Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Women Who Rock Wednesday: Carrie Jones

Welcome to Women Who Rock Wednesday! Today I have two winners to announce! JessicaSecret is the winner of the Maybenauts download card and Catie S is the winner of Suzanne Young's naughty list. I will be emailing you both for your mailing addresses, unless you email me first at stephanie at stephaniekuehnert dot com!

Today, I have another lovely GCC sister here, Carrie Jones who rocks and has a new book out called CAPTIVATE.

Here's the lowdown on the book:

In this NYT-Bestselling sequel to NEED, Zara and her friends knew they hadn't solved the pixie problem for good. Far from it. The king's needs grow deeper every day he's stuck in captivity, while his control over his people gets weaker. It's made him vulnerable. And now there's a new king in town.

A turf war is imminent, since the new pixie king, Astley, is moving in quickly. Nick nearly killed him in the woods on day one, but Zara came to his rescue. Astley swears that he and Zara are destined to be together, that he's one of the good guys. Nick isn't buying it, though Zara isn't as sure -- despite herself, she wants to trust the new king. But it's a lot more than her relationship with Nick that is at stake. It's her life -- and his.

You can get more details, read excerpts from both NEED and CAPTIVATE, and enter contests here!

And now, it is interview time, let's meet Carrie Jones!

Q: Please tell us what your new book is about and what inspired you to write it.

Carrie: Well, CAPTIVATE is the sequel to NEED, and NEED was inspired by this weird thing that happened.

I was at the Common Ground Fair, which is this huge, cool fair in Maine that’s sponsored by the Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association (MOFGA). To get to the main part of the fair you have to walk through this sweet trail that curves through these tall spruce trees.

While I was walking, right in front of me was this guy. He had a weird vibe. He was wearing all corduroy—blazer, pants. And sticking out from his blazer was this long tail-like appendage that was wrapped in different colored earth-toned cloth.

I guess he could tell I was checking him out because he turned his head and looked at me. His eye was this startling silver color. How startling? So startling that I actually gasped and got creeped out.

When we were in line to pay we made eye contact again and his eyes were brown.

I know! I know! I probably imagined the silver eye color.

It doesn’t matter. That was one of the main things that got me started. Then, I just had this image of a man standing outside an airport pointing at an airplane this girl was on.

It also creeped me out.

So, I started writing.

Q: If there was a soundtrack for your book what are five songs that would be on it and how do they relate the story?

Carrie:
Mad Girl's Love Song
Vindicated
Uninvited
Nobody's Home
Who Knows
Feels Like Tonight

If I say how they relate to the story it totally spoils the story, so I’m not going to. I hope that’s okay. Oh, I feel so rebellious now. Wow. Where are my purple combat boots?

Q: Who were some of your inspirations to become a writer or the inspirations that keep you writing? Feel free to include other authors, teachers, parents, or people in other creative fields, whoever is an inspiration to you!

Carrie: Em, my daughter, because she demands new stories EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. Without her I would still be a newspaper editor.

Joe Sullivan, my high school creative writing teacher, because he would always say YOU ARE A WRITER! He was so nice. He made me believe I was.

Q: Even though music plays in so heavily into my storytelling, I rarely can actually listen to it while I'm writing. Can you? How does music fit into your writing process?

Carrie: Sometimes, I can. Sometimes though it tricks me into believing I’ve written this brilliant, moving scene when it turns out that it was just the music that was brilliant and moving.

Q: What is next for you? What are you working on now?

Carrie: I am working on the third book in the NEED series and a horror novel with Steve Wedel.

Q: I have two questions that I always ask my Women Who Rock, the first is a two-parter. What was the first album you bought and the first concert you attended? Be honest, we don't judge, we like to see the roots of our women who rock!

Carrie: The first album I ever bought with my own money was U2’s WAR.

The first concert I attended is SO embarrassing. The city next to my town had just started a concert series in the parking lot of these old mills. Everyone (and their parents) went to the inaugural series, which was Hall and Oates. I spent the entire time mumbling, “I hate this” and trying to ditch my mom.

Q: Tell us about your biggest rock star moment, perhaps it's a moment of real success in your career, a time when you met someone super cool and had that Wayne's World "I'm not worthy" moment, or just a time where you felt like you got the rock star treatment. I get a huge variety of answers for the questions, so it's pretty much whatever "rock star moment" means to you!

Carrie: My biggest rock star moment happened last week when Caroline Abbey, Deb Shapiro and Melanie Ceckla of Bloomsbury called me up and told me that CAPTIVATE had debuted at #7 on the NYT Bestseller list for hardcovers and that NEED had debuted at #10 for paperbacks. I spent the entire phone call hyperventilating while Caroline shouted, “I told you that you were a rock star! I told you!”

She had in an email, and I told her I was more like the local guy playing guitar too loudly in the back of the very small restaurant, the guy who everyone wants to stop playing because they can’t hear each other talk.

I still feel more like that guy than a rock star.

Also, I am still in shock.

What a rock star moment! I have to say that is probably every writer's dream rock star moment... well at least it is mine :)

Today's Contest:
So, you want to win a copy of Captivate? I'm sure after hearing what it's about you do... ll you have to do to enter is comment. Please leave an email address so I can track you down if you win and get your mailing address.

Want additional entries? +1 for every tweet or link posted or blogged about to this interview with Carrie or spreading the word about Captivate!

I'll pick a winner next week!

12 comments:

pepsivanilla said...

Carrie is awesome :) I loved all the books I've read by her! Thanks for the interview!

pepsivanilla14(at)hotmail(dot)com

throuthehaze said...

I loved the first book in the series, and I can't wait to read Captivate!

Raelena
throuthehaze at gmail dot com

Ashley said...

Carrie's a great author! :) I'd love to win and read this book.

+1 Posted on my sidebar at http://booksobsession.blogspot.com

booksobsession(at)gmail(dot)com

Robby said...

Captivate. Captivate. Captivate. Carrie Jones. I need this book. :D

runningforamsterdam @ hotmail . com

jpetroroy said...

I'd love to enter. What a fun interview.

jpetroroy at gmail dot com

Liviania said...

I loved NEED. And I'm definitely looking forward to a horror novel by Carrie. (I was afraid it might be about curtains.)

Llehn said...

My daughter just read Need and is hungry for Captivate!

lesly7ch(at)yahoo(dot)com

donnas said...

Great interview. I loved Need. It was a great start to the series. And really want to read Captivate.

Thanks for the chance.

bacchus76 at myself dot com

Spav said...

I can't wait to read this book!

Tweet: http://twitter.com/Sparima/status/9032481820

spav05(at)gmail(dot)com

Audrey (holes In My brain) said...

Need is sitting on my bedside table right now! I really should go and read it, the cover is so pretty :)
Great interview Stephanie!

mangoes_7@hotmail.com

I ♥ Book Gossip said...

I would love to get a chance to read this book.

Please count me in.

+1 Blogged

cindyc725 at gmail dot com

babygirlG said...

I just read Need and I NEED Captivate.

tehashley(at)yahoo(dot)com