Jill Baguchinsky Answers Her Favorite Question

Today debut author Jill Baguchinsky is guest blogging!  Her debut novel, SPOOKYGIRL: Paranormal Investigator, was released by Dutton last month.  Before that, the manuscript won the 2001 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.  Now it's a good choice for a fun read as Halloween grows ever closer.  (It's also less fattening than gorging on candy corn and the Reese's shaped like pumpkins.  Not that any of us ever do that.)

Without any further ado, here's Jill!

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My Favorite Question

I knew publishing a novel would lead to being asked plenty of questions, but I never could have predicted the one I get most frequently about SPOOKYGIRL: PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR. Is it something to do with where I got a particular idea, or how long it took me to write the book?

Nope. Over and over I'm asked if that's me on the cover.

The answer: It's definitely not, but thank you. I'm flattered.

I adore SPOOKYGIRL's cover. The first time I saw it was right after the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award ceremony in Seattle . SPOOKYGIRL had just won in the young adult fiction category. As soon as the winners were announced, Amazon listed our novels for pre-order -- but I didn't know that at the time. I was on the shuttle back to the hotel when I got a message from my brother's friend, who said he'd just ordered my book.

...Wait, what??

I brought up Amazon on my phone's browser and did a search, and there it was -- my book, complete with cover art. The design wasn't finalized, but I approved of what I saw -- a long-haired teenage girl smirking and posing boldly in front of a foreboding bank of stormclouds. I liked that the girl's face was only partially visible; that choice left some of her appearance up to the reader's imagination. More importantly, what I could see of her looked almost eerily like the image of Violet I've had in my head since I wrote SPOOKYGIRL's first draft.

My publisher eventually decided to finalize the design with a few small tweaks. The colors were adjusted a bit. Violet's hair was darkened, and the original green necklace was replaced with a purple one to match her favorite color. (Personally, I would have gone with a black tourmaline stone instead to match the one Violet carries, but that's my only quibble.)

Never once did I expect to be mistaken for the girl on the cover. Okay, there are a few similarities. The hair, for one -- I do have long dark hair that I often straighten. And I guess there's something similar about her smile. Maybe the cover art's version of Violet could be my niece.

She's not me, though. My only spot on the cover is in the author photo on the dust jacket flap.

But I'll never get tired of fielding that question.

Review: Spookygirl: Paranormal Investigator

For the second week in a row there will be no Movie Monday.  But that's because I have a special treat today - a guest blog from debut author Jill Baguchinsky!  Check back in a couple of hours to read it.

By Jill Baguchinsky
Available now from Dutton (Penguin)
Review copy
Winner of the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for Young Adult Fiction

Violet's parents used to be paranormal investigators.  Then her mother died on a ghost hunt and her dad became a mortician.  But Violet inherited her mother's ability to see ghosts and can't resist starting her own investigations.  After all, there's something awful in the girls locker room and a ghost jock in her art class.

I liked that there were lots of ghosts for Violet to help in SPOOKYGIRL.  It even led to a few twists I didn't see coming.  Okay, so I wasn't even expecting twists in SPOOKYGIRL, but that just makes them more satisfying in a way.

As for Violet's high school life, there are a few of the standard cliches.  The jocks don't like the goths and all that.  But there a few subversions of the standard tropes that breathe life into the high school scenes once they come into play.  I also liked Violet's new best friend, Tim.  He's adorably awkward, and really believes in Violet and helps her out on her investigations.  Plus, he has a hopeless crush on another girl.  Tim and Violet are totally platonic.  Totally platonic friends of opposite sexes in a novel set in high school are harder to find than a snipe.

My review of THE GIRLS' GHOST HUNTING GUIDE revealed that I'm pretty skeptical of real life ghost hunts.  While Violet does use the methods of professional paranormal investigators, I can stomach her detecting since she can see ghosts and we're firmly in the land of fiction.  But since she does use those methods, SPOOKYGIRL should be pretty satisfying to skeptics and believers alike.

Jill Baguchinsky's debut is the perfect novel for people who love paranormal fiction but want something without the now requisite romance.  SPOOKYGIRL a bit of danger, a lot of humor, and budding friendships.  It's a fun novel and there's definitely room for sequels.