Today I'm interviewing the ever witty Jennifer Wardell.
You may poke her and make fun of her, because quite frankly, she can take it.
Just read one of her books, and you'll see.
You'll laugh and you'll cry-because you're laughing so hard.
Beast Charming is almost here!
If you've ever loved a boy, you know that they're both beastly and charming. It's okay to want to smack them.
Jennifer will now answer my random questions:
If you
could start your day the exact same way every day for the rest of your life,
how would you start it?
I'd have a nice, leisurely morning lazing about in bed, a stack
of both new and beloved books next to me and some poor soul delivering me
breakfast.
A
Capella music, ya or nay? Discuss.
I've got nothing but love and admiration for people who can make
beautiful music without the aid of a backup melody. The groups that add vocal
rhythms using sounds can get so complex that you can't tell there aren't any
instruments when you listen to the song.
What
color would you paint the outside of your dream house?
I'd make it so I could change the house's color according to how
I was feeling at a particular moment. Sometimes I want a classy gray house, but
other times I want a purple house covered in stars.
What is
your favorite foot attire?
Unless the ground might make my feet hurt, I prefer to go
barefoot whenever I have the opportunity. Shoes and socks are useful, but
they're also extremely confining.
What is
your preferred writing ensemble?
I'll write in nearly anything – I have a notebook in my purse if
inspiration hits me when I'm away from my laptop – but my ideal writing outfit
is pajama pants and a nice, comfortable t-shirt (preferably with some sort of
witticism on it). That way, there's nothing to distract me from what's going on
inside my head.
You
probably get this a lot, but if you got sucked into a fairy tale, which one
would be your secret dream come true? What character would you play? (I know
people who want to be the Evil Queen, I'm just sayin'.)
Oh, there are so many stories I'd love to be sucked into, but
whatever one it was I'd want to be a side character like the fairy godmother or
mysterious old woman by the side of the road. Even the Evil Queen is usually
stuck in one spot, fulfilling her "destiny," but as a side character
I could go around and completely mess everything up for the better. I could
give the Evil Queen inside intel if I decided I liked her better than the
protagonist, or I could keep the serving girl from marrying the idiot prince
and let her run off with the farm boy she's secretly in love with anyway.
Have you
had a lot of awkward moments in your life? Has this attributed to all of the
fantastically awkward moments that your characters go through?
My life seems to be made entirely of awkward moments. Even on
those rare occasions when I seem vaguely calm, cool and collected on the
outside, inside I am always absolutely certain that I am about five seconds
away from doing something mortally embarrassing.
My characters end up in those kind of situations so often
because I want to imagine that even totally awkward dorks like me could still
be heroes. Also, it always helps to realize that you're not the biggest
screw-up in the world, and if I can give that to my readers then I've done my
good deed for the day.
Which
awkward moment are you particularly proud of? (In your books, sheesh.)
There are so many moments that it's hard to pick just one, but early
on in "Beast Charming" Beauty tries to have a dramatic moment and
instead gets completely lost in the woods around the castle. There's something really
funny to me about having all that momentum – the perfect argument planned,
righteous indignation firmly on your side – and not getting to do anything with
it because you're not sure which way is north.
Why
Beast Charming? What drew you to this story?
I always loved "Beauty and the Beast," but the
unspoken message that Beast needed to be "fixed" by someone better
than he was bothered me. Most of us are messed up and/or damaged in some way,
and we should be saving each other rather than waiting for some mythical
perfect person to come along and do the job.
Tease
us. Why will we love this story?
Because the hero gets the happily ever after and supporting
characters get all the best lines, and so when you make a supporting character
the hero you get the best of both worlds. Also, sometimes complete disaster can
be absolutely hilarious, and we all know that the butler is usually the one
who's secretly running the entire show.
You see? Read it, you won't regret it!
And if you're now dying to stalk Jennifer, here's how you can do it: (I believe she encourages the stalking But be prepared, she might fight back.)
Jennifer's