Biography

By night, Jennifer Estep is an author, prowling the streets of her imagination in search of her next super idea. Her Bigtime books feature sexy superheroes, evil ubervillains, and smart, sassy gals looking for love.

By day, Jennifer is an award-winning features page designer for a daily newspaper. She's also a certifiable fangirl and an authority on fantasy literature and culture. Jennifer is a member of Romance Writers of America, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and other writing groups.

Karma Girl was her debut book. It was published in May 2007 by Berkley Books. The sequel, Hot Mama, was released in November 2007. The third Bigtime book, Jinx, is set for a Sept. 2, 2008 release.

Jennifer's books have been featured in Cosmopolitan, Entertainment Weekly, Southern Living, and a variety of other publications.

More about Jennifer

I'm a Southern gal through and through. Sassy, sarcastic, and just a tad crazy.

I spent my formative years doing the usual kid things – playing, hanging out with my friends, and making up wild stories in my head.

It's the last one that's gotten me into trouble.

I don't remember the first book I read. Or the second. Or even the third. But somewhere along the way, I fell in love with books and reading. Fairy tales, fantasies, adventure stories, mysteries, romances, Westerns. I read everything I could get my hands on, then I got a dozen more.

My mom, bless her, encouraged this obsession by taking me to the library every week. It's a tradition I've continued. Most folks think penicillin, indoor plumbing, and the Internet are the world's best inventions. Not me. The greatest thing ever created was a library. Indoor plumbing is a close second, though.

The more I read, the more I thought about writing my own stories. I penned a few poems and short stories over the years, mainly for class assignments. Somewhere along the way, I started thinking I wanted to write books for a living.

In college, I majored in English because of my love of books. But what can you do with an English degree? I didn't know. One semester, I got a job with the college newspaper and discovered you could write stories and make a respectable living. Since that light-bulb moment, I've earned a bachelor's degree in English and journalism, and a master's degree in professional communications. Currently, I'm an award-winning features page designer for a daily newspaper.

Now, after many, many years of toil and trouble, I've achieved my dream of being a bona fide, published, fiction author. I plan to keep on keeping on – writing, dreaming, making up wild stories in my head.

And getting myself into trouble.

Frequently asked questions

Question: Where do your ideas come from?

Answer: Everywhere. Movies, books, television shows, news stories, real life, my own overactive imagination. Whenever I read a book or watch a movie, I always put myself in a character's place. What would I do? How would I react to these circumstances? How could I be the hero or the villain?

I also have a tendency to invent new characters to add to my favorite books, movies, and television shows. I always thought Luke Skywalker needed a love interest in the Star Wars movies – someone with a Southern accent. I've imagined myself as Sydney Bristow's Alias sidekick, Buffy Summer's nemesis, a member of The A-Team, one of the new Heroes, and a thousand other characters.

My ideas grow from the world around me. I'll hear, see, or read about something, and think what if ... It's one of the most powerful, inspiring thoughts you can have.

Question: What inspires you?

Answer: Everything. The smell of someone's perfume. The way a man walks. The glint of sun on a woman's hair. A person's laugh. A smile from a stranger. A snippet of conversation. The world is full of beautiful and ugly things. They all inspire me.

Question: How long does it take you to write a book? How do you do it?

Answer: Writing a book is a long, complicated process. I start with an idea, then think about the characters, setting, etc. Once I have my story and characters in mind, I write a rough draft, usually about 40,000 or 50,000 words. This takes about a month.

Then, I let the story sit for a few weeks, before going back to it and seeing if the overall story will work and what revisions need to be done. I do this a couple of times, adding to the story every time, until the book is around 100,000 words and as perfect as I can make it. Overall, this can take anywhere from a few months to a year, depending on how busy I am with other projects. But I'm working on something all the time.

Question: What are the Bigtime books about?

Answer:The Bigtime books are set in Bigtime, New York – a city full of superheroes, ubervillains, and other larger-than-life characters. The stories are basically female-centered comic books without the art.

Each Bigtime book focuses on a different heroine – what makes her unique, what she wants out of life, and how she goes about getting it. Some of the heroines are superheroes; some aren't. Some have superpowers; some don't. However, all the books are told in the first person point of view. Basically, the Bigtime books are fun, sexy fantasies with plenty of action, adventure, and romance. The series is classified as paranormal romance – a romance with fantasy or out-of-this-world elements – so look for the books in the romance section of your local bookstore.

Question: Why write about superheroes? Isn't that what comic books and graphic novels are for?

Answer: Absolutely. Comic books and graphic novels are filled with all sorts of wonderful, complex, interesting heroes and villains. The stories are fantastic, and the art is incredible. I wouldn't have written the Bigtime series without the long, storied foundation of comic books to build on and the creative genius of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Frank Miller, Alan Moore, and all the other writers and artists. They truly are titans.

In the last few years, several movies and television programs have focused on comic book superheroes, from Spider-Man to The Incredibles to Smallville. I've enjoyed many of these, but a thought kept nagging at me. Why did it take so long for Lana Lang to figure out Clark Kent has superpowers? Or for Mary Jane Watson to see Peter Parker is Spider-Man? Why doesn't Commissioner Gordon realize Bruce Wayne is Batman?

Why don't the people closest to the heroes and villains figure out their secret identities? In some story lines, they do, or the hero tells them. Plus, some superheroes are open about their powers and purpose, like the X-Men. But many comics are built around the idea of having a secret identity.

I wanted to look at superheroes from a different point of view – from a woman betrayed by the man she loved. What if an investigative reporter, a Lois Lane-type, discovered her fiancé was cheating on her with her best friend? And that he was a superhero? What would she do? Why, expose him, of course! With that idea, Karma Girl and the zany world of Bigtime was born. Plus, it was just fun to create my own comic book world, complete with superheroes and ubervillains.

Question: Are your books just for women? Or people who like comic books?

Answer: Absolutely not. My books are full of danger, drama, and romance – all the elements of any great story. They can be enjoyed by everyone, whether you read comics, romance, or something else. That's the wonderful thing about books, including comic books – they're for everyone. There are so many books and comics with so many different characters you're bound to find a couple you love.

My books are loving, wink-wink-nudge-nudge spoofs of the comic book genre – sort of like the old Batman show with Adam West or Wonder Woman with Lynda Carter. If you like those shows, or funny fantasy writers like MaryJanice Davidson, Terry Pratchett, or John Moore, you'll probably like my books.

What's coming up

People always want to know what I'm working on. My answer? World domination, of course! Kidding. Mostly. Here's what I have on tap for 2008:

n The third Bigtime book, Jinx, will come out Sept. 2. Also, Karma Girl and Hot Mama will be re-released as mass market paperbacks. Karma GIrl will come out in July, followed by Hot Mama in August, and then Jinx will debut in September, also in mass market format.

n I'm also working on the fourth Bigtime book, Nightingale. Hopefully, my publisher will want to continue the series beyond Jinx. Fingers crossed!

Two new urban fantasy series

I've finished two books I hope will launch two new urban fantasy series:

n The first book is titled Live & Let Spy. It's about Abby Tome, a Druid (witch) who runs a bookstore and coffee shop in Cleveland, Ohio. One day, Abby witnesses a murder at a local bazaar and is mistaken for an assassin. She gets drafted to go undercover by PACT – the Paramortal Counter Terrorism Unit – as an assassin and stop a group of terrorists from acquiring a biomagical weapon. Abby's no spy, but all too soon, she's off to save the world, with the help of a a quirky cast of characters, Steel-Toed Stilettos, and a push-up bra.

This book is a sendup of the James Bond movies and television shows like Alias. It's a lot of fun, although a bit more serious than my Bigtime novels.

n The second book is called Gin on the Rocks. This one is about Gin Snow, an assassin who gets double-crossed and finds herself on the run from her employer. Gin is an elemental, a being who can control the elements of ice and stone (the other two elements are fire and air). As she tries to find out who double-crossed her, Gin is confronted with a ghost from her past – the long-lost sister she gave up when their mother was murdered fifteen years ago.

I've been trying to write an assassin book for a couple of years now, and I finally buckled down and did it. The result? A dark, gritty fantasy read with a unique Southern flavor.