Book: Perfect
Author: Nancy E. Wood
Genre: Contemporary YA Fiction
Release Date: September 1, 2020
Synopsis: Isn’t that something everyone wants to be?
Gina has done everything she could to please her parents, gain her friends’ approval, and get that one guy’s attention, but it never seems to be enough. There’s no pleasing everybody.
She’s struggling just to get through the year when a mysterious guy abruptly decides to become part of her life and disrupts everything she’s ever believed in.
Could he actually be right? Is perfection really unattainable? Or by listening to him will everything she’s worked for fall apart?
Author Interview with Nancy E. Wood
Hello Nancy, Thank you for stopping by today and letting me and my reader get to know you better!
How do you pick your characters personalities, or looks?
I don’t have to think about it. The main characters show up in my imagination as real people whom I have to get to know. I normally have an idea of their basic features and then google images until I find a picture of what I think my character looks like.
Once an idea takes root, how long does it take you to write it down?
It depends. Some ideas I’ve carried around in my head for years. Others I jot down right away so I don’t forget them. But the powerful ideas that will eventually end up published stay with me, and I’ll think about them often. I think that’s a sign of a good story when the idea sticks with you and you have to meditate on it.
Do you have a genre that you would never write? (In the Christian genre sphere i.e. speculative, historical, contemporary, etc.)
I’d never want to write historical fiction. Firstly, I find that most Christian books are historical fiction, and I’ve always been drawn to contemporary stories. Secondly, I don’t like researching, and I’m deathly afraid of misrepresenting facts and events in my writing. So having to write historical fiction would drive me crazy.
What is one thing in your life that you would say has had the greatest impact on your writing? Or in your life in general?
That’s a hard question. My siblings and I grew up devouring books, and one thing I noticed was that there wasn’t much Christian YA out there. Seeing the YA books in the world, I didn’t want my little sisters to be filling their minds with those topics unbelievers enjoyed. That motivated me to use my gift of words to write books that were not only entertaining and contemporary but also had Christian themes. All of my books lead to God and a relationship with him.
Lastly, what was your favorite book growing up?
This is the hardest question of all! I had so many favorite books, but the first one that popped into my head when I read this question was The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. I read and listened to the audio drama so many times, I could quote pretty much the whole book.
Thanks so much for stopping by Nancy! We enjoyed getting to know you a little better.
Sincerely,
The Travelers Wife
Nancy E Wood was born into a missionary family and lived in Hungary until she turned twenty. Her whole childhood, she loved reading and stories, writing some of her own, but never believing she actually had the talent to be an author. Speaking multiple languages, she never thought she would be good enough in any to become a wordsmith.
Her senior year of high school, she was encouraged to write short stories, one of which turned into Perfect, a novel that couldn’t stay short. After sharing it with a few people, she decided to get it published a couple years later. She went to college in Florida, where she studied English and Music. After graduating, she married and moved to California. She published her second standalone book, I’ll Take the Lie, in the summer of 2019 and is currently working on a sequel to Perfect. She also runs a blog for young women, where she writes relatable and motivational posts that point to God. She has also done some speaking in different Christian schools and youth groups, encouraging teens to pursue Christ through some of the most difficult years of their lives.
Visit Nancy on her blog: https://www.nancyewood.com/
