Prepare to be captivated by the intricate tapestry of truth, perspective, and human connection in Ava Dellaira's latest novel, EXPOSURE. In this week's Jen's Jewels, we dive deep into the creative mind behind this compelling story that interweaves the lives of four characters across time and place. Dellaira shares her six-year journey crafting this multifaceted narrative, exploring themes of race, grief, and the elusive nature of truth in our polarized world. From the sun-soaked streets of Los Angeles to the bustling energy of Chicago, discover how Dellaira breathes life into her settings and characters, offering readers a poignant reflection on the complexities of human experience. Don't miss this insightful conversation that peels back the layers of Exposure and offers a glimpse into the passionate process of a rising literary star.
Jenifer Vido: In EXPOSURE, the perspectives of four characters provide a multifaceted view of a single night. How did you balance the different voices to ensure each character's truth resonated equally?
Ava Dellaira: I wrote this book over the course of six years, so I had a lot of time to spend with each of them! During the writing process, I would move freely between the different storylines and timelines, hanging out in each of the characters’ minds and worlds, so for that reason the stories ended up feeling fairly balanced. But structuring the book to move between them at the right moments to keep momentum going took many tries and much help from my brilliant editor, Bridie Loverro!
Jen: The novel spans several years and locations, from LA to Chicago. How did you approach the research and writing to authentically capture these settings and time periods?
Ava: The texture of a place and the way it seeps into characters’ lives is something that I love to capture in writing; to be able to do this, I have to be familiar with the place myself, so I used the “write what you know” adage as far as settings go. I’ve lived in LA for the past 15 years and find it to be such a rich, multifaceted city of strivers that is a lot of fun to paint in words. I went to college in Chicago at around the same time period that Noah and Juliette are there, so I relied on my memories of the time and place. While I’ve never lived in New York City, I have spent enough time there visiting close friends over the years that I felt like I could attempt to capture its spirit for Annie in the years she lives there.
I also paid a lot of attention to the way that I imagined cultural events and the world at large affecting the characters at different moments, and I think that helped to bring the different time periods to life.
Jen: Race plays a significant role in the story, particularly in the experiences of Noah and Juliette. What inspired you to explore these themes through their relationship, and what challenges did you face in doing so?
Ava: As an author, it’s a delicate thing, of course, to choose to write a character whose identity differs from one’s own, and I did not make the decision to do so lightly. Because the project of this book is to try to empathize with different points of view, it necessitated writing some perspectives outside of my own. I fell in love with Noah’s character right away, so in that sense, writing him came easily. I should also say that my husband is a Black man and a screenwriter, which certainly played into my understanding of Noah. It was compelling for me to try to imagine what the events in our country over the past couple of decades would have felt like for Noah. In a book that is very much about how things appear from different perspectives, it made sense to me to include explorations of race and gender, which both play an inexorable role in the way that any of us see the world.
Jen: Noah's journey from a lonely high school senior to a successful Hollywood filmmaker is central to the story. How did you develop his character arc, and what message do you hope readers take from his experience?
Ava: In part, I drew on some of my own experiences of being a young dreamer in LA trying to find a way to make it—desperate to make it, really—and those of people close to me. There is a lot of “paying your dues” that goes on when you are trying to break through in the industry, but if you are new to Los Angeles, it can be hard to tell the difference between a legitimate job that might help you make it into your desired career path, and one that might spiral off somewhere else. I don’t want to give too many spoilers as far as Noah journey, but I think and hope that a lot of people in different fields and from different walks of life will identify with Noah’s desire to be seen.
Jen: The discovery that Annie makes about Juliette threatens to unravel Noah's life. Without giving too much away, can you share how you built the tension leading up to this revelation?
Ava: The tension lies in how the story unravels, I think, and what information is revealed when vs what is withheld—that structuring of the book took a lot of careful work! I had all the pieces before I knew exactly how they’d fit together.
Jen: Grief is another prominent theme in the novel. How did you explore the different ways your characters cope with loss, and what impact does this have on their decisions and relationships?
Ava: It’s something that all of the characters have in common—their grief—and it binds them all together in a way, sometimes even across battle lines. There is a running line sprinkled throughout the book—Grief is like this: omnipresent, savage, a sorceress, an ambush predator, inheritance, a thief.... to name a few. The story tries to express the many forms and textures that grief can take, how it can shift, and how it can freeze.
