ya_DontGetTwisted

Why did you want to be a writer?
Like so many people, I love to read, and I got caught up in the romance of being a writer and creating worlds for other people to get lost in. Then I tried it and got addicted. I *love* to write.

-How long have you been writing?
In college I got serious about writing novels for publication, so if that's what we're counting...18 years

-Why Young Adult?
My first book wasn't meant to be YA, but it probably was--I finished it when I was 20 myself, and all the characters were young. Since then I've alternated between YA and adult books. I love both genres and I'll probably always write both, like some people write both historical and paranormal. I write the types of books I love to read.

-Describe your writing in three words.
Funny, logical, friendly. I don't know whether other people see it that way, but that's how I approach it.

-Do you have any writing rituals?
I can't think of anything I must have a certain way before I begin writing. If you allow yourself to have those, you just have lots of excuses not to write that day when everything isn't perfect. However, I do tend to have coffee and write with pink pens.

-What inspired THE BOYS NEXT DOOR?
I grew up on a lake like the one where Lori lives (Lake Martin near Alexander City, Alabama) and learned to waterski when I was five. My older brother always had his hilarious friends around, and I would have done anything to be as cool as they were. I had so much fun writing this book because it really took me back!

-Favorite quality about Lori?
I don't want to keep saying how funny my writing is. LMAO I AM SO FUNNY. That's weird. But honestly, I think Lori is a riot. Writing a book is hard and takes a long time, and if you didn't amuse yourself along the way your probably wouldn't finish.

-Favorite scene in the book?
The scene at the party in which Lori and Adam go alone into the lake. I got the greatest compliment on that scene. When she was editing the book, my editor wrote on that page, "This is all so totally HOT!"

-Favorite scene to write (if its different than above):
The scene in which Lori and Adam take the sailboat under the bridge. Everything they do, I have done before--almost losing the sailboat mast in the lake, getting slung off the bow, waiting under a bridge while a thunderstorm rumbles overhead.

-What's next for you?
My teen drama BOY IN BLUE, about a rebellious teen who is sentenced to accompany a police officer on his night shift patrol--and winds up falling for him, will be published by MTV Books in February 2009. You can read the first chapter now at my website: www.jennifer-echols.com

Interviewed by
Lisa
YA Director