Interview With Author Jayme Severance
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My name is Jayme Severance, and I am a debut author.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The title of my latest book is The Hayden Diary: Chasing The Prom From A Hospital Bed. It’s a YA memoir about the length of time immediately following a terrible car accident.
The subtitle of the book is Stranger Than Fiction—It’s Non-Fiction.
Amazon and Goodreads got the bright idea that the title and subtitle belonged on the same line. Resulting, you just see a super-long title, which is:
The Hayden Diary: Chasing The Prom From A Hospital Bed: Stranger Than Fiction—It’s Non-Fiction.
That’s totally not the title, but I would need a new ISBN to change it. As those are $125 a pop at Bowker, I’m not touching it with a ten-foot pole. Once was enough.
But anyway, my latest book is The Hayden Diary, and I was inspired by the camaraderie and dedication of the nursing staff of the rehabilitation hospital in the book.
Another reason I wrote it is because there is a whole romantic subplot in the book. See, I had just turned 17 at the time of the accident in October 2006.
And because I was an inpatient at the hospital due to the extent of my injuries, I was in a race with time to heal well enough to attend the prom with my then-girlfriend by my side.
This was a time in my life that where I lived through a lot of trauma. I mean that literally, I had sustained what’s called a traumatic brain injury.
But I also lived through emotional trauma. Suddenly being ripped away from your family, friends, and school as you rehabilitate alone, uncertain if you’ll ever make it back, is very jarring psychologically.
And so, I also wrote the book as a way to process what happened to me—to make a coherent narrative from the experience. After all, writing is a common way to process trauma.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
None to speak of. I do have to isolate myself to get anything done, much like Thoreau did when he wrote Walden.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Before James Frey’s memoir, A Million Little Pieces, was discredited, I had read it and observed the techniques he used to tell his story. That had a big influence in how I told the story of The Hayden Diary.
Another book that influenced mine was a book set in the extended universe of Aliens vs. Predator. In particular, I’m talking about Aliens vs. Predator: Prey, by S. D. Perry and Steve Perry.
The way they weaved a character’s thoughts into the story influenced how I wrote The Hayden Diary in a substantial way.
What are you working on now?
Because I wrote the book when I was 18— started it when I was 17—I had a lot of free time that I don’t have as much of anymore. Because of that, when you reconcile it with the lifelong effects of my brain damage, it’s all I can do to hold down a job—never mind additional writing projects.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I plan to make a big product announcement on LinkedIn on October 29th, 2023. That’s the day of my accident.
But yes, it’s being made on LinkedIn because I want to collaborate with organizations to use my book to advance their goals. I’m not using TikTok or Instagram, even though many young adults frequent these platforms.
I want my book to actually mean something, as opposed to being a commodity sold for money. While the narrative is largely written to entertain, I’m trying to demonstrate the reality of living with brain damage and the adverse effects they cause in young people.
This is an interesting angle for a memoir about traumatic brain injury, because memoirs are usually written later in life, not when you’re 18.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
There’s no shame in self-publishing. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer. In fact, due to the growing popularity of self-published titles, self-publishing is a legitimate way to attract an agent’s attention.
But to be noticed from agents and literary agencies, your self-published book does need to demonstrate that it can sell. I’m talking about thousands of copies and/or downloads.
These are numbers you can use to demonstrate proof of your book’s viability on the market in the query letters you send.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I can’t tell you the single best piece of advice I ever got without referring you to the entire book, because it’s jam-packed with actionable tips.
The book I’m talking about is The AdWeek Copywriting Handbook, by the legendary mail-order copywriter, Joseph Sugarman.
If I absolutely had to pick one lesson from the book, it would be the concept of the slippery slide—to make your content so compelling, readers can’t stop reading.
There are techniques and examples of how to use the concept of the slippery slide in the book.
What are you reading now?
Since the injury, I no longer desire to read for fun. This means a lot of the fiction out there doesn’t appeal to me.
I do like to read about things I can use in real-life, which means I value non-fiction books that teach me skills.
What’s next for you as a writer?
The Hayden Diary was something I wanted to publish shortly after writing it.
Now that it will be published on October 29, 2023, my hope is to use my book to generate as much attention as I can about traumatic brain injuries.
Whatever the next step looks for me as a writer depends on how much attention my announcement on LinkedIn can generate. I don’t anticipate writing any more books for the foreseeable future.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Who has time to read if you’re stranded? Regardless, if I were stranded on a desert island with the chances of rescue imminent, I would bring:
* Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O’Dell;
* Shoeless Joe, by W. P. Kinsella, and;
* Tuck Everlasting, by Natlie Babbitt.
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