An Interview with Jennifer Estep!

Jennifer was kind enough to answer a few questions about KARMA GIRL and her writing in general.

I was delighted to discover that HOT MAMA is told from Fiera's point of view. Could you give us any teasers about this novel?
Sure. As you said, Hot Mama is from Fiera’s point of view (all the books focus on a different main character). In the book, two new ubervillains come to town – Siren and Intelligal – and wreck havoc in Bigtime. Fiera, of course, has to stop them while dealing with the death of her fiancé and her struggle to move on with her life. Luckily, there’s a suave playboy named Johnny Bulluci who’s willing to help her. But Johnny has his own secrets that put him on a crash course with Fiera.

Lots of fun. Lots of action. Lots of romance.

What is your favorite scene in KARMA GIRL?
Probably the scene near the end where Carmen gets dropped into the vat of radioactive goo – and comes out with a very interesting new ability. I love writing action scenes. Plus, it was a lot of fun to finally give Malefica and the Terrible Triad their comeuppance.

What scene gave you the most trouble?
Probably the love scenes. You want your reader to see why these two people are falling in love with each other and how they express themselves. You want the scenes to be realistic and emotional and touching and a thousand other things. It’s a tough balancing act.

You seem incredibly prolific. Did you have a bunch of Bigtime novels written ahead of your first sale, or do you have a writing superpower?
I had the first novel, Karma Girl, finished, and a rough draft of the second book, Hot Mama, done. After I sold the first two books, I started working on book three, Jinx, which is coming out in April 2008. Right now, I’m finishing up the fourth book, tentatively called Nightingale, and thinking about book five, Fangirl.

If I had a writing superpower, I’d want it to be superspeed, so I could type a thousand words a minute and write even more!

Have you finished any other novels that are not in the Bigtime world?
I’m currently writing a novel called Live and Let Spy. It’s about a Druid who’s forced to become a spy. Only she’s not very good at being a Druid and even worse at being a spy. It’s a spy spoof with a strong paranormal element (think Alias crossed with Buffy).

If so, can we expect to see any of them in print or are they permanently trunked?
I hope Live and Let Spy will be the first of a series of books about the same character and her adventures. I do have a couple of other novels I wrote before Karma Girl. I may go back someday and rework a couple of those, but there are no plans to publish any of those right now.

Your website mentions that you have a day job as a newspaper designer. When do you do most of your writing?
I write at night and on the weekends.

What are your favorite comic books?
This is a toughie, as there are so many great books out there. I have to say my favorite comic book character is Wonder Woman. I’ve always loved her. Batman too. I’m really enjoying the new Buffy comic, and I just finished reading Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross. It’s a really interesting story with Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, and tons of other heroes set in a very grim future.

Please share your publishing story and/or any writing advice that you may have.
I would say the best advice I could give someone would be this quote from the movie “Galaxy Quest” – Never give up, never surrender! I think this philosophy can be applied to a lot of things in life, including writing. If you’re really serious about writing a book and getting it published, keep at it and don’t ever give up. It may take a while for you to find success, (it took me about seven years and seven books before I sold), but it will happen. Hang in there until it does.

Thank you, Jennifer! It's been great!