Interview with Jessica Jaster

I recently got to interview Jessica Jaster. Read a little bit more about her before we get stuck into the interview

Author Bio

Jessica Jaster lives in Iowa with her husband and her (currently) one year old and two year old, as well as their cat, Pandora.

Jessica graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Anthropology.  Yes, she realizes that there is a big difference between Anthropology and writing young adult novels.  She actually tried for an English major (well actually, it was Criminal Justice, then English, then Anthropology), but the classes she had to take just did not fly with her.  Although, since Anthropology is pretty much just the study of humans and human culture, it could tie in with her novels in some way.

She has always had an over-active imagination and has been making stories up in her head for herself for as long as she can remember and finally decided to start writing them down (when she is not busy chasing the two little ones around anyway) and sharing them with anyone interested. Most ideas she has so far for her novels are for young adults - some fantasy, some science fiction and some normal contemporary story-lines.

Interview 

Hi Jessica, thank you for accepting to be interviewed. As my blog says ‘ Complete randomness from a crazy author’ so expect the unexpected J

How long have you wanted to be a writer?

Hm. Pretty much forever. Haha. However, for a long time I didn’t really think of my writing as anything but a hobby, mostly because I didn’t think I was good enough to make a career out of it anyway. And then it also had to compete with my art. It wasn’t until I had my daughter a couple of years ago that I began to sit down and really write. And soon I started to think, “Hm, maybe I’m not really all that bad.”

Have you come up against any hurdles along the way?

Most definitely. The biggest problem I have is finding the time for all the promoting, marketing and even the writing itself. When you have a one and two year old running around, life becomes interesting.

Promoting is so hard. That’s why us authors have to stick together J

What would you say is the most difficult thing about being a writer is?

I would say that the most difficult thing about being a writer is getting the vision of the story in my head down on paper. Sometimes it is difficult to get down in words what exactly you are thinking. That and getting it down on paper before I forget it.

Yeah a lot of the time the picture in your head is so much better than when you write it down.

What or who inspires you to write?

My family inspires me to believe in myself and in my writing. As to what usually inspires my ideas for my writing – it can be anything really. I get ideas from television shows, movies, other books, poems, songs, a story I read in the news – seriously, anything can make an idea pop into my head.

If  your books are a series, how many books do you plan to have in your series?

I am planning on having four books for the series, but we will see. I think that if there is any continuation of the story, it will be as a completely different series.

That sounds cool. I get asked the same question but I never know. I think my series will end when my characters tell me.

Do you have any other writing projects on the go, apart from your current series?

Oh gosh, yes. I’ve got about four other books I’m working on. It helps to have something else to work on when I am having complete writer’s block for the book I am currently focusing on. That way, I am at least writing something.

If you could be any of your characters who would it be and why?

For the book I am actually done with? Hm, I would love to say Weston because she is pretty awesome and then I would have Cormac to myself. Hehe. But, Weston’s life has also been pretty cruddy and I wouldn’t really want to go through all that.  So, I guess I would want to be Brianna. Even though her life hasn’t been easy either, she has at least had friends and family there to help her through it. Plus, she gets to live on a ranch, which I have always wanted to do.

What genre would you say your books are in?

Young adult, but I have ideas for some that blur the line a bit.

Do you have any favourite authors?

Yes, several. Richelle Mead, Ayn Rand,  Quinn Loftis and Chuck Palahniuk just to name a very few.

As a Brit we have one burning question going around our country…………… Do you scrunch or fold? ;) (toilet paper)

Bwahaha. Um, hm, I’m pretty sure I am a folder, but that isn’t something I’ve really paid that much attention to before either.

LOL me either until the TV advert came on the television ;)

What do you like to do besides writing?

Spend time with my family, draw, design jewelry, archery, rock climbing, read (lol).

What is your favourite cheese?

Colby Jack. Yeah, I know, nothing fancy for me.

Sweet or savoury?

We’re talking about food, right?  Yeah, because what else would we be talking about. Hm. Sweet.

Lol Someone else asked the same question. I think a lot of people have dirty minds lol.

Would you rather be attacked by one horse sized duck or 20 duck sized horses?

20 duck sized horses.

If you had one wish that I could wave a magic wand and grant you, what would it be and why?

I would wish for my books to become best sellers, but I guess every author would like that.

Thank you so much Jessica for agreeing to be interviewed :)

 Buy Now Create Space

Buy Now Amazon