Interview-Carrie Jones

Carrie Jones likes Skinny Cow fudgsicles and potatoes. She does not know how to spell fudgsicles. This has not prevented her from writing books. She lives with her cute family in Maine, but she grew up in Bedford, NH where she once had a séance with cool uber-comedian Sarah Silverman.

The Meyers brothers are from Bedford, too, so you’d think it would make Carrie funnier, coming from Bedford N.H. Obviously, something didn’t work.

Carrie has a large, skinny white dog and a fat cat. Both like fudgicles. Only the cat likes potatoes. This may be a reason for the kitty’s weight problem (Shh… don’t tell). Carrie has always liked cowboy hats but has never owned one. This is a very wrong thing. She graduated from Vermont College’s MFA program for writing. She has edited newspapers and poetry journals and has recently won awards from the Maine Press Association and also been awarded the Martin Dibner Fellowship as well as a Maine Literary Award.

Here’s the lowdown about Carrie…

1. Carrie can not drink coffee. It makes her insane. Do not give her caffeine.
2. Carrie is very responsive to loving strokes on the hair, kind of like a puppy. However, do not do this without asking first unless you are a ridiculously handsome man or an editor who is about to offer her a trillion dollars for the first draft of her novel.
3. Carrie is secretly really, really shy even though she’s pathetically outgoing in person. She has a very hard time calling people. So, if you want to talk to her, make the first move. And, if you’re her in-Maine female best friend, Jennifer, do NOT get mad at her because she is so bad at returning emails.
4. Carrie sometimes wears mismatched socks, if you do not think this is cool, do not tell her. You will hurt her feelings.
5. Carrie really, really wants you to like her books. Please like her books. PLEEEAASSSEEEE. She’ll be your best friend forever. That is, if you want a friend who is shy about calling and emailing and who wears mismatched socks and can’t drink caffeine and likes being pet on the head. Hhmmm….
6. Carrie is not above begging.
7. Carrie, like Belle in TIPS ON HAVING A GAY (ex) BOYFRIEND drinks Postum. It’s for the same reason, too.
8. Carrie loves Great Pyrenees dogs. They are huge and white, and furry and it looks like they have white eyeliner and mascara on, which is way too cute. Do you have one? Send a picture!
9. Carrie lives in Maine. She has a hard time with this in the winter. It is bleak in Maine in the winter. Imagine everything shades of gray and brown and no green anywhere except for in people’s noses. This is Maine in Winter. Maine in summer is the best place in the world, so it’s a trade-off. Feel free to invite Carrie to your house in the winter, but not if it’s in Greenland, Canada, or anywhere north of Florida.
10. Forget that. She’d still probably come. (Goodreads)

The fabulous Carrie Jones, author of the Need series (among other titles, of course) was nice enough to answer a few questions for us!!

Mel: What idea sparked the creation of the Need series?

Carrie: I was at the Common Ground Fair, which is this huge, cool fair in Maine that’s sponsored by Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association (MOFGA). To get to the main part of the fair you have to walk through this sweet trail that curves through these tall spruce trees.

Right in front of me was this guy. He had a weird vibe. He was wearing all corduroy – blazer, pants. And sticking out from his blazer was this long tail-like appendage that was wrapped in different colored earth-toned cloth. I guess he could tell I was checking him out because he turned his head and looked at me. His eye was this startling silver color. How startling? So startling that I actually gasped and got creeped out.

Then when we were in line to pay we made eye contact again and his eyes were brown.

I know! I know! I probably imagined the silver eye color.

It doesn’t matter. That was one of the main things that got me started. Then, I just had this image of a man standing outside an airport pointing at an airplane this girl was on.

It also creeped me out.

So, I started writing.

Mel: If you could spend one day with any literary character (yours or otherwise), who would it be?

Carrie: Oh, Doctor Who, because:

1. He is awesome

2. A day could last a million years in the TARDIS

3. I like to run away from aliens.

And, yes, he totally counts as a literary character because there are a million books about him and then of course - the fan fiction.

Mel: If you could give an aspiring writer one piece of advice, what would it be?

Carrie: Read all the time and write all the time and experience everything possible.

Or...

If a time lord invites you into his TARDIS, you should jump inside because that would make a lot of material for books.

Mel: What are you reading currently?

Carrie: BEST BRITISH MYSTERIES and a Forensics Homicide text book and a John Green book. I am also currently reading your message as I write this. Does that count? 

Mel: Do you ever get annoyed at your characters when you're writing?

Carrie: All. The. Time.

Mel: What conditions do you consider 'perfect' for writing? For example-do you prefer to write in silence or with music? Do you write mostly at home or in public?

Carrie: Oh, I will write everywhere. I write in the car when I’m waiting for my daughter to get out of school. I write in bed. I write in the red chair in my living room. I write in my office. I write on the front porch. I write in boring meetings. I like silence. I like music. I am not so good at writing when people are talking to me though. They get mad because I completely zone them out because I get focused. I don’t really hear them talking. That makes them feel ignored. Then I feel guilty. 

Mel: Thank you again so much for taking the time to answer our questions!! I can't wait to read Endure! 

Carrie: Thanks, Melissa!