Taylor Jenkins Reid answers your questions

Hey Taylor! I finished The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo before Christmas and I absolutely LOVED it! I cannot wait for Daisy Jones and the Six. What were your inspiration for both books?

Taylor Jenkins Reid Hi Savannah,

The inspiration for Evelyn Hugo came from reading Ava Gardner's biography and the inspiration for Daisy Jones came from all of the rock biopics and documentaries that I love so much. Thank you for reading!

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Hey Taylor, Which of your books are you proudest of? I have always found your books to be very fresh and unique, is there any where you were surprised you came up with the idea?

Taylor Jenkins Reid Hi Zoya,

Thank you so much. I think Daisy Jones and The Six was probably the most surprising. I had wanted to write about singers for a long time but I never really thought that I could. So I suppose I surprised myself by taking it on, rather than the idea itself surprising me. But I'm glad I did! I'm very proud of the book.

xo,
t

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I finished The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo at 2 this morning. What a stunning book. You sent me through the run of emotions and ended on the absolute perfect note. Thank you thank you for such a beautiful story. I will be reading everything you put out. When is your next book coming?

Taylor Jenkins Reid Hi Lindsay! Thank you so much! My new book, Daisy Jones and The Six, comes out March 5th.

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I am so excited to read Daisy Jones and the Six! I was wondering what your inspiration for this book was? I have heard it is very realistic and I was wondering how you researched for it?

Taylor Jenkins Reid Hi!! I watched a lot of rock documentaries and read a lot of biographies. And then I listened to a lot of 70s rock! It was on in my house on repeat for the better part of a year. Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Linda Ronstadt, Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, etc.

It was not a bad way to do research!

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Hi! Will Evidence of an Affair be published in a hard copy?

Taylor Jenkins Reid Hi! It is only an e-book. xo

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Hi Taylor, I just want to say I am a huge fan of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and I am looking forward to Daisy Jones and the Six. These seem to be almost historical fiction books. Did you have to do a lot research to create these characters? And what brought you to write these stories?

Taylor Jenkins Reid Hi Adrienne,

I spend a few months researching the areas I'm interested in before I start writing. For Evelyn, it was film and Hollywood. For Daisy Jones and the Six, it was rock n' roll in LA in the 70s. I mostly start by thinking of what sort of atmosphere I want to spend the next year of my life in and then going from there. It means that I'm always fascinated by what I'm working on and hopefully that shows on the page.

xo,
t

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Hi! I just finished "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" and, as a reader from Champaign, IL, I'm super curious to know -- why was it specifically mentioned that Harry's mother lived in Champaign?

Taylor Jenkins Reid Hi! I've gotten this question twice this week! I hadn't thought much about this in year but I'll pass along to you what I told the other person in Champaign who asked and hopefully that will shed some light for you.

I thought a lot about where Harry would be from and I wanted to show that so many of the people that make it big in Los Angeles come from other places.

Harry felt somewhat Mid-Western to me, deep inside. And Illinois felt really right. I chose Champaign because it was a big enough city to not feel rural but also small enough that he might still feel that classic feeling of wanting to go to a big city and find his own way in the world.

I have never been to Champaign -- so I did my research entirely off of a map.

I love Harry very dearly. I hope you found him interesting, too.

xo,
t

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Hi Taylor, I love your books. My favorite one so far is One True Loves. As a writer aspiring to be published someday, what was your very first published piece of work and what was that experience like? How has your publication journey changed throughout the years?

Taylor Jenkins Reid Hi Janae,

I started out writing essays about my life and posting them on writer community blogs. I have to say, if it wasn't for the encouragement of other writers, I don't know if I would have had the guts to start writing fiction. Eventually, I wrote a book, started selling personal essays to a couple of women's interest sites, and then eventually got a book deal. But it all started with sharing my work online with strangers.

Those first readers made all the difference for me.

Best of luck to you!

xo,
t

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You've quickly and easily become one of my absolute favorite authors. What other authors would you suggest for readers that enjoy your books?

