132. JASMINE GUILLORY: Making a YA debut after several adult romance novels and updates on The Wedding Date movie

This week on LiteraryHype Podcast, New York Times Bestselling author Jasmine Guillory joins me to talk about her debut YA novel, It's Only Dancing. Jasmine is known for her adult romance novels, so we're talking all about making the switch and crafting stories for younger readers. Plus, Jasmine shares an update on the movie production process for her first book, The Wedding Date, and her return to the Meant To Be series, with Snow This Is Love.

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Unknown
Hi and welcome to Literary Hype. I am Stephanie, your literary hype woman back with another author conversation for Literary Hype podcast. Today I'm talking to a New York Times bestselling author in the adult space who is now dipping her toe into why we're seeing a lot of why authors go to the adult space.

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Unknown
but this one's going the other way.

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Unknown
So it's very interesting. And I definitely had to ask you about that. So we're talking about Jasmine Guillory. Her debut was called It's Only Dancing.

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Unknown
this is a really cute one. So check this out.

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Unknown
welcome to literary hype. It's so exciting to get to talk to you about your debut novel. Thank you so much. And thank you for having me.

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because I've loved your adult romances.

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And then when I heard you were doing away, I was like, okay, I know, I'm excited.

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Unknown
So what made you decide to switch to the genre for a little bit? You know, so I've always loved to I actually when I first started writing, the first book I ever wrote was Young Adult. I think it's number one, like I grew up reading and loving it, but when I was a kid, there weren't a lot of books about young black girls.

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Unknown
And so when I first heard of writing, like I wanted to put to write a book that I didn't have when I was a kid. And I still love that. Like, I still love, I think I love teenage girls. I think they get a lot of people make fun of them a lot people like kind of ignored them a lot or

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talk about how teenage girls are, like, too excited about this or boring or stupid or whatever.

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And I think no one gives teenage girls enough credit.

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And I it's it was fun for me to write a book that, like, respected them. Right? You know, I have a lot of, like, younger family members and friends, and I wanted a book that was taking their concerns and feelings seriously. Well, so recognizing, you know, you're only 17, you don't know everything.

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But the things that you do know about yourself, you're right about yourself. And so that was one thing that was exciting to me to, to kind of dive into.

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What's it like for you as an author, to be able to write the book that young you needed?

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It's really wonderful. I think about kind of I couldn't really think about that as I was writing it.

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Unknown
But of course, that came into it, right? Because I was the one writing it, and I really thought about it when it was all done, because it was like, wow, I really could have used this book when I was this age. And I would have loved this book when I was this age. You know, I think about kind of there so many young adult books that I loved as a kid that I still love now.

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Unknown
And so much about being a teenager hasn't changed in the past, you know, 50, 100 years. Technology has changed. But like the the thing about being this age and having all of this new stuff happen and like no one taking you seriously and everyone wanting you to be think that you're either too young to know anything or that you're old enough to know better.

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Like, I think all of that is still the same. And so it was really great for me to kind of put all of that in a book set in today's world.

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Why is now the time for you to branch out and go into AA? You know, it's funny, I've seen about that because I feel like a lot of young writers are writing adult romance, and I'm kind of going in the opposite direction.

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That's exactly what I was thinking.

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Unknown
I want young teenage girls and teenage boys to still have those stories. Like, I don't want us to ignore. I think the publishing market goes up and down and and so I think what happened, like the books that come out or because of the fluctuations of publishing, but it was really fun for me to write, and I kind of wanted to write this book, and I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to do it.

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Unknown
So for anybody who hasn't seen anything about this book, what is it's only dancing all about.

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Unknown
It's Only Dancing is the story of Katherine, Kitty to her family, which she hates. Cats. Her friends. She goes to a family camp, in the summer, with her parents and younger sisters. She does not want to go. And, at the first night at camp, she kind of stumbles into the staff party and sees Jordan and Tony, who are the dance instructors at the camp.

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Unknown
Dancing this, like, incredible hip hop dance routine. And she is, like, enthralled by it because she used to dance ballet and kind of had to quit. Has a very difficult relationship with dance still. But then kind of in the course of the book, she ends up dancing with Jordan and her relationship with dance changes throughout the book and her relationship with Jordan, too.

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Unknown
Your author's note at the beginning of this talks a little bit about your journey as being a ballerina. What was it like putting yourself in pieces of yourself into this character? You know, it's funny because I, I feel like I put pieces of myself into every character I read. This one was a little bit more, like, distinct.

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Unknown
But like, Kat is a very different person than I was, but it is, you know, fun to have, like, think about specifics of, like, life and dance and family that made me who I am. And you know, the ways to meet Kat, who she is, are different than me. She's a very different person than I am. But it was really fun to kind of think about, like if if this has happened to me, what would have happened, you know, and that kind of stuff.

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Unknown
So it was just a really fun story to write.

