Q. Julia’s accident is the impetus for action in this book. How did you go about researching brain trauma and its effects? What challenges did you face in writing about this topic? What inspired you to write about it?

I love novels about friendships and had always wanted to write one. I was working on an article about brain health when I stumbled on research about traumatic brain injury. Learning that our personalities, preferences, talents—even our voices—can be so dramatically affected by even a seemingly minor head injury fascinated me, and I began imaging the ways it might affect a woman my age. Before I knew it, I had come up with the plot for The Art of Forgetting.

I started by interviewing several neurologists and reading every study on the subject that I could get my hands on. Midway through writing the first draft, I realized I needed even more information than I already had, so I interviewed a few more neurologists and began spending time in online chat rooms for brain injury survivors and their families and friends. At one point, I was so immersed in brain injury research that I began catching and correcting mistakes in Wikipedia entries on the subject—a fun little tidbit that I worked into Forgetting’s plot.

Interestingly, when I told two of my friends about the novel’s storyline, they were shocked: one had suffered a brain injury herself when she was younger, and the other’s childhood best friend had a brain injury that had contributed to the disintegration of their friendship! This confirmed for me that while my novel was fictional, it was rooted in truth—and my friends’ insights also helped me significantly in revising later drafts of Forgetting.

Q. Like Marissa, you are also a journalist specializing in health and nutrition. What pressures do you see on a woman’s self–image within that industry? What conflicts do you see between your responsibility to the publication for which you’re writing and your identity as a woman?

As a freelance journalist, I have the ability to choose who I will and will not write for. That’s a great thing! No magazine is perfect, but I try to work for those that are conscious of the message they’re sending to women and girls. As a mother, my litmus test is: if my daughter was old enough to read this magazine, would I be okay with her doing so, or would this magazine diminish her self–esteem and provide her with potentially damaging information? If I wouldn’t want her to see it, then I don’t work with that publication.

Q. The Art of Forgetting flashes back between the past and the present. How did you go about building this story? What were some of your biggest challenges in constructing the narrative? What tips would you give to other authors writing their first novels?

Some people never focus on their past. I’m not one of them! For me, it was natural to write a story that used flashbacks, although it was undeniably challenging to keep track of all the little details and the timeline of Marissa and Julia’s life.

My advice to would–be authors is to write the book that you would want to read. Not what you think will sell, or that you think other people would prefer—the novel you would pick up on a bookshelf and wouldn’t put down again until you finished it. Do that, and the rest will work itself out.

Q. Marissa makes some difficult decisions toward the end of the book. What central message do you want your audience to walk away with? What do you think is the most important part of Marissa Rogers’ story?

Many readers have told me they were surprised that Marissa didn’t run away with Nathan. To me, it wasn’t just forgiving and loosening her ties with Julia, but choosing Dave that marked Marissa’s entry to adult life. I think Marissa ultimately reveals that it is often the hard choices— the ones that require us to abandon beliefs we’ve clung to for years, and even decades—that are the most rewarding, and the best for us.

Q. What are you working on now? Can we expect more from Marissa Rogers? What are some topics or issues you’d like to explore in future work?

Marissa may show up in future books, but right now, I’m very excited to be working on something different: a novel about four childhood friends—two men and two women—and how a series of events that occurred during their late teens influenced their lives in their mid–thirties, particularly in light of the fact that one of them has become famous. It’s a big departure from Forgetting—yet I’m again returning to the theme of how our friendships influence the people we become.