The St. Ambrose School for Girls, a coming-of-age boarding school mystery, is putting author Jessica Ward—aka J.R. Ward, author of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series—on the radar of dark academia fans. Here, Ward shares the inspiration behind her new YA thriller, set on an exclusive boarding school campus where there are more problems than just mean girls and cliques. Taking a slight detour from her usual steamy romance, Ward delves into what drives her to write the tales that come to mind.
Audible: The St. Ambrose School for Girls is a fun, coming-of-age whodunnit. What inspired you to write this story?
Jessica Ward: Sarah came to me in a dream! I woke up from a deep sleep, with this image of a young girl in my head. Instantly, I had to know about her, and the pictures of St. Ambrose, the school, and Greta, her nemesis, and Strots, her roommate, came to me. I wrote the first draft in three weeks—it just poured out of me. Then I revised the manuscript for three years!
Boarding school is such an interesting setting, considering the lack of parental supervision, especially with so many secrets floating around. How did the setting add to the thrilling aspects of your story?
I went to boarding school, and I revisited so many of my personal memories as I described St. Ambrose and detailed the life there. In a way, it's like college, and that's right. There are pockets of time for students where they are totally autonomous. This definitely provided the "space" for some of the scenes and conflicts to really come forward and be believable.
You’ve had such an impressive and longstanding career writing romance like the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. What influenced you to create The St. Ambrose School for Girls geared to a younger audience? Did you do anything different in your writing versus your more adult titles?
I love writing about the BDB! And honestly, I have no control over anything when it comes to writing. The way it works for me is that I have pictures in my head. My job as an author is to transcribe what I see in a way that readers can approximate what I'm shown. This is true whether I'm writing about vampires or teenage girls. When Sarah M. Taylor appeared, and her world unfolded, I was surprised to find that she wanted to do the talking! First person is a departure for me, but that was just the way she wanted it. I have to write any book as it wants to be written—and then with St. Ambrose, we had figured out what to do with it in terms of publishing. So, the process was the same for me, but the voice and where it ended up in the market was different.
Which character did you enjoy writing the most? And is there a character that reminds you of yourself?
This is going to sound like roses and unicorns, but I love writing about all the people in my books. Even the "bad" guys. I just find people fascinating, and the folks in my books are as real to me as the ones I actually interact with. Seeing how they act, and what they think and feel, is just riveting to me. And when it comes to St. Ambrose, Sarah reminds me a little of myself at that age. I think we all have times and situations where we're outsiders. I feel for her, truly. PS—have I mentioned I love my job?
