Jessica Brody, the cool author of The Fidelity Files, has stopped by our garden today to chat about her life and novel. Welcome, Jessica! 

1. If Oprah invited you on her show to talk about your book, what would the theme of that show be? 

Ah, the writer’s fantasy. Your book on Oprah. Well, since I have a very active fantasy life, I’ve actually given this question a lot of thought. And I guess I’d have to say that if Oprah featured my book on her show, the theme of that episode would be either true life stories of infidelity of how to catch cheaters in the act. And then I imagine there would be a segment where Oprah brings on a real life “fidelity inspector” (my character’s job in the book) and she can talk about her experiences and all the things she’s seen in a job like that.

Oh…right, and then I would wake up.

2. What was the most fun scene in your book to write? The most difficult?

Every scene involving the gay best friend, John, was the most fun to write and the easiest. He’s definitely the comic relief of the book. I don’t know where some of his lines come from. They just kind of emerge as if I’m channeling a flamboyant and sometimes annoying gay man from another dimension. But I would be writing a scene with him and he’d respond with a line that was so him and I would just stare back at it on the page, laugh and say, “Where did that come from?” Needless to say, he was one of my favorite characters to return to in the sequel.

3. Do you have a muse, good luck charm, writing vice? 

I have this necklace that I wear all the time. I got it, actually, from an ex-boyfriend I had in college. I know, sounds really weird and sort of stalker-ish right? I promise, it’s not like that.

After we broke up, I put it in a box somewhere and totally forgot about it. Then one day, five or so years later, which happened to be around the time I was trying to come up with an idea for my second novel (after yet another rejection on my first one) I found the necklace at the bottom of the box. I was suddenly reminded how pretty the necklace was and thought maybe it’d be cool to wear it again. And since the ex-boyfriend was way out of the picture and totally forgotten about, I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal. But the chain was all tangled and impossibly knotted up and I was already late to my number crunching job so I put it in my pocket and decided to work on getting the knots out throughout the day.

Once I got into the office, I set out trying to untangle the chain with the tip of a safety pin (yes, this is what I was doing in my cubicle when I was supposed to be working). Finally around 2:00 pm, I untangled the darn thing and was able to actually put it on. Twenty minutes later (I’m not kidding), I got the idea for The Fidelity Files. Seriously, it just sort of came to me. And I immediately started to write a synopsis for the idea (yes, more time spent not working). I finished it in literally 30 minutes. A seven page synopsis of the ENTIRE book in half an hour. I knew immediately that it was a story I had to write. And that it was a necklace I had to wear.

4. What do you write on (type of computer, or notebook, etc.) and where do you write?

I am a PC girl through and through (an ongoing bloody battle I’ve been having with my “Mac” friends since the dawn of time…or the dawn of the computer age anyway). I’m actually kind of a techie dork. I LOVE gadgets and so I have a lot of them. Right now I have two computers. A desktop in my office and a laptop I use when I travel. I spend most of the time writing in my office. Although I’ve found that when my editors ask me to cut pages (it’s a request I get a lot…apparently, I’m a overwriter), I prefer to do that in my living room, on my laptop. Don’t know why, just one of those quirky writer things, I guess.

5. Have you had a “rock star” moment regarding your writing career? If so, what was it?

Well, I have a rock star moment EVERY single time I pick up my plastic Guitar Hero guitar and start jamming on it. But that’s not what you meant, I know. But really, I feel like the whole published author thing has been so surreal from the moment my agent called and told me we had a deal. Like I’ve been living in a state of denial this entire time. I see my book in the store and I’m like, “I didn’t write that! Someone else named Jessica Brody wrote that…someone who looks disturbingly like me.” Even if someone did come up to me and say, “You wrote that novel, The Fidelity Files, didn’t you?” I’d probably just convince myself that my boyfriend paid them to do it.

6. What do you do to celebrate your writing successes?

Okay, this is kinda strange and I’m sure I’ll regret putting this in print someday but I always, always go to Benihana, the restaurant to celebrate a writing success. If you don’t have one near you, it’s one of those Japanese Teppanaki grill places where they cook in front of you. I’m not sure how it started I love their food so much so I restrain myself and only go on special occasions, like when I sell a book or get some other good news relating to my writing. And no, this interview is not sponsored by Benihana, I swear.

7. Describe your personality with five adjectives that would make your 5th grade English teacher proud.

Well, if I only have to make my 5th grade English teacher proud, I’m going to go with: motivated, spontaneous, introspective, compassionate, and all-too-often, obsessive.

Now, if I had to make my 12th grade AP English teacher proud, then I’d probably have to get out the thesaurus.