I'm pleased to present a new Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit interview, today with Debbie Rigaud, author of PERFECT SHOT (Simon Pulse, 12/1/09 release, ISBN: 978-1-4269-7835-0)

Debbie Rigaud began her writing career covering news and entertainment for magazines. She’s interviewed celebs, politicians, social figures and “real” girls. Her wide-ranging articles have appeared in YSB, Entertainment Weekly, Seventeen, The Source, Trace, Twist, Essence, J-14, Heart & Soul, Inside TV, CosmoGIRL!, and Vibe Vixen. Her first work of YA fiction, a novella titled “Double Act,” was featured in the anthology HALLWAY DIARIES/Kimani Tru. PERFECT SHOT/Simon & Schuster, her first standalone book, will be released December 1, 2009.

Today, I'm pleased to host a new Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit interview with Laurie Faria Stolarz, fellow Flux author. Here's her very impressive bio:

Laurie Faria Stolarz is the author of several popular young adult novels, including Deadly Little Secret, Deadly Little Lies, Project 17, Bleed, and the bestselling BLUE IS FOR NIGHTMARES series, which has sold over 500,000 copies worldwide. Stolarz's titles have been part of the Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers list, the Top Ten Teen Pick list, and YALSA's Popular Paperback list, all through the American Library Association. Born and raised in Salem, Massachusetts, Stolarz attended Merrimack College and received an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College in Boston. For more information, visit Laurie's website at www.lauriestolarz.com.

LOVESTRUCK SUMMER (HarperTeen; May 5, 2009; $5.99) is the story of Quinn, an indie rock girl who came out to Austin, Texas for a music internship. She also plans to spend long, lazy days in the sun at outdoor concerts--and to meet a hot musician or two. Instead, she’s stuck rooming with her sorority brainwashed cousin, who now willingly goes by the name “Party Penny.” Their personalities clash, big time.

But Sebastian, a gorgeous DJ, definitely makes up for it. Sebastian has it all: looks, charm, and great taste in music. So why can’t Quinn keep her mind off Penny’s friend cute, All-American Russ and his Texas twang? 

Sebastian is the kind of guy Quinn wants, but is Russ the guy Quinn needs?  One thing’s certain: Quinn’s in for a summer she’ll never forget!

A former editor at ELLEgirl and Seventeen magazines, Melissa Walker knows her indie rock. She hails from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. She loves talking about books, fashion, magazines and all kinds of pop culture. Visit her at melissacwalker.com or on iheartdaily.com.

How many fingers would you use to count the books you've read more than three times?  What books do you turn to time and again and why?

I'm mostly a one-timer because I like to keep up with as many new books as I can! However, I've read Flowers in the Attic more than once (partially thanks to the VC Andrews Challenge put out by Reviewer X and The Chick Manifesto: link) and I've also read Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar a bunch. And Gone With the Wind (can't get enough of that one).

Have you ever fallen in love with a character (yours or someone else's)?  How did that work out for you?

I'm into rogues, so I fell for Rhett Butler at age 12 when I first read Gone With the Wind (I also fancied myself a bit of a Scarlett), and I think I've been looking for that kind of dignified bad boy ever since. I'm marrying one in July, so I found my real-life version. Yay!

Was there a pivotal moment in your writing or a single (or plural) epiphany that really changed or improved the way you write?

When I realized it was okay to use real situations, real character traits, real experiences in my fiction--and tweak them to fit the story--I breathed easier. You don't have to COMPLETELY make everything up... especially if you're writing realistic fiction.

I don't think any character really lives and breathes without quirks. Can you talk about that?

I agree! It's like if someone asks you what you love about your best friend, you don't say, "She's pretty, she's nice..." boring! You say, "I love that she can't watch AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL without imitating Mr. Jay, I love that she always wants rainbow chocolate chips on her cupcakes, I love that she only "reads" the fashion pages of her favorite magazine, etc. The quirks are what we like about people, what makes them uniquely them. Same with characters.

Do you ever fear that people you've known will read your work and see themselves in the characters you create?

Oh, yes! I try really hard to fictionalize things though. Still, I know a couple of people have seen bits of themselves in my work. It's never the full person though, just a quirk or a line or maybe a look.

If you could meet any fictional character ever created, who would it be and why?

Wow. Can I ask any commenters to help me out with this one? I can't decide!

PS-For a chance to win Lovestruck Summer, plus 3 other great beach reads, your readers can go to iheartdaily.com/Harper2009.html

Yesterday, the Hudson Library hosted a local author event.  My son came with me, hence the artistic Bakugan with Books shot in the center of the pictures above.  In fact, I asked him for his opinion on my outfit as I was getting ready, and he and his bakugan offered suggestions.  "Oh, do bakugan know about fashion?" I asked him.  "Mom, don't you watch with me, they're all about strategy."  So there it is, strategic fasion.  From the mouths of babes...er, bakugan.  Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures from around the entire room, but Ty gets photo credit for the one of me.  Bakugan with Books and the accompanying pic of fellow author Susan Noe Harmon with her book UNDER THE WEEPING WILLOW are mine.

Next week I'm going to be all over the blogosphere doing Girlfriend's Cyber Circuit interviews.  My blog will have wonderful historical romance guest posts.  To kick off my GCC tour, I decided to answer my own questions below.

Interview with a Vampire(writer)

How many fingers would you use to count the books you've read more than three times?  What books do you turn to time and again and why?

Let’s see?  The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, The Mirror of Her Dreams and The Man Rides Through by Stephen R. Donaldson, The Changeover by Margaret Mahy, Watcher in the Woods by Florence Engel Randall…  Interesting that three out of five of these are young adult.  Why?  I think it’s because these are very elementally novels about characters that speak to me.

Have you ever fallen in love with a character (yours or someone else's)?  How did that work out for you?

I’ve fallen in love with so many characters.  I think my very first imaginary love was Jace from Jace and the Wheeled Warriors, a cartoon from when I was a kid.  Since then, my loves have evolved generally into swashbuckling heroes or those who aren’t too proud to appear dim if it suits their higher purpose (like the Countess D’Orzy’s Scarlet Pimpernel or Melanie Rawn’s Rohan from the Dragon Prince series).  I also adore Lynn Flewelling’s Seregil, Carol Berg’s Seyonne, and Nathaniel from The Witch of Blackbird Pond, after whom my son was almost named.

Was there a pivotal moment in your writing or a single (or plural) epiphany that really changed or improved the way you write?

Those of you who know suricattus  know that she’s one tough cookie.  I’ve never been comfortable with emotion, not with expressing it anyway.  I was taught growing up that emotion was weakness.  Anger seemed to be the only exception to that rule.  Thus, the characters I wrote were all untouched by emotion.  They held themselves back.  I respected that, respected them, but it didn’t exactly do wonders for my writing.  The epiphany for me came when she challenged me to tap into my emotions and to try writing a character who was actually in touch with hers.  I fought against it kicking and screaming, but in the end she was right and my fiction was stronger for it.  (You hear that, LAG, you got it in writing (*grin).)

I don't think any character really lives and breathes without quirks.  Can you talk about that? 

Absolutely!  I did a paper on this way back in high school because I was/am a huge Sherlock Holmes fanatic, and it always amazed me that a man who prided himself so much on ordered reasoning would take to drugs when there was no case to interest him.  I don’t think anyone who actually lives and breathes, as good characters do, comes without their seeming inconsistencies, their quirks, weaknesses, strengths, insecurities…all of these things go into making us, or our characters, who we/they are.

Do you ever fear that people you've known will read your work and see themselves in the characters you create?

My characters are generally a conglomeration of people I’ve known, never just one.  It’s funny, because friends reading my first pseudonymous novel, Playing Nice, commented that the heroine, Jesse, reminded them of me, and I just had to laugh.  She’s actually a composite of my two best friends, both of whom were way smarter about men than I was! 

If you could meet any fictional character ever created, who would it be and why? 

You know those beloved characters I mentioned above?  I’d love to meet any one of them.  Or maybe…you know, Maggie Quinn from Rosemary Clement-Moore’s Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil series is so wonderfully snarky.  I bet we could have some fun.  If I were cool enough to keep up.  Oooh, or Rachel Caine’s Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin.  The two of us loose in a mall…talk about economic stimulus!