Today’s Wish I’d Written is a little different. Her book isn’t out yet, but when it does, it’s going to be a good one. Please welcome Lori Goldstein!
Wish I’d Written by Lori Goldstein
My first instinct was to answer the “Wish I’d Written” question with Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park. Aside from another “Wish I’d Written” post having already claimed that for their own, I now realize that’s not a book I wish I had written. Because if I’d written it, I would have never experienced the wonder of reading it.
It’s not that I don’t enjoy reading my own work. I do. And we writers better enjoy reading our own words since we do so hundreds of times. But no matter how much I love my own book, reading words I’ve written is never the same experience as reading words someone else has spent those days, weeks, and months perfecting. And so it is from the perspective of reading as a writer that I choose the books I wish I’d written.
Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Coutts
I’ve been itching to write a book set in a confined period of time. Preferably a day. I hope to come up with the right story, and the time, to tackle this eventually. That’s initially what drew me to Tumble & Fall.
The sky is going to fall. An asteroid is set to strike the earth in just one week’s time. Talk about instant stakes. But this book is not about the action, it’s about how three teenagers react to the action that’s coming. While I love a good chase or fight scene, characters are the core of my own writing and are what I most enjoy reading about.
What would you do if you only had X days to live is a question we’ve all asked or been asked. Writing this book would make me ask them of myself in the form of my characters. Tackling the true meaning of love, family, and life in this backdrop is fascinating both from a writer and a reader’s perspective. The author smoothly intertwines the lives of the three teen narrators and writes with honesty and a bit of humor, which I more than welcome in any book.
Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis
While I have not yet finished Not a Drop to Drink, I already know this is a book I wish I’d have written. Set in a time when water, the essence of life, is scarce, the main character, Lynn, must kill to defend the pond she and her mother call their own. Killing to ensure one’s own survival is something most of us will, luckily, never have to face. Exploring the emotions involved in this and how a character would rationalize, justify, and ultimately retain her humanity in a world that threatens to strip it away would test my skill as a writer and challenge myself as a person.
While writing a book like this would take me out of my comfort zone, it’s a new place I’d have loved to let myself explore. Of course, I’d be remiss not mention that it ties into my Little House on the Prairie fascination.
The gritty realism of the world is presented in writing so lovely and well-crafted it makes me excited (and nervous) to open my own manuscript.
About The Author
As a young girl, Lori Goldstein would make a tent with her bed sheet and clasp a flashlight in one hand and a book in the other. She’d read into the wee hours, way past her bedtime. Today, she not only reads past her bedtime, she writes too. Lori’s debut, BECOMING JINN, is a Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy coming Spring 2015 from Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s, with the sequel scheduled for Spring 2016. Lori is represented by Lucy Carson of The Friedrich Agency.
With a degree in journalism from Lehigh University and more than 10 years of experience, Lori is a freelance copyeditor and manuscript consultant for all genres.
Too much of Lori’s day involves chatting books, obsessing over The Vampire Diaries, and perfecting the art of efficient writing through Twitter.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
About BECOMING JINN
Wishing doesn’t make it so, Azra does. Turning sixteen opens the door to Azra’s Jinn ancestry and her new life as a genie. But receiving her powers isn’t exactly what Azra would call a gift. Her destiny is controlled by the powerful Afrit who rule over the Jinn world, and she must keep her true identity a secret from all but her fellow Jinn.
As she forms a friendship with the human boy across the street and an attraction to the lifeguard with the underwear model exterior and sweet, shy interior, her attachment to the human world begins to strain her ties to the Jinn. With her attention divided, she skirts the rules, and her genie mistakes begin to mount, along with the consequences. As Azra uncovers the darker world of becoming Jinn, she realizes when genies and wishes are involved, there’s always a trick.
