Welcome back to another author interview! I have been working with different Jewish authors to help promote their novels that have Jewish main characters in them for almost a year now and it has been so much fun! If you are a Jewish author who has a novel coming out about Jewish main characters, please reach out to me at booksandbloomies@gmail.com
KAYLA READS AND REVIEWS: Are there any tips about writing a book you wish someone told you before you wrote I KISSED A GIRL?
JENNET ALEXANDER: This one is hard because everyone’s processes are so different. If I could go back in time, I’d sit myself down and tell myself very emphatically that adding “something cool happens here” to the outline is not helpful when you get to that chapter in your draft. Personally, it turns out that I really need to have thought through the whole thing before I start trying to turn it into prose.
The only thing that I can think of that’s really universally applicable would be to get a cheering squad together. This can be friends who like reading your writing, or a formal writing group where you exchange chapters and critiques, or even just a buddy who can text thumbs-up emojis at you when you finish a chapter. Writing is so isolating as an art form, and it can be emotionally hard to write into a void all the time. Having supportive people around you can make all the difference in your momentum and enthusiasm for the project.
KRAR: Was there anything as a Jewish person that you didn’t know about the culture/religion or relearned as an adult while doing research for your main character/novel?
JA: Not about Judaism specifically, but I did have to do some checking on regionalisms! I’m Canadian, and my characters grew up in the US. And while our cultures are very similar, there’re always going to be a few small things that change depending on local influences. I’m lucky to be part of a phenomenal writers’ group of Jewish romance authors, many of whom are American, so I had people to pester with some of my odder questions about idioms.
KRAR: Why was it important to you to have your main character be Jewish?
JA: Because there just aren’t enough of us as leads in romance. Jewish women in particular get stereotyped as nagging, shrill, and generally unloveable. I wanted to open that up and show that not only are we loveable, but we deserve uninhibited, passionate love. We need to see ourselves in heroines who are allowed to be soft and gentle, vulnerable and deserving of care and respect.
Noa and Lilah are very different people, but they’re both Jewish women in a world that constantly tries to shove them into increasingly smaller boxes - and they resist those constraints in a variety of ways. Showing that, and the range of possibilities for resistance that they choose, was really important to me. A lot of it is subtextual, but I think it will ring true for many Jewish readers.
KRAR: Has the current political climate/antisemitism made you hesitant in any way to publish novels where the main character is Jewish?
JA: I’m fuelled by caffeine and spite, so it’s made me more inclined to do so.
I like to be optimistic and imagine that the more representation we have in more forms of media, the less likely we are to be made targets of ignorant hate. In a world where I can still be asked if my parents cut my horns off at birth, there are obviously a lot of people out there who don’t see us as actual people -- maybe I can be one of the drops in the bucket that will one day overflow and drown that kind of antisemitism.
KRAR: Were there any specific instances of antisemitism that you have experienced in your life that have translated into your work?
JA: I suppose, in a minor way. I emphatically did not want this book to be about antisemitism in any way, shape or form. The issues the leads have are not because they’re Jewish; it’s simply part of who they are and one of the lenses through which they view their world.
That being said, Lilah’s irritation at the possibility of being told that she doesn’t “look Jewish” is from personal experience. I strongly resemble the Finnish side of my family rather than the Polish and Russian, which has led to a lot of commentary from new acquaintances about “but… you don’t have…[voice drops to a whisper] the nose.” What can you do at this point but eye-roll and make a joke out of it?
Both leads do have a moment of anxiety upon being identified as Jewish in a conversation -- that pause will probably be familiar to everyone, the beat of hesitation before realizing ‘oh, no, this is actually going to be okay. I’m safe.’ And Lilah’s Zadie does mention their family history of fleeing from Europe prior to the war, which is a narrative I think many North American Jews can connect to.
KRAR: Do you have a favorite thing about being Jewish?
JA: This is like asking me to pick which of my children is my favourite! I can’t do it! There are too many beautiful aspects of Jewish life and tradition to narrow it down to one.
One of the things that satisfies my soul is our commitment to questioning things. There’s no sense of ultimate authority, or blind obedience. Judaism has a tradition and a cultural mandate to question texts, and challenge the status quo, to research and debate, and it makes a priority out of tikkun olam -- the work required to make the world a better place for everyone. I love that we’re not complacent, and I love that cultural drive to debate our way into better ways of understanding the world and our places in it.
Or maybe I just like the explicit permission to argue with people and still be friends at the end.
KRAR: Do you have a favorite Jewish holiday?
JA: Shavuot. I have amazing memories of finally being old enough to accompany my mother to our shul’s all-night tikkun -- the holiday study session -- and the dairy-dessert potluck that went along with it. There’s something fantastic and so very us about a holiday dedicated to academic debate and cheesecake. It’s probably no coincidence that those are also two of my favourite things.
KRAR: Growing up, was there ever a book that made you feel “seen” for your Jewish identity?
JA: Not from the mainstream. I read a lot of British novels, many historicals (the Noel Streatfield ‘shoes’ books still remain favourites), and Jewish women don’t get a lot of rep in those. I did read a lot of Jewish folklore and humour, especially the Chelm stories, so I found some of my heritage in those. I think we need a lot more stories about all flavours of contemporary Jewry, from the non-practicing through to the Chabadniks.
As an adult I found the Young Avengers comics from Marvel, which strongly feature a queer, nerdy, anxiety-ridden Jewish superhero. I identified with Billy Kaplan (Wiccan) in a way no other character has ever really done it for me. His heritage and religion don’t play into the comics much -- and some creators seem absolutely bound and determined to erase it -- but if there was ever a character that made me feel seen, and like I could exist in a fictional universe as I am, it’d be him.
KRAR: Can you tell me a secret about I KISSED A GIRL?
JA: Sure! I’m a huge fan of horror movies, especially ghost stories, and at home we have a fairly extensive collection of classics like the Hammer Horror series, as well as a kind of sadly huge number of so-bad-they’re-good horror movies like Shakma. In the book, Noa and Lilah are working on a schlocky horror junk-fest called Scareodactyl, and I took the opportunity to sprinkle in references to other horror films. There’s a list I sent my editor with 31 of them, which I believe will be printed as a cheat-sheet in the back of the book, but there are a handful of more oblique ones that didn’t make the list. I’m wondering how many people will spot them all!
KRAR: If your characters had instagram accounts, what would they be posting? Inspirational quotes? Cute baby animal photos? Mood boards? Photos of their friends? Or something else?
JA: Lilah absolutely does, and it’s actually part of the story at one point. She posts behind-the-scenes set photos, some carefully-vetted photos of her friends, and some generic nature pictures like pretty sunsets on the beach. She and her agent went over what a professional actress’ social media should look like, and she sticks close to plan.
Noa’s would be blurry shots of friends from behind at music festivals, and she’d only keep it up for a month or two before she forgot the login and stopped bothering.
KRAR: Was there a specific type of music you listened to when writing?
JA: I’m a playlist person, and I have an I KISSED A GIRL playlist that I put on every time I worked on the book. It’s a lot of pop and rock, and each song is relevant to a mood or a character beat. Noa’s on there in the Ani diFranco, Indigo Girls and Pink. Lilah’s artists are folks like Carrie Underwood, Christain Kane and Bebe Rexha -- albums she’d put on while pre-gaming a night out.
Key songs for Lilah’s arc were Hailee Steinfeld’s “Most Girls” into Daya’s “Sit Still, Look Pretty.” Noa goes from Virginia to Vegas’s “Just Friends” to Rachel Platten’s “Stand By You,” if you want specific tracks!
KRAR: Can you please summarize either of your books using only emojis or GIFS?
JA: I’m not sure how you format these for posting, so I’ll just put them chronologically from top to bottom!
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Check out I KISSED A GIRL out now!!