Crissa-Jean Chappell interviews Jen Doktorski with photo prompts

For my interview with Crissa-Jean Chappell, she provided the photo prompts, and I provided the photos. Crissa put together an awesome video to answer my interview questions earlier in the month, so I liked her suggestion that we keep the visual theme going. Here are Crissa's prompts and my pics.

--pictures of settings that are mentioned in your novels (or inspired your stories).

 

 

 

These first three are from HOW MY SUMMER WENT UP IN FLAMES. The characters take a cross-country road trip. That third one is Cadillac ranch in  Amarillo,Texas.

 

 

This is from FAMOUS LAST WORDS for which I drew on my experiences as a journalist and obit writer. This POW I interviewed found his way into my story.

 

 

 

 

 

These are images from Seaside Park, NJ, the setting of my upcoming YA novel THE SUMMER AFTER YOU AND ME.

 

 

Also from my upcoming novel. Madame Marie was a fortune teller is Asbury Park, NJ made famous by a Bruce Springsteen song.

 

--a picture of your writing desk or place where you work (love these!)

 

Maybe you can't put Baby in the corner but it doesn't bother me and Buffy, my writing partner. She recently ousted me from the chair we once shared, so now I've been using that old, wooden stool.

--a photo of yourself as a teen, the house where you grew up, etc.

This is me at 16. It was taken in a photo booth on the boardwalk in Seaside Park.

--a picture of your "writing partner" (a pet or mascot....could also be an object).

 

This is Buffy, my fox terrier writing partner. She's very opinionated, just like me.

--a photo that gives a clue about your next project.

 

I'm currently working on a middle grade series that I've been describing as Big Band Theory meets The Babysitters Club.

--photos of signing or events, you with writing friends or agent, editor.

 

This is me with the amazing Annette Pollert, who edited HOW MY SUMMER WENT UP IN FLAMES and my upcoming YA. We recently met up at the Rutgers University Council on Children's Literature One-on-One Conference where I was asked to give the "success story" speech at breakfast. I met both my agent and first editor as a result of this wonderful conference.

 

 

This is me with Jennifer Ann Mann, a talented author and dear friend. She writes the funny, smart, and heartwarming SUNNY SWEET middle grade series. This past May we signed books and presented a workshop together at Wellesley Books in Massachusetts during Children's Book Week.