#61 J.K. MacLaren: From Drive to Survive to Writing an F1 Romance

Off The Shelf with Morgann Book

Author J.K. MacLaren joins Morgann Book to discuss her transition from a successful Wattpad career to publishing her F1-inspired romance deb

Key takeaways

• J.K. MacLaren wrote the first draft of Full Throttle in an intense three-week period fueled by Nespresso.
• The author uses 'McLaren' as a pen name, which is actually her mother's maiden name.

Main topics

• Writing process and research
• F1 and Drive to Survive influence

Notable quotes

It's almost like the real housewives but just with f1 drivers.

Conclusion

An insightful look at how niche pop culture interests can be transform

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) you Speaker 2 (0:05) Hi everyone, welcome back to Off the Shelf. Today's guest took three tries to pass her driver's test and then went on to write an entire romance novel about car racing and F1. She is a Waddy Award winning author with more than 6 million views on Wattpad. And today we are diving into her breakout adult romance debut, Full Throttle, J.K. McLaren. Welcome to Off the Shelf. Thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to be here. Thank you for coming in. Now I gotta ask you, what goes into the perfect... Frozen yogurt bowl. Speaker 1 (0:34) Okay, this is actually such a good question. Wait, now I'm like, this is the most important question I'm going to answer. This Speaker 2 (0:39) is how Speaker 1 (0:39) we're going to Speaker 2 (0:39) start it, obviously. Speaker 1 (0:41) Okay, I am like a hazelnut chocolate frozen yogurt person. So it's basically ice cream, but then I could be like, oh, it's healthy. It's for you. It's fine. And then I love getting like a peanut butter crunch on top. What's peanut butter crunch? Speaker 2 (0:54) Okay, maybe this is a UK thing. Maybe, because I don't think I've heard of it. Speaker 1 (0:57) Okay, so there's a chain called Pinkberry, and they do this kind of like... It is like it's peanut butter, but it almost is like these tiny little crunch balls, like almost like a Captain Crunch. I don't know how to describe it, but it's really good. So I get that and then I get raspberries. And then if I'm feeling crazy, I get brownie bites. Speaker 2 (1:15) That's pretty perfect. I go more like the sometimes plain fruity vanilla. Frozen yogurt. Okay, yes. But then I dump. I'm happy that you didn't. Not that I would judge anyone for this ever. But people who put gummies in their ice cream. No. I cannot get on board with because it freezes and it goes hard. Speaker 1 (1:33) I know. I feel like I don't understand because then you're like, you know, like trying to bite in and it's like, no, I don't get it. I Speaker 2 (1:39) don't get it. You're right. Yeah. Now, I asked you this because that comes up in your author bio. And I don't think I've ever asked an author this before, but. How did you go about crafting your author bio? Because we've got Froyo, we've got Half Marathon, we've got Taylor Swift. How did you know what parts of you and your life you wanted to put in the bio? Speaker 1 (1:55) Okay, I think... possibly those are just like my three favorite things. If you ask me about myself, I'm like, those are the three things that come to mind. Like anybody that knows me knows that I love like yogurt bowls or like smoothie bowls or basically anything cold and sweet. And then Taylor Swift, I was like, she's a must. Like I just, I listened to her constantly. I cried at the Eros tour. So I was like, she has to go in there. And then half marathon, I feel like I need to update because that's now like a few years ago. Um, but I do feel like I'm always trying some sort of like crazy fitness challenge. Um, my fiance got me to do a tough mudder a few years ago. I don't know if you've heard of it. No. Okay. It's like a 10 kilometer death race is like how I describe it. Um, in fairness, I didn't know this going in. Like he sold it to me as like, oh, we can just do 10K to like practice for your half marathon. And I was like, oh, that's fun. He's like, oh, it's in a muddy field. And I was like, yeah, okay. I can get behind it. So we show up. And keep in mind, I haven't trained for this because I've been like, it's a 10 kilometer run. Like that should be fine. And basically every kilometer, there's a different obstacle. So some of it, like one's called like the Matterhorn. So you're basically just climbing this massive structure. But other ones include jumping into freezing cold water. Another one, they electrocute you. Speaker 2 (3:10) My God, what? Speaker 1 (3:11) I know. So we're like showing up to every obstacle and I'm like, are you kidding me? Like the first kilometer, we're just like having a nice chat. I'm like, this is so nice. Like, thanks for convincing me to do this. By like kilometer nine, I was like, I actually can't speak to you anymore. Like, I will never forgive you for this. Speaker 2 (3:27) So what's next then? You did the half marathon. You did this torture 10K. Yeah. Speaker 1 (3:33) Sorry, I'm currently toying with the idea of doing high rocks. Speaker 2 (3:36) Oh, okay. I just found out, someone mentioned this to me yesterday. It's like a competition of sorts. Speaker 1 (3:41) Yes. Honestly, I'm still kind of confused what it actually is. I'm like, this is classic. I just sign up for something and I'm like, oh, I'll figure it out. I think it's basically, is it like a five kilometer to 10 kilometer? I'm going to get this so wrong, but I think it's like a running thing with obstacles in between. Not electrocution. No electrocution. Yeah. I should double check though. But I think like you. like do different like one is like squatting with a bosu ball and stuff and i know that people say it's like very difficult because there's different weight categories you have to hit but i also feel like this is one of those things where it's a bit of a cult like i think like got it okay yeah like once you're in the high rocks cult you can't leave so i'm just debating whether i want to like become a high rocks girly You're wondering if Speaker 2 (4:26) you should join the cult. Yes, Speaker 1 (4:27) exactly. I feel like my sister has now just joined the cult. And I'm like, it feels inevitable that it's going to happen. So Speaker 2 (4:34) then when can you update your author bio to say, and deciding on whether or not I'm doing High Rocks? I mean, maybe just after Speaker 1 (4:41) this podcast. I'm going to be like, I guess I'm doing it. This is the sign. Damn. Speaker 2 (4:45) OK, let's jump into F1. You weren't into motorsports growing up. Someone had recommended you drive to survive. And you still weren't like, totally game on it. Who and what convinced you to finally watch Drive to Survive? Speaker 1 (4:58) You know, I have to credit my friend Josie with this. Like, she is a lawyer. She's so stubborn. As soon as something is in her head, she's like, I'm going to do it. So she was convinced I should start watching Drive to Survive because we had a girls trip. We were going away to Kelowna. And she basically was like, I really need to get up at 6 a.m. to watch this F1 race. So she knew there was no way that I was going to let her watch this when I was like asleep in the hotel bed next to her. So she's like, I have to get her into the sport. And she basically kept texting me being like, you just need to watch the series. And I was like, no, I'm not watching. I'm not going to do it. Like, so not into cars, so not into motorsport. And then she basically was like, look, there's some cute guys. And I was like, okay, like, I could give it a watch. Like, I could give it a try. And yeah, this would have been like 2020 or 2021. And yeah, I just binged the whole thing in like two weeks, maybe. I think there were two series out at that point. Speaker 1 (5:51) yeah now she she'll go around and be like i'm basically responsible for your career and she is so i'm like i can never repay her wow yeah now Speaker 2 (5:59) someone who has never watched drive to survive and anyone listening or watching who has heard of it but doesn't know what it's about why like what is it about like what about it like made you watch the whole thing all the way through yeah Speaker 1 (6:10) i'd say so it's on netflix and i think they do a very good job of showing you exactly how high the stakes are in the sport so For me, I definitely was more of like an ice hockey girl growing up in Canada, like had no idea anything about Formula One or cars or motorsport in general. And basically, they make you care about the people. so the race rules yeah the race rules come a bit later they're like basically it's not important for the first two episodes they're like we'll just intro all the drivers and like show you how they grew up and you know the rivalries and who they're dating and the drama it's almost like the real housewives but just with f1 drivers got Speaker 2 (6:48) it and Speaker 1 (6:49) then kind of when you're suckered in with that is when they're like oh by the way like this is drag reduction this is like how many pit stops they should be doing for this race. And then suddenly you're in too deep and you're like, oh, like now I care. Got it. Yeah. So it's really interesting how they put it together. I think they do a really good job of like introducing it to people that weren't into the sport before. Speaker 2 (7:11) I got to watch it. It's on my list. There's so many things I have to watch. Now. How many people have and do you think will draw the comparison between F1 and your last name, which is McLaren? Speaker 1 (7:20) Yes. So it's actually not my surname. It's my mom's maiden name, which is terrible in terms of like, you know how they always say for like banking passwords, it's like your mom's maiden name and your childhood pet. I'm like, oh no. But yeah, basically I foolishly didn't realize because I've been using it as my pen name on Wattpad. And I hadn't been doing any Formula One novels. I'd just been doing kind of contemporary romance. And then it was only when my agent started shopping my F1 novel around to different editors that I was on a call with one of the editors. And they were like, oh, that's so fortuitous that your surname is McLaren. And I was like, what do you mean? I just hadn't put it together. And then they had to explain it to me. And I was like. Oh. Right. Yeah. Speaker 2 (8:05) Well, it's my last name is Book legally. Yes. And everyone's like, oh, it's just, it's like. Not pen name, but it's like a stage name. Speaker 1 (8:13) Alias or Speaker 2 (8:13) like a username. Yeah. I Speaker 1 (8:14) can never change it, basically. That's where I'm Speaker 2 (8:16) at. Speaker 1 (8:17) But that's, I think this is proof that like nominative determinism exists, where it's like you were born with our names. You were destined to