Author Interview - Jenni James

Claire Hart is obsessed with Twilight and dreams of meeting her very own Edward. When she meets Tony Russo on a visit to Seattle, Washington, she's sure he's a vampire. All she has to do is prove it...

Northanger Alibi, Jenni James' modern retelling of the Jane Austen classic, Northanger Abbey, sounds like so much fun! I can't wait to get my hands on it. It is the first of a series of Jane Austen rewrites Jenni is working on. The next book will be Pride and Popularity, followed by Persuaded, Emmalee, Mansfield Ranch, and Sensible and Sensational.

I took advantage of a personal acquaintance (OK, OK, I happen to be on the same email list as her, and I shamelessly played it for all I was worth) to get her opinions on books and music.

On your blog, you cite both The Climb and Take A Chance On Me as being personally meaningful to you, but you don't go into detail. What is it about these two songs that touched you?

I really loved Take A Chance On Me while I was querying agents. I found it suited the process perfectly, and added a bit of humor to my insanity. By the time The Climb came out last spring, I had already been turned down by multiple publishing houses and I found as a writer I connected to that song greater than any other. I had hope, I knew I would make it with my series of Austen rewrites, I just needed to be reminded that the climb was important too.

Do you ever use music as an inspiration when you write? Have you ever had a song give you an idea for a story?

It depends on the book and my mood at the time. I’ve written 8 complete novels and I’m currently working on 2 more. I haven’t had a song give me an idea, I usually hear a song as I’m writing and really connect with it - feeling as though it’s one of my characters speaking. Once I find that song, I tend to play it softly in the background over and over again as I write the book (sort of a white noise type of thing).

Do you have any book/song combinations you like?

Do I? Lol! I have a ton. Currently, I’m working on a book titled Eternity with co-author AJ Cole. He and I both agree that Far Away is perfect for the book.

For my Jane Austen rewrites…

These are the songs that have spoken to me most while recreating the tension/scenes/novel.

Northanger Alibi - Eric Dill, Kidnap My Heart
Pride & Popularity - The Click Five, Just The Girl
Persuaded - Josh Groban, Confession, and Will Young, Leave Right Now
Mansfield Ranch - Taylor Swift, Teardrops On My Guitar, and Taylor Swift, You Belong With Me

(YouTube links provided by Jenni.)

You can preorder Northanger Alibi now (the release date is June 1, 2010) but if you preorder an autographed copy from Valor Publishing, you can get it early (May 25, according to Jenni's website.)


Books: Northanger Alibi, Jenni James
           Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen
           Twilight, Stephenie Meyer
Music: The Climb, Miley Cyrus
           Take A Chance On Me, ABBA
           Far Away, Nickelback
           Just The Girl, The Click Five
           My Confession, Josh Groban
           Leave Right Now, Will Young
           Teardrops On My Guitar, Taylor Swift
           You Belong With Me, Taylor Swift