Check it Out: Jennifer Chase

Hi everyone! Here's your second dose of author coolness for the day!


I'd like to introduce you to Jennifer Chase, award winning author of Silent Partner, Dead Game, & Compulsion. When she's not writing up a storm, she helps others do the same! With a background in criminology, Jennifer has an insider's view to crime that not everyone can have.

Jennifer has agreed to answer a few questions I lobbed her way, so get ready for some pretty cool answers! (Yes, I asked the pizza question. I'm so hard hitting.)

What made you decide to write? Did you always know that you wanted to be an author or was there an “aha!” moment in your life where you suddenly knew that this was what you wanted to do?

I’ve loved books and reading ever since I was a young child. Writing was a great form of expression for me when I was young. It just stuck with me. As an adult, I went into another career, but writing was always in the back of my mind. In 2008, I felt that the timing was right and I wrote my first fiction/thriller Compulsion. It was actually my “aha” moment and I haven’t looked back.

What inspires you? Do you have a muse that you tap into each time you write or does your imagination respond to different things, like seeing an apple & suddenly deciding to write a story about an apple farmer?

Everything around us inspires me. I could see a vacant house, a heavily wooded area, or a long stretch of beach and I think about my writing projects or specific scenes. There are so many things for my imagination to draw upon and incorporate into a story.

How do you come up with the titles for your books? These can often be amongst the hardest things for authors to settle on, so how & when in the process do you start coming up with titles?

The best titles just pop into my head without any struggle. As I’m creating an outline and then writing a story, I keep a notebook and write everything down that pertains to my title. Some are terrible and others more accurate. I don’t pressure myself to get a title immediately, I let it simmer in the background and the right title floats to the surface.

Are any of the experiences in your books based on someone you know, or events in your own life? Have you ever seen or done any of the things in your book? If not, how did you go about doing your research?

My character’s experiences are based on a combination of my imagination, events and problems facing the world with crime and forensics, and my way of coping with them. I love to do research. I try to conduct research from a variety of different resources, such as the Internet, professionals, libraries, and talk to everyone I can about a certain subject. For my latest crime/fiction novel Silent Partner, it’s about a police K9 officer chasing a serial killer. I actually spent time training with the local K9 and learned first hand what it was like.

Who are some of your favorite authors? Have they helped inspire your writing by reaffirming your decision to write or by indirectly giving you ideas for various stories?

There are so many great authors out there. Here are a few of my favorites, Dean Koontz, Jeffrey Deaver, Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen, and David Baldacci. Reading all types of books and genres helps to inspire my writing abilities. I believe that you learn so much from reading as well as from every book you write.

Do you have any advice for new writers?

Write what YOU want to write. Write was interests you the most and not what you think you should be writing or what someone else tells you. Stay focused and above all, write everyday.

What is the hardest thing about writing for you? Everyone’s got that one part of writing that seems to stick with them.

There are some writing days when it’s difficult to stay motivated and that pesky procrastination creeps up. I’ve learned to not be too hard on myself and try to refocus my writing energy in a positive way.

In the light of recent infamous responses to negative reviews, how would you recommend responding to negative reviewers?

It’s human nature that we ALL don’t see things in the same way. What a boring world it would be if we did? I admit, I don’t like negative reviews, but if the review is intelligent and constructive, there’s something to be learned from it whether you agree with it or not. However, there are some individuals out there that just write out mean comments. You have to learn to not fixate on these types of reviews and not worry about it.

What do you like on your pizza? (Not book related but everyone’s got a favorite topping!)

I love pizza! I like a soft, thick crust with pepperoni and extra mushrooms.

About the author:
Jennifer Chase holds a bachelor's degree in police forensics and a master's degree in criminology. Her intense curiosity in the psychological aspect of crime is what drives her to write crime fiction/. She is the author of Compulsion, Dead Game, and Silent Partner. She lives in California, where she's currently at work on her next book in the series.


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Curious to read more of Jennifer's work? Then check out her latest book Silent Partner, available through Amazon (in both paperback & kindle formats) & Barnes & Nobles! If you're wanting to read all of her works, you can find them easily on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, as well as a selection of them on Smashwords.

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Also, don't forget that there's still time to enter in my giveaway hop for a chance to win an amazon giftcard or one of several great ebooks!