Author Interview with Jourdan Alexandra and GIVEAWAY!!

Hey everyone!! If you don't already know, I got a chance to read and review Euphoria (Part 1, Book 1) from Jourdan Alexandra. It is a fantastic novel, so if you haven't checked it out yet you should probably do that soon - and here might be your chance!! I was able to do an interview with the author, and she is gracefully offering up TWO ecopies of her awesome book!!! Check out the interview and then enter the giveaway at the bottom.

Mickey @ imabookshark: For those who don’t know you, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Jourdan Alexandra: Well, I’m 21 years old and currently I’m an English Literature major at Arizona State University, and I work part-time as a server. Euphoria is my first novel, and it is self-published, although I would love to try to get a real literary agent to take on the project sometime in the future! Right now I’m just enjoying college and trying to write as much as possible so I have some sort of career potential as an author once I graduate, haha.

M@I: What’s the plan for Euphoria? Why is this “part 1 of book 1”?

JA: I’m so glad you asked this! Maybe if any of my readers read this interview some light can be shed on why it is “Part 1 of Book 1”. To be quite honest, Euphoria was originally meant to be one complete novel, and the entire novel is already written. I finished the first complete draft about two years ago, and it was split into two “Books” within a book, Book 1 and Book 2—those were simply fancy titles though; Euphoria was still meant to be one novel. Ever since I finished it, I’ve been editing—not just for grammatical mistakes though. I also had to do a lot of rewriting and plot adjusting. Once my English classes intensified at school, my editing time was cut back considerably. Once I finished editing “Book 1” and started to move into “Book 2”, I started to hear about publishing as an e-book with Amazon and other retailers like Barnes and Noble. I decided it was something I wanted to do, and because I was so eager to share my work with readers, I just decided to take what was originally “Book 1” within the complete novel, and make it its own book. Thus “Book 1” became “Part 1” and “Book 2” will soon be “Part 2”. In hindsight, perhaps I should have waited and released the novel as a whole, but the good news for readers is that Part 2 is technically already written and I’m working my hardest on finishing up everything to get it out soon!

M@I: How long did it take you to write Euphoria, and where did you get the idea?

JA: I actually started the original, first draft of it when I was in 7^th grade, back in 2003, when vampires actually weren’t as insanely popular as they are now! I think it eventually made it to about 42 pages on Microsoft Word. Well, I gave up on it then, and didn’t write that much through high school. I didn’t really revisit the idea of the characters or plot until I was a freshman in college and started writing again. I changed a lot of stuff character wise and plot wise and started writing a fresh first draft. However, a quite few scenes from the original draft made it into the final product, and the characters are mostly the exact same, and so is the basic plot!

M@I: You certainly have a way with words. Have you always wanted to be an author?

JA: Thank you so much! In 7^th grade, I did want to be an author. In high school I stopped writing though and developed other interests, like acting, so I didn’t really decide being an author was my calling until I started writing Euphoria again in college.

M@I: I’ve seen reviews on Goodreads that compare your work to Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse series. What do you make of that?

JA: I absolutely love it! I would, with absolute seriousness, call that an honor! I also am very flattered that my work is being compared to something a little bit darker and grittier that’s intended for a slightly more mature audience with a strong female lead, because that’s exactly what I was aiming for. My book isn’t necessarily as explicit though, haha, and I definitely am still marketing to an older teen audience—Riley is an older teen herself, after all.

M@I: I know that anyone who’s read Euphoria is impatiently waiting for the next one. Any details and/or the release date on that?

JA: It depends on when I can finish editing it! I start school again in the fall, but I hope to have it out by the end of 2011 or in early early 2012.

M@I: Do you think you’ll write outside the supernatural genre? Outside the YA genre?

JA: Sometimes I think my writing may be a little overdone or intense for the YA genre, and maybe more suited for an adult type novel, but I don’t think I could ever just write regular fiction without any supernatural elements! I could see myself writing a more adult series—like the Sookie Stackhouse series, for instance—but there would absolutely be supernatural elements! I would really love to write an alien romance for the YA genre, where a girl falls in love with an alien—don’t worry, he would be a sexy male lead though, and probably human in appearance, hahaha. I just love that idea of science fiction and space travel and stuff.

M@I: Does Euphoria have a book trailer? How do you feel about those?

JA: I thought about trying to create one, because I think they are an excellent marketing technique! I sort of decided that it would be too difficult though, because I’d have to produce it myself and I wasn’t sure what kind of images or film clips I could create or get my hands on. I do want to get one going eventually though, and I’m definitely going to be thinking about it in the upcoming months.

M@I: Okay, some fun questions now. Can’t be all business all the time! Favorite kind of pie?

JA: Pumpkin Pie, closely followed by Apple. With whip cream and ice cream!

M@I: If you could be any TV show character, who would you be and why?

JA: I would definitely be Liz Lemon from 30 Rock. She lives in New York, which is amazing, and she’s the head writer for a SNL type show. I love Rockefeller Center in NY, and she gets to work there every day! Plus she meets celebrities pretty frequently, haha. And, even if she has romantic troubles she’s still pretty fit, and she slept with James Franco, as fans of the show know.

M@I: Do you have any hidden talents?

JA: I seriously cannot think of anything. I used to make fan art and icons of shows and movies—dorky, but true! I created the cover for Euphoria, so I guess I have some skill with Photoshop!

M@I: Which novel do you wish you would have written?

JA: Harry Potter, all the way!

M@I: If you could learn one language right now, what would it be?

JA: Definitely French. I’ve taken five years of it throughout high school and college, but it’s already fading from my memory and I never was much good, haha.

M@I: I have a ton of animals in my house. Do you have any pets?

JA: I just have my orange cat, TJ!

M@I: Finally, and back to business a little bit: I love audio books. Any plans on an audio book version for Euphoria? Who would be your first choice as a narrator(s)?

JA: I wish! I probably wouldn’t get that opportunity unless I get a traditional publisher, but I would love for Ian Somerhalder to narrate Remaunt. I know he already plays a vampire so it’s sort of a dumb choice, but I think he would be perfect! For Riley I would love someone with a unique or different female voice, but I can’t think of anyone!

Big thanks to Jourdan Alexandra for the interview! Find her on her blog, and buy her book on Amazon!

Giveaway Alert!

I have TWO ecopies of Euphoria to give away!!! Who wants one?! Here are the details:

• Leave a comment with your name and email address/twitter handle and you're entered.
• Leave a separate comment for one extra entry if you tweet about the interview/giveaway. Please include direct link.
  
• Must be 13 or older.
• International contest!!!
  
• You don't have to be a follower, but it's appreciated of course!
• Ends at 11:59 PM PST on Monday, 7/18/11.
  
• Winners will be picked with random.org.
• Questions? Email me at imabookshark AT yahoo DOT com!

Good luck!