Jennie Bentley's debut novel, Fatal Fixer-Upper, hits the shelves November 4. I've had the pleasure of indulging in many long, long lunches with Jennie, an extremely talented writer who is articulate, charming, and more than a little fun....What has most surprised you about being a writer?
I'm not sure if it's the most surprising thing, but it's what came to mind first...
The fellowship in the writing community is really awesome. After coming out of other, more cut-throat pursuits, it's been amazing to see how supportive and helpful writers are of one another. Everyone--at least everyone I've been privileged to meet--has been super-nice and always willing to lend a hand or an ear. Everyone's happy for you when something good happens, and everyone does their level best to cheer you up and buy you a real or virtual drink when you're down. It's been an incredible experience so far, and I feel so privileged to be a part of it!
What is the hardest part of writing a book?
Editing. Coming up with the idea and the plot and the characters is fun, and writing the first draft isn't bad either. But once it's all written down and I know how the story goes, and all that's left is polishing the grammar and plugging all the gaping holes, suddenly it feels a lot more like work.
Tell us about your protagonist.Avery Baker is a New Yorker born and bred. When she inherits her Aunt Inga's house in a tiny town on the coast of Maine, her first inclination is to get rid of it ASAP. She has a great job, and a great apartment, and a great boyfriend in Manhattan, so what does she want with a decrepit Victorian cottage on the outer edge of the back-beyond?
Until she discovers that her perfect boyfriend isn't so perfect after all, and she loses him and her dream-job in one fell swoop. (That's the problem with dating your boss. One of the problems, anyway.)
So Avery hires local handyman Derek Ellis to help her renovate her aunt's house, and the two of them start butting heads. Derek is more of a restorer at heart, doing his best to preserve the original character of the house, while Avery wants to give her artistic abilities free reign and squeeze every newfangled amenity she can into the house. It makes for some fun conversations. Add in some scheming relatives (his and hers), a few cats (Maine Coons, of course), historical intrigue dating back to the French Revolution, a missing professor, a boatload (literally) of valuable antiques, and a few dead bodies, and you have "Fatal Fixer-Upper".
If you could host a dinner for five authors, living or dead, who would you invite and why?
I'm not real big on the idea of hanging out with dead people, so how about we do the following, all living:
The lovely and talented Tasha Alexander, because I've had dinner with her before, and enjoyed it. And it's been way too long!
The fabulous (and fabulously prolific) Elizabeth Peters AKA Barbara Michaels AKA Barbara Mertz, because she's my favorite writer and I've never had the chance to meet her.
Terry Pratchett, because I bet he's just great fun to be around!
J.K. Rowling. This one shouldn't need an explanation. I mean, she's J.K. Rowling, right? Who wouldn't want to have dinner with her?
Lois McMaster Bujold. She once wrote what has to be the dinner party from hell, and I'd like to see how she'd do with a real one. Also, I want to prevail upon her to get Ivan settled with a nice girl. I have some ideas...
Next time, can I put together a dinner party with fictional characters instead? I bet that'd be interesting!
What's your favorite book?
Um... my own?
Seriously, too big a question. I could come up with maybe a few favorites in every genre, but one favorite book...? Not sure that's possible.
Though I must admit I'm partial to the Southern Living annual cookbook...
Could you ever write a book in longhand or are you a slave to your computer?
I write in longhand sometimes, but it's usually just ideas or short scenes. A couple pages long at most, and only when I don't have a computer handy. I can hardly keep up with myself on the keyboard--probably more due to my lack of typing expertise than the incredible speed of my thought processes--and trying to get the pen to move quickly enough is too frustrating. Scribbling on napkins in the cafés of Edinburgh isn't for me. The cafés of Edinburgh are great; scribbling on napkins less so. If technology suddenly disappeared, though, and we went back to the dark ages and had to write with pen and paper again, I'm sure I'd find a way to make it work. It beats not writing at all. So I guess the not so short answer is yes, I could--and would--if I had to, but only if there was no alternative.
Contributing editor Tasha Alexander
attended the University of Notre Dame, where she signed on as an
English major in order to have a legitimate excuse for spending all her
time reading. Following graduation, she played nomad for several years,
eventually settling with her family in Tennessee. When not reading, she
can be found hard at work on her next book.
