Oh. My. Carlisle. Carrie Jones!!!
We interview Carrie Jones , author of Tips on Having a Gay (ex)boyfriend, Love and Other Uses for Duct Tape, Girl, Hero, and more…
1. Is it true you KILLED Santa Claus? What do you have to say for yourself??
Yes. I’d like to pretend that it was all about me protesting the mass commercialization of a holiday, but it wasn’t.
I’d like to pretend that I never turned the back burner of the stove on instead of the front burner of the stove, but I did.. I’d like to pretend that I never put that sweet, round, fabric/fiber filled man on the back burner of the stove in the first place, but he was there. He was there and it was my fault. Let me tell you though. Santa burns fast. He fills the house with smoke and I don’t know what he was eating (Christmas cookies, maybe?) but he gives off a lot of fumes. It was a total accident, I swear. But judging by the well-armed reindeer posse holding a hostile perimeter around my house, I’m not sure if anyone from the North Pole believes me.
2. Your first book, Tips on Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend, was (of course) about having a gay ex boyfriend. Have you ever had a gay boyfriend and if so, did it influence your writing?
My boyfriend in high school was gay. I didn’t actually know that then. We’d gone out for about three years and then went to different colleges and he came out when we were home on break. He is an amazing guy, and honestly, one of the best boyfriends I’ve ever had. So, like Belle, in TIPS, I didn’t want to lose him as a friend. I didn’t. He is one of my favorite people ever.
I’d been hearing a lot of heterosexual women talking in the media about their anger and feelings of betrayal when their husbands or lovers or boyfriends came out. All those feelings are understandable. But then they start to demonize their former partners, and that’s what bothers me. All those negative feelings aren’t all the feelings possible when your boyfriend comes out. You can feel proud of him. You can feel sad that he was afraid to tell the truth for so long. You can feel used sometimes. You can feel angry sometimes, but eventually, lots of the time you still love him. You still care about him. You want the best for him. In TIPS I really wanted those positive feelings to eventually come out. I wanted Belle (the main character) and Dylan (her gay ex-boyfriend) to move on and still love each other.
3. What is the wildest thing you’ve done while procrastinating working on one of your novels?
You are so trying to get me in trouble, aren’t you?
I could be all Mom and say, “The wildest thing I did when I was procrastinating was clean the bathroom.” This is actually, kind of true. There were mushrooms growing there. Or I could say, “The wildest thing I did when I was procrastinating about writing was write a short story from the point of view of an unused condom.” This is actually true. I’m not sure how wild it is though? Usually when I procrastinate I go run or kayak. That’s terribly boring though. Wow. I’m even making myself yawn with that answer.
4. Is it true you let Grover from Sesame Street drive your car? Is he insured?
Grover is a HORRIBLE driver. He’s all, “Cawwie, what happens if I drive on this big bumpy thing in the center of the road?”
And I’m all, “Grover! That is the median. You do not drive there. There are trees.”And Grover gets excited and says, “Trees! I, the adorable monster you know as Grover, love trees. Lets go make the car hug a tree!” At which point I usually scream. Unfortunately: 1. Grover is NOT insured. Insurance agencies have a thing against monsters. 2. I am not a much better driver than Grover.
5.The protagonist in Tips on Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend, Belle, is a “crusader for the oppressed.” Is this the same for you? Did it influence your writing?
I don’t think I’m much of a crusader. I’m in Amnesty International, which is a human rights group, so I write letters and emails to governments that are abusing people’s rights, and I tend to bug our senators when I’m upset about human rights abuses. Actually, I’d like to be much more of a crusader. I’d like to be a warrior actually. This should probably be my New Year’s resolution. I mean think about it. I could probably carry a bow and arrow or something if I was an actual warrior, and I bet the clothes would be cool.
Belle’s character just came to me. I’m glad that she’s involved in organizations like Amnesty, and Students for Social Justice. I get slightly annoyed at young adult novels where teens are depicted as only caring about boys and clothes. Real people can care about more than that. I also get slightly annoyed at young adult novels where teens are either:1. Smart.2. A jock.3. Musical/artistic4. Nothing. Those are limited options and they don’t reflect life. They’re stereotypes really. I wanted TIPS to be more realistic than that. I wanted the characters to be more realistic than that.
