In Jenna Satterthwaite's debut novel, Made For You, a synthetic woman (the third of her kind) competes on The Proposal, a Bachelor-esque reality show where contestants search for their happily-ever-afters. Julia Walden is literally made for Josh LaSala; her creators at WekTech specifically designed her appearance, personality, and dreams to match his desires. But their newlywed (and soon after, newborn) bliss is short-lived. Josh goes missing, and suddenly Julia's humanity isn't the only thing being questioned.
Told through dual timelines, MADE FOR YOU is both riveting and moving. It tackles topics like domestic violence, prejudice, and the sacrifices of the American domestic ideal. I was invested in Julia's story from start to finish, and was thrilled to talk to the author who, well, created her.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
Jen St. Jude
The premise of Made For You just knocked me out of the water. What inspired this story?
Jenna Satterthwaite
I was taking a walk along the Chicago river during my lunch break some time in March 2022 (that walk, by the way, is where so many of my ideas spark!). I happened to be watching Love is Blind on Netflix, and had just finished reading the incredible YA sci-fi by Joan HeThe Ones We're Meant to Find, which had put Bots that are indistinguishable from humans on my mind. Ideas collided and suddenly I was like 'what if a Bot went on a reality TV love show?' Adding murder was a no-brainer!
Jen St. Jude
One of the novel's central questions is, "What defines humanity?" With developing technology around AI and other medical advancements, is this something you wanted to explore?
Jenna Satterthwaite
I didn't go in with the specific goal of exploring AI. I do love the question of what makes humans humans (and have explored that in past unpublished manuscripts)—but I wrote this before everyone was talking about generative AI and its ethical conundrums. My first goal with writing Made for You was simply to write something fun and distract myself from the intense grief I was walking through at the time as my youngest sister was dying of cancer. But as I got deeper into the book, what started to drive my excitement was the creator-created relationship. I was examining my own faith at the time, and wrestling with the age-old question of, if there is a good God, why do we suffer so much? I grew up in the church hearing that God is love and created us for love—but everything I went through with my sister during the 4 years between her cancer diagnosis and ultimate death made me examine that all over again. It's not a new question, or an original one. But this book became a place where I worked through the pain of going from a place of trust to an intense place of questioning.
Jen St. Jude
I also read this story through a queer/trans lens, and felt like Julia's reality challenges mainstream, and in many ways antiquated, ideas about identity. Julia faces so much prejudice, hatred, and violence for being who she is. How did you think about gender while forming the world Julia is born into?
Jenna Satterthwaite
With the exception of the existence of Synths (synthetic people), I wanted the rest of the aspects of the world of Made for You to be exactly like our own. I was raised in a very traditional gender role cultural context. For a long time, I didn't question this much. In fact,my husband identified as a feminist long before I did (love that guy). Still, I try not to be too hard on Past Jenna. The patriarchy is so enmeshed in how we all think—regardless of our gender—that untangling it from our assumptions and ways of thinking, and identifying it as a reality of its own, takes time and work—and often pain. It's often a moment of trauma, pain, or unfairness that can wake us up to even seeing the patriarchy. I was in my early 20s when I realized, "oh, I am a feminist, duh"—and I attribute it to the workplace gender-based pay discrimination I was experiencing. At the ripe age of 41, I'm still learning and fine-tuning my views—and I don't see that stopping. Julia has a similar journey. At first, she doesn't question her reality. She's happy with the role she's been given, and she's happy to walk in her assigned lane. It takes betrayal and profound hurt for her to start shedding some of that naivete. Her given worldview breaks, and she has to make choices about what worldview to build in its place.
Jen St. Jude
The plot is so expertly crafted. How did you plan and execute your vision for the novel?
Jenna Satterthwaite
I executed it very chaotically! I had originally planned to write all the "NOW" murder mystery scenes first (since at first I wasn't even sure who was going to die and who was going to be the killer), and then go back and fill in the "THEN" reality TV scenes once I knew what the mystery was going to be. But I wrote the first THEN scene just to see what would happen, and then kept writing in order with no plan for the THEN scenes and only a vague plan for the NOW scenes. I still can't believe it worked. I won't spoil what happens, but there is a really fun time towards the end when the timelines collide, and some kind of magic must have been at work, because that just happened all by itself. The first draft came together in under 2 months.
Jen St. Jude
In the wake of the reality show, Julia is at once figuring out how to be a wife and a mother. She's also grappling with who she is outside of her programming and relationships to other people. Did you draw on any personal experiences to develop these dynamics? Why was this something you wanted to explore through the story?
Jenna Satterthwaite
I absolutely drew on my experience on the motherhood side! I even revisited some of my fondest pumping and mastitis memories to write about Julia's experience (ha). I think what I was most interested in exploring relationally, though—and this was directly inspired from my grief—was the function of pain in human relationships. It can really open us to deeper connections. Shared pain can create empathy. But there's some other level of pain that feels absolutely isolating. I experienced both kinds during my sister's cancer years. Sometimes, I felt surrounded and loved and held and seen, and like I could see others' pain more clearly and understand their stories of grief and loss better. This is the kind of pain Julia experiences in the THEN sections; suffering that draws her into closer, more trusting relationships with the other girls in the mansion, and with Josh. In the NOW sections, I explored the other kind of pain; the kind that grinds you down and makes you feel like no one can see you; the kind that breaks you down to the point of absolute isolation and desperation.
Jen St. Jude
Although most people won't be featured on a reality show, it sometimes feels like social media still turns that camera on our lives. How do you think this gaze shapes our own realities?
Jenna Satterthwaite
We're all ultra aware these days not just of who we are and what we're doing, but how other people are perceiving us through what we choose to share on social media. It can quickly turn into a very toxic dynamic. I've seen that sometimes the couples who are most mushy-gushy about each other on their social media feeds are actually having the most struggles. I find that fascinating—and horrifying. In Made for You, I also really wanted to hit on the added (and unfair) pressure that minorities experience: the pressure to present a perfect image that's 'representative' of their group. In a way, Julia is a 'super-minority'—one of just three Synths—so I had a lot of fun playing with that angle and trying to point out how untenable and unjust it is.
Jen St. Jude
In addition to writing, you're also a literary agent (congrats!). Has that changed how you think about publishing at all?
Jenna Satterthwaite
Thanks! It's been a really fun journey to get to dive into agenting this year! So far, it hasn't changed how I think about publishing—but that's probably because I've been writing with the goal of becoming traditionally published for nearly 10 years now. Of those ten, I spent 4 1/2 years in the query trenches, and then 4 years agented but with no sales, with book after book dying on submission. When I finally sold Made for You in May 2023 I had accumulated something like 800 rejections between agents and editors. I have learned the long and hard way that publishing is that uncomfortable nexus where art and money meet; that it's unpredictable, and fickle, and just all-around TOUGH. Having experienced all of this personally on the authoring side makes me even more excited to advocate for my authors.
Jen St. Jude
Are you working on any new projects? What's next for you?
Jenna Satterthwaite
I have two more books coming at you next year! Beach Bodies, a murdery resort thriller (with some romance tossed in) is coming Summer 2025 from Transworld/PRH UK, and my second book with Mira/HarperCollins, The New Year's Party, is coming October 2025.
FICTION
Made For You
By Jenna Satterthwaite
Mira Books
Published July 2, 2024
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