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Unknown
Yeah. And you talked in that note about like, having to give up dance and give up ballet and like, as a former athlete myself, like, losing your sport is a whole process that you don't even know you're going to have to go through mentally when you lose that. So what was that journey like for you when you lost ballet?

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Unknown
right when you talk about losing it, it's like it's a part of your identity and then it's gone. And then what do you do? And that's something that Kat goes through, right? It's like dance was her whole life. And then it was gone.

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thinking about how that changed her life, what she then threw herself into, how she how that changed her as a person.

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Unknown
Right. Because, you know, I threw myself into different things in it, and I kind of thought about different things, but it was interesting to kind of think about how how does giving that how does giving up something that's so part of you change you? Exactly. You see that a lot with like football players. Yeah. What is their whole identity.

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Unknown
And then they get it hurt and then they don't know how to human it. Right. Right. And so it's very interesting to explore that at a teenage level where they're still trying to figure out their life and maybe not put all their eggs in one basket. Yeah. You know, I thought about that a lot.

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Unknown
with the Olympics.

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Unknown
Right. With, you know, talking about, like, people who were skaters as a teenager gave it up. And then was like, what do I do now? You know, what is my passion now? Where do I go now? And like, right, because so many of these Olympians are like 17, 18, 19, 20. Where do you go? Like, I remember seeing something online about someone who had to ask her professor for an extension on some things.

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Unknown
She was like, I'm, at the Olympics. And rivers was like, oh, yeah, you can have an extension. But but, like, how do you go back to college with, you know, just kind of thinking about what that must be in that, in that world. And I think, I think like people who do things like that, the the less, you know, the smaller Olympic sports, they've already kind of thought about what their future will be like.

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Unknown
But like a football player, you're kind of thinking about this as your whole future and then it goes away. What do you do? And so great thinking about that on a smaller level with like with Kat and her dancing. You know, she stopped dancing when she was 15. How did how does that change you as a person?

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Unknown
There was also a note in your, in your author's note for this book about how much you love dancing movies. What are your thoughts? You mentioned like center stage and say, the lessons. And it's been so long since I've watched them.

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Unknown
What have you noticed about those movies? Watching them as an adult compared to when you watch them when they first came out, when they were younger?

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Unknown
my favorite thing about dancing movies is just like the joy of watching them. Like you're just giggling the whole time. You're like, oh, when I think of dance, other dancing now, there's so much drama in them because they feel like dancing.

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Unknown
Movies in many ways are sort of musicals, right? Where instead of, like, breaking out into song, they're breaking out into dance, and but you have to, like, throw in that drama of, like, what's happening backstage. You know what? Why, why is why is the dance off so important? Yeah, yeah. Like, let's make that dance also important.

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Unknown
so, you mentioned this book starts with, with some summer camp. Yeah. And the parents are doing a little sing along. What song would you sing along to the most to annoy someone?

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Unknown
it's funny because in, in this book, the mom is singing Madonna.

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Unknown
And then there was this whole conversation online last week about Madonna with, like, being with Sabrina Carpenter and like, teenagers being like, Who's Madonna? I mean, she is the icon. Obviously it would be Madonna. Yeah, obviously. Yeah.

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Unknown
For the camping part. Are you an outdoorsy person? I am not.

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Unknown
I enjoy the outdoors. I respect the outdoors.

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Unknown
I would like, like, the other day, I was just talking to people about how, like, how much I want to go on safari in a glamping situation, though. You know, someone to like. I don't want to. I don't want to struggle in the outdoors.

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Unknown
Did you have to do a research on that side of things for this book, or did you just like, I'm just going to pretend.

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Unknown
No. Here's the thing. I know. I know how I feel about doing giving because I was forced to do that, many times throughout my life, and I now I'm old enough to. I can just say no. You know, no is a complete sentence. Yes. Yeah. One that we all need to learn a little better. With this book being.

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Unknown
Why? And you've been in the romance space, did that change your approach of how you wrote the romance? Beyond the spices? Yeah. Yes. Because I think

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Unknown
those, like initial feelings of a crush when you're a teenager, it's just so heightened. It's so much more fun, right? Like, yeah, when your crush, when you're an adult, like, it's still fun, but it's different.

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Unknown
Partly, I think, because it feels like it feels a little bit more important. Like, oh, you know, this could be my person forever. Like, as a teenager, you're like that cute boy over there, you know? Like, that stuff was really fun to kind of dive into. What scene are you most excited for people to read without spoilers? Ooh, like a one word.

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Unknown
This is what you'll need to know. Be like this was the scene.

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Unknown
A scene that I had a lot of fun with. It's towards the end of the book is the bookstore scene. It's all start, I mean, appropriate. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, what's funny is I have realized that I've accidentally, like, really accidentally. I have not planned to it put, like, indie bookstores in many of my books.

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Unknown
Like they're scenes in a bookstore and and think I love a bookstore. Yeah. I mean, who doesn't? Yes. There's a great. Yeah. Speaking of bookstores, you have this will be your 10th book. This will be my 10th book in bookstores. And it's only been eight years. Yeah, it's this time, right? I know, I can't believe it.

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Unknown
Yeah, the wedding date came out in January of 2018. Yeah. Time is a lie. I swear. What do you know about writing now that you wish you would have known when you wrote that first book ten books ago?

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Unknown
here's the thing. All of the things that I'm going to say to you right now, I forget as I'm writing.

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Unknown
So these are things that I know and say to my friends. And then in the midst of writing, I forget them. But, you know, like, sometimes you just have to go through the process, right? Like, sometimes it is really hard, and the hard part is the good part. And you will get through it. The only the only way out is through.

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Unknown
Like, the only way that I can really figure this book out is to just keep writing it. And that it, there's it's so much fun. I mean, I think I knew that when I was writing with the wedding day, like, that was the thing that kept me writing was that it's so much fun. And that is the thing that I've tried to hold on to for all ten books is finding the fun parts in the writing.

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Unknown
So I think, like like to know like keep it fun is is, I think, the most important thing.

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Unknown
The wedding day just had a not so long ago announcement for an adaptation. What can you say about that process and the moment you got the call that it was in the works? Yeah. You know,

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Unknown
It's so exciting.

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Unknown
I think the wedding date has is being optioned by Netflix, with the production company of, Prince Harry and Duchess Megan, which is so exciting. I think that was one of the. You know, these are, like, things about that are things you find out long before you can make it public. And so that was one of the things that, like, kept me going through a lot of hard times, was kind of knowing that was coming and having that.

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Unknown
And I'm just so excited that, like, maybe, you know, hopefully we'll have a movie of that book. I love that book so much, and I have so many people who have fall in love with like, just books in general because of that book. And so I'm just really excited and I hope we'll have some more exciting new soon.

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Unknown
Did it feel like a full circle moment with Harry and Meghan being involved in this? Because you have a book in the series that is a royal holiday? Yes. I was just like, that's I know it was really. I was like, really, like really, really. So that was when I first heard when like, my major first hit me and, you know, I was like, excuse me.

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Unknown
What? So yeah, that was really exciting.

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Unknown
Can you say where they're at in the process

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Unknown
You know, they're working on a script right now, so I haven't seen it yet, so fingers crossed. I'll get to see that soon, and hopefully we'll we'll have some good news soon.

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Unknown
And you do have another little project coming out.

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Unknown
Snow, this is love. Which I love the meant to be a series.

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Unknown
Yes. So that actually comes out the week after. It's only dancing. So all they were five meant to be books. All kind of reimaginings of different princesses. And all five of us wrote holiday novellas, and they're all coming out in one volume.

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Unknown
And so that comes out in October. It was really fun to write. My story is about is, you know, doing a baking competition. Which was just delightful to me. There was a lot of actual baking that I wrote and then cut because I was like, no one else is excited about the details of baking as I am, but like, I had so much fun with that.

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Unknown
Especially since, like, baking played a little bit her role in the first book. It was really fun to, like, bring that back.

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Unknown
what's it like for you to get to revisit these old characters that you haven't touched in a while, and to go back and see what they're doing?

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Unknown
You know, it's really fun. Partly because, like, I already did the hard part, right? Like, I know them to the core now, so was just easy to jump back into their world. And actually, I, you know, we just did a panel about like, creative ideas and how you kind of know when the idea is the right one.

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Unknown
And I, you know, we had gotten like they'd reached out about doing a holiday book. I was like, great, love the idea. Okay, I'll write a Christmas book. And I had a few ideas and I was like, oh, okay. I wrote them down. And then I had I was like, baking competition, that is. And then I was all in.

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Unknown
So that was just a joy.

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Unknown
Awesome. Well, last question we always ask because this is literary hype. What books are you hyped about right now? Okay, so books that I just finished. It comes out in September. It is called, The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman. It's by Deesha Peel. Ya. She wrote, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies.

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Unknown
It was a book of short stories, and this is her first novel. I loved this book so much. It is like, you know, kind of written as a memoir of this woman who is married to a pastor of a megachurch. Right. And it is just, like, juicy and interesting and like, fun. I was just all in from the first page, and I can't like it was one of those books that I can't wait to talk to people about.

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Unknown
And I'm like, please, more people read it so I can talk to you about it. So yeah. Awesome. Well, thanks so much for hanging out with literary hype from y'all list. Thank you so much. It was great to talk to you.

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Unknown
Thanks again to Jasmine for hanging out with me at Yale West to talk all about her debut. It's Only Dancing. If you want to get your hands on a copy of this or the wedding date ahead of the movie. Definitely check out the links in the description and buy her copies there.

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Unknown
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Unknown
Thanks so much for listening to the Literary Tide podcast.