Melissa Pimentel is the author of The One That Got Away, a modern-day retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. The following is a complete transcript of her interview with Cracking the Cover.
Why do you write?
I think I’m always in pursuit of that high that comes from going on a really good writing run. They are elusive (so, so elusive!) but when you’re in the groove, or when you figure out the solution to a plot problem, or when you think up a great bit of dialogue when in the shower or on the subway, there’s nothing like it.
Where do your ideas come from?
Some come from personal experience, others come from stories I hear from friends or read in the news, and some seem to come from thin air! Those are the most fun, I think.
The One That Got Away is a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. Are you a fan of Austen’s work? Why did you want to retell this particular story?
I’m a huge fan of Jane Austen. I’ve reread all of her books multiple times and just think she’s a genius. Persuasion has always been my favorite, but it’s often one of the more overlooked of her novels – I think it’s seen as a little quiet, and it lacks some of the punch of Emma and Pride and Prejudice. I love its gentility, though, and its portrayal of tricky family dynamics. I thought it would be fun to try to take it into the 21st Century – and it was! (It was also much, much harder than I’d anticipated!)
Your main characters are American but you take them to the north of England for most of the present action. Why?
I’m American but have lived in London for 14 years now, so I sort of straddle the Atlantic these days. My husband is from the North of England and it’s become one of my favorite places – it’s so beautiful there, and there’s so much history (and so many castles!). We were married in a castle in Northumberland (which sounds fancier than it was – seriously, there are so many castles up there, they’re basically like bingo halls) so that was definitely on my mind when writing this – though the culture clash at my wedding wasn’t quite as extreme!
You switch between first and third person to differentiate between “now” and “then.” Was this a conscious decision?
It was, and it was something I really went back and forth on. In fact, I’m pretty sure I wrote half of the “then” section in first person (from Ruby’s point of view) and then changed it all. I wanted to get a little distance between Ruby in the “now” sections and what happened between her and Ethan in the past, and I also wanted to make sure Ethan got equal billing when telling their love story.
How did Ruby’s character develop?
I wanted to write a character who had a conflicted relationship with her hometown and her family and where she came from. It’s something that I think resonates with a lot of people who move away from home – what parts of me have changed? What parts have stayed behind? That was the jumping off point and she developed from there.
While it’s not technically a young adult book, The One That Got Away is being billed as sort of a crossover/new adult book. Why do you think it would/will resonate with young adults?
I hope so! I think the theme is pretty universal – specifically, how we think our lives should and will be when we’re young and how the turn out. Plus, it’s a love story, and everyone likes a love story!
What are you working on now?
My third novel, JENNY SPARROW KNOWS THE FUTURE, has just come out in the UK. It’s about a woman who goes to Las Vegas to recover from a nasty break-up, only to get steaming drunk and marry a complete stranger!
Is there a book from your own youth that still resonates with you today?
I was a huge reader as a kid – everything from to Gone with the Wind to all of RL Stine and Christopher Pike to Jane Austen and Margaret Atwood. All of it stuck with me in its own way