Author Interview: Jennifer Echols

You know how much I adore Jennifer and her novels Going Too Far and Forget You, and today in celebration of the release of Endless Summer today, I'm very pleased to host an interview with Jennifer! I have listed a few questions for her and here is what she has to say.

1. Can you tell us what inspired Forget You?

First I had an idea about a girl who is always having car trouble in a town where there’s no public transportation and teenagers really need a car to get around. This idea needed something, obviously. Then I read the Smart Bitches’ review of a Sweet Valley High book from the 1980s. They were making fun of this terrible book in which the good twin has a wreck and wakes up thinking she’s the evil twin. I agreed the book sounded bad, but something about that amnesia plot really resonates with me. Remember the Gilligan’s Island episode in which Mary Ann gets hit in the head and wakes up thinking she’s Ginger? I LOVED that episode. I know I’m not the only one. There’s a reason the amnesia plot is taken up over and over. So I decided to write my own amnesia book.

2. The cover (of Forget You) speaks a thousand words. How did you come up with such beautiful cover?

I don’t come up with my covers, and I definitely don’t have the final say! The art department comes up with them, and the editorial board at Simon & Schuster and the MTV network have to approve them. A cover can make or break sales of a novel, and the author usually has no control over this—so I am extremely grateful that I have always been very cover-lucky.

3. What research did you do, if any, in order to accurately write about partial amnesia?

I talked to several people who’d experienced this, and to my brother, who is an emergency room doctor, and my sister-in-law, a nurse practitioner. I’ve trained them to answer very strange medical questions without asking why.

3. If Meg and Doug were to hang out, what do you suppose will happen?

Meg and Doug would be great friends and would probably date for a while, but they would make each other very angry and would eventually break up because they are too much alike.

4. How about...if Officer After and Zoey get together?

John and Zoey are too nice to make it together long. John needs a bad girl, and Zoey needs a bad boy, for the sparks to fly.

5. And I just have to ask this...John After and Douglas Fox?

John would not get along with Doug. He would think Doug was like Eric, the villain from Going Too Far. Of course, everyone thinks Doug is like Eric, which is a big part of Doug’s problem.

6. Which of your characters are you most similar to? In what ways?

All my characters are little parts of me. They have to be, so I can understand their motivations. Doug is the no-nonsense part of me that can’t stand hypocrisy or other people’s arbitrary rules. Zoey is the meticulous part of me that thinks if I just get my desk neat enough and make my family happy enough, all my problems will disappear.

7. If you were to be trapped on an isolated island, which among your characters would you choose as your sole companion?

Doug. He is very entertaining. And he’s creative and resourceful, so he could probably save us both from starvation, as long as there was no boat motor or crashed airplane motor to fix for our escape. Doug is not mechanically inclined.

(I must admit one of my fave Doug moments in Forget You was when he thought Mike's Miata was gonna explode. Gotta love Doug!)

8. Who do admire most as a writer?

Jane Austen. I adore her hilarious and sexy novels. I love that each one is very different from the others, yet if you like one, you’ll probably like the rest. I think that’s what readers look for in a writer who produces multiple novels, and I hope I am doing that for my own readers.

(I agree! Pride and Prejudice is my heart and soul and Emma is absolutely stunning!)

9. Are you currently working on another novel? If so, what should we be expecting?

I’m writing a new novel that will be published by MTV Books in July 2011. I really don’t like to talk about my books until they’re done, but I can tell you that it’s another romantic drama like Going Too Far and Forget You, and I’m incredibly excited about it!

July 2011 hurry now! In the mean time however, why don't you lot check out Endless Summer (if you haven't already been waiting for it)? If you haven't read Boys Next Door yet, don't worry, it actually comes with it! I haven't ordered mine yet but hopefully after exams, and if you've enjoyed Going Too Far and Forget You you're sure to enjoy this one too!

Thank you Jenn for your time :)

You can head to Jennifer's website HERE or her blog HERE to know more about her books and to say Hi!