Interview with Carrie Jones

Carrie Jones is the author Need and the Captivate (the newly released sequel to Need).

I was lucky enough to ask Carrie Jones a few questions about herself, her books, and her future writing plans.

1.Can you tell us about yourself, and your writing?

I always feel so weird talking about myself that it’s easier to do it in the third person, so here goes:

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.
Forget that. She’d still probably come.

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). 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.

2.What inspired you to write about pixies and weres, as opposed to other supernatural creatures? Was there any particular lore that you found while researching, or did you create your own pixie facts?

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.

I’m fascinated by all the lore. I love the fact that pixies try to get you lost in the woods but if you put your shirt on backwards or inside out, they no longer can do that. However, unlike faeries or vampires or werewolves there isn’t as much lore about pixies, so that was kind of freeing because it allowed me to make my own pixie facts and play around with mythology. It was super fun to do that actually.

3. In Need, each chapter began with a different phobia. In Captivate, each chapter begins with a pixie tip or definition. Did Zara's growth as a character influence this change?

Oh my gosh! You are so super smart. Only one other person has ever asked that. It absolutely has everything to do with Zara’s growth. She’s no longer as fearful and she doesn’t need those phobias to help her interact and survive her sorrow. She’s lost that crutch.

4.Captivate ended with a big cliffhanger. Can we expect a third book in the series?

There will be a third book and a fourth one too! My publisher has a website where there will be contests and sneak peeks. It’s at www.needpixies.com

5. A recurring theme throughout both Need and Captivate is loss. At the start of Need, Zara's stepdad has just passed away, and has had a hard time dealing with the loss. Similarly, in Captivate, Zara experiences another loss (I won't reveal who, for those who haven't read the book yet). Will this theme continue throughout the series?

Losses are definitely still there, but the theme of loss in the third book backs a bit off and the theme is more about what it is to be a hero.
Thank you so much for interviewing me! I hope you have a lovely week.

Check out my review of Captivate (Need #2 here)
Thanks again to Carrie for answering my questions, and to Anna from Bloomsbury for setting it all up!