Quick Q and A's with Becca Fitzpatrick!

Becca Fizpatrick is the author of the amazing Hush, Hush, which is officially out today, and one of the nicest authors I've talked to online!
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1) First off, I’m going to give you a couple of categories and I would like you to list your favorite.

Food? Ice cream, especially Ben & Jerry's Vanilla Heathbar Crunch, Coldstone Creamery's Peanut Butter Cup Perfection and The Pie Who Loved Me, and St. Clair's Banana Nut.

Drink? Water. Tap or bottled is fine, I just love that cold, clean taste of a glass of water!

Book? Favorite...as in one? Oh man! This is going to be hard. Hmm. How about I name the book I've reread the most times? It also happens to be one of my very most favorites. And the winner is (drumroll!) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. (I <3>Author? You are one tough cookie, Lauren. Just one? I will try. Right now it's probably Diana Gabaldon.

Movie? Depending on the mood I'm in, my answer will change, but today I'm going to say Better Off Dead with John Cusack.

Season? Autumn

2) Your latest book, Hush, Hush will be released in October which leads me to wonder what inspired you to write it.

The very first inspiration for the story came from an experience in my own
tenth-grade biology class. We must have been studying human reproduction, because my teacher asked me, in front of the whole class, to name characteristics I would be attracted to in a mate (ugh– I know!) I sat next to a really cute boy, and the thought of naming characteristics I might look for in a mate was a humiliation I was not about to subject myself to. But the experience always stuck with me, and when I sat down to write Hush, Hush, that little piece of my history evolved into an early scene in the book.

3) Are you and you main character, Nora, alike in any ways?

We both have naturally curly hair and we both drove a brown Fiat Spider in high school, but that's where the similarities end. Nora is meticulous and a perfectionist. I'm a slob. Nora eats organic. I eat ice cream and fries. Nora wears driving mocs, and I wear flip-flops or heels.

4) What made you decide to have Hush, Hush take place in Maine?

When I was in high school, I was pretty sure I would grow up to be a marine biologist. I had posters of whales and dolphins pinned up all over my bedroom, I had a huge collection of whale/dolphin T-shirts, my Christmas present from my parents in 9th grade was a whale-watching vacation to California, and my aunt and uncle adopted a humpback whale for me named Tanith. Every so often, the whale adoption agency would send me photos of Tanith in the wild, and once I even got a humpback whale calendar. As I was flipping through the photos in the calendar, I came across this amazing photo of a breaching whale, and in the background was the Maine coast, dense with evergreens. I hung on to that picture for years, and it was my dream to someday move to Maine. Eventually I forgot about that dream, but when I started writing Hush,Hush I found myself writing about a girl growing up in a small, atmospheric Maine town without even realizing that of course I'd picked Maine as the setting because of my childhood dream. It's funny how something so seemingly small as a photograph I first saw when I was fourteen years old could have such a big impact on Hush, Hush, but there you have it.

5) Do you have a particular scene in Hush, Hush that’s your favorite?

Oh, good question! I had a lot of fun writing the climax, which takes place in Nora's high school at night. In fact, it was probably my favorite chapter to write.

6)Since, your book ( and you!) have rather larger presence on YA Book Blogs, what is your overall opinion of the blogging community?

My overall opinion is that bloggers must really love what they do, because blogging and reviewing is hard work! I admire bloggers in more ways than I can count on both hands. My agent commented the other day that I have great online presense, and I responded by saying it's not anything I've done – credit goes to book bloggers. I'm continually amazed and impressed by how much they do to get word out about books. They really do shape what people see, buy and read. Hooray to bloggers!

7) As any person who has visited your site or blog knows, there is currently a sequel to Hush, Hush in the works called Crescendo. So, can you share with us a tidbit about what’s going to happen next to Nora and Patch?

Haha...alot. I'll tell you this much – in Crescendo, readers are going to find out what really happened the night Nora's dad was murdered, and how much Patch was involved.

( Ooh, I'm intrigued!!)

8) Is there anything else you would like to add?

I just want to say thanks so much for having me here on Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf! Keep up the amazing work, Lauren!
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Thanks so much, Becca! Now what are you all waiting for? Go check out Becca's book here, here, or here! :)