We are huge fans of Tammara and are so honored to have had the opportunity to interview Tammara about Breakable, Lucas and her inspirations in creating the characters we love! Read about what Tammara loves about writing, what she dislikes about writing, her thoughts on the YA and NA genre, and Lucas, Lucas, Lucas. ;)
Breakable by Tammara Webber is heartbreaking, emotional & enlightening and a true companion novel. However, you should read Easy first because Breakable is not a retelling of Jacqueline & Lucas's story but Lucas's story in its entirety. He is quiet and heartbroken. He has to learn to deal with his past and move forward with his future. We got the chance to learn more about Lucas and we are so happy Tammara wrote such an amazing character. We loved every minute of Lucas's story and HIGHLY RECOMMEND you ONE-CLICK this ASAP!
Interview with Tammara Webber
Learn what she loves about writing & what is next for Tammara and much more.
TRSoR's questions are Red & Tammara's answers are white.
Thanks so much for having me!
Were you always a writer, what prompted you to write your first book?
I was 19 the first time I attempted to write a novel. It was a historical romance – my leisure-reading material of choice. The first thing I figured out was I had lots of research to do, but I worked full-time on a university campus and had library access. (Let’s just say I know more about Vikings than I do about any other historical subject!) Then I got to the point where most writers read over what they’ve written and think, “This is utter crap.” At the time, I didn’t know that belief was merely a stage of the writing process, so I sent the manuscript through the shredder. I’m 99.9% certain that doing this was no loss to the romance world, but that early self-doubt meant I didn’t attempt to write another novel for ten years.
What is it about writing that you love?
I love telling stories – especially love stories. They’re like puzzles, and when my characters and I embark on them, I have only vague ideas of what’s going to happen. I love the discovery – when I wake up with a new scene in my head, or some previously unclear detail or connection pops into focus in the middle of folding laundry or showering and everything goes CLICK.
What is it about writing that you dislike?
Sometimes writing is just hard – the plot becomes blurry or the characters refuse to move forward. My husband likens it to software development – sometimes you know something isn’t right – there’s a bug somewhere, but you can’t figure out what/where it is. All experienced writers have their own tricks for dealing with this – whether we label it writer’s block or something else. Deadlines can make it worse – like trying to defuse a bomb with a ticking timeclock. You have to find some way to ignore that tick-tick-tick or you’re in big trouble.
You have now written in both the Young Adult and New Adult genres?
Which genre is your favorite?
I believe NA designates the age/stage of life of the protagonists, not how sexually explicit the novel is, so everything I’ve written could be termed New Adult. I labeled the first four books I published (which includes Easy) “Mature YA” because the characters were older (17+) and there was no such thing as NA when I wrote and published them. (No one would have had a clue what I meant if I’d labeled a book “New Adult” in 2011 – and there was no official NA BISAC category until a few months ago.)
For me, the “voice” of YA (mature YA, that is – like Katie McGarry’s stories) and NA aren’t very different, if at all. As legal adults, however, NA characters are (generally) dealing with actual independence issues, rather than the move away and eventual break from dependence – which is (again, generally) the focus of YA characters. This is a very fine line – one most people step back and forth over many times before they’re firmly on the adult side.
How do you chose what genre a book should be written in?
I didn’t. I just wrote the stories. What I didn’t realize when I began writing Between the Lines (in 2009): having a 20-year-old hero (Graham) would keep the book from being perceived as YA by publishers, no matter what I did. I was straddling a publishing chasm that became NA a few months ago. I couldn’t get an agent, let alone a publisher – not until Easy (featuring MCs 19 and 21) hit the NYT bestseller list in June 2012.
We are huge fans of the Between the Lines Series and it is our go to recommendation for a YA series. Do you feel that the series would be different if it was written in the New Adult genre? How do you think the series would change?
Thank you! J Currently, I have these books categorized under both YA and NA. (It began as YA and that’s how the ISBN codes were filed.) I might have made minor tweaks if it was completely NA, but the storylines wouldn’t change. The five MCs begin the series at 17-20 and end it 19-22. The language is consistently realistic, but the sexuality shown advances from makeout-level in the first book to Easy-level in the fourth. That’s the natural result of the increasing ages of the characters and how their individual relationships evolve.
The Between the Lines Series is unique in its storylines and we adore all the characters and feel an emotional connection to each one of them.
What were your inspirations when creating the characters?
My son was a junior at NYU Tisch when the Twilight series was going nuts in theaters (New Moon had just released). I was shocked at how involved some fans got regarding the actors’ real-life relationships (or lack thereof) merely because they played romantically involved characters in a film. I wondered how my aspiring-actor son would deal with strangers taking ownership of his personal relationships like that. (“Not well” was my conclusion!) I imagined two costars who were required to pretend real-life romantic entanglement (under studio suggestion/edict) just as the heroine began to fall for someone on set who wasn’t as “desirable” to her fans. I pictured a young cast, filming in a location where they’d be somewhat sequestered from their homes/families, but frequently in sight of the public. The story altered on its own once I began writing it, mostly because of Reid, who refused to do as he was told by the author.
One of our panel readers, Heather, is obsessed with Reid and Dori’s story she has read Good For You and Here Without You numerous times. They are her go to books to knock her out of a book funk. When you are reading, how do you get out of a “book funk?”
(I squeed for a minute before answering this one! Thank you, Heather!) This doesn’t happen as often for me anymore, as my writing career now comes with an insane amount of time-consuming promotional activities, social media and email interactions. I can’t give books as much of a chance as I used to. L If it doesn’t get me involved during the sample (I’m a HUGE fan of digital samples), I don’t buy it. If I can’t find anything new that catches my interest, I do the same thing Heather does – I reread something I love. I enjoy picking up on small details I missed the first time through.
Final question regarding the BTL series, do you plan on continuing this series and will Heather get more Dori & Reid?
I don’t have any plans to continue the series – but I think of those couples often. They’re real to me. I can imagine BTL as a television series – Gossip Girl meets Entourage.
Easy… Oh how we love Easy. Lucas and Jacqueline’s relationship is the kind of love story that stays with you long after reading it. This is one of our “go to” re-reads. Why do you feel this story resonates with so many of your readers? What inspired you to write this story?
I’ve not made a secret of the fact that I’m a rape survivor, though I try not to focus on it. My story was not at all Jacqueline’s – her story came from my imagination – but my rapist was a friend/classmate, and I told no one (in my case, for several years). There was a lot of self-blame and shame involved in that silence. Finally saying the words aloud (to my best friend) helped me realize it wasn’t my fault. That was the beginning of healing for me. Jacqueline didn’t begin to tell me her story until I was wrapping up Good For You. Once I began to focus on her story, she wouldn’t be silent – and once I started writing Easy, there was no stopping it.
Jacqueline’s encounters on campus are not unique; violence against women often takes place on college campuses. Do you feel that this story gives readers in similar situations the strength to come forward? Has Jacqueline’s story brought more awareness to this subject?
I don’t know if this book brought more awareness – but I’ve had tons of email and messages over the past two years from readers, many of whom told me they’d felt their rape/sexual assault was their fault until reading Easy. I’m so glad to have given them that, but the fact that they had to get that knowledge from a novel is a society FAIL. Over the past year or so, many brave, real-life girls and women have challenged their attackers and the whole corrupt system of sweeping college sexual assaults under the rug to keep institutions from facing parental, community and/or alumni outrage. It’s about damned time this subject came to light. That’s what I most felt, reading the news reports: It’s about damned time.
Was writing about this “taboo” subject difficult?
Incredibly hard. Writing the first scene (of Easy) made me nauseous. I rewrote and rewrote it, stripping possible gratuitousness. I didn’t want to linger on any part of it. I wanted the reader to be dragged through the scene and begin the second chapter at Jacqueline’s starting point. Her boyfriend of three years had abandoned her. She’d nearly been raped by a guy she knew. She was failing a class for the first time. It was a perfect storm – time for her to either give up or pull herself up and deal. She chose to deal with it, though she didn’t always make the best choices. But do any of us? I didn’t write her to be a role model. I wrote her to be a real girl, dealing with issues she’d never anticipated.
Next, we would like to thank you for giving us Lucas//Landon’s point of view in Breakable. Landon’s story broke our heart over and over again. Why did you feel that it was important for Lucas’s point of view to be told?
