1) Why ya books? Did you choose this genre or
were you ‘chosen’ by it? It chose me and it did so because (at the time) it was
all I would read. I've since expanded my horizons and
now write both YA and Adult novels.
2) Is there a children's/ya author, living or dead,
who inspired you particularly?
Hm. L.J Smith, author of The Dark Visions trilogy,
inspired me immensely as did author Christopher Pike.
Both can weave such a wonderful story with brilliant,
lovable characters in such a short amount of page numbers.
They are brilliant and I still have all of their books. Or, you know, the ones I loved most. Surprisingly, Vampire Diaries is not among them. It's not that I didn't enjoy that series of L.J Smith's it was just that, in my opinion, her other two series (The Forbidden Game & Dark Visions) were SO much better.
3) Please, tell us about your last book and, if you can, about your future projects.
My current WIP is an adult novel titled Messy Death. I am nearing an end to it. It will be the first novel I've completed. Ever. The next YA novel I plan on starting will be a called Prowling for Demons and is about a young girl who is a human/demon/Succubus half breed who hungers for the extinction of her own kind. Or, you know, the bad ones anyway. :-)
4) How was your writing journey? Was it difficult to find an agent and get published?
My writing journey is still going. I plan on epubing Messy Death while looking for an agent with that MS. I am what is considered a hybrid writer. One who wants to be both self-published and traditionally published. Go big or go home, right? LOL. As far as I know, finding an agent, for anybody who doesn't have the inside track, is hard work. Getting published is also hard whether your doing it yourself or getting help. There are so many things to learn, but I am only focused on the one aspect and that's finishing my novel. The End is my goal and until those two words are written, I'm not focusing a whole lot on the 'what comes next' because it's too overwhelming. For me, it's a step process. I can see the next step, sure, but if I'm too focused on what's ahead of me I lose sight of where my foot is setting down and wind up taking a nasty digger down a flight of stairs. LOL. 5) What’s your opinion about this E-book revolution?
Would you consider the indie route?
I would and I am. See answer #4 6) Nowadays many publishers expect their authors to use social media
a lot to promote their books. Many authors, on the other hand,
would prefer to write only, without being distracted by digital trivialities:
what are your thoughts?
I think promoting yourself is always a good idea, but it can be very time consuming. Writers would always rather write. It's what we love. The tedium of having to promote is sort of a downer, but not always. The hardest part is finding a rhythm and sticking to it. Once you've got time set aside for everything, you're golden. That being said, there are a great many days where I ponder how awesome it would be to have a personal assistant to stuff I don't want to do. I meant, c'mon. Who doesn't want a personal assistant? They're whole purpose is to do the things you don't want to do. All the time! I can't think of a better gift. Maybe I'll put that on my Christmas list this year. :-)
Info about the author:
Jennifer writes Adult and Young Adult Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Romances.
Michigan is the state she calls home, and she is currently
working on her Associates Degree with the major of creative writing.
She is married with two beautiful children.
To know more, please visit: http://jenniferstarks.wordpress.com