6. Can you tell us anything about Love and Other Uses of Duct Tape?
It’s about sex. It’s not some preachy book about sex. It’s about Belle’s born-again virgin status and how she wants to change it. It’s about healthy sexual relationships, really. It’s also about consequences. It sounds much more boring than it is. It also sounds much more raunchy. There’s a lot of societal taboos about sex, especially when it comes to sex and teenagers. This book doesn’t say that everyone should go out there and copulate like bunnies. Seriously. I swear. It’s even more about friendships. Belle and her best friend, Emily, go through some hard crud in this book. It’s about what their friendship means to them, what lengths they’ll go to in order to protect each other. And there’s duct tape in it! Here’s what the press kit says:
Love is in the air: Belle’s mom has a new boyfriend, her best friend Em and Em’s boyfriend Shawn can’t keep their hands off each other, and Belle’s ex, Dylan, is content with his new guy, Bob. As for Belle and her new (straight) boyfriend, Tom? Nada. Zip. Zilch. To all appearances, they’re the perfect couple. But Belle knows a thing or two about appearances…
7. Finish this sentence: Censorship…
Censorship is ridiculously stupid.
Censorship is power hungry people’s fear coupled by a monster dose of distrust. Censorship is being fought by the American Library Association and As If! (an authors group) all the time. Censorship creates a dumbed down society; a society where people can’t make choices, aren’t exposed to opinions that are different than the majority’’s opinions; a society where ideas can only come in one style, one brand name, one vision; a society where people can’t search for ways to get better, for new ideas on how to think, perceive and act. Okay, obviously, that was a bad question for me to answer. I will try to stop hyperventilating now.
8. Do you have any tips for aspiring writers?
Write things down. Try to write and read as much as you can.
In an interview with Cynthia Letich Smith, an author and teacher at Vermont College’s MFA in Writing program, she asked me kind of the same question with a little twist. I’ve pasted it in here:
If you could go back and talk to yourself when you were beginning writer, what advice would you offer?
Current Carrie: Hey! You! Writing in that notebook. Fifth-grade Carrie: Ew! Am I really going to look like that? Where are my bangs?
Current Carrie: At least your glasses are gone.
Fifth-grade Carrie: Cool.
Current Carrie: Okay, listen. I have writing advice. You know how you’re having Captain James T. Kirk fall in love with your banged hair, glasses-wearing heroine?
Fifth-grade Carrie: Yeah.
Current Carrie: And how Mr. Spock is also in love with same heroine…
Fifth-grade Carrie: Uh-huh.
Current Carrie: And how the Dr. McCoy guy is in love with her too?
Fifth-grade Carrie: What’s your point?
Current Carrie: It’s not all that realistic, sweetie.
Fifth-grade Carrie: It isn’t?
Current Carrie: No, honey. I hate to break it to you. It’s just not. My writing advice to you is that not everyone can be in love with your heroine, unless you’re Laurel Hamilton and your heroine has the ardeur or something. Fifth-grade Carrie: Crap.
9. Do you have any wisdom you would like to impart upon us?
Oh, wow. As you can tell by my other answers I’m not terribly wise. I should really be asking you for wisdom.
Oh! There. That’s my wisdom. Always be ready to listen to other people for wisdom. Like that guy who always stares at your feminine parts when he’s bagging groceries at Shop ‘n Save? He might actually have something wise to say.
Like he might blink for a second when he hands you your bag and say, “To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.”
Okay that was actually Anatole France. But the bagging guy could be channeling Anatole or something.
My other words of wisdom? If the bagging guy creeps you out do not let him help you bring your bags to the car even if he does spout out Anatole. Trust your gut about people. Your gut is usually right.
10. What do you think is the real reason that teens don’t read much anymore?
I think some teens do.
And the teens who don’t? I think they have lots of reasons.
I have friends who play basketball all winter for school, are in three honors classes and they are so buried by homework that they don’t have time to read for fun even if they want to do that. And a lot of them do. I think there’s so much pressure to get through high school, have a job and show your responsible, do a sport, do a club, make your college applications look good, or to just make enough money to help your family pay their oil bill that some teens literally have no time to read. And, yeah, I think that’s sad.
I know other teens who just don’t see books they want to read. I know other teens who work jobs after school and they think of reading as school work instead of escape so they do other things to escape.
I know some teens that find reading just too hard. It’s work for them. My dad was like that. He’s still like that. It takes him a year to finish a 250-page book. That’s hard.
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Loved this interview! I’ve been wanting to read Carrie’s book for a while now. I really need to get on that, lol.