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.
Thanks for having me! There are some tough questions in here, so I hope I did them justice.
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?
There was no single moment where I thought, “Aha! This is what I was meant to be.” Growing up, I always hated English class (I blame it on the fact that my first three years of school were in French) so I never considered a career in that field. It wasn't until I was in my Masters thesis defense, when my advisor told me I was a very effective writer, that I began to think it was a possibility.
After I graduated I started reading. A lot! Like three or five or seven books a week. My advisor's comment was always in the back of my mind. I found myself mentally editing sentences as I read and thinking, “Ooh, it would be a cool idea if the character had done XYZ!” Finally, I decided that if I wanted a character to do XYZ, I'd have to write it myself.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
When I started reading all those books after grad school, my first love was Regency romance. So when I decided to pursue a writing career that was my first attempt. But writing historical fiction is hard—besides all that research, you're practically writing in a different language. I'm all for easier. So next I got excited about Bridget Jones's Diary and the Chick Lit genre and wrote two of those. They were so much fun to write and came faster and easier for me, my voice was stronger, but the market kind of sank.
Then in summer 2005 I got this idea that absolutely had to be a young adult story. Something clicked. My voice fit. I got my dream agent and, a few months later, sold to a fantastic editor. I think it was a combination of persistence, determination, and willingness to grow and learn as a writer that ultimately led to my success.
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?
Imagine starting over at a new school where everyone but you has super powers.
That's the situation in OH. MY. GODS. Phoebe is a cross-country-running California girl who gets uprooted to a tiny Greek island and struggles to find her place at a school for the descendants of the Greek gods ... without getting zapped to Hades in the process.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
Can I say myself? When I begin a story I have to know two things: the premise and the main characters. Everything else grows from the characters interacting and reacting to the situation. My plot develops from my characters, and my characters have a lot of my traits, whether it’s impossibly straight hair, a nebulous high school social status, or a fondness for retired ice cream flavors. (Please, Ben & Jerry, bring back White Russian!)
There’s a famous quote from sportswriter Red Smith that says, “There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.” To varying degrees, I think every author puts elements of themselves in their characters. You have to create a three-dimensional character on the page, and whose dimensions do you know better than your own?
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
My dad is a professor and a set and lighting designer for the theatre. My mom is an amazing salesperson with costume design tendencies. Mostly they’re relieved that I’ve chosen a creative profession over pursuing a legal career. I have the only parents in history who said, “Please don’t be a lawyer, be a theatre major!”
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
When I'm sick, I want grilled cheese and tomato soup. When I'm just having a generally crappy day, I want the biggest Caramel Frappuccino I can get.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
1. Splash cold water on my face—I am so not a morning person.
2. Check email/MySpace/blogs—I have to limit myself to an hour or I'll do that all day.
3. Drag myself to Starbucks to work—I can't write at home (too many distractions) so coffee shops are my salvation.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?
A giant tub full of yarn. It's like an addiction—I've had to ban myself from walking down the yarn aisle at Michael's because I can't help falling in love with all the beautiful skeins. This wouldn't be a problem if I actually knitted things from them, but I don't have the patience.
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?
Turquoise, so I could be at all the world’s greatest beaches.
Who is your favorite cartoon character?
Cinderella. When I was little I had the Disney picture book and was so in love with it that my mom made me a Cinderella costume for Halloween when I was seven. This was no fairy tale ending, though. Everyone thought I was a fairy. (That doesn't sound bad, but trust me it was traumatic!)
Which cartoon character is most like you?
The Little Mermaid. She's such a dreamer—always fantasizing about this other life, this other world. But she's also willing to do what it takes to achieve that dream. I think I have that same balance of fantasy and practicality.
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?
Though I’m fascinated by medieval Scotland, pre-Columbian Americas, and ancient Greece (obviously) I think I’d find those times too smelly, dirty, and dangerous for me. The Austen fan in me is screaming Regency England, but I have severe wanderlust, so maybe on board the QEII for the duration of its round-the-world journey.
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re writing?
I’ll listen to just about anything. For me, music derives meaning from events or periods of my life. Like heavy metal reminds me of riding the bus home in junior high, Nirvana makes me think of my freshman year in college, and Sean Paul’s Temperature was the hot hit the summer I spent in Florida when I sold my first book.
Music is an absolute necessity when I write--I need the white noise of songs I’ve heard a million times. My writing soundtrack is usually a mix of classic-y favorites (Norah Jones, Bon Jovi, U2) and hot pop songs (Fergie, Sara Bareilles, Rihanna).
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?
Right now I’m in love with the TV show PSYCH--it’s so clever and funny and I adore James Roday. (Shhh, don’t tell anyone, but I also have a weakness for reality shows.) I don’t have enough space to list all the movies I’ve watched over and over, but the top three would be JFK, the 13th Warrior, and the Usual Suspects. (Not anything like what I write!) The last movie I saw in the theatre was 27 Dresses--fun, cute, and a perfect afternoon escape.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
High school is a part of life, not life itself. Everything seems immediate and serious and life-or-death important, but even a year after graduation it will feel like a distant piece of your childhood. So make sure you have fun and enjoy yourself and don’t let the pressures take away from what should be a time for making memories. (Actually, this advice applies to all readers, not just teens!)
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
There will be a sequel to OH. MY. GODS. in 2009. (It doesn’t have a title yet.)
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
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