Heather’s Bookshelf: Author Interview with Julie Rogers
Book Title: Falling Stars
Released: 04/30/23
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Interview by Heather L. Barksdale
What inspired you to write “Falling Stars”?
Rogers: When I was ten, I had a friend, a boy in my third-grade class, who was an avid fan of the TV cult classic Dark Shadows. He hurried home every day after school to watch it. This was in the daytime soap’s heyday after Canadian actor Jonathan Frid joined the show and its ratings went through the roof.
This little boy, my classmate, could pass for a vampire himself—the complete package with the dark hair and eyes, the long cuspids—and his ability to act the part. He had a flashy cape too, not just any old cheap one, with which he regularly entertained our classroom performing Barnabas Collins impersonations. I was curious about Dark Shadows, but my parents censored that one for me at the time because they thought the show would frighten me. And they were probably right.
Years later I revisited the memory, this little boy’s whole live action role-playing, really before LARPing was a thing. He did it because he loved the TV show, and his theatrics were fun-and-games when school got boring. But it posed a question to me: what if a young boy roleplayed a vampire for a much more serious reason, and where would that take him?
How did you come up with the names of your main characters?
Rogers: Tommy Lucas is an anagram of my third-grade classmate’s name. Thomas means “twin” and Lucas, “the shining one.” His mother, June, is named for my longtime editor and friend, June Ford. This name fell in line for June’s dad’s pet name for her: June bug. My own dad used to call me Julie bug. I think Fallon might’ve marinated from watching Jimmy Fallon’s rise to fame on Saturday Night Live, but who knows, right? Claudius means “crippled,” and Fallon is an Irish surname, “descended from a ruler.” Some historians maintain that “Fallon” was once pronounced “Fallen” too.
Is there anything that you want readers to know about you, your writing process or your book?
Rogers: I don’t consider myself a fast-track writer. Never have been! There’s too much to learn along the way.
If "Falling Stars" was adapted into a movie, who would you like to see cast to play your lead characters?
Rogers: Ah . . . you’re asking the girl who really knows how to appreciate that! I’ve written and ghostwritten a number of screenplays that didn’t get optioned; it takes connections, and the planets do have to line up in a neat little row. While still under management of the late Jeff Ross, I wrote Falling Stars as a screenplay and pitched it at Maui Writers’ Conference to Alison Rosenzweig, one of the producers of Windtalkers. She didn’t go for it, and I put the story away with all the other pitches that weren’t greenlighted at the time.
So, dreaming about adaptation—fair enough. I could see Timothée Chalamet as Fallon, Zoey Deutch as June, and probably an undiscovered child actor with Maxwell Jenkins’s vibes starring as Tommy.
When you encounter writer’s block, what do you do to break yourself out of it?
Rogers: I work out—the treadmill, the weight stack, the swimming pool—or I walk the dogs.
Are there any tips that you would like to share with other aspiring authors?
Rogers: My opinion—but having ghostwritten on many projects, seven books of my own—and nowadays more than ever, I’d say read and write what fills up your soul, what challenges you, what makes you think. Don’t waste your time on endeavors that don’t do that.
What is your favorite genre, book, and/or author?
Rogers: Really a difficult question for me, especially with all the emerging talent, indie and traditional—including clients I work with—out there.
I’ll reach back and say one of my all-time favorites is Annie Dillard’s The Living.
What are you working on next?
Rogers: Several of my betas have asked about Falling Stars II. I may collaborate with another writer adapting his memoir to screen, not sure yet. There’s also a story I started about a woman who gets trapped in her dreams. Though not necessarily a new idea, I do have a twist on that.
Learn More About the Author and Falling Stars:
Website: https://julierogersbooks.com/
Facebook: Julie Rogers Books
Twitter: @booksrogers
Instagram: @julierogersbooks
Interested in checking out the book for yourself?
Find it for purchase here or Kindle Unlimited
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