GCC Presents: Jessica Brody

My lovely friend (who totally rocks, as evidenced by her Women Who Rock Wednesday interview in November) Jessica Brody is currently on her Girlfriends Cyber Circuit tour promoting her YA debut, THE KARMA CLUB, which sounds like an amazing read.

Here are the details:

When you mess with Karma, Karma messes back...

Madison Kasparkova always thought she understood how Karma works. Do good things and you'll be rewarded, do something bad and Karma will make sure you get what you deserve. But when Maddy’s boyfriend cheats on her, nothing bad comes his way. That’s why Maddy starts the Karma Club, to clean up the messes that the universe has left behind and get back at the people who have wronged them. Sometimes, though, it isn’t wise to meddle with the universe. It turns out Karma often has plans of its own.



Now let's meet Jessica:

Jessica Brody is the author of two books for adults. THE KARMA CLUB is her first book for teens. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California where she is working on her next novel. Despite what some people from her high school might claim, she has never sought revenge on an ex-boyfriend. Visit her online at: http://www.jessicabrody.com

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

Jessica: This was definitely one of those ideas that just “came” to me. A friend of mine had told me some horrendous story about how a boy dumped her (I don’t even remember the story, I just remember it was infuriating!) and the entire time she was talking, I kept thinking, “Someone needs to do that right back to him. He can’t just get away with that. He needs a taste of Karma!” And then boom, the idea came to me. A secret society of girls who help each other out, dosing out Karma to those who deserve it when the universe is slow to do it on its own. And thus THE KARMA CLUB was born. Of course, as soon as the idea came to me, I also knew that my characters would never be able to get away with it. Karma is a tricky thing. And you definitely don’t want to meddle with the universe!

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?

Jessica: Actually there IS a soundtrack for my book! The Karma Club Original Book Soundtrack releases this summer! Featuring songs inspired by the book. Many of them are featured in The Karma Club book trailer! My business partner and I, Holly Clark started a record label and this will be our first release. There are FOUR original songs on the soundtrack that we produced and all of them fit at least one scene or key moment in the book. The Karma Club theme song, “Remember When” by Nikki Boyer, has been released as a single and can be heard on my website.

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!

Jessica: Hands down, Helen Fielding is the reason I’m writing today. When I read Bridget Jones’s Diary back in college, my life changed. It was the first book I’d read for “pleasure” (rather than for a school assignment) in a long time and I’d forgotten how entertaining and fun books could be. I knew right then and there that I wanted to write to entertain people. Just as Helen Fielding had entertained me.

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?

Jessica: I discovered rather quickly that I couldn’t listen to music while I write because the lyrics distracted me. Actually anything that doesn’t have a constant sound distracts me because every time the music changes or the beat changes, I get pulled out of my “zone.” So then I discovered I could listen to something called “white noise” tracks. I found one that’s just the constant sound of a waterfall and I started listening to it while I write. Now I can’t write without it!

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

Jessica: I’m working on a new YA book that will be out in 2012 called 52 REASONS TO HATE MY FATHER about a teen heiress who is forced by her ever-absent mogul father to take on a different low-wage job every week for a year if she wants any hope of getting her trust fund. I’m SO excited about it! Plus, I just finished the copyedits on another book that will be out in 2011 called MY LIFE UNDECIDED. And I’m also working on a new YA series that I can’t quite talk about yet. But it’s gonna be SOOOO cool!

Super cool, rockin' woman that she is, Jessica has agreed to run a contest for THE KARMA CLUB!

One lucky winner will receive a signed copy of the book. To enter all you have to do is leave a comment about the interview and include a way to contact you if you win. You can also gain additional entries as follows, just note them in the comments as well:
+1 for tweeting/blogging/linking to this interview
+1 for tweeting/blogging about THE KARMA CLUB
+3 for posting THE KARMA CLUB trailer on your blog or facebook/myspace

You have one week to enter, as I will draw the winner next Friday!

And last but not least, Jessica's got another contest going on as well. To celebrate the release of The Karma Club, she's giving away FOUR Flip Video Cameras (as well as TONS of other cool prizes!) on her site. Visit her website, http://www.jessicabrody.com for all the details and to enter to win!