Jessica Jones actor new book 'Bonfire' sparked controversy

You may not remember her name, but you know her face and her current Netflix show Jessica Jones where she plays the title lead. Her name is Krysten Ritter not only is she an actor, a producer and a musician -- she's now an author.

Her novel "Bonfire" is a psychological suspense about a woman forced to confront her past in the wake of small-town corruption. The story is a dark exploration of what happens when your past and present collide. Ritter joined Build Series NYC to talk about her new book and the drama she went through to get this project created.

"Bonfire" she says, was never meant to be a book. Ritter had bigger plans for the title but her production company was not on the same page. Females and teenagers didn't seem like topics the production company could sell to audiences.

"I put together this idea. I have a production company, so I'm always throwing around ideas and areas for TV pitches. I did all this work to develop "Bonfire" as a T.V. pitch. I matched into my agency with all my ideas and pitched it. They felt that because I have this parallel storyline of the teenagers that it would narrow my window of who I could sell this idea too."

"The story focuses on a female lawyer, but because of the side story with the teenagers, people did not feel like the story would sell to one particular audience."

Ritter's production company didn't have much to say when she pitched her idea. "So let's focus on some of your other ideas" was all they said to her at the time. Ritter did not take that advice.

"I don't really like to be told no because I really loved the idea! Somethings you have things that are not going to sell, and you move on, but this one really stuck with me. I think because it felt personal. I felt like I had such a good handle on this and I had so much to bring to this idea, and I felt personally connected to it. I wasn't ready to let it go."

Since "Bonfire" did not fit their script, Ritter had to take things into her own hands.

"This is a female-led, small town, murder mystery, which kind of happened around the same time that cereal [killing] was blowing up. Everyone is pitching these crimes anthologies."

Even though "Bonfire" wasn't the TV series Ritter hoped for, it is now a novel that everyone can buy anywhere books are sold nationwide.