JENNIFER BOSWORTH INTERVIEW AND STRUCK GIVEAWAY

Today I’m excited to interview debut author Jennifer Bosworth whose debut book STRUCK was released on May 8, 2012. One of the things I enjoyed about this is that Maya is a lightening addict. And we explore what could become of our world if it was being destroyed by lightening storms and catastrophic earthquakes.

Sorry in advance for Blogger's weird text changes that I can't figure out how to correct.

Here’s a description from Goodreads:

Mia Price is a lightning addict. She’s survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her.

Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.

Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but she fears he isn’t who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything.

 

Hi Jennifer. Thanks so much for joining us.

1.      Tell us a bit about yourself and how you became a writer.

Much to the dismay of my parents, the only thing I’ve ever wanted to be is a writer. I always wrote short stories, and I started writing terrible novels in my teen years, novels that I never finished, and that’s not a tragedy. I majored in English at the University of Utah, but I can’t say I learned anything about writing in college that I couldn’t have learned through a subscription to Writer’s Digest. (PS, if you are a writer and you don’t have a subscription, get one) After graduating, I worked as a copywriter, and taught some adult education classes on writing horror, fantasy, and science fiction.

The first two novels I wrote were . . . I’m not going to say terrible. They were unpublishable, in part because they were each more than 800 pages long. That’s too long for a first book from an unknown author. Also, I didn’t realize I had more of a YA voice than an adult voice. Once I started writing YA (once I found out there was a YA genre) everything fell into place. 

2.      It's good to know that I'm not the only one whose first novel was too long. One of the things that drew me to your book was the idea of Mia’s power being lightening and the whole idea that lightening storms and catastrophic earthquakes could destroy our world. How did you come up with these ideas?

I like to base my supernatural in the natural, the vaguely, maybe possible. I’d never thought much about what lightning was capable of until I stumbled across some bizarre facts about the phenomena, and about real life human lightning rods. I began researching lightning and all the bizarre things it can do to people, and I was hooked. I had to write about it.

Connecting lightning to earthquakes was all about energy. When a certain kind of energy caused by pressure and friction builds up along an active fault line, you get an earthquake. I thought, “What if a fault line got the equivalent of a jumpstart from a bolt of lightning? Could that set it off?”

3.    I never knew people could be lightening rods. How interesting. Mia has a lot to deal with—a world falling apart, hiding her powers, and a dysfunctional mother and a brother she doesn’t see eye to eye with. What were some of the challenges in creating her as a character?

Avoiding “whiney character” syndrome. I wanted Mia to be tough, but I also needed her to be effected by all that was going on in her life. It’s incredibly hard to strike that balance between angst and toughness. Mia is strong, she’s powerful, but she cares about something deeply, and so I hit her where she lived so I could wrench the appropriate kind of angst from her. I pushed Mia to the brink to see how long it would take to break her. As it turned out, she’s even tougher than I thought.

4.      Awesome that you recognized the challenge. And you did a great job not making her whiney. Most dystopian and post-apocalyptic deal with a society controlled by the government. But in STRUCK, the government feels pretty unequipped to handle the situation and the Prophet, the leader of a religious cult, is trying to take control. I found that fascinating. Tell us what made you choose tackle this very emotional for some people issue and one not very explored in YA books?

I’ve been obsessed with cults for as long as I can remember. I was born in 1978, the year the Jonestown Massacre occurred, so I wonder if my lizard/baby brain remembers everyone talking about that tragic event. When I was a little older, I started having recurring nightmares that a cult had formed in our town, nightmares so real I started to believe they weren’t dreams at all. I was in high school when Aum Shinrikyo attempted to kick-start Armageddon. Shortly after that, the Branch Dividian siege in Waco, Texas went down. Add to that, I grew up in Utah, where we were always on the lookout for renegade fundamentalist polygamists. They were easy to spot. For the most part, they look just like the polygamists who live on the compound in Big Love.  

Aside from my cult obsession, I wanted Struck to convey something a bit more serious. I grew up in an extremely religious community, and as a kid I didn’t feel like I was encouraged to think for myself. It seemed like adults were always telling me what I believed as opposed to asking me to decide for myself. Part of the reason I created my character, Mia Price, is because I love the idea of pitting a cynical teenager who doesn’t believe in much of anything against two doomsday cults, both of who are trying to force their beliefs on her. If there is a subliminal message in Struck, it is this: don’t let anyone else do your thinking for you. Not a political leader, not a teacher, not a religious leader, not even a parent. Listen to them, but don’t believe blindly.

5.      So interesting how you drew on an obsession from your childhood and your religious experiences. Share with us how you obtained representation by your agent Jamie Weiss Chilton and your road to publication. I read your book went to auction and I’d love hearing about that.

I pitched to Jamie at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference four years ago. At the time, Struck was only half finished, so when she asked for the full manuscript I had to hurry and write the last 150 pages in a week, because I didn’t want to tell her the book wasn’t done. She read the book and gave me notes, but didn’t sign me right away. I’d never revised for an agent before, so I had no idea how to address her notes. I ended up completely rewriting the book, which Jamie did not expect. She was a little uncertain at first, but eventually signed me and we did a few more rounds of revisions together. Those revisions are the reason Struck went to auction. Jamie helped me turn this book into the book it was meant to be.

Going to auction is a surreal experience. It’s one of the few times a new author will feel like the power is in her hands. Four editors from major houses participated in the auction, so I got to talk to all of them and hear what they had in mind for the book. All of the editors were wonderful, but I clicked with Janine O’Malley of FSG/Macmillan, and I trusted her vision for the book.

6.      I can't imagine writing 150 pages in a week. Sounds like we all want to go to auction and experience being in power for once. Marketing is a big part of being an author. What have you learned from other authors who debuted before you and how is that shaping your own marketing plan? What advice do you have for us aspiring authors?

I’ll start with my advice for aspiring authors, and it is this: you don’t need to worry about marketing until you have something to market. If you find that Twitter and blogging are getting in the way of you actually writing, shut it down. Write first, market later. I didn’t get on Twitter until a year after Struck sold, and that didn’t hurt me one bit. But if you truly enjoy blogging and FBing and Tweeting like mad, AND you still have time to write, have at it.

That being said . . . a lot of the marketing we authors do tends to feel like shouting into the dark. It’s difficult to track results. What’s worked the best for me is to be genuine and enthusiastic, and to try to entertain people at the same time that I’m selling them on my book. 

7.      Thank you so much for saying we don't have to be on Twitter yet. I may join but have been obsessing about it. It's so freeing to know that can wait if I need to not join now and focus on the writing. What are you working on now?

I’m having a hard time keeping track of my own projects. So many of them!! I’m finishing up two books––a psychological horror and a post-apocalyptic fantasy western––and writing proposals for others. I’m also working on several horror screenplays. My true love is horror, so I hope I end up finding a place for myself as a horror author in both YA, adult, and film. 

That's great you're so productive. Thanks Jennifer for sharing all your advice. You can find Jennifer at her website, Facebook, and Twitter.

Jennifer's publisher generously offered an ARC of STRUCK for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on June 23th. I’ll announce the winner on June 25th. If your e-mail is not on Blogger, please list it in your comment. International entries are welcome.

If you mention this contest on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook, please let me know in the comments and I’ll give you an extra entry.

Here's what's coming up:

On Wednesday I'm participating in an Indie Book Giveaway Hop. I have an awesome giveaway planned.

And Friday I'll be posting my NEVER SURRENDER BLOGFEST post. I'll be sharing a very personal story so I hope you'll stop by. Don't forget to enter my contest for Elana Johnson's book SURRENDER. The link is at the top of the blog. And I just won a copy of her e-book REGRET. Since I have it, I'm giving away the copy I won. 

Next Monday I'm interviewing Lynda Mullaly Hunt and giving away a copy of ONE FOR THE MURPHYS, a contemporary story I really, really enjoyed.

And don't forget our Tuesday Tips and Casey's Agent Spotlights on Thursdays.

Hope to see you on Wednesday!