Seven Days in June(100)

Lizette tells Eva, more than once, that the women in their family are cursed in love, which Eva believes to be true. However, she eventually breaks free from that mentality when she realizes that, unlike all the other women in her family, she found a man who loved every part of her. Looking at Eva’s life, and your own experiences, how does one learn from the choices of those before them? How does one keep from making the same choices?

Eva and Shane’s relationship illustrates that though two people can fall in love with one another, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are always ready to be together. Eva and Shane realize that to be together they need to work on themselves. What were some of the ways that Shane and Eva needed to heal and deal with their pasts in order to be ready for one another? What does the novel say about being ready for love, being in love, and growing in love?

What other sweeping dramatic love stories does Eva and Shane’s remind you of?





Author Questions




What inspired you to write Seven Days in June?

I was inspired by a couple of ideas. I’ve always been interested in the concept of “the one who got away.” What happens when they suddenly reappear in your life? Would you be ready? Would you still care? Would you drop everything? Would you say all the things you’ve been waiting to say, forever? And then, one lazy Saturday I was watching Leo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in Romeo + Juliet (as one does), and I started daydreaming about what would’ve happened to those two wildly dramatic, self-destructive teenagers if they hadn’t died. If they simply went their separate ways and found each other again years later, as well-functioning, responsible adults. I started writing the draft that weekend.

Were there any major changes to the novel, the plot, or characters between your first draft and now?

In the first draft, Audre was much younger—like, in early elementary school. I found out quickly that I needed her to be more mature, so she could verbally spar with Eva and Shane. Plus, my daughter is twelve and very precocious, so the dialogue came naturally to me! Also, at first, there were more flashbacks. My favorite was the scene where Shane and Cece meet for the first time. It’s a little window into how he got his big break and became a literary star. Cece’s in LA for work and staying at the Roosevelt Hotel—and a very rootless Shane is working in housekeeping. When he stops by her room with a new duvet (after Cece popped Mo?t and accidentally sprayed her bed), they have a quick conversation, he figures out she’s a publishing bigwig—and he smoothly hustles his way into getting her to read his manuscript. It’s actually a really funny, revealing chapter, but I cut it because it’s not key to Shane and Eva’s story. Sometimes, as a writer, you create these lost chapters just to give yourself the information, so you understand your characters more fully.

Did you learn anything new about yourself during the process of writing this novel?

I wrote my first novel in my early twenties. As a younger writer, I felt the need to explain cultural nuances for the benefit of non-Black audiences. Writing this novel in my forties, I’m no longer compelled to explain my characters or their worlds to anyone. You get it, great! If not, I enthusiastically encourage you to google it.

Were there any characters that took longer to reveal themselves to you, or any sections in the novel that were more difficult to write?

It was hard for me to write about Eva’s invisible disability, because I, too, have had chronic daily migraines since I was a child. It’s a totally debilitating, misunderstood condition, and it’s ruined relationships with friends, boyfriends, you name it. Constant pain makes you feel isolated, like you’re watching life happen around you but you’re unable to participate fully—and its almost always accompanied by depression. It was like pulling teeth, writing scenes where I had to describe the pain or how alien it made Eva feel. I was frightened to confront those feelings, head-on.

Eva has a deep love of horror books and movies. How did you decide to include that as part of her personality, and does it connect with Eva’s feelings of being an outsider?

I’m a massive, massive horror fan. I loved Cujo as a kid, which is about a sweet Saint Bernard who gets infected with rabies, and then slowly turns absolutely murderous. Some of the scenes are written from the dog’s point of view, and you can see how he slowly retreated into himself, and his perspective went wonky, and he went crazier and crazier as the infection took over. That’s how living with chronic pain feels. You’re slowly driven mad by this thing, but it’s all on the inside—you’re not outwardly, obviously sick in a way that people understand. You’re silently terrorized. That was Eva’s experience. Horror is the language of the outsider. No matter what subgenre—haunted houses, vampires, slasher flicks—horror is about being preyed upon, and that’s how Eva felt.

This novel is filled with fun pop-cultural references from the early 2000s to today. Were you inspired by any specific moments in terms of creating particular scenes or atmosphere?

I’m an unrepentant pop-culture junkie! I love leaving time stamps in fiction. Whether it’s a popular song or a fashion trend, those details are like fun little nostalgic surprises that take you immediately to a certain place and time. Even though she was only in the novel briefly during a flashback, I loved writing Annabelle Park’s character. With her Juicy Couture minidress, diamond studs, and Chihuahua named Nicole Richie, you just know who this chick was in 2004!