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. As a kid, Chelsea read lots of adult books, but now that she’s an adult herself (at least according to her driver’s license), she loves books for kids and teens. Besides writing, studying ancient languages, and collecting useless objects, 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does your book come out?
The Rise of Renegade X is schedules to come out May 11th, 2010 from
Egmont USA. I'll post more detailed information as I get it!
I've never heard of Egmont. Are you sure it's a real publisher?
Yes! Founded in 1878,
Egmont is actually the largest children's book publisher in Europe, and they just recently branched out to the U.S. They have a fun line of books for teens coming out, starting Fall 2009. You can read more about Egmont and some of their titles
here.
What kinds of books do you write?
I write young adult and middle grade books. (Basically, that means teenagers and the late elementary crowd.) So far they're all contemporary fantasy, which means they're set in our world, or at least some version of it, but with some fantasy elements going on. I used to try and write straight up fantasy, but I'm not very good at making up my own worlds from scratch. Eventually I realized it was a lot more fun to modify the world I live in, and then the quality of my work jumped up a couple notches.
Who are you on WoW?
When I play, it's normally as Thromkin on Norgannon or Narbly on Frostmane. I'm trying really hard to get her to level 30 so I can ride the bird thing and pretend it's a Chocobo.
You MADE that?
Yes. Yes, I did.
I get asked this question most often about my knitting and crochet projects. (As opposed to my writing, where people are more prone to say, "YOU write novels?") I love working with yarn and learning new techniques. I used to worry that I wasn't very good, so I wouldn't tell people I'd made their gifts myself. I thought it would be painfully obvious and didn't want to call attention to it. But then they'd be like, "Huh, where'd you find this?" and I'd be all ashamed-like, "Oh... I made it." Which they would follow up with gaping jaws and, "You MADE that?" So now I'm not afraid to tell people the truth.
Can I see some ID?
I look a lot younger than I am. I don't drink, even though I'm old enough to, but I've been carded for ordering water in the bar section at Denny's and at the grocery store for buying those fancy-ish six packs of soda that come in bottles.
How long is your hair? or How'd you get your hair to grow so long?
This one is cheating because it's not something I get asked anymore. But I used to get asked this question so frequently--strangers would shout it at me across parking lots even--that I cut my hair short. I like it much better this way. Easier to take care of, not as heavy, takes less dye to color it, and people don't ask me how long it is everywhere I go. Plus it's totally cute.
Is your thumb broken?
No, it just bends really far back. I used to not know that was weird until about ninth grade, when someone pointed it out to me. And I'd always wished I was one of those people who was double-jointed or whatever it is, so I was very pleased. It just goes to show that even if you think you don't have some innate talent, you might and not realize it.
Oh. But what are you going to DO with that?
This is always a follow-up question to "What did you major in?" I designed my own major in Latin and Greek. To make a long story short, I started out in creative writing but hated the classes. So I switched to Latin (with a brief stint in Linguistics in between), and I didn't look back. When you major in something most people consider "useless," they get this look on their face like they're secretly patting themselves on the back for majoring in business or being too cool for school and not wasting their time "learning" something they know they wouldn't have made any money off of. But when you study Latin and Greek, you not only study grammar and language and ancient cultures, but philosophy, farming, poetry, politics, graffitti, history, science, rhetoric, oration, war, theater, writing, medicine, travel, love, loss, and home ec. Basically, you get a walloping dose of humanity, which honestly hasn't changed that much in the last couple thousand years, and that
isn't useless. (Plus even when people look at you funny for being "useless," you know Latin and they don't.) Even if I never make a dime off of my Latin and spend the rest of my life paying back student loans, I wouldn't trade it for the world. So what am I going to do with it? Just about freakin' everything.