First off, thanks so much for joining us for an up-close and personal interview for TeensReadToo.com! My name is Jen, and I’ll be your server today…oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out of your writing schedule—which I’m sure is busy!—and answering a few questions for your readers and fans.
Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?
I wanted to be a princess, an actress, a truck driver (so I could say all the lingo on the CB like ‘What’s your twenty, Bandit?’) , and the list goes on. But I am a writer. I don’t think you get a choice. Storytellers just are. I suppose I chose the medium of writing to tell my stories because I hated having jobs where my performance was based on either convincing someone they looked old and needed to buy ‘hope in a jar’ or beg programmers to add my tool sets to the latest release. I wanted to be judged solely on my own creative merits. Of course the other side of the coin is you have no one to blame if things go wrong…
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
I came to fame the usual way. I slipped a manuscript under the bathroom stall of an editor at a writer’s conference while she was ‘trapped’ and relatively defenseless-HA.
That is so not what happened. Like I mentioned before, I was always a storyteller. I just wasn’t writing to be published. I created for my own amusement mostly. But I loved it. It was my husband who finally recognized that I should be writing for a living. I joined Romance Writers of America and attended monthly meetings for about two years (while still employed in the corporate world) when NY Time Bestselling Author Elizabeth Boyle told me to get off my *ss and finish the book. I pitched a not-so-done manuscript at a local writers conference and was shocked when the editor asked for the full (that means they want to read the entire book-see my dilemma?). I went home and frantically wrote for five months. I sent in the manuscript and discovered the series line was being discontinued but she loved the work and if she had perhaps received it sooner…
There was a lesson there somewhere. Galvanized by a lovely rejection letter, I came up with the concept of Braced2Bite as a joke and a friend dared me to write it. So I did. It landed me a super agent who sold the book in a three book series to my fabulous agent over a weekend. Yeah me.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
My latest book, out in 11/06 called Fangs4Freaks is book two of a three book series about a cheerleader who gets attacked after a football game and changed into a vampire. Except, she is only a half blood vampire and has to wear orthodontic fang headgear to feed because when she was twelve she had her fang teeth removed for braces. She goes from popular gal to geeky Undead in one night. To top it off, she is Undead without a license and must defend her half blood existence to the Vampire Tribunal who hasn’t let mongrel vampires (that would be her) live for over two hundred years. Of course the Vampire Investigator assigned to her case is a total hottie, but he is also the guy who will have to perform the execution if she isn’t allowed a license. Being a teenager is a lot more complicated nowadays. Especially for vampire teens.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
Everything around me is an inspiration. I take bits of life and rearrange it to make my stories. For instance, the inspiration for Colby, my Undead cheerleader was that I had my eye teeth removed for braces. I was reading a vampire book and wondered what it would be like for someone like me to be a vampire. I wouldn’t have any fangs that came out to feed. And so it began.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
My mom is one of my biggest fan. Her Barnes and Noble has to restock my books all the time. My husband travels internationally and is always giving my promotional stuff to business associates. My sister is a rabid (note: rabid is past avid) reader and she is forever recommending my books to her friends.
Just when I thought I was a pretty hip chick, my 12 year old daughter banned me from speaking at her middle school because I might embarrass her so I’m never as cool as I think I am, which probably keeps me humble.
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
I hate to be cliché and say chocolate but it is what it is. Although I have been known to snuggle up to a box of doughnuts on occasion. Shhh, don’t tell the chocolate.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
Throw on clothes, brush teeth and use the bathroom. Thank you for pointing out my terribly ordinary existence to the readers. :)
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?
I’m not sure it would surprise you but my house is filled with every video game, console and board game ever created. My husband designs and creates video games so we have absolutely everything, including bookcases full of Role Playing Books.
I love to scrapbook and see it as my mission in life to own every cool tool of the trade. We recently built our dream house and it looks like a castle, inside and out. Including the knight in shining armor in the entry way. My husband always says if we are going to be geeks, we are going to be the King and Queen of the Geeks.
Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
But I know the tree answer! I would be a willow tree so kids could use my branches to snap each other’s behind when they play and then shade them when they were relaxing. My long trailing fingers could hide lovers from view and allow excellent climbing but if I have to be a color, I guess I would be green. Because I like green. Sigh.
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
Currently I am loving Avatar: The Last Airbender but I am pretty fond of Fairly Oddparents. My all time favorite cartoon character would probably be Peppy Le Pew though. Guess it’s the romance writer in me. If you can call a stalker skunk who won’t take ‘la meow no’ for an answer romantic. Hmmmm.
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history, where and when would it be—and why?
Regency Era for the clothes and the food. Maybe hang out with Jane Austin and catch a glimpse of society through her eyes.
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re writing?
My music tastes change with each book. Right now, I am pretty heavy into Evanesance because I love the alternative Goth metal sound when I am writing vampires. However, my mp3 mix for these books also have Avril Lavigne, Michelle Branch and Seether so it’s way out there.
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie you saw at the theater?
This falls TV line up is pretty good which is terrible for me. I love good TV and will drown myself in bad TV if I am procrastinating because I am stuck on a scene. Currently I am into LOST, Heroes and Desperate Housewives. I discovered Dead Like Me two years after Showtime cancelled them and picked up the two seasons on DVD which I am trying to watch. Also trying Battlestar Gallactica from first season DVD’s. It seems I never get out to see movies anymore but I did go see Channing Tatum in “Step Up” and felt a lot like Mrs. Robinson. If you don’t get the reference, that’s probably best.
I have a story addiction personality which means that if I discover a new author or TV show, I will read their entire backlist and watch every show-non stop. I watched the complete seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in three weeks last summer. That’s six+ episodes a day people. Yikes.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
This is probably the part of the interview where I should go all mom on everyone and warn them against drugs, alcohol and promiscuity. Well, I’m not your mom so I will let her do her job and just advise you to be comfortable with yourself. You are unique. Special. Totally unlike anyone else and that is wonderful. If we were all the same the world would be soooo boring. It’s hard to be different but everyone would be so much happier with themselves and more confident if they embraced all their quirkiness and reveled in it, instead of wishing they were something they’re not.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
Like I mentioned, pick up Fangs4Freaks on Nov 7, 2006 and Dating4Demons comes out May 2007. If you love the series, talk about it online, mention it on your My Space page and loan my books to your friends. The more buzz it gets the better the chances of me continuing the series.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
0 comments:
Post a Comment