📚 IN DEPTH ✏

MULTI AWARD WINNING AUTHOR OF

Coming of Age Literary Fiction,

Contemporary Women’s Fiction

and Chick Lit

💘 LISETTE BRODEY

As a romance author, I’d love to know more about your romantic comedy, Molly Hacker Is Too Picky! What was your inspiration for the character?

Thanks for asking, Tammy! I had a very strong motivation for creating Molly. I’ve known so many women who were harangued by family and friends alike because they hadn’t married. First, lots of women (men, too) want to be married but simply haven’t found the right person. Or maybe Mr. or Ms. Right didn’t return their affections. Or maybe that person just didn’t want to get married at all. Whatever—I’ve always felt a person’s marital status is not for others to judge. Over the course of years, I’ve heard stories from more women who told me they were constantly criticized for not being married. I was (and still am) appalled that any person should suggest another person settle for Mr./Ms. Wrong just to satisfy themselves or others.

Can you tell us a bit more about the plot without giving too much away?

Molly is a 32-year-old newspaper reporter in Swansea, an elegant bedroom community of New York. She’s snarky, over-analytical, compassionate, funny, and determined to make her own choices. If people want to call her picky, that’s their problem; all she wants is to find that man who is right for her.

Molly makes up her mind that she’s not going to attend another wedding until she has had one of her own. But that presents a bit of a problem because her younger sister, Hannah, is engaged to marry her long-time boyfriend in just one year. So, Molly embarks on a journey to find Mr. Right in her hometown. In no time at all, she’s got four men of interest and a meddling socialite in her business—and that’s just for starters.

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You’ve recently published a YA Paranormal trilogy, The Desert Series. Can you tell us a bit about the trilogy and what sets it apart from others?

The Desert Series is comprised of three novels: Mystical High, Desert Star, and Drawn Apart. The series is set in Southern California in a dying desert town called Mystekal. The series spans about six years. While the books are better read as a series, they do work as standalone novels as well.

What is different about this series is that it is a mixture of real-life issues touched by paranormal elements. More than anything, I’d define it as a coming-of-age series. There are no werewolves, shape shifters, or vampires. I like to think of it as “realistic paranormal,” if there is such a thing. The series deals with subjects such as: divorce, mental illness, bullying, tolerance, parental abandonment, soulmates, friendship, love, and so much more.

The books are all sold individually, but The Desert Series is also available on Kindle as a boxed set.

Are the characters you write based on people you know?

I’ve been asked this question many times over the years. One person who knew me, after she had read Molly, decided that she knew the real identify of several of the main characters. It was pretty hilarious to hear her guesses because the characters were so far removed from the real-life people she thought they might be. The truth is that none of my characters are ever solely based on one person.

My characters are always hybrids of people I know, people I see, people I imagine, and so much more. I write very character-driven novels, so personalities are very important to me. If I were to begin writing a character based on a real-life person, as the character evolved, he/she would become a unique individual.

Do you know the endings of your books when you start writing them?

For the most part, yes. Because all of my novels have multiple story arcs that tie together, explosive secrets, and little things like that J, there’s no way I could write a novel having no idea where it was going. That said, every time I write, my basic outline for a book always becomes more detailed as I go along. I don’t necessarily know precisely how the book will end, but I have a pretty good idea. 

What else have you written?

My novel Squalor, New Mexico, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the state of New Mexico, is a 1970s coming-of-age story shrouded in family mystery and secrets. Yes, it’s an odd title, but it’s explained on the first page of the book.

Crooked Moon is the story of two women, Frankie and Callie, who grew up on together on opposite walls of a row home in a blue-collar suburb of Philadelphia. They thought they’d always be friends, but circumstances separated them after high school. Twenty-three years later, they are reunited, and their lives crash back together. I won’t say too much, but it’s a story of friendship, of love, of lust, of betrayal and forgiveness.

What are you working on now?

I’m writing a novel (my 7th) that began as an unfinished short story when I was only seventeen. It then evolved into a one-act play and then a two-act play. But it really needed to be a novel, so I’m making that happen now. What makes this book interesting for me is that I’ve known these characters for a lifetime.

I’m also working on a short story collection that one might call Dystopian Literary Fiction. I expect to publish the novel first, but life takes twists and turns. Who knows?

Do you plan your novels far in advance? Do you know what you’ll write after #7?

I have a good idea. In fact, I even have a title. That said, I don’t like to think too much about my eighth novel because I don’t want to get wrapped up in it and lose focus on what I’m writing now. Also, I never want my creativity for one book to peak when I’m working on another.

Any parting words?

Just a great big thank you for having me on your blog, Tammy. It’s been great! I really appreciate all that you do for your fellow authors.

About Lisette:

Lisette was born and raised in Pennsylvania. After high school, she moved to New York City where she attended Pace University and studied drama. After ten years in New York, several of them working in the radio industry, she moved to Los Angeles where she held various positions at Paramount Studios in Hollywood and CBS Studio Center in Studio City, CA. Back on the East Coast, she worked for many years as a freelance writer, specializing in PR and the entertainment industry. In 2010, she returned permanently to the Los Angeles area.

She’s the author of six novels: Crooked Moon (General/Literary Fiction); Squalor, New Mexico (Coming-of-Age/Literary Fiction); Molly Hacker Is Too Picky! (Women’s Fiction/Chick-lit), and The Desert Series, a Coming-of-age/Paranormal trilogy (Mystical High; Desert Star; and Drawn Apart).

In addition to her six novels, two of Lisette’s short stories are published in an anthology: Triptychs (Book 3, The Mind’s Eye Series.)

In January 2013, Lisette edited and published a book of her mother’s poetry (written 50 years earlier): My Way To Anywhere by Jean Lisette Brodey.

Lisette blogs, hosts guest bloggers, and interviews fellow authors on a regular basis at her Writer’s Chateau.

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You’re welcome Lisette! And I wish for all the success in the world for you, my friend, with your writing! Thank you so much for visiting.tf