Tell me about
yourself Jennifer.
Hi Bryan! I'm a psychological thriller writer and I live in
Toronto, Canada. I love chocolate (can't write without it), a cat named Kobe,
and a fascination with serial killers.
When did you know you
wanted to become an author?
I knew I wanted to be an author when I was in my early
twenties. However, I knew I wanted to be a storyteller
when I was five years old. My dad, who isn't a writer, has always been a
natural born storyteller, and he preferred to make up stories for me at bedtime
rather than read to me. I knew early on that I wanted to make magic the way he
did.
Is there a central
theme to your books?
So far there seems to be. My stories focus on my villains
almost as much as my protagonists, and I love exploring the idea that everyone
has a dark side. We all have secrets, things we don't want anyone to know about
ourselves. My books focus on the duality of human nature.
What books have
inspired you the most in your life?
I cut my teeth on Stephen King. His books were the first
adult novels I ever read, and PET SEMATARY and IT were probably the two books
that influenced my writing the most. What I love about King is his ability to
get you to believe in, and root for, his characters. Because of that, I believe
in every crazy, awful, scary thing that happens to them, and I always read a
King book feeling a sense of genuine terror.
What’s a typical day
in your writing routine like?
I start each morning with coffee, a burning candle
(rain-scented) and a quick edit of everything I wrote the day before. Then I
work on adding about 2,000 new words to my manuscript. While I'm writing, I'll
tweet and check Facebook and send emails (which sound like they should be
distractions, but are actually little breaks for me that give my brain a rest
from fiction writing), but the rule is, I don't finish for the day until I hit
my word count. Then I'll do another quick edit of what I just wrote. In a good
day, I'll work for about four hours. On a bad day – one where the words just
aren't flowing well – I might be at my desk for twelve to fourteen hours.
What is it that you
do to relax?
I have a few TV shows that I love (Dexter, Breaking Bad, Mad
Men) and I also love to watch sports. I'm a big fan of UFC, the Seahawks, and I
never miss a grand slam tennis tournament. I also spend a lot of time with
friends and family, and of course I love to read.
Do you use an outline
or do you write organically?
I'm definitely an organic writer, which can be fun, but also
a pain in the ass. I've written more plot holes than I can count, and I've
written myself into corners more than a few times. But my favorite thing about
not plotting ahead of time is that I often shock myself by what actually
happens in the story. And if I feel that way, I like to think my readers will,
too. It makes it totally worth the risk of getting stuck or going in the wrong
direction.
Have you ever had
writer’s block and what did you do to push past it?
I've been blocked before, and I don't so much push past it
as I'll write around it. A novel
doesn't always have to be written in a linear way. Sometimes I can't see what
happens next, so therefore I can't write it, but maybe I can see what happens
at the end, and so I'll write that scene instead. Or I'll write scenes I know
will happen somewhere in the middle. I've learned that as long as I keep
writing, those blocks will eventually dissolve and the pieces will all fit
together.
Is there a certain
time of day when you are most creative?
Nights are when I get my best ideas, but mornings are when I
write my best. My writing is terrible at night – disjointed and lazy – but my
ideas are more interesting. Which is why I love to write right when I wake up. That
way, last night's idea is usually still fresh, and my rested brain is capable
of putting strong sentences together.
How many drafts do
you usually write of a manuscript and what is your editing process like?
Typically I'll write four drafts of a manuscript before I'll
feel comfortable that it's the best it can be. The first draft is written
really fast, as my goal is to get the story down before I lose it. My second
draft is always the most challenging because it's when I'm fixing the story
structurally and making sure my plots arc where they're supposed to, and that
my characters are developing properly. The third draft is where I really clean
up the prose and make each sentence, paragraph, and scene shine. The fourth
draft is a polish.
What do you think of
the recent changes in the publishing world?
Whoa, that's a very big, very open ended question! Which
recent changes are you referring to? As a relative newcomer to publishing (my
first novel was released in July 2011), I'm honestly not sure I know how to
answer this, except to say that I'm all for e-books. There was a time when I
never thought I'd own an e-reader, but I do now, and I love reading books
digitally almost as much as I love reading traditional hardcovers and
paperbacks.
Out of all the books
you’ve written do you have a favorite, and if so why?
CREEP will always be my first love, and I don't know that
I'll ever be able to duplicate the experience. Writing it was all passion, all
heart, all mojo. I didn't have an agent then, I wasn't published, and I didn't
know if I'd ever be published. I simply took all the time I needed to tell the
exact story I wanted, and it was done when I said it was done. With FREAK, I
was very aware that I had a deadline and that there were expectations I needed
to fulfill, and an audience I wanted to market to properly. From a technical
standpoint, I think FREAK was a better book than CREEP, but I loved every
moment of writing CREEP, and I definitely can't say that about FREAK.
What are you working
on now?
I'm working on a standalone book tentatively titled
MAGNOLIA. It's a psychological thriller about an 85-year-old serial killer who
was never caught, who's now living in an old folks home and getting bored. And
so he decides to come out of retirement for one last hurrah.
Where can we buy your
books?
Pretty much everywhere books are sold! Thanks
for having me, Bryan. This was fun!
