Valentine With Bite: Carrie Jones Interview

Why pixies? How did you come up with the idea, and did you have to do any research on them before writing?

I was at the Common Ground Fair, which is this huge, cool fair in Maine that’s sponsored by Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association (MOFGA). To get to the main part of the fair you have to walk through this sweet trail that curves through these tall spruce trees.

Right in front of me was this guy. He had a weird vibe. He was wearing all corduroy – blazer, pants. And sticking out from his blazer was this long tail-like appendage that was wrapped in different colored earth-toned cloth. I guess he could tell I was checking him out because he turned his head and looked at me. His eye was this startling silver color. How startling? So startling that I actually gasped and got creeped out.

Then when we were in line to pay we made eye contact again and his eyes were brown.

I know! I know! I probably imagined the silver eye color.

It doesn’t matter. That was one of the main things that got me started. Then, I just had this image of a man standing outside an airport pointing at an airplane this girl was on.

It also creeped me out.

So, I started writing.

And after I wrote a chapter I started researching pixies. It was super fun actually.

How do you come up with your character names?

Some of them just happen naturally. Nick was just always Nick. Issie was just always Issie. With Zara, I needed a name that meant ‘princess’ but I didn’t want to use the name Sarah because I know a million trillion Sarahs and it would have confused me. Sometimes people will give me their names. Devyn is named after Devyn Burton, one of the Five Awesome YA Fans.

Can you give us any hints about a third book in the Need series?

Well, I get in super big trouble if I tell too much but Astley is in it. A lot.

Also, click here to visit the Need website!