Interview with Jessica Hopper

http://girlsguidetorocking.com

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?

When I was in 9th grade I started putting out a fanzine called Hit it or Quit it, it was a little music magazine that I made on a typewriter and then would Xerox a few hundred copies at Kinkos. I started doing it because I hated the way that all the music magazines I read were so serious, and never asked bands the questions I wanted to know—up until then I spent all my time painting and drawing. Once I started working on my fanzine, I realized that writing was what I wanted to do with my life. Writing allowed me to have my own little world and purpose; it still does.

Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?

When I was first starting to play in bands, when I was 15 or 16, I wished for a book like The Girls’ Guide to Rocking. I had talked about writing it for the last ten years, but had always been to busy with other projects, or my other writing (I am a rock critic) to ever dig in. Two summers ago, I got an email from Megan Nicolay at Workman, saying she was interested in having someone do this book for them, and her brother, who is a musician friend of mine, suggested me. It was an incredible stroke of luck.

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?

Playing music, starting a band and going on tour is the most fun I’ve ever had—it’s something everyone should do—my book explains how to make it all happen.

What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?

The women I know who are making music never cease to inspire me; they are so creative and cool. Also, when I’ve gone on tour, after the shows a few girls would come up and talk to me—and they were always so excited about music, they always had a band they were trying to get off the ground, or wanted to put on shows in their town; the enthusiasm and curiosity of those girls really sticks with me. I wanted to make a book for them

Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!

My mom and dad are newspaper journalists themselves, so they are really proud and have always encouraged my writing. My mom and dad both influenced my music tastes a lot—when I was growing up, my dad was a photo-journalist based in Central and South America, and he would send me packages with little trinkets from different countries, and always include a mix tape. Despite being a Dad, he had pretty cool taste—the first time I heard Public Enemy, Jimi Hendrix or jazz was through him. When I went home to visit my mom for Christmas, I walked in and she was BLASTING a Shins record—I was like “MOM, CAN WE TURN IT DOWN A LITTLE?”—she’s a rocker.

Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?

Mashed potatoes, all the way. I could eat them by the bucketful.

What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?

Talk to my cats, Monkee and Wyatt, feed them and make some coffee. The coffee is for me.

If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?

The little cardboard cat-castle (or “catsle” as we call it) my boyfriend and I built for my cats. It has turrets and a little drawbridge-door. No moat though.

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?

Green. I’d like to be a nice minty shade; it’s my favorite color.

Who is your favorite cartoon character?

Nemo, of Finding Nemo fame.

Which cartoon character is most like you?

Thumper from Bambi—I’m an enthusiastic spaz.

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?

New Castle, Indiana circa 1949, so I could hang out with my grandma when she was my age.

So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re writing?

The only kinds of music that I don’t listen to are, like, traditional Irish music, new age and lite jazz. When I was writing the book, I had a playlist that I would write to: the first few Led Zeppelin records for the day time, and then Radiohead and this female-fronted band from Iceland, Mum, for the night time. My favorite bands right now are Screaming Females, who are a young rock band from New Jersey and Katie Stelmanis—who is a singer from Toronto, and has an all-girl backing band. I saw them play last week and they were so amazing--I tried to talk to them and was so geeked out it was embarrassing. All I could get out was “Um, that was super cool.”

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?

Gossip Girl, Friday Night Lights and 30 Rock. My two favorite movies that I never get tired of watching are Babe and a documentary about moviemaking called Burden of Dreams. The last movie I saw in the theatre was the new Terminator movie, which I saw because it was my boyfriend’s turn to pick which movie we saw. It was mostly explosions, which is not really my thing.

You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?

Start a band. Today.

One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?

I’ve never really written fiction, and my friend dared me—well, it was more like an assignment to write a story—but with some rules. One of which was that the narrator couldn’t be human… so, I’ve just finished up “Officer O’possum: Police Possum” about a possum that solves human crimes. I am not sure if it will see the light of day, but you never know.

Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!