Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:57
#AuthorInterview | Talking about being young and in love with debut novelist Genevieve Wheeler
Genevieve Wheeler is an American writer and communications director. You may already be familiar with her work because her bylanes have appeared in publications like Cosmopolitan Vogue, Business, Teen Vogue, Business Insider and POPSUGAR with her work and work cited in the New York Times, the BBC, World Service, Jezebel and Vox. Currently, she's in London and holds an Ma in Marketing Communications from the University of Westminster and a BS in Advertising from Boston University
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:07
Is this something that you always knew you wanted to write about? Or did it emerge naturally when the idea for this novel first sprung to life? And also, if you'd like to share a line or two or a paragraph from the book so readers have a sense of the prose, feel free to share that here as well
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:45
Or is there any advice that you've learned from experience that you would now share with any writers who are working on their first books and hoping to eventually publish them and share with the world?
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:41
One of my very favorite things to talk to everyone about, but especially writers and creatives, is failure, as it often plays a part in our journeys in really interesting, life altering ways. I'm curious if failure and rejection at all played any role in the creation of Adelaide and in the circumstances that led you to writing it in the first place or getting it out into the world and what you learned through that experience
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:58
Lastly, one of the reasons I am just so excited that this debut is out in the world is not only because it so perfectly captures really difficult and wonderful and complex emotional experience, but also it's about love. And I love reading about love even when it's hard
Genevieve Wheeler
@geewheeler · 1:26
And the novel kind of then goes back in time in the first chapter and further explores the ways that we can end up in these situations and giving so much of ourselves to a person that we end up kind of losing sight of who we are
Genevieve Wheeler
@geewheeler · 0:52
I think the biggest piece of advice that I can give to writers is to write for yourself first and everyone else second. I think it's really easy to get caught up in the idea of trying to write for the market and predict trends and write in a way that's that's going to appeal commercially. But I think that can be quite a trap and can kind of pigeonhole you and take the love out of writing
Genevieve Wheeler
@geewheeler · 1:23
Do you have any other ideas up your sleeve? And I said, Well, I had this kind of crazy year. I guess I could write about that and pull from some journal entries and falsify it and turn it into a novel, potentially. And then a week later, the world shut down. So I had all of this time to kind of pour my thoughts and feelings together and create and write Adelaide
Genevieve Wheeler
@geewheeler · 1:27
And I'm also just such an Emily Henry Stan. I think the way that she writes about love in every sense is just so warm and wonderful and injected with so much joy. So I'd recommend her novels to anyone who's in search of a good heartwarming love story as well. And then I think I'd be remiss if I didn't say that Taylor Swift is also a big one in terms of kind of connecting with love stories
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:42
So thank you so much for sharing that story. I know it's going to be really inspiring to a lot of the writers out there listening or folks who are maybe considering but not yet feeling confident enough to take the leap in starting on their own book. So thank you. I'm so looking forward to seeing where your writing takes you next. And don't be a stranger. We would love to hear more from you. Congratulations again and thank you so much for your time