Breaking News!!! We are thrilled to announce that the story SWAP CLUB by Lauren Wise, published by WBS Entertainment has been optioned to become a feature film. Stay tuned for the launch of the book and all the exciting updates on the movie.
Q: Your story SWAP CLUB has become a hot discovery on the World’s Best Story.com platform, can you tell us a little more about SWAP CLUB and some of its original plot?
How far would you be willing to go to explore your fantasies? To save your marriage? In the case of Valerie Matthews, she hopes that she can do both by joining SWAP CLUB, a secret membership only sex club that once a month sends husbands out to have sex with another man’s wife, while his wife is opening her door to some strange woman’s husband. The only problem is that Montreal is a small island and secret sex clubs are never that secret. Sometimes the stranger at the door is very familiar. Teenage crush, childhood friend, the one that got away. Saving her marriage by sleeping with other women’s husbands tests the boundaries of Val’s personal relationships, her sexual desires, her morals, and her understanding of herself. SWAP CLUB is a raw and honest, nostalgic and sentimental, and unabashedly sexual journey. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll come.
Q: SWAP CLUB has already been optioned to become a feature film and the book is being published by WBS Entertainment, how exciting is that? How has your experience been so far working with the team at World’s Best Story?
It has been a real dream come true. Every writer dreams about seeing their story in print or come to life on the silver screen and I am pinching myself everyday that WBS and eOne love Swap Club as much as I do. WBS entertainment has been unbelievably wonderful to work with. It has really felt like a collaboration, and a supportive place for SWAP CLUB to reach its fullest potential. I couldn’t imagine working with anyone else on this project, and can’t wait to finish writing SWAP CLUB’s sequel and work with WBS Entertainment again…and again…
Q: What story has influenced your life?
I naturally gravitate to first person narratives. It has always been the voice for my stories. Catcher in the Rye is one of my strongest influences and the earliest book to strike a chord in me. I remember reading each page and being mesmerized by J.D. Salinger’s ability to tell a story, with a colloquial voice that allowed me to feel, taste, and smell Holden Caulfield’s experiences. Salinger also treated New York City as more than just a setting, revealing its nature and character. This emphasis on setting as an integral character is something that I carried with me in writing Swap Club.
Q: Do you have any advice to aspiring writers?
The writing industry is a hard nut to crack. I have been given more No’s than Yes’s. As a writer, you will never please everyone. There are no rules and there are too many rules. You have to believe in you, in your writing and in your personal writing style. Own it so that every time someone says ‘No’, you smile and keep pushing forward. You have to decide from the start that they just don’t ‘get’ you if they’re saying NO. I have been broken up with by more agents than I care to admit. I have been told over and over that my writing is too raw. I spent years tweaking Swap Club over and over trying to appease different people and only when I realized that I had listened to everyone but my own voice, was I able to finally complete Swap Club. I cried, I complained, I felt defeated, I gave up and then I buckled down and kept pushing forward. Writing is not a straight line. It’s lots of circles. The only person that dictates whether I have success is me. Thankfully, WBS believed in me and Swap Club. I encourage all writers to submit their work to WBS, you never know what can happen- but you’ll never find out unless you try! There’s no better home for your story than World’s Best Story.
Q: What are the ingredients for a blockbuster story to you?
1 pint of sexy
1 cup of originality
2 heaping teaspoons of taking risks
3 tablespoons of raw, unabashed honesty.
1/2 cup of not giving a sh*t what people think.
Q: What story do you enjoy reading over and over again?
I love reading with my children. I just uncovered my memento box from when I was their age and found all my Archie comics. They still have my name on them in my mom’s handwriting from when she would send them to me in packages at sleepaway camp in the 80’s. My 9-year-old daughter really enjoys them and I love reading them over and over again with her.
Q: How would you increase literacy?
I believe that this starts at a young age. Unfortunately the days of libraries and book stores seem to be coming to an end. Sadly, electronic entertainment is replacing what was once a good book. It starts from the adults in our children’s lives to be good role models. Put a stack of books next to your kids bed and read. Read with them. Read to them. Let them read to you. Take out a subscription to National Geographic magazine for Kids, and let them get excited about their monthly magazine waiting for them when they get home. Sit with the Scholastics ordering form and let your kid pick one book a month, or take a trip to a book store on a Sunday afternoon with your kids.
Q: What’s on the horizon for Lauren Wise?
Ooooh…. Well…I’m currently working on the sequel to Swap Club – keeping my fingers crossed that I will be mostly done before the end of the year. Swap Club the movie is a huge project on the horizon for me. I will be the executive producer and creator which are all accomplishments that I am proud of. I have one other screenplay that is being pitched at the moment and eight others on my desktop that I’d love to see on the silver screen too. You never know…..not to mention being a mom….my plate is pretty full, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Q: What is your favorite drink while writing and/or reading?
Hmmm…it depends on the time of day Early mornings and 4pm require a coffee. Anytime later than 5pm and I’m happy to sip a glass of white. But not more than one glass..I’m a cheap drunk.
Q: What is your favorite fashion/makeup brand?
I love All Saints, Free People, Current Elliott, Iro, Ash and Ember, Adidas, Converse, Mereadesso, Dermalogica, and (believe it or not) I’m a huge Aveeno fan. Their shampoos and creams are treasures and don’t cost as much as a car payment.
Q: What is your favorite genre of music, artist?
I love reggae, 90’s throwback hip hop, 80’s pop, and I’m also a sucker for cheesy party anthems. Artists that have been the soundtrack to my life have been Madonna, U2, No Doubt, Alanis Morissette, Aerosmith, Guns and Roses, Pink and more recently Bruno Mars and Justin Timberlake. OK, OK….I will admit to liking Justin Bieber too (thanks to my kids).
Q: What is your favorite movie, tv show, superhero?
200 cigarettes, Singles, That 70’s Show (dubbed in Spanish while I lived in Mexico), 24, Sex and the City, Stranger Things, and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills– Erika Jayne is a goddess and my superhero.
Q: What is your must have snack?
Peanut butter and chocolate Baskin and Robbins ice cream, chocolate croissants, Cheskie’s Babka, Doritos, Humpty Dumpty Cheese Sticks (aka Cheesies – cannot be substituted for that cheetah brand), Salt and Vinegar Chips, and anything my boyfriend is eating when I said I wasn’t hungry. Carrots – I don’t really like them but I just wanted to put down something healthy.
Q: If heaven exists, what is the first thing you would like to hear from God when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
Good news, you can come in.
Q: What ice cream flavor would you invent?
Chocolate with Chunks of peanut butter and …wait….that already exists. So, I guess I’d just rename it “Get Your Tongue off My Cone.” or “Get Your Own” or “Put Your Mouth Near My Ice Cream Again and I’ll Put My Fist Near your Face.” You know…something sweet and cute….
You can read a sample chapter of SWAP CLUB here: https://worldsbeststory.com/story/swap-club/
Vincent Salera
Founder @ World's Best Story™ amplifier of creativity & fun!
