<\/p>\n
Jessica Knoll doesn\u2019t write comfortable books, and that\u2019s pretty much the point. The New York Times<\/em> bestselling author behind Luckiest Girl Alive, <\/em>now a Netflix film starring Mila Kunis, and Bright Young Women<\/em> has built a career on stories that unsettle readers into paying closer attention\u2014whether she\u2019s dismantling the mythology around a notorious serial killer or drawing from her own experience as a sexual assault survivor to give her heroines teeth.<\/p>\n Her latest, HELPLESS<\/em>, out July 7, is already being called one of the season\u2019s must-reads, landing on The New York Times\u2019<\/em> lists for both the summer\u2019s most anticipated novels and best beach reads. But don\u2019t let the beach-read label fool you: This erotic thriller, about a Hollywood producer reunited with the ex who inspired her biggest project, only to find herself drugged and held captive at his remote cabin, is less about escapism and more about interrogating why we\u2019re drawn to the romance and captivity narratives dominating bookshelves right now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We caught up with Knoll just ahead of pub day to talk about her writing process, why she was drawn to the erotic thriller genre and the one beauty habit she can\u2019t start her day without.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel excited. I think the lead-up to releasing a book is a rollercoaster of emotions. Sometimes when it feels like you\u2019re close to pub date but you\u2019re not exactly four weeks out, it can feel like nothing is happening, and now, all of a sudden, it feels like things are happening, and so my anxiety is abating, and excitement is growing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe toughest part of my process is a rewrite after turning in a draft to my editor and having them come back to you and say, \u2018There\u2019s good stuff here, but it\u2019s not quite working.\u2019 There is something so disheartening about that. It feels like you put in all this work, you wrote all these thousands of words and you have to take it apart and put it back together again. I find that to be the most daunting part of the process.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a huge fan of erotic thrillers, especially the \u201890s era\u2014Fatal Attraction, In the Cut,<\/em> both the novel and the film adaptation. I think I was having a little bit of nostalgia for that period of time and that genre in particular. I also got really into the Court of Thorns and Roses<\/em> series a couple of years ago. Obviously, it\u2019s not an erotic thriller, but it\u2019s a romantasy that has those dark romance elements to it, and I was really swept away and captivated by the relationships in those books.<\/p>\n I loved the world, and I loved being in the world with those people, and I think I just wanted to create that feeling of a dangerous love. I wanted to write about risk in love and in sex. That seemed really, really alluring territory to explore.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m hoping that what they enjoy most is the tightness and brevity of this one. It\u2019s my slimmest novel to date. I worked really, really hard to keep the plot tight and moving\u2014pace-wise, because I just think that there\u2019s a lot of competition for our attention spans at this moment in time. Even as a reader myself, I feel the effects of the environment that we live in, and so I really need anything I read to be gripping for me.<\/p>\n Some of the best reviews and feedback that I\u2019m getting from people is: \u2018I finished this in a day. I finished it in two days.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018Great. That\u2019s exactly what I was going for!\u2019 I wanted to write something that people would just binge in one sitting.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, I get dressed! Sounds simple, but that\u2019s a big one, especially since moving back to New York. When I lived in LA, I got house-stuck a lot. I just wouldn\u2019t really leave my house, and so it was a lot of athleisure and sweatpants. I just didn\u2019t see the point in putting on real pants, but in New York, you\u2019re constantly bopping around, running out to get your coffee, to go and read, to get your prescription, so just even wearing simple basics makes me feel more put together.<\/p>\n Every morning, I use eyebrow gel, a little concealer on my red spots and acne scars, and that\u2019s it. That\u2019s all I need to feel put together and ready to face the day.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jessica Knoll doesn\u2019t write comfortable books, and that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nichebeaty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How are you feeling heading into release day?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What\u2019s the hardest part of your process\u2014writing, editing, the cover, something else?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What made you decide to write in the erotic thriller genre?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Without giving away the twist, what do you think readers will enjoy most about the book?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Since we\u2019re a beauty magazine, I have to ask: Do you have any self-care rituals that help you unwind during the writing process?<\/strong><\/h2>\n