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