Rachel Vincent Contest Answers and Winner

Thanks to everyone for entering the quiz contest. Here are the answers!

How well do you know Rachel Vincent?

In each category below, two of the three statements are false. Do you know which one is true?

Family
A. Rachel is the oldest of five children.
B. Rachel is an only child.
C. Rachel is her parents’ only daughter.

And the answer is… A. Rachel is the oldest of five children.

From Rachel: My middle sister is 15 months younger than I, and my youngest sister is seventeen months younger than the middle sister. Then, about fourteen years ago, my father remarried. He and my awesome stepmother have two sons, my much younger brothers. They’re both scary-smart and cute. One isn’t even in school yet. ;-)

Food
A. Rachel is a vegetarian.
B. Rachel is allergic to tomatoes.
C. Rachel’s favorite kind of pizza is Margarita.

And the answer is… C. Rachel’s favorite kind of pizza is Margarita.

From Rachel: The very thought of me as a vegetarian makes me laugh. Hysterically. It would make my family laugh harder. I’m a very picky eater. I love fresh greens in salad—with ripe tomatoes—but the only cooked vegetables I’ll touch are fresh corn on the cob (I hate canned or frozen corn) and fried okra. And since I try not to eat much butter or fried foods, those are rarely on the menu.  However, I love Margarita pizza.

Music
A. Rachel secretly knows all the words to “Shoop.”
B. Rachel played the flute in her high school band.
C. Rachel once played Rock Band for nine straight hours.

And the answer is… B. Rachel played the flute in her high school band.

From Rachel: In fact, I was a section leader my junior and senior years. I do love my Rock Band, but so far, five hours is the longest I’ve ever played in a sitting. As for “Shoop,” that’s kind of an inside joke between me and my best friend—who knows every word, and will sing it on command. ;-)

Books
A. Rachel is a closet self-help junkie.
B. Rachel’s favorite author is Stephen King.
C. Rachel owns nearly 2000 paperbacks.

And the answer is… B. Rachel’s favorite author is Stephen King.

From Rachel: I’ve loved all but two of King’s novels, and most of his short stories, and I believe I own them all, about half in hardback. As for my paperbacks, I keep my keeper shelf pared down pretty strictly. If you’ve seen pictures of my office, you’ll know I only have three shelves. What doesn’t fit is given away or donated. But I keep the books I love, and I do love a lot of books.

As for self-help…I’ve literally never read one. Nor a