So, drumroll ...
The first person to comment on this post with a question they want to ask in my next author interview (volunteers?) will win a $5 Amazon Gift code (which happens to be enough to buy Pride & Popularity for Kindle!)
But on to the interview:
First off, a big THANKS to Jenni James for being my author interview guinea pig. She deserves so much more. :)
Me: Yippy, I'm so excited. This is my first author interview ... I hope it doesn't show! :) Here goes: I know its so cliche, but we all want to know anyway ... when and why did you decide you wanted to write?
Jenni: I never wanted to! Honest! lol! I started writing Pride & Popularity when Taylor [Anderson, the hero of Pride & Popularity] wouldn't stop talking to me. No joke. He kept me awake for three weeks, after that I decided I better stop fighting it and write the book. It totally changed my life.
Jenni: Actually, I was a few chapters into the book when I called my mom and was telling her I needed a title for it. After a few minutes of laughing over the different silly ones we'd come up with. I got real quiet and said "you know, this book is like Pride and Prejudice." My mom didn't even miss a beat when she said, "Well, why don't you call it Pride & Popularity?" I didn't even realize I was rewriting Jane Austen until that moment. After that it was a no brainer to add the other books.
Jenni: Oh man... I loved so many of them. But my most favorite had to have been the MORP scene. It's just amazing. :)
Me: You're obviously a Jane Austen lover (like me!), which is your favorite book? Favorite movie version?
Jenni: Hands down my favorite book is Persuasion. I soo love that book! And I love the newer one with Rupert Penry-Jones. :) But my favorite of all the Austen movies is the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice. *sigh*
{Of course, who doesn't!}
Me: Equally important, are you a "pantser" (writing by the seat of your pants) or an "outliner"? Jenni: Oh, definitely a panster. I never have any idea what's going on as I'm writing. I swear it's my secret for writing so fast. I have no idea what's gonna happen and I can't stop writing until I figure it out!
Me: Describe your publishing experience. (That was droll ... sorry!)
Jenni: Well... I wrote P&P in 2008 and after sending out 50 queries, I got my agent a few months later. That November we sent P&P out to the big publishers and had some amazing interest from three of them. On the day we were hoping to have an auction for the book, the publishing world stocks crashed. They each asked us to come back in 6 months. The day we were going to submit again, my agent went into premature labor and had her twins three months early. That fall (2009) I found a new and upcoming LDS publisher, Valor Publishing. I loved what they stood for. After talking with my agent, I decided to sign with them. Due to the economy, by the time they were ready to print my book, their finances had depleted and the company folded this past Spring when I walked. I'd decided to self-publish and had put P&P up on kindle for 3 weeks, before I signed with Walnut Springs. Even though I had several publishers approach me, I'd still planned to do the series on my own, for various reasons... but after talking it over with my awesome publisher, I decided they were the best fit. And here I am. P&P has been through about 21 rewrites since 2008 when I first finished it. :)
Me: And finally, what book character would you like to meet in real life?
Jenni: Oh goodness. I have to choose one? I'll stick with the characters in P&P. Since Taylor was based loosely off my friend from high school... I'm going to have to go with Blake. I'd love to see just how charming he really is. :) Hehee. I always find the bad ones intriguing. {Don't we all ... }
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Again, a big thanks to Jenni for participating. Hurry and post your questions for the next interview!
Hmm.. you could ask who they would cast to play the parts of their characters if their book was made into a movie or TV series :)
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