Interview with author Jennifer Crusie

Parajunkee's View would like to extend a warm welcome to Jennifer Crusie, New York Times Best Selling Author of Maybe This Time.

Jenny has written 15 novels and one book of literary criticism, edited two essay collections, and contributed over thirty essays to magazines and anthologies. Her work has been published in 20 countries.

Her latest novel Maybe This Time is a wonderful addition to the paranormal romance genre and is generously being offered to one lucky commenter on this post. {details below}

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PJ: Your bio states that the pursuit of a Ph.D led you to actually writing your first novel, what drew you to the genre of romance?

JC: I was studying romance as part of my dissertation, an examination of the impact of gender on storytelling.  I read 100 romance novels to study how women wrote, and I was so caught up in the stories and so admired the genre that I stopping writing my diss and started writing novels.  Twenty novels later, the diss is still unfinished.  I'll get to it.  Eventually.

PJ: In your own words, can you tell us a little bit about your latest novel, Maybe This Time?

JC: Maybe This Time is my version of Henry James' Turn of the Screw.   I pushed the date back to 1992, but things still change radically from the original because the world has changed so radically in the hundred years between the two books.  So it's the story of what would happen if a governess were sent to a lonely house that might be haunted to deal with two disturbed children in modern times.  My heroine Andie is coping with raising these two kids and dealing with her ex-husband (the children's guardian who hired her) and her current fiance, plus a host of relatives and ghost professionals who turn up.  I had a great time with it.

PJ:  Maybe This Time leans towards the paranormal romance / fantasy genre, did you enjoy writing in this direction?

JC: Loved it.  I've done it in the collaborations--witches in The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes with Eileen Dreyer and Anne Stuart, goddesses in Dogs and Goddesses with Anne Stuart and Lani Diane Rich, and demons in Wild Ride with Bob Mayer--but this was my first time with ghosts.  Lots of research which was fascinating, and a new challenge which is always good.

PJ: Can we expect more paranormal romances in the future, solo or collaborative?

JC: Anne and Lani and I are planning a book called Fairy Tale Lies that tells the story of what happens after the happily ever after to Rapunzel (Lani), Cinderella (Anne), and Red Riding Hood (me).  There's lots of magic in that.  And I'm planning on doing Alice's story as an adult, tentatively titled Haunting Alice, which will have ghosts.  So yes.

PJ:  Maybe This Time is an homage to The Turn of the Screw, the novella by Henry James. I enjoyed how you brought into play the argument of the ghosts reality within the pages of your novel, and firmly took the side of the governess. Would you recommend readers to familiarize themselves with James’ novella first before reading yours if they would like to give your novel a little more depth?

JC: I don't think so. I'd recommend The Turn of the Screw to anybody, it's a wonderful novel (and very short and easy to read for those who don't like reading stories from two centuries ago).  But Maybe This Time was written to stand on its own.  If you've never read TotS, you won't miss it.  If you have read it, you can see the echoes and the references, but I think the depth of the novel is in the novel itself, not in the allusions.

PJ: I loved reading about Andromeda and North, will we be seeing them again?

JC: They'll show up in Haunting Alice, I would imagine.  They're Alice's parents, after all.

PJ: Speaking of the characters, I was also very impressed with the depth of each one, from the surly housekeeper to Andie’s unique mother, do you base your characters off of real people in your life, or purely fictional?

JC: Purely fictional.  They sort of show up in my head and become who they are.  Mrs. Crumb, the housekeeper, owed a lot to Mrs. Grose, the housekeeper from The Turn of the Screw, and some to Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper from Rebecca, but she was also her own person.  Andie's mother my daughter might recognize as partly me, the whack job who never let the sixties go.  Hey, I LIKE long dresses, okay?

PJ: As a writer, do you have your ideas firmly in place with an outline, or do you just let the storyline flow?

JC: I let it flow.  I make scene diagrams and check turning points as I go, but the story emerges on its own and I try not to get in its way until it's all on paper.  Then I go back and rewrite extensively to make sure everything is clear.

PJ: Has becoming a Best-Selling author impacted your life greatly?

JC: In some ways.  I don't have to get dressed up to go to work.  When I needed help because the career part was eating the writing part, my daughter came on board and became an expert on publishing and promotion, and because of that we have an entirely different relationship as adults and professional partners that we wouldn't have had otherwise, so that's been the best part of it all.  But on a day to day basis, it makes no difference at all.  You start a book with the same trepidation that any unknown writer does.  You struggle with the same things.  You still have to mop floors and clean the toilet.  The bestseller stuff makes a difference in New York.  It doesn't mean much in Ohio.

PJ: Are there any appearances or events you would like PJV readers to know about?

JC: I have a seven-city book tour coming up (list is at http://www.arghink.com/2010/07/30/maybe-this-time-the-tour/).  I also have a blog called Argh Ink (http://www.arghink.com/) where we talk about everything under the sun which is probably more fun than a book tour, especially if you're not in the upper midwest which is where the tour is.  And every Friday night, Lani Diane Rich/Lucy March and I watch a romantic comedy for a project called The Popcorn Dialogues (the schedule is at http://popcorndialogues.com/ ).   We start the movie at 7PM ET and keep a conversation with other PopD people going on Twitter at #PopD.  Then after the movie, Lucy and I do a podcast that goes up on the blog the next day (Saturday afternoon).  It's fun, and we've learned so much about writing romantic comedy that we have no plans to stop after the historical survey is done.   And anybody is welcome to chime in.

PJ: Lastly, I notice that you hail from Wapakoneta, Ohio. Recently made famous by Kent Boyd from So You Think You Can Dance? Are you a fan?

JC: You know, I'm not, but I wish Kent the best.   Wapak is also about ten miles from Lima, Ohio, which is where the Glee kids live, and I'm a big fan of that.   I'm a fiction writer, so reality doesn't have much pull for me.

Thank you so much for stopping by Jenny. I can't gush enough about  Maybe This Time {review here}. I think I might just have to stop by and check out those popcorn dialogues!

Question for our readers/commentators:

Do you believe in ghosts? And have you ever seen one?

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The Giveaway!

• One {1} Copy of Jennifer Crusie's Maybe This Time 
• Contest open for US and Canadian residents only
• Answer the question above. Comment to win, please include email for contact purposes 
• Giveaway Ends August 31, 2010

Extra Entries {Please Comment for each extra entry}:

• Anyway in which you promote this giveaway, blog post, sidebar, tweet, facebook etc. just leave a link
• If you are a follower, GFC, email...etc.