An Interview with J.L. Calder

I’m a Los Angeles native, born and raised, and a graduate of the UCLA English Department (many, many years ago). I wound up with a concentration in military and espionage fiction because, given a choice, I always picked the electives that let me read authors like Tim O’Brien or Ian Fleming. Of course, I lived in Hollywood at the time, so right out of school, I got into the WGA and went to work screenwriting but found that I hated writing for sponsors and markets instead of telling the great (messy, raw, ugly) story, so I went to the technical side and have worked in film production technology ever since!

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What inspired you to start writing this book?

I’ve been writing since I could hold a pen and sketched the first draft of this novel thirty years ago in a notebook, scribbling between classes and on weekends to keep my introverted little soul happy and entertained. But the true spark was watching the Soviet Union fall in 1991. A news magazine ran a feature on an orphanage being shut down. They told this twelve-year-old she needed to leave and shut the door behind her, and I remember thinking, ‘That girl is the same age as me. How can we be growing up in such wildly different ways at the same time on Earth?’ and that was it. Dual POV characters – one in the US and one in Kiev – were born.

Tell us the story of your book’s current title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

Well, it was not the first title I used, that’s for sure. That said, as this story morphed first into a trilogy and then into a series, the series title sort of invented itself, and from there, this debut origin story title materialized.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

Oh, it absolutely does. Part of the process I use to get into the headspace is to give each character a playlist – every song can jolt me right into how they think, act, walk, mannerisms etc. From there, I design a playlist for each chapter, grabbing the essence of the place, and in the case of this book, the time (1996). So, this book cold opens with Stay by Shakespears Sister, slides into Brain Stew by Green Day, and descends into some Smiths and The Cure in the first act!

What books are you reading (for research or comfort) as you continue the writing process?

I try not to read in my own genre so I don’t accidently plagiarize, but I just picked up a copy of Spider Heist by Jason Kasper and someone gave me a copy of Deadly Silence by Erik Carter, so maybe I’ll dabble this weekend while I let my brain reset.

Where is your favorite place to write?

Hawaii! Ha. I mean, it is, but sort of by accident. It was the place my family went every year to vacation and became the place I had the dedicated quiet and autonomy to sit and stare at the water and let the ideas pour. I still do that once a year, but when I’m NOT on the island, I recreate the vibe by writing on the patio.

What advice would you give your past self at the start of your writing journey?

Write through it, because if you look back at your strongest character development, it was actually YOUR development. That character who found themselves through adversity, the one who learned how to be a leader, the one who fought the machine and spoke truth to power, were all who you were waiting to be next, and you found your truth by writing them.

What’s one thing you hope sticks with readers after they finish your book?

That no one is really a hero or a villain, we’re all out here making the best decisions we can from a list of impossible choices, and even when it all feels wrong, those decisions will bring us our ‘found family’ – the people who get why you are the way you are.

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