Taylor Jenkins Reid Thank you so much! I highly recommend Karma Brown, Amy Reichert, Amy Hatvany, Jill Santopolo, Helen Hoang, Celeste Ng, Ann Patchett, Curtis Sittenfeld, Emily Giffin, and J Courtney Sullivan. But I could go on for days!

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I would like to know if The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo will have a Spanish edition?

Taylor Jenkins Reid Hi! We don't have a deal yet for a Spanish translation but fingers crossed! xo, t

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Hey Taylor, it still seems to amaze me how wonderful 'Maybe In Another Life' is and how fascinating the topic in discussion is. How did you come up with the idea (of the branching possibilities of the future and what it will hold)?

Taylor Jenkins Reid Hi!

Thank you so much! I have always been fascinated by the idea that things are fated to be. I'm not sure that I believe it, myself, and yet I can't completely dismiss it, either. I wanted to play with the idea that small moments in our lives can have huge consequences we never see coming. Do we get to the same place regardless of our actions? Is something guiding us? Can one small step in one direction or another change the entire course of our lives? I wanted to explore all of that in one story.

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Which book ending was the hardest to write or the one you felt most conflicted about?

Taylor Jenkins Reid Hi JJ,

You know, I'm not sure.... I find endings pretty easy. I enjoy writing the end of a book because it means I've gotten to the point in the story that I always envisioned. The middles are really tough for me. But the hardest book for me to write, including the ending, was ONE TRUE LOVES. I had an original vision for the characters that didn't work and it took me a really long time to see the book in a different way. That book still feels like one I am very close to because of how much work and heart went into it.

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When you began writing "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" did you already have an idea how Monique and Evelyn were connected or did that idea just evolve?

Taylor Jenkins Reid Hi Brandi,

Yes, I knew in advance. Evelyn Hugo was the first book that I needed to really sit down and sketch out before I started writing. I knew all of her husbands and all of her secrets before I began. It's not normally that way for me. I usually write with only a beginning and an end in mind. For this book, though, I had to prepare a lot more to make sure everything unfolded properly.

xo,
t

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This may have been asked before, but how long (on average) would you say it takes you to write your books? I'm an (aspiring) writer and I feel sometimes like I may never finish this book! Have you ever experienced that? P.S. I ask this because I have loved ALL of your books and you are one of the only people I consider an auto-buy author! I wish I was half as creative as you! :)

Taylor Jenkins Reid Hi Ashley,

I tend to work in spurts -- I write a first draft very quickly, maybe two months. I'm fortunate in that I've been able to dedicate weeks of time to my books without having to do anything else. But when I had to write on nights and weekends, it took much longer. My first book was very short and I barely got it done in under a year. (I was frantically writing at midnight on New Year's Eve 2009 to try to finish that book so I could finally say it was done.)

My advice is to create structured time so that you can look ahead and say, "In [x] many months it will be done." If you write/edit a certain number of words per week, how long until you're at your final word count? (i.e. probably somewhere between 85-95k)

That way, you get rid of that feeling that it will never be done. It can take years if that's what you need. Some great writers take over a decade.

Just don't give up if you love it!

xo,
t

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The first book I read of yours was "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" and I fell utterly in love. Since then I have devoured every single one of your books. I don't really have a question?Just an enormous thank you. Thank you for writing such beautiful, relatable, stories. I eagerly await your next book!

Taylor Jenkins Reid Hi Chelsey,

Thank you so much! I am so happy to hear you enjoyed Evelyn Hugo and then went back and read all the rest. News coming soon about new stuff!

xo,
t

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Just finished Evelyn Hugo (added a review). I know I'm late to the party (and a reluctant attendee) but I can't remember the last time I was so overwhelmed with how a story unfolds, taken by surprise (doesn't happen often), and in awe. Is it okay that I don't really have a question? ...so much as the need to say thank you for this beautiful beautiful book. It is my first TJR read...but only my first!

Taylor Jenkins Reid Hi Christine!

Thank you so much. I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed the story. It was such a pleasure to write it and I'm thrilled to hear it resonated with you.

All the best!
Taylor

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