Jenny Downham's debut novel, Before I Die, is the first-person account of 16-year-old Tessa, who is dying of leukemia and wants to cram a lifetime of experience — including love — into her last few months. Random House snapped up the young-adult heartbreaker a week after Downham finished the manuscript. Jennifer Reese talked to the 43-year-old Londoner by phone.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Did you always want to be a writer?
JENNY DOWNHAM: My dream as a child was to be a movie star. I went to drama school, and I worked in improvisational theater, taking theater to people without access — in prisons, housing estates, youth centers. We'd get there and say, ''What do you want to see a show about?'' Then we'd make up a performance with the audience, on our feet. It really helped me understand how stories work and how they're structured. Then I gave up acting six weeks before my second son was born, in 1999.

What was your inspiration for Before I Die?
I started with the voice. I didn't know Tessa was dying, she just seemed to be very sad and angry, and I wasn't sure why. After six months it became apparent. Also, when the London bombings happened [in July 2005], it struck me that so many people I knew were affected. Life becomes very concentrated and it really impacted the writing. I realized that when you put the clock ticking, in many ways you highlight the narrative drive.

You write very movingly about cancer and death. Have you gone through anything like that with someone close to you?
No. I haven't had that experience. Because of my acting training, I kept a diary as Tessa. I'd also embody her, pace around the flat and pretend to be her. I treated it as a performance.

Did you have to do a lot of background reading on illness and grief for the novel?
I read Susan Sontag's Illness As Metaphor and Anatole Broyard's Intoxicated by My Illness. And I did lots of research on cancer.

Who are some of your favorite writers?
I have loads. I read a lot of poetry and I really love reading plays. Raymond Carver. I just read Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, which I completely love.

People have responded very emotionally to this novel. Was it equally wrenching to write?
I didn't cry when I wrote it — someone had to hold the reins. But it was very difficult letting her go; writing the end scenes was very tough.

What's next?
I'm writing another book. I have a voice, a location, and it seems to be for young adults, but I don't really know what it's about. I'll approach it from a lot of angles and chuck lots of words at it.

NEXT PAGE: Catching up with Toronto physician Vincent Lam, author of the award-winning story collection Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures