Joelle is an agent-mate and a friend, and I gotta tell you, she’s written a helluva young adult book here — the marketing pitch is ‘Hunger Games meets the SATs,’ which is a pretty killer hook. But as hooks go, it only just scrapes the surface. Here’s Joelle to talk about the book:

Tell us about yourself:  Who the hell are you?

I’m a very tall redhead who keeps making career choices that involve rejection.  Lots and lots of rejection.  So, I suppose that also makes me a masochist or someone who isn’t very bright.  Huh…  I started out as a musical theater and opera performer (totally secure field), did some modeling (an even more secure field that involves copious amounts of exercise and small quantities of food), before teaching voice lessons while performing dinner theater.  After being rejected from a show that everyone else in my dressing room was cast in (true story), I was struck with the opening line of a book.  A book NO ONE should read, but it lead me to keep writing.  So, now I teach voice lessons and write books…which allows me to work with kids (which I love) and get rejected in totally new ways (which I’ve gotten really good at!).

Give us the 140-Character Story Pitch:

The SAT from Hell in which our heroine works to pass The Testing and become one of the next leaders of her country.

Where does this story come from?

Over the years, I’ve worked with lots of students as they go through the college acceptance process.  Each year the bar is set higher.  The pressure to be the best gets more extreme.  Some of my students handle the pressure better than others.  The parent and teacher can’t help worrying about the future and whether this process will become even more difficult.  The writer couldn’t resist the challenge of seeing how difficult it could become.

How is this a story only you could’ve written?

My fingers.  My computer.  And no one else was willing to do the work.  So…I guess unless a ghost took possession, the only way the pages were going to get filled was if I filled them.  Here’s hoping I did a good job!

What is the hardest thing about writing The Testing?

Aside from dealing with my computer crashing?  I would say The Testing pushed me to examine some less than happy ideas about the lasting changes modern warfare could cause and our society’s need to test students.  Thinking about how easy it would be for our world to be corrupted by weapons is frightening.  Examining how our education system has truly shifted its paradigm so that almost all lessons are geared toward better test scores was depressing.  Up until writing The Testing, my published novels have all been lighthearted mysteries containing camels that wear hats.  The Testing pushed me to confront some darker issues and the fears that I have about education, war and the way we chose our leaders — which is interesting, but never comfortable.

What did you learn writing The Testing?

That I never have a clue how a story is going to end.  Not even when I REALLY think I do.

What do you love about The Testing?

I love the characters. Especially my heroine, Malencia Vale.  Cia is smart, and comes from a wonderfully loving family.  That gives her a solid moral foundation, which is one of her strengths.  However, depending on the circumstances, that strength can also be one of her greatest weaknesses.

What would you do differently next time?

I’d love to say that I would have outlined the book, but I’ve learned that I can’t outline to save my soul.  Um…I guess I probably wouldn’t have let one of my students read some of the early pages because then she wanted to see the rest.  Which, of course, had yet to be written.  The enthusiasm was great, but she ended up asking me about the book during every lesson…which made me feel like I was writing at a glacial pace.  I wasn’t, but boy I felt like the tortoise from that fable.  The good news is that I finished the race!

Give us your favorite paragraph from the story.

Oh…well, my favorite is one that technically contains a spoiler.  So, I’m not going to give you that.  However, here is one that I have a great fondness for.

“My heart races with excitement even as it is torn in two.  I can see the same conflicting emotions on the faces of the other Five Lakes candidates.  Our graduation ceremony changed our status from adolescent to adult, but this journey makes it official.  We are on our own.”

What’s next for you as a storyteller?

Revisions!  I am currently in the middle of reworking Graduation Day, which is book 3 of The Testing Trilogy.  Once that is done…um….well, I do have a new idea I want to ply with that I’m not sure I can pull off.  But I really want to try!

Joelle Charbonneau: Website / @jcharbonneau

The Testing: Amazon / B&N / Indiebound