Want to win an autographed copy of Struck by Jennifer Bosworth? If you're a loyal follower, then you've read our interview with this distinguished YA author, and know what the book is about. We know, we know. It's too good to be true. Believe it, non-believers. To win a copy of Struck, all you have to do is visit Jennifer's author page on Facebook and tell her how much you want to read her book. Be sure to tell her The Pen & Ink Blogspot sent you. We'll be watching Jennifer's author page and be selecting a winner at random. It could be you. What are the odds? Better than being hit by lightning.
The deadline is Midnight, September 30st. Sincerely, The Management
Jennifer Bosworth is the author of Struck, a YA novel set in post-earthquake Los Angeles, a city full of cults, prophecies and Mia, a girl with a fatal attraction to lightning.
1. I
attended your amazing talk at the 2012 SCBWI Conference – The Conspicuous
Writer: Helping Readings Discover Your Work. How did you score that gig?
I made
threats that if they didn't put me on staff I would spike the Purple Haze
cocktail at the Hippie Hop with LSD. And when that didn't work, my agent pulled
some strings.
Actually,
I never would have thought I could make it onto the SCBWI conference staff, but
my agent, Jamie Weiss Chilton, who used to be one of the conference organizers,
suggested I write a few proposals for breakout sessions and panels just to see
if they’d accept me. I chose topics I had some insight into, wrote my
proposals, and my agent sent them in. I was quite pleasantly surprised (and
terrified) when they accepted my Conspicuous Writer proposal and also put me on
a success story panel. I have chronic “I don’t deserve this” syndrome.
2. The
amazing Struck book trailer screams professionalism. Any advice for us amateurs
about creating book trailers?
One of
my favorite topics! I could jibber jabber about this subject all day, but I’ll
keep my advice brief.I want to speak
specifically to live action book trailers, because that’s what I chose to
create for “Struck.”
When
writing the script for your book trailer, don’t try to deliver a synopsis. If
potential readers want to know what your book is about, they can read the
jacket copy. Trailers should help them feel
what the book is about, and live action trailers especially need to pack a
punch, so pick the most visually compelling scenes to adapt, and write
theme-based copy rather than plot-based.
Hold
a casting session and pay your principle actors, even if it’s only $50 a day.
Casting is one of the most important parts of a live action book trailer,
because this is often where potential readers will get their first introduction
to your characters. A bad actor or a miscast actor can alienate a reader. Also
you’ll widen your pool of available talent if you offer compensation.
Music
is your best tool for manipulating the audience, so don’t choose sleepy, classical
music unless you want the audience to take a nap. There’s no shortage of music
licensing sites online where you can find inexpensive options for music that
won’t cause narcolepsy.
3.
Have you ever had a close encounter with lightning?
I've never been struck by lightning, but I did have one strange experience while I
was working on “Struck.” I’d just finished a long revising session and was
heading to bed. I looked out my bedroom window, and I got a strange feeling.
Then a bolt of lightning flashed through the sky right outside my window. There weren't even any clouds that night. I swear I’m not making this up. You believe
me, don’t you? Don’t you?!
4.
Your main character Mia mentions a lightning strike triggering the Puente Hills
Thrust Fault. I’ve heard of the mythical earthquake weather, but I haven’t
heard of lightning effecting fault lines. Where did you get this idea? (Any
complaints from seismologists?)
So far
no complaints from seismologists, but I’d love to get a professional’s take on
the possibility of lightning causing earthquakes. The truth is, no one really
understands lightning, and it can do amazing, inexplicable things. Scientists
can argue with that, so they might also have a hard time arguing with my
fictional science.
5. Do
you think the end is coming? Do you have a personal “End of the World”
scenario?
Have
you seen “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo”? Because if you watch it, you might be
convinced that the world has already come to an end.
Seriously,
though, I don’t want to believe the end is coming, but whenever I watch the
news, I can’t help myself. I have a survival plan for an earthquake in Los
Angeles, but my husband keeps drinking our earthquake water, and I keep eating
our Progresso soup when we run out of groceries. I don’t think we’re going to
last long. My backup plan is to learn how to make moonshine so I have a trade
that will increase my post-apocalyptic, societal value.
6.
Some years ago, I dreamed of a Los Angeles basin covered in garbage. Gray sky.
No people. Just garbage obscuring everything. On the beach, possibly Santa
Monica, I saw tires mounted on pylons rising up above the garbage field like
monuments. Should I worry?
Yes.
Absolutely. If there’s one thing my main character, Mia Price, and I have in
common, it’s that we expect the worst. Now I’m worried that you’re having
psychic visions and my city will soon be a wasteland.
Side
note: I checked an online dream dictionary and it said: to see piles of garbage in your dream represents rejected or unwanted
aspects of yourself.
Something to consider . . .
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The Management would like to thank Jennifer Bosworth for granting this interview. For more about Jennifer, visit her website.
