Thanks to best-selling novels including Me Before Youand The Girl You Left Behind, British journalist Pauline Sara Jo Moyesis a bona fide literarycelebrity. Better known by her pen name Jojo Moyes, the 50-year-old author isone of very few authors to win the Romantic Novel of the Year Award twice.
And there’sfurther proof of Moyes’ success. Her best-selling book Me Before Youwas turned into a major motion picture starringEmilia Clarke as Louisa. The 2016 film had mostly favorable reviews, thoughalmost everyone agreed on one universal truth: the book was better.
Now Moyes is back with a brand new book, The Giver of Stars, and fans are so thrilled about it. But the one thing they want to know is where she gets so many great ideas.
Reese Witherspoon fell in love with ‘The Giver of Stars’
The Giver of Stars is getting allkinds of attention after being selected as one of Reese Witherspoon’s HelloSunshine book club picks. This prestigious honor is enough to spur lesser-knownauthors into notoriety. But for Moyes, who already has a huge following,getting Witherspoon’s attention is just icing on the cake.
In an interview for the website, Moyes admits that the most frequently asked question she gets is people wondering how she gets ideas for her books. Her answer to them was a little surprising.
She finds inspiration everywhere
Jojo Moyes started off by joking that she gets ideas from “theideas store, like all the other writers” before revealing the real source ofher inspiration. According to Moyes, she doesn’t limit her creativity to onespecific source. Instead, she seeks creative sparks all around her.
“Most of the plots of my books have come from snippets I’ve heard on the news or in magazines,” Moyes revealed to Hello Sunshine. “Sometimes a piece of music will spark an idea, or a painting, or a face I see on the Underground.”
But the source of herlatest book was a magazine article.
Moyes said she had a ‘physical reaction’ to this story ofwomen
The author explained that she saw an article in The Smithsonian Magazine about the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky who were employed as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration. Moyes said she instantly connected with the tenacity and passion of the women in the photo that accompanied the article.
“Sometimes you want towrite something so badly that you have an actual physical response,” Moyes explained.“I looked at these pictures and I had to do it. I had long wanted to write abook about female solidarity and friendship.”
And that’s exactly what TheGiver of the Stars really is.
She fell in love with Kentucky
While doing research for thebook, Moyes traveled to rural Kentucky several times and says she “fell in love”while there.
“The thing about writingbooks is that often they change you, and in ways you hadn’t expected. I grew upin Central London, but I fell in love with a tiny corner of east Kentucky,”Moyes said.
While there, Moyes becameimmersed in the cultures and storytelling, which she says enhanced her storytellingand made the story that much more special.
The Giver ofthe Stars is available now and isalready getting rave reviews.
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