I considered writing Easy as I had the BTL series, with alternating POVs, but Lucas didn’t really talk to me while I was writing it. I knew, early on, that the story I was telling was Jacqueline’s, so I saw Lucas primarily through her eyes. I didn’t plan to tell his story – because he hadn’t told all of it to me. About a year after I published Easy, he began talking to me. Once I began to hear Landon – I had to let him tell his story.
Lucas’s personality is so much different than Jacqueline’s, did you find it difficult to write from his perspective?
No. Neither of them are “me” – they’re both characters I created. If I can get a character to talk to me, I can write from his or her perspective. In addition to my undergrad advising job, where I interacted daily with all sorts of students, I have a daughter and two very different sons – each of whom tell me everything. (I’ve made liberal use of my poker face as a parent.)
Lucas’s tattoos have meaning. Each design is unique, some of them conceal things he doesn’t want others to know, and others symbolize his strength and loss. What inspired these designs?
I put a lot of thought into those, to the point of sketching a couple of them out when I was writing Easy. I knew Lucas’s starting point – the life he came from and the boy he might have been. I knew he would try to retain some of that through any means he could. I realized that the first tattoos were the ones that concealed the trauma he’d gone through, but he would see that others could represent who he’d become, and who he wanted to be.
Both Easy and Breakable have a complete story and can be read as standalones. Did you intend to have the readers read them as such or did you write it as a true companion novel?
I believe it’s a companion novel, though I did try to write it as its own stand-alone story. I think Breakable is better read after Easy, by those who want to know more about Lucas.
After reading Breakable, I am satisfied that I have received the entire story, however, I don’t think I am alone when I say, we can ALWAYS use more of Jacqueline and Lucas’s story. Can we expect their story to continue?
I always said I wrote Easy as a stand-alone story, meaning I won’t introduce new conflict for the sake of a sequel. Lucas and Jacqueline have been through enough. That said… see the next question. ;)
In Breakable, we see much more of the secondary characters. Is there a possibility that we may see some of these characters in other stories? i.e. Carlie & Caleb?
Short answer: yes – I have stories in mind for characters from Breakable and Easy. I haven’t decided which will or won’t be written yet, but I’m brainstorming one of them now and will begin writing it as soon as the characters take over. What that means for Lucas and Jacqueline is that readers may see (happy) glimpses of them within future stories.
If Easy & Breakable were made into a movie, who would be your first choice to play Jacqueline & Lucas?
My characters are so completely formed in my head that I have a difficult time seeing them in the form of actors. I can see them in certain photos – but actors change. I chose photos of Emilia Clarke for my visual of Jacqueline when I as writing Easy over two years ago. Love her. Lucas was harder to peg. (My son suggested an actor named Chris Galya after meeting him a few months ago. He actually texted me and said “MOM. MOM MOM MOM – I just met Lucas at a bar.”) Of course, Chris and Emilia are both 26 now, and I have no movie deal in hand. On the other hand, Theo James is 29 and Four was 17, and I don’t hear anyone complaining about him in Divergent. ;)
Finally, what should we be looking forward to from the fabulous Tammara Webber?
Another romance. Always another romance.
Thank you again for taking the time to answer our questions and for sharing your talent and characters with us. It is a true honor.
You guys are just wonderful. Thank you for your amazing support. You’re so incredibly appreciated!
Book Summary & Purchase Link
Contours of the Heart
And the future seemed more fragile than ever.
As a child, Landon Lucas Maxfield believed his life was perfect and looked forward to a future filled with promise -- until tragedy tore his family apart and made him doubt everything he ever believed.
All he wanted was to leave the past behind. When he met Jacqueline Wallace, his desire to be everything she needed came so easy...
As easy as it could be for a man who learned that the soul is breakable and that everything you hoped for could be ripped away in a heartbeat.
Book Summary & Purchase Link
Contours of the Heart (Bk 1)
Haunted by a secret
Sometimes, love isn't easy...
He watched her, but never knew her. Until thanks to a chance encounter, he became her savior...
The attraction between them was undeniable. Yet the past he'd worked so hard to overcome, and the future she'd put so much faith in, threatened to tear them apart.
Only together could they fight the pain and guilt, face the truth - and find the unexpected power of love.
A groundbreaking novel in the New Adult genre, Easy faces one girl's struggle to regain the trust she's lost, find the inner strength to fight back against an attacker, and accept the peace she finds in the arms of a secretive boy.
Breakable Teasers
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Originally posted on Tammara's Facebook page.
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