Jen: EXPOSURE delves into the idea of conflicting truths that aren't easily reduced to right or wrong. How do you hope this aspect of the story will resonate with readers, particularly in today's polarized world?
Ava: I hope that the book makes space to see the human beings on the other side of any of the many battle lines we have drawn and opens up the possibility of holding more than one truth at the same time.
Jen: What was the most challenging part of writing EXPOSURE, and how did you overcome it?
Ava: There were so many challenging parts! The themes of grief touched on my own losses—my mother died when I’d just finished college, and as I was writing EXPOSURE, my own dad was dying of cancer. I was pregnant with my daughter (who is now six) when I began this book, so I was also faced with the challenges and rawness of new motherhood and figuring out how to write through that. The book also required me to reexamine and process some of my own past experiences, which required time and emotional space. I was downright scared of writing this book sometimes, but the story had grabbed hold of me, and I think what allowed me to press on was my deep belief in the importance of telling it.
Jen: What’s currently on your to-be-read stack? Are there any books or authors that have influenced your writing for EXPOSURE?
Ava: I just stopped by The Strand in New York City on my way to the airport and picked up The God of the Woods on the recommendation of a friend who works there. I’m looking forward to the Joan Didion & Eve Babitz book coming out this fall—like many women my age, I’m a Joan Didion superfan.
Less so because of specific subject matter, but I’m always inspired as a writer by writing that I love. A few of my favorites I read over the years I’ve been working on EXPOSURE are Valentine, Sing Unburied Sing, The Candy House, and Commonwealth. And Homegoing. I read that book years ago now, when I was first working on EXPOSURE, and it has stuck with me.
Jen: What’s next for you? Can you share any details about your upcoming projects or how you plan to engage with readers on social media?
Ava: I am working on a new novel, broadly about early motherhood and the women who get us through it, which is still in the messy early stages of writing. Right now, I am having so much fun connecting with readers in person and online around the release of EXPOSURE. I am constantly on Instagram right now in a way that, for me, is probably exclusive to releasing a book, so I’m easy to find! I am also available to chat with book clubs—big or small! You can contact me on Instagram or via the contact form on my website.
Jen: Thanks for stopping by to chat about your compelling story. Best of luck with your new release!
Ava: Thank you so much for having me, Jen, and for your thoughtful questions!
Exposure forces readers to reckon with both sides of a story that’s not easily reduced to right or wrong.
One night. Two sides of a story. In multi-perspective storytelling filled with humanity and empathy, Exposure forces readers to reckon with conflicting truths that are not easily reduced to right or wrong.
In 2004, Juliette Marker, a white college freshman, and Noah King, a Black high school senior, are two lonely souls who enter each other’s orbit, forge a connection, and go home together after a night out.
Twelve years later, Noah has done the impossible and made it in Hollywood. His first film is about to be released, and he and his beloved wife Jesse, a successful writer herself, have just had a baby. Meanwhile, Juliette’s best friend Annie is back in LA for the first time in more than a decade, and makes a startling discovery about Juliette that will threaten to blow up the life Noah has struggled to build.
Spanning decades, from LA to Chicago, and told through Annie, Juliette, Noah, and Jesse’s perspectives, this powerful, provocative novel delves into one fateful night and the people affected by it, exploring how race, artistic ambition, and grief expose different versions of the same story.
Coming of Age [Zibby Books, On Sale: September 10, 2024, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781958506677 / eISBN: 9781958506684]
Ava Dellaira is the author of the critically acclaimed young adult novels In Search of Us and Love Letters to the Dead, which was named Best Book of the Year by Apple, Google, BuzzFeed, the New York Public Library and the Chicago Public Library. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was a Truman Capote Fellow, and the University of Chicago. She grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and now lives in Altadena, CA with her husband and their two young children.
Jennifer Vido writes sweet romances set in the Lowcountry, earning acclaim as the award-winning author of the Gull Island series. Her debut novel, "Serendipity by the Sea," secured the prestigious Best First Book award from the New Jersey Romance Writers Golden Leaf Contest. In 2024, Vido's talent garnered further accolades, with Baltimore Magazine readers naming her Best Local Author in their annual Best of Baltimore poll, while the Baltimore Sun acknowledged her with an Honorable Mention in their Best of 2024 Author category. When not writing fiction, she interviews authors for her weekly Jen’s Jewels column, leads water exercise classes, and directs a legal nonprofit. Currently residing in Maryland, she and her husband are proud parents to two grown sons and a rescue dog named Fripp.
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