Interview: Elana Johnson + Possession

Today I'm enormously excited to welcome Elana Johnson to the blog! She's absolutely hilarious and has been fully embracing my snarky comments to her on Twitter, something that has completely endeared her to me. She also happens to be the author of Possession, a fascinating young adult dystopian novel releasing June 7th from Simon and Schuster. I was lucky enough to receive an ARC courtesy of the Cornucopia of Dsytopia Blog Tour (you can read my review HERE) and Elana was nice enough to answer some questions for me. Hope you all enjoy the interview!

Vi has the unique ability to think something and have it happen in reality. If you possessed this talent, what might be the first thing you would think into happening?

Oh, going straight for the hard questions, I see. Uh… how about getting rid of the laundry? Not necessarily that there wouldn’t be laundry, just that someone else would wash, dry, fold, and put it away. And dishes! And mopping. Okay, pretty much every household chore. Which I now realize this is what maids do. #jeez #Iobviouslyneedamaid

Possession features a lot of new and interesting technologies, what one technological creation of yours do you most wish we had now? Personally, I would want the device that produces any food I ask it to–endless supply of chocolate!

Seriously. That’s a great one. For me, there’s nothing I hate more than driving. Time wasted, every single day. So I’d love to have a teleporter in my living room. “Quick kids! It’s time for dance!” Right into the teleporter; no interrupted writing time. That would be bliss.

Jag is a pretty swoon-worthy guy who will no doubt have readers scanning the pages for a mention of his name, what one young adult male hero has recently made you swoon?

Dude, there’s so many! I really like Liam in Lisa & Laura Roecker’s THE LIAR SOCIETY. I enjoy Will in Sophie Jordan’s FIRELIGHT. I love me some Ky in Ally Condie’s MATCHED. I adore Catcher in Carrie Ryan’s THE DARK AND HOLLOW PLACES. And Peeta from THE HUNGER GAMES trilogy is brilliant. I was Team Gale for a while, but that third book really helped me switch camps.

*PEETA! Sorry, got a little enthusiastic at the mention of his name and felt the need to interrupt the interview and express my enthusiasm in the form of all caps:)

Your characters have some interesting names: Jag, Zenn, Thane. Did you have names floating around in your head first, or did you have the character description and personality worked out before you thought of a name to fit?

I always have a name first. And my names are just sort of what they are. I’ve had people tell me to change some in the past. I hardly ever do. And, uh, I usually don’t have a character description and/or personality worked out until the entire first draft is written. No lie. So names come first.

The end of this story is left fairly open, do you tend to gravitate toward books where your mind can fill in the blanks however you choose, or do you sometimes like things to be wrapped up neatly?

I’m a huge (read: HUGE) fan of endings like The Giver, where the reader can decide for themselves how things ended up. Where they can fill in the blanks. It makes reading a much more interactive experience for me.

If Jag was asked what he found most appealing or impressive about Vi, what might he say? Vi about Jag?

Holy delving deep, Batman! Okay, Jag would say that he was, and continues to be, instantly drawn to Vi’s strength. When she walks into that courtroom the first time with her head held high and talking back to the Greenies? Yeah, that’s a real turn-on for Jag.

As for Vi, well, we get to see and hear all the stuff that she likes about Jag. But maybe the most appealing thing about him is his gentleness, whether she recognizes it or not. The way he handles her like she’s precious, that she could break and there’s no way he’s going to be the one to do it.

Is there any one part of the writing/publishing/marketing process you found to be more difficult than you expected? Easier?

Can you say “emotional rollercoaster”? That, by far, is the hardest part of publishing. The highs are higher than anything you’ve experienced. The lows are so low you can’t see the bottom of them. And you can experience a high at 3:01:06 and a low at 3:01:06:05, getting jerked up and down and sideways. At the end of every day, I feel wrung out emotionally. It happens when I write. During querying. During editing. During submission. During promotion. During every aspect of the publishing process. That’s why I have to unplug from twitter, blogs, and Facebook one day out of every seven. I just can’t take the emotional intensity. Aaaand, now you all know my freakish lameness. I swear I’m in therapy. It’s called email. Ha!

Thank you so much for being here today Elana! If you are interested in learning more about Elana and Possession, you can find more information below, and don't forget to add June 7th to your calendar so you can pick this one up on release day!

Elana's Website
Elana's Blog
Elana on Twitter
Possession Official Website
Possession on Facebook