The CW’s “Jane the Virgin” is one of my fave TV series about an aspiring novelist. In its third season, main character Jane Villanueva had a normal trajectory to novelhood with being a student then a teacher then a literary agent assistant while mostly being a hotel waitress. Magically, last week after finishing her romance novel based on her dead husband, she gets a book deal. Now, her career really sounds like made for TV.
Within one episode, she turned her work into an author showcase and received a book deal totaling $50,000. What she does wrong seems like a teachable moment: Don’t quit your day job until you cash every check.
Despite her luck, Jane doesn’t seek consultation about the financial side of the deal and quits her job with the demanding literary agent she’s been working with only for a few episodes, or technically a span of three years. When the publishing house sends the contract of the breakdown of the money, she learns it’s not all in one check but in increments over time until the book is published.
Crisis mode. She needs her job back. Cycling with her ex-boss and making the extravagant promise of luring an author back to the firm doesn’t work. In the end, she’s back to waitressing at the Marbella hotel. It’s an easy fallback choice with familial connections, but she had a desirable position for a budding novelist. She messed up. Or the effect of her error may melt away once the book is published in a year, or at the end of the season this spring in TV time.
The telenovela-inspired show likes to factor frantic moments into Jane’s life, so this book deal may see more dings before blossoming into her dream.
