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Author Interview – J.R. Luis – The Beautiful Game, On The Table Read Magazine, “the best entertainment eBook magazine UK“, J.R. Luis shares what inspired her to co-write her new book, The Beautiful Game with Vanessa Lanang, and their creative writing process.
I interviewed J.R. Luis about her life and career, what inspired the story of her new book, The Beautiful Game, and the experience of co-writing with Vanessa Lanang.
My name is J.R. Luis and I write adult contemporary romance. When I’m not writing, you will most likely find me doing all the fun things with my kids, exploring the great outdoors, or trying in vain to keep up with the laundry.
I had been writing short stories since I was in elementary school, but I got the idea to try my hand at a novel when I was seventeen.
Maybe it was because I was an introverted teen with time on my hands, but I did in fact sit down and write the first novel I had an idea for. However, it is what we call a drawer novel, and it shall stay there forever, because it was… terrible, lol.
My debut novel, Lucky Star: A Hollywood Love Story, took me (no joke) about eight years from conception to publication. I kicked the idea around for several months before getting the confidence to write it, and then drafted it in about a year. But since I knew nothing about story structure or what actually makes compelling literature, I ended up having to rewrite it several times, queried it without success, shelved it and wrote three other books, picked it back up and revised it, queried it again, shelved it again, wrote two more books, and then picked it back up, rewrote it AGAIN, then finally found its home at Winding Road Stories… Where I still had to do edits on it, lol. It was a process!
My newest book, The Beautiful Game (co-written with the amazing Vanessa Lanang), didn’t have quite as bizarre a journey as my debut, but it still took about six years from conception to publication. Throughout those years, Vanessa and I wrote and polished, queried, rewrote for editors that showed interest (but subsequently passed on the project), took several years off to focus on our individual novels, and eventually picked it back up when our shared editor, Michael Dolan at Winding Road Stories, showed interest in publishing it. Vanessa and I can’t wait to finally have this book out in the world on June 4th, 2024.
As a resident of western Pennsylvania, I was gifted with tickets to a Riverhound’s game (the soccer team from Pittsburgh), and one of the players quickly caught my attention because he was A) terribly sexy, and B) causing all kinds of trouble on the field. Arguing with the refs, being super dramatic and such. This line sparked into my author brain, something like, “Maybe it’s a bad idea, but this guy looks like the perfect rebound.” And I thought, “Oh dang, I need to write this book.” I messaged Vanessa and told her I had this plot bunny that I wanted to pitch as How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days meets Bend It Like Beckham and asked if she wanted to write it with me. The rest, as they say, is history.
Vanessa and I work really well together, so there weren’t many challenges in getting the novel down. But as we queried and got feedback from agents and editors, we were getting mixed opinions about what needed to change before someone would acquire it, and we struggled to decide which criticisms were valid and needed to be addressed and which we would ignore since they didn’t match our vision of the book. So, I’d say our biggest challenge was staying true to our vision while also trying to find the book a home.
As previously mentioned, our male protagonist, Joey, was inspired by the sexy, troublesome member of the Bloodhounds team (and I will not name names just to be safe, lol). Of course, we changed and adapted Joey to be his own character for the novel, but he was based on that player to begin with. I actually don’t have an exact inspiration for our female protagonist, Vera, but in hindsight, I’d say she’s based a little bit off me and Vanessa! Vera is part Mexican like me, and she’s awkward like me, but she’s also brave enough to chase what she wants, like Vanessa. I think Vanessa and I put a lot of our personal heartbreak into Vera, too, because at the start of the novel, Vera is reeling from a bad breakup.
Since The Beautiful Game is a romance, there isn’t an outward antagonist, per say, but each of the characters have inner antagonists (or issues) that they need to overcome to find their personal happiness. I will say Vera and Joey have some exes that complicate matters, but they also cause a lot of their own problems!
Without giving away too much, I’ll say that after seeing Joe play a soccer game and deciding to make Joe her perfect rebound, Vera gets a chance to meet him after the game, and Joe winds up penning his number on her foot in permanent ink. That’s really the point of no return for Vera and the spark that starts Joe’s interest in pursuing a relationship with her.
The conflict in The Beautiful Game is two-fold. One of our comp titles is How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days because just like in that movie, our main characters are unknowingly working against each other! Vera is trying to have a rebound fling with a well-known playboy, but Joe has been told by his coach (who’s like a father to him) that if he doesn’t get his act together and have a serious relationship, he’s going to be benched for the remainder seasons of his career.
To add to that, Joe’s buddy makes an incentivizing bet with him to hold off on sleeping with Vera for at least a month with hopes it’ll naturally lengthen their relationship, which means Vera isn’t getting the care-free romp she’d signed up for and has no idea why Joe is restraining himself with her. This leads to some serious conflict as Vera does everything in her power to seduce Joe, while Joe is doing everything in his power to not be seduced while maintaining the relationship.
I am definitely a plotter. I adore beat sheets, and outlines, and well charted character arcs. With that being said, if I reach a point in the book and the characters want to shove things around a little bit, as long as I think it fits into the overall story arc, I’m open to adjusting things.
Editing this particular book was an interesting experience, because for my solo novels at Winding Road Stories, Vanessa IS my editor. But since she and I co-wrote The Beautiful Game, we had a blend of writing and editing from the start, which meant that when we completed the novel, our shared editor, Michael Dolan, had very few notes for us overall. (Keep in mind though, Vanessa and I had rewritten and overhauled this manuscript many times before it reached Michael’s desk, so don’t go thinking we’re just that good, lol.)
As a plotter, I would say familiarize yourself with story structure! Even if you turn out to be a pantser, I think knowing what works and what makes a story compelling is a great first step to getting that idea out of your brain and onto the page.
I can! I’m actually hard at work on three simultaneous projects that have nothing to do with each other but are part of my larger writing goals. I’ll give you a one-word hint for each. Project 1: Cupcakes. Project 2: Hypothetical. Project 3: Ghost. Oh, and they’re all adult contemporary romances!
Vanessa and I are immensely pleased with how The Beautiful Game turned out! Despite the years of rewriting and disappointments along the way, I can say for sure it is absolutely worth the effort. There’s nothing quite like holding your book baby for the first time and knowing that it exists because of you and a team of people that believed in your words. So keep chasing that dream, friends!
Kindle: https://amzn.to/4dBBluQ
Paperback: https://amzn.to/4dDO5RQ
Learn more about J.R. Luis on her website here: https://jlusmith88.wixsite.com/website
Find J.R. Luis’ other books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/J.R.-Luis/author/B09NP2891Y?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
Find J.R. Luis on her social media sites here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100072461585640
X (Formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/AuthorJRLuis
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_jrluis/
Substack (Who’s Got Time for Romance?): https://jrluis.substack.com/
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