Elana's Answer Awesomeness

Remember my 500 followers contest? Well, Natalie Aguirre came up with the winning question for Elana:

After seeing the debuts of your friends in the Class of 2011, what have you learned about creative ways to market your book and what are you using from what you learned?

Here’s her VIDEO ANSWER!

I was impressed with many of the questions, so here’s an interview with my commenters and Elana. Enjoy!

Question from Nicki Elson : At what point did Possession possess here---what was the moment you KNEW you had to write it?

Well, I drafted it very fast, so there weren’t very many moments to contemplate. It was my third book, and I left it alone for almost a year before I decided it would be the next book I queried. At that point, I’d written quite a few novels, and I was wondering which one I should clean up and query.

I chose Possession.

Question from Lydia Kang : At some point in writing Possession, did you just know, "This is it!"?

No, definitely not. Not during the writing phase. See, I’m a pantser, and when I wrote Possession, I was the worst kind of pantser. Meaning, I had a lot of revising and rewriting to do.

The “This is it!” moment came much later, when I was querying. I really thought Possession was good, and that it should be published. Thankfully, I found people who thought the same way I did.

Question from A. Rick : How did you pick the name Zenn?

My names just come to me. I don’t labor over them, and I don’t use a website or baby name finder. I just know. Lame answer, I know.

Question from Nicole Zoltack : You can tell a lot about a person by the clothes they wear. Can you tell us about the clothes of your main characters in Possession?

Well, I’m not sure if that’s true in Possession, because someone else dictates what the people wear. There is no free choice in that department. So Vi wears—and has always worn—jeans and a beige, long-sleeved shirt.

There’s actually a scene in the book where Vi examines her appearance in clothes she’s not used to wearing. She sees a stranger looking back at her.

Taffy's Question : If you spent the day with Vi, what would the two of you do?


Oh, I’m sure we’d spend most of the morning dishing about Jag. After that, I think we’d just do whatever. I like to think I’d do the same things I do with my sister: sit on the couch and talk about bad TV (in this case, projections), eat Oreo pie, talk about our parents (especially Vi’s), and hug when it’s time to go home.

Question from Nicole M. White : I know what you like about Vi, what author doesn't love their MC, but if you were her friend (not creator) what one trait about Vi would annoy you?

Actually, there’s several things that bother me about Vi. I do love her, but she’s not perfect in any sense of the word.

The thing that annoys me most about her is her complete and utter lack of ability to make choices. It’s not really her fault because someone else has always chosen for her, but sometimes I just want to yell at her, “Just choose already!”

Jess's question : If you COULD live the life of any YA character, who would it be?

Hermione. She’s a wicked-talented witch, gets to go to Hogwarts, and hang out with Harry Potter. How cool would that be?

Karen Lange's question : What are you going to do to celebrate the release of your book?

Uh, hide? No, but I sort of feel like it. I’ll probably go out to breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Tuesday, June 7.

The next day, June 8, I have a launch party at the indie bookstore in Salt Lake City, and on June 11, I’m signing at my local Barnes & Noble. I’m counting all of that as the official celebration of the release of Possession.

Most pressing question Lola Sharp : How many times a week do you eat bacon?

Oh, it’s not even a weekly activity, sadly. Although, I did eat a BLT for lunch today, because I had leftover bacon from breakfast-for-dinner last night. I know, I know, you’re thinking: “Leftover bacon?? Impossible!”

Thanks again, Elana Johnson , author of Possession coming out in 36 DAYS!

And thank you commenters. Because of you, I didn’t have to think of my own questions. (They wouldn’t have been as good anyway.)