What Growing Up Around the Film Industry Taught Me as a Writer [GUEST POST]

Alexandra Weis, author of Have You Seen Me?, is no novice when it comes to storytelling. However, her path to fiction writing took a more circuitous route than many of her colleagues. Growing up with a filmmaker father may have actually sharpened her skills as a novelist and ultimately given her a leg up on the competition. But that’s for you to decide. We hope you enjoy today’s guest post!—J&H

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My father was an independent film producer and director who worked on some large productions, from James Bond films to Sergio Leoni Westerns to smaller ones based in New Orleans. I was raised on motion picture sets and learned how to do everything behind the scenes—my father insisted.

All that experience taught me a great deal about storytelling and is why everything I write tends to have a cinematic scope. I see the scenes in my head, and getting the details down is essential. When you describe a scene, every sense must be addressed, including smell.

Growing up behind the camera showed me how everything must come together, but writing is the more challenging medium in many ways. The pictures you portray don’t have the help of fantastic locations or a great cinematographer. That is all on you and your ability to carry a reader away with your words.

Books can have so many interpretations. A sunset is a sunset on camera, but in a book, it can begin a character’s day and set the tone for the chapter to come or become the perfect ending to a story. The biggest hurdle when working in movies is all the people that get a say in the story.

A movie is an amalgamation of everyone on that set, from directors, producers, actors, screenwriters, and even crew. Books are a lot lonelier, and what you write is all on you. It does take a village to put a book out. Editors, publishers, formatters, and proofers all add their take on a story, but in the end, it’s your work.

Films introduced me to the creative process, and being on sets, where everyone participates in bettering a story, is
educational and empowering. It was the foundation of who I am as a writer, but I have never veered far from my film roots. I still write scripts and TV pilots for my books, keeping attuned to the differences both writing styles require.

Would I have ended up as a writer without a movie background? Who knows. But I did have a wonderful time and met so many kind and caring people. I was lucky to experience such a unique childhood and will always be grateful to my dad for letting me tag along on set.

SYNOPSIS

“An intriguing and atmospheric tale of murder and mayhem” ~Booklist

Lindsey Gillett is missing.

And she’s not the first girl at Waverly Prep to vanish without a trace.

To help cope with the tragedy, new history teacher Aubrey LaRoux organizes a small student investigation team. But when the members start turning up dead across campus, Aubrey suspects there’s more going on than anyone is willing to admit.

The murdered students all had something in common with Lindsey. They shared a secret. And what they uncovered could threaten the future of the historic school.

At Waverly Prep, someone wants to keep the past buried—along with anyone who gets in their way.

HAVE YOU SEEN ME?
By Alexandrea Weis
350 pp. Vesuvian Books. $19.95.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alexandrea Weis, RN-CS, PhD, is a multi-award-winning author, screenwriter, advanced practice registered nurse, and historian who was born and raised in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

Having grown up in the motion picture industry as the daughter of a director, she learned to tell stories from a different perspective. Infusing the rich tapestry of her hometown into her novels, she believes that creating vivid characters makes a story moving and memorable.

A member of the Horror Writers Association and International Thriller Writers Association, Weis writes supernatural, horror, mystery, and thrillers.

She lives with her husband and pets in New Orleans where she is a permitted/certified wildlife rehabber with the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries and rescues orphaned and injured animals.

For more information, visit AlexandreaWeis.com, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads.

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Purchase Have You Seen Me? direct from Jathan & Heather Books or from one of these other fine online retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Half Price Books, Hudson Booksellers, IndieBound, Powell’s, Target, or Walmart.

Have You Seen Me? is brought to you in association with Xpresso Book Tours.

GIVEAWAY

Enter to win a signed copy of Have You Seen Me? Giveaway is not presented by Jathan & Heather, Jathan & Heather Books, Jadeworks Entertainment, or any of its subsidiaries. Contest ends September 9, 2021.