Posts Tagged ‘jessica brody’

Girlfriend Jessica Brody

November 13th, 2009

The BEbabes lounge is open and we’re talking FIDELITY! But relax, it’s only fiction, ladies! Join me in welcoming best-selling author Jessica Brody to talk about her new book LOVE UNDER COVER.

Jessica Brody - Author PhotoIf Oprah invited you on her show to talk about your book, what would the theme of that show be?
Definitely “Trust.” Women who have trust issues. Men who cheat. Relationships that have faced betrayal. As my main character is a “fidelity inspector,” she obviously sees a lot of those kinds of relationships in her job. But in this book, she’s now in a relationship of her own. And although she may be a pro at figuring out someone else’s love life, she’s pretty clueless when it comes to her own.

What was the most fun scene in your book to write? The most difficult?
I loved writing any of the scenes with Jennifer’s friends. They’re all fun in their own way. Zoë has a terrible road rage problem and she has a habit of talking on the phone while driving so those conversations with Jen and Zoë on the phone are always really entertaining for me. I get to channel my inner turrets patient. John is the flamboyant gay boy from West Hollywood who is always quick with his sarcasm and wit. Sometimes I don’t know where his remarks come from. I must be channelling my inner gay man because I’ll write something that he says and think, “That’s really funny. Where the hell did that come from?”

The most difficult scenes in this book were definitely the scenes when she’s in her staff meetings at The Hawthorne Agency. All the characters were brand new to me and it was hard to get a handle for each of them individually, let alone how they would interact in a room together. It was definitely a challenge!

Do you have a muse, good luck charm, writing vice?
This year I discovered the wonders of coffee. I’m 30 years old and I’d never drank coffee in my life! But then one day I had a Café au Lait at the coffee shop where I like to write and an hour later, I looked down at my screen and saw that I had written ten pages. Like it was nothing! It was like someone had replaced me with a writing robot. It’s hard to say no to a cup of coffee when I write now. A very, very dangerous habit…


What do you write on (type of computer, or notebook, etc.) and where do you write?
I have a desktop and a laptop but I prefer to write on my laptop. I do all my “busy work” like emails, interviews, website stuff, on my desktop and I found that switching computers helped me switch focus.
I used to not be able to write in a public place. But then I discovered “white noise” mp3s. They basically play nothing but…well, white noise. Now I go to my favorite coffee shop, pop in my ear phones, crank up the white noise and the world around me dissolves away. Plus…that coffee helps. ☺

Have you had a “rock star” moment regarding your writing career? If so, what was it?
Okay, this is lame but the other day my boyfriend and I were talking to an insurance agent about insuring our home and he told me that because I was a “bestselling author” he had to check some box on our form claiming that a “famous person resides here.” I’m sure it ended up costing us a hundred bucks more a month, but I still felt pretty smug about the whole thing.

Praying the paparazzi don’t stalk you, darlin’. What do you do to celebrate your writing successes?
My boyfriend always have about three bottles of champagne chilling at all times. It feels like there’s always some big and exciting news that I’m waiting on at all times, so I like to be prepared just in case it comes today!

Oh, and then I usually treat myself to a massage.

*note to self* three bottles of champagne are better than one. Heck, I could use some bubbly AND a massage right now. Describe your personality with five adjectives that would make your 5th grade English teacher proud.

Okay, 5th grade English teacher I can do. If you had asked for 12th grade English teacher, I might have to forfeit. But let’s see. Motivated, sensitive (sometimes overly so!), passionate, obsessive, and hilarious (but usually only to myself).

Love Under Cover - FINALAbout LOVE UNDER COVER:

In her job, she’s an expert on men…

In her own relationship, she doesn’t have a clue.

Boyfriend behaving badly? Suspect your husband of straying? Jennifer Hunter can supply the ultimate test. She runs a company which specializes in conducting fidelity inspections for those who suspect their loved ones are capable of infidelity.

An expert on men, Jennifer can usually tell if they’re single, married or lying… Unfortunately, her new boyfriend, Jamie, is one of the few men that she’s never been able to ‘read.’ Has she finally found the perfect man or is he too good to be true?

A captivating new novel from the bestselling author of The Fidelity Files.

Available November 10, wherever books are sold.

Praise:

Currently in development as a TV series by the executive producer of Crash!

“With a complicated, sympathetic protagonist, worthy stakes and a clever twist on the standard chick lit narrative, Brody will pull readers in from the first page.”
– Publisher’s Weekly

“Those who enjoyed Brody’s debut will be eager to catch up with Jennifer, but newcomers will be intrigued, too…an honest, witty portrayal of modern love.”
- Booklist

“With her usual smart, deft, and witty prose, Brody delves deep into the psychology of a woman who tests the fidelity of strangers for a living but struggles with commitment in her own life.”
- Joanne Rendell, author of Crossing Washington Square and The Professors’ Wives’ Club

Watch the trailer:

About the Author:

Jessica Brody graduated from Smith College in Massachusetts with degrees in economics and French. In 2005, she left her job at MGM Studios in Los Angeles to become a full-time freelance writer and producer. Jessica currently lives in Los Angeles, where she is working on her next novel. Visit Jessica’s website at: www.JessicaBrody.com

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Love Under Cover – Commercial Fiction -November 2009 – St. Martin’s Press
The Karma Club – Young Adult Fiction – April 2010 – Farrar, Straus, Giroux
The Fidelity Files – Commercial Fiction -Available Now! – St. Martin’s Press
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Book trailers, reviews, excerpts and more at: www.JessicaBrody.com

THANKS, JESSICA! Readers, leave a comment on what you think should be done to guys (or gals) who cheat for a chance to win our Impulse prize this week: the darling Watt’s Up notecard set. RT on Twitter for an extra entry! Drawing held Sunday at 10 p.m.! Be creative. :-)

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GCC Tour: Jessica Brody

November 28th, 2008

 

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.

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