Sensational 7 Q & A with Chelsea Campbell!

Have you ever wanted to know what it would be like to hang out with your favorite author(s)? In an attempt to get a better understanding of authors, my Sensational Seven Q & A takes a closer or more personal look at these authors to give you a glimpse of the personalities behind the writing of your favorite books.

“Talent alone cannot make a writer. There must be a man behind the book; a personality which, by birth and quality, is pledged to the doctrines there set forth, and which exists to see and state things so, and not otherwise.” By Ralph Waldo Emerson

Chelsea Campbell grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where it rains a lot. And then rains some more. She finished her first novel when she was twelve, sent it out, and promptly got rejected. Since then she's written many more novels, earned a degree in Latin and Ancient Greek, become an obsessive knitter and fiber artist, and started a collection of glass grapes. Chelsea is a pop culture fangirl at heart and can often be found rewatching episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, leveling up in World of Warcraft, or spending way too much time on Livejournal and Facebook. Her debut novel, The Rise of Renegade X is in today!

If you were given a chance to travel back in time, what year or place would you go / Why?
I majored in Latin, so I'd really love to go to ancient Rome, 1st century BC, to meet Cicero (and not tell him that I also kind of want to meet Caesar). My Latin's not nearly good enough to go talk to him, but I can't really go back in time either, so a girl can dream on both accounts. Or, you know, practice her Latin first. Also, I know what they say about meeting your heroes, but I am a bit obsessed with him, for his good and bad traits, and I think my obsession and curiosity might outweigh any discoveries that he's not as larger than life as he's always seemed to me. But I would LOVE to see his oration against Cataline in person. Seriously, Cicero is a superhero whose powers are morals and using his speeches to run the bad guys out of town. He may be a little flawed, of course, and his morals weren't always *perfect*, but how can you not love him anyway?
Describe your novel in seven words or less?
Smart alec boy gone bad goes good. (I stole this from my agent. Do not think I am awesome enough to describe things in seven words or less, but do feel free to think I'm awesome in general.)
Please share with us about your favorite book and fictional crush to date?
Hmm, do these have to be the same thing? Fictional crush is easy--my fave fictional crush is the Tenth Doctor, hands down. He's funny and adventurous, resourceful and clever and friendly, and yet also has a dark side when things get serious. What's not to love?
As for favorite book, I'm going to go with an old favorite I just reread: Winnie-the-Pooh. I used to love the old Disney cartoons, and the weird live action stuff (I remember renting a live action Winnie-the-Pooh video over and over called "Don't Talk to Strangers," where people dressed up as Pooh characters teach you how to stay safe--not like I didn't already know how to be safe, I was a pretty paranoid kid, so I don't know why I watched it so many times), and the Saturday morning cartoon show that was on back in the day. I think it was called The Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh, or something like that. I still remember the theme song, Time to get up, time to get going, gotta meet a friend of mine. He's warm and he's fuzzy and I love him because he's just Pooh bear, Winnie-the-Pooh bear, I gotta be there. It's me and it's you, just silly old Winnie-the-Pooh. Yeah. Pretend I didn't just recite that, especially since I think I might be missing a chunk. Anyway, it wasn't until I was 14 that I actually read the books, and they're HILARIOUS. They're better than the cartoons, because the characters feel less stereotyped and the writing is always Very Clever, and capitalizes lots of important words like I just did. It's constantly poking fun at how people act. And, like, you know how in the show Eeyore is just depressed all the time? In the books he's more like a grumpy old man, always being really sarcastic about how he's treated by everyone else. And Rabbit comes off as less of a jerk and is very smart and a bit worried about certain bears getting stuck in his doorway. And also did you know Tigger only eats exract of malt? And that he lives with Kanga and Roo (because that's where the extract of malt is)? I'm excited but nervous about reading the new sequel, Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, but I can't not read it. I mean, Christopher Robin returning seems too good to be true, but maybe in these dark times we want to believe that Christopher Robin will come back and take care of us, kind of like Dumbledore, only not. Anyway, I figure if I can enjoy the old cartoon show, I can enjoy a new sequel.

If you could be any character in fiction, whom would you be / Why?
Sherlock Holmes, because he's a genius, and I would always feel safe if I was that good at solving crimes with so little to go on. I mean, sure, his life is probably more dangerous because of it, but he's got the skillz to match that danger and even one-up it most of the time. I think Holmes is really dependable, in his own way, while also seeming very aloof, and he plays the violin, which would be awesome.
If Hollywood made a movie about your life, whom would you like to see play the lead role as you/ Why?
I would love to be played by Eliza Dushku, because she's always super badass. And then they'd have to rewrite my role in the story of my life as more badass so she could play it, and then I would watch the movie and be all, "Wow, I'm so healthy and athletic and much more badass than I remember. I mean, this is how I always felt inside, so it's very brilliant of them to have picked up on that and put it in the movie." And my friends would watch and be all, "WTF? Chelsea, your life's not like this..."
If someone wrote a biography about you, what do you think the title should be – please explain?
There's a Cat in My Shower and Other Hilarious Incidents
This title promises many fun anecdotes, which I like to think I have. Also, there is often a cat or two in the shower, because Teisel is obsessed with running water, and when we got The Kitten, he picked it up from him. And who doesn't love hilarious cat anecdotes with possibly some hilarious non-cat-related anecdotes thrown in? Like that time, just, erm, yesterday, when my brain fell out while I was trying to use the DIY machine at the post office for the first time and mail my own package, but couldn't decide if it was a letter or a package and got very confused about the whole process (even though a big part of my job for almost the last two years was MAILING THINGS and I've never had problems before) and then was so stupid that I also couldn't figure out what it meant when it asked for my personal identification number when I paid with my debit card. I looked all over the card like some kind of idiot, while meanwhile people were piling up behind me, sighing really loudly so I'd hurry up. OMG, I don't know what came over me--I'm not usually that stupid. I mean, I like to think I'm not stupid at all, and I know what a freaking PIN number is, but sometimes you head down the stoopid trail and can't find your way back. On the bright side, I was so preoccupied with stupidly bumbling through the machine's instructions that I mostly didn't notice how annoyed the people behind me were getting, which probably would have made me panic instead of carrying out my bumbling in a calm and careful manner, and also now I have this hilarious story to tell. So, win-win situation. Sort of.
How would you describe yourself/life in seven words?
A Slytherin trapped in a Hufflepuff's body.
Bonus:

**Is there any additional info you would like to share with your readers about what’s next for you and your books?**
My horoscope tells me I'm entering my "golden epoch," which sounds cool, so I like to tell people that. Like, "Oh, by the way, in 2010 I'll be starting my golden epoch. Natch. Sounds pretty EPIC, right? Yeah, you bet it's epic. And awesome. And don't hate me because I'm a Pisces and it just happens to be my time for golden epoch epicness, 'kay?" So, um, yeah, I can't tell you exactly what's next for me and my books, but I can tell you it's very golden and epochy.

Thanks Chelsea for stopping by!

For more information about Chelsea Campbell and her books, please visit her website here.