Jennifer Brown Answers Your Questions & Hate List Winner!

Before I announce the winner of an ARC of Hate List, Jennifer so kindly answered each of the questions you left for her. 

From Shooting Stars Mag:  What part of Hate List do you think of first? A scene, idea, character?

JB:  When I think of Hate List, the first thing I think about is Valerie, my main character. We've been through so much together. I wonder how she's doing. Maybe she's hanging out with Harold Crick somewhere, eating an apple and baking cookies... ("Stranger than Fiction" fans will get that one...)

From Steph Su:  Hate List deals with such a difficult and serious subject, and yet from your interview answers it is clear that you enjoy (and are good at) using humor. How did you juxtapose the two in writing Hate List? (Or better yet, could you give us an excerpt from your novel??)

JB:  I've been writing humor for years and it's second nature to me... yet Hate List has zero humor in it. In fact, Hate List was my respite from humor-writing, in a way. So I got all my humor out in my column (which is linked to my website, by the way), and saved the juicy, tough stuff for Hate List.

From Summer:  Would you rather have Hate List be turned into a movie, a TV movie or a TV series?

JB:  Man, that's a good question! Here I've been so excited that it's being turned into a BOOK, I haven't even had time to think about it being turned into anything else. I love movies. Will I get to meet Matthew McConaughey if it's turned into a movie...? Let's go with movie.

From Erika Lynn:  Who is the person who is always the first to read something new you write?

JB:  There are two: my husband and my 16-year old daughter, but they're each given the directive: "You may NOT be nice to me. You may only tell me negative things about this. If you say anything to me other than, 'You are the crap writer I always knew you to be and I plan to burn your books publicly,' I'll be mad at you." I'm kind of contrary that way.

From What a Girl Reads:  Hate List seems like a great book, where did you get the inspiration to write the book, and what was the hardest part to write?

JB:  I was watching TV news footage of a school shooting and I found myself wondering what would happen if a student stepped in to stop it, mid-shooting. I was listening to a lot of Nickelback at the time and the song "If Everyone Cared" got stuck in my head overnight, and when I woke up in the morning, I had this whole plot just -- thunk! -- right in my lap. Sounds weird, I know, but it's really how it happened.

From Jenna:  What are some of your favorite movies and television shows?

JB:  I think "The Office" is the funniest show that's ever been on TV (with only "The Simpsons" being a very close rival). I also love "30 Rock" and am grooving on "Parks and Recreation" at the moment. I'm a slave to reality TV -- "The Amazing Race," "Celebrity Apprentice," "Project Runway," and, of course..."American Idol" (yeah, that was me racing to the "hometown visit" concert for David Cook last year). And I will admit to something many people find disturbing: I have been watching the soap opera, "All My Children," every day since I was 11 years old. 

My favorite movies of all time are "Forrest Gump," "Dumb and Dumber," "My Best Friend's Wedding," and "Stranger than Fiction." 

  And now thanks to the help of Randomizer, the winner of an ARC of Jennifer's upcoming YA novel Hate List is:

ERIKA LYNN!!!!

Congratulations Erika Lynn!  Please email me your address and I will happily send you Hate List!

Thank you to all who entered, and stay tuned, a new contest will be announced Tuesday!