Author A.R. TAYLOR interviews her main character, JENNA MCCANN from her new novel, JENNA TAKES THE FALL.
Perfect for fans of Followers by Megan Angelo and If You’re Happy and You Know It by Laura Hankin, JENNA TAKES THE FALL by A. R. Taylor (September 1, She Writes Press) is a darkly humorous, at times absurd, coming-of-age novel that examines the life of a young woman who becomes infamous before she becomes anybody at all. At just twenty-four, Jenna McCann has moved to Manhattan from Ohio, landing a job as assistant to prominent New Yorker Vincent Macklin Hull of Hull Industries and their somewhat tacky magazine NewsLink.
We quickly learn from the outset that Jenna has been called by Hull’s publicist to stage herself underneath his lifeless, half-nude body before calling 911. How would this particular image play if it were made public? But presumably, only the authorities would see it, thank god.
Taylor gives a sharp look at viral internet notoriety in this wry and immensely entertaining page-turner about a desperate ingenue who finds herself caught in the middle of New York’s biggest scandal.
We asked Taylor if she would be willing to interview her character Jenna for us, and to our delight, she said yes!
Author A.R. TAYLOR interviews her main character, JENNA MCCANN from her new novel, JENNA TAKES THE FALL.
Jenna: How did you find me?
A.R.: I came looking for an art restorer in France, and here you are.
Jenna: Are you a collector?
A.R.: Of sorts. I like portraits, very accurate portraits.
Jenna: And who is the painter of these portraits?
A.R.: I am. Myself.
Jenna: You want me to fix something you’ve already painted? A real artist would never do that.
A.R.: Listen, I’m from Ohio, and I know you are too. We Ohioans are very trustworthy.
Jenna: You don’t really want a picture restored, do you? What are you doing here and why me?
A.R.: I know something about your story, and I just wanted to learn a bit more.
Jenna: I’m not supposed to talk to anyone about my history, but It’s so good to speak English again, and you look like someone who might understand.
A.R.: You became infamous in New York City, and you did it in a unique way. Want to tell me about it?
Jenna: Wait, how do you know that?
A.R.: Writers know everything. But don’t worry, I write fiction, so I make things up.
Jenna: Oh no!
A.R.: Even if you did tell me something important, I know how to keep a secret.
Jenna: You have to. They’ll come after me if you don’t. The thing I didn’t understand at the time, I really loved him, at least I think I did.
A.R.: So, what’s it like having all that money? They must have paid you off big time.
Jenna: I live in a fancy old chateau, I can buy anything, but I need to have a real life. That’s why I’m studying with an art restorer, or well, okay he owns a curio shop, but he restores on the side. He’s good, at least I think so.
A.R.: A young journalist seems to have been tracking you.
Jenna: How do you know that?
A.R.: I know things.
Jenna: He’s just a friend, and I need a friend. You have no idea how horrible it is to see your own face plastered all over the tabloids portraying you as a slut and a money grubber, maybe even a murderer.
A.R.: But surely someone will find out who you are and that you live here?
Jenna: I’d have to move somewhere else. It’s like being in the Witness Protection Program.
A.R.: Where would you go?
Jenna: I’ve always wanted to live in Italy.
A.R.: Sadly, most people think their life story is so fascinating that the whole world wants to know about it. Usually, that’s not the case.
Jenna: Here’s the truth about it. I was asked to substitute myself under the body of a very rich, very fascinating, very dead man.
A.R.: For money, right, a lot of money? Just guessing.
Jenna: They made me sign papers. It’s all supposed to be a dark secret. I’ve changed my hair color, my name, my country, my life really. It’s comforting to talk to someone about it. I’ll tell you everything, but you have to promise to keep it all secret.
A.R.: I’ll try.
—
A.R. Taylor is an award-winning playwright, essayist, and fiction writer. Her debut novel, Sex, Rain, and Cold Fusion, won a Gold Medal for Best Regional Fiction at the Independent Publisher Book Awards 2015, was a USA Best Book Awards Finalist, and was named one of the 12 Most Cinematic Indie Books of 2014 by Kirkus Reviews. She’s been published in the Los Angeles Times, the Southwest Review, Pedantic Monthly, The Cynic online magazine, the Berkeley Insider, So It Goes—the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library Magazine on Humor, Red Rock Review, and Rosebud.
In her past life, Taylor was head writer on two Emmy-winning series for public television. She has performed at the Gotham Comedy Club in New York, Tongue & Groove in Hollywood, and Lit Crawl L.A. You can find her video blog, Trailing Edge: Ideas Whose Time Has Come and Gone at her website www.lonecamel.com.
Follow her on Twitter @lonecamel
JENNA TAKES THE FALL
Twenty-four years old and newly employed in Manhattan, Jenna McCann agrees to place herself under the dead body of a wealthy, prominent New Yorker―her boss―to hide the identity of his real lover. But why?
Because she is half in love with him herself; because her only friend at Hull Industries asked her to; because she feared everyone around her; because she had no idea how this would spin out into her own, undeveloped life; because she had nothing and no one?
Or just because?
Deftly told and sharply observed, Jenna Takes the Fall is the story of someone who became infamous . . . before she became anybody at all.
Category: Interviews, On Writing
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