Story Secrets: CAPTIVATE by Carrie Jones

Welcome to Story Secrets! This is a weekly feature where YA authors (some well-known, some debut) spill their secrets about their latest and greatest YA offerings.

Today, I'm excited to chat with writing friend Carrie Jones about CAPTIVATE, which just hit the shelves (along with the paperback of the first book, NEED). Whenever I get grumpy, I check out Carrie's blog for her unique brand of insight and hilarity. Carrie is a person who writes with heart. I promise, her books (and quite possibly her werewolves) will charm you.

Welcome, Carrie!

*****

First, tell us a little bit about CAPTIVATE.
CAPTIVATE is the sequel to NEED. They are stories about Zara who is tormented by human-sized pixies who are full of evil. It's really about how Zara goes from a grieving zombie-like girl to a hero that can total kick some butt while being quirky, because basically everyone should be a quirky butt-kicking hero who has peace symbols on their jeans.


How did you come up with the idea for the series?
I was at the Common Ground Fair, which is this huge, cool fair in Maine, in a rural part of the United States, that’s sponsored by Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association (MOFGA). To get to the main part of the fair you have to walk through this sweet trail that curves through these tall spruce trees.

Right in front of me was this guy. He had a weird vibe. He was wearing all corduroy – blazer, pants. And sticking out from his blazer was this long tail-like appendage that was wrapped in different colored earth-toned cloth. I guess he could tell I was checking him out because he turned his head and looked at me. His eye was this startling silver color. How startling? So startling that I actually gasped and got creeped out.

Then when we were in line to pay we made eye contact again and his eyes were brown. I know! I know! I probably imagined the silver eye color...

Read the rest!