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Born July 21, 1969, in Abbotsford, where she still lives, former physical fitness competitor Denise Jaden published her first Young Adult novel, Losing Faith (Simon Pulse / Simon & Schuster, 2010) while homeschooling her five-year-old and performing with a Polynesian dance group. It was followed by Never Enough (Simon Pulse, 2012).
Denise Jaden's writing has appeared in Mississippi Crow Magazine (Spring, 2008), The Greensilk Journal (Fall 2007 - where her story, LOCKED AWAY, won an Editor's Choice Award) and The Tidepool Fiction e-zine. Her manuscript for Losing Faith won a YA Fiction First Three Chapters Contest and First Place in the Young Adult Category of the Romance Writers Association's Launching A Star Contest.
Her promo for Losing Faith reads: "When Brie's sister, Faith, dies in a fall from a cliff, Brie's world falls apart. As she goes through the bizarre and devastating process of mourning the sister she never understood, Brie must also contend with increasingly distant parents, her boyfriend's betrayal, and her sudden outcast status at school. And once she's over the initial shock of Faith's death, Brie is encountering more questions than closure. Certain facts about the way Faith died just don't line up. She soon uncovers Faith's role in a dark and twisted religious cult...a cult that now wants Brie as a member."
She adds, "I wanted to write a story about sisters, and the idea came to me to write the book from the perspective of the younger girl after her older sister dies. The sister she thought she knew so well suddenly becomes a mystery after her death. I had great fun (and angst!) discovering many of Faith's secrets during the writing.
"This was the first book I had used an outline for, and after the book became
a mystery, I discovered how necessary outlines are, especially for plotting
out clues and red herrings. After spending a good chunk of time outlining and revising my outline, I wrote the actual first draft of LOSING FAITH in 21 days during NaNoWriMo 2007. Many revisions followed."
Continuing to explore the relationships of adolescent sisters, Denise Jaden released her second YA novel, Never Enough (Simon & Schuster, 2012). Loann looks up to her all-too-perfect sister Claire - so much so that she even wants to date Claire's ex-boyfriend; but Loann soon discovers that the appearance of perfection comes at an unhealthy cost.
BOOKS:
Losing Faith (Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster, 2010)
Never Enough (Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster, 2012) $11.99 9781442429079
Writing with a Heavy Heart: Using Grief and Loss to Stretch your Fiction (Denise Jaden Books, 2012)
Fast Fiction: A Guide to Outlining and Writing a First Draft Novel in Thirty Days (New World Library, 2014) $10.98, ebook $8.98 9781608682546
[BCBW 2014]
Denise Jaden's writing has appeared in Mississippi Crow Magazine (Spring, 2008), The Greensilk Journal (Fall 2007 - where her story, LOCKED AWAY, won an Editor's Choice Award) and The Tidepool Fiction e-zine. Her manuscript for Losing Faith won a YA Fiction First Three Chapters Contest and First Place in the Young Adult Category of the Romance Writers Association's Launching A Star Contest.
Her promo for Losing Faith reads: "When Brie's sister, Faith, dies in a fall from a cliff, Brie's world falls apart. As she goes through the bizarre and devastating process of mourning the sister she never understood, Brie must also contend with increasingly distant parents, her boyfriend's betrayal, and her sudden outcast status at school. And once she's over the initial shock of Faith's death, Brie is encountering more questions than closure. Certain facts about the way Faith died just don't line up. She soon uncovers Faith's role in a dark and twisted religious cult...a cult that now wants Brie as a member."
She adds, "I wanted to write a story about sisters, and the idea came to me to write the book from the perspective of the younger girl after her older sister dies. The sister she thought she knew so well suddenly becomes a mystery after her death. I had great fun (and angst!) discovering many of Faith's secrets during the writing.
"This was the first book I had used an outline for, and after the book became
a mystery, I discovered how necessary outlines are, especially for plotting
out clues and red herrings. After spending a good chunk of time outlining and revising my outline, I wrote the actual first draft of LOSING FAITH in 21 days during NaNoWriMo 2007. Many revisions followed."
Continuing to explore the relationships of adolescent sisters, Denise Jaden released her second YA novel, Never Enough (Simon & Schuster, 2012). Loann looks up to her all-too-perfect sister Claire - so much so that she even wants to date Claire's ex-boyfriend; but Loann soon discovers that the appearance of perfection comes at an unhealthy cost.
BOOKS:
Losing Faith (Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster, 2010)
Never Enough (Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster, 2012) $11.99 9781442429079
Writing with a Heavy Heart: Using Grief and Loss to Stretch your Fiction (Denise Jaden Books, 2012)
Fast Fiction: A Guide to Outlining and Writing a First Draft Novel in Thirty Days (New World Library, 2014) $10.98, ebook $8.98 9781608682546
[BCBW 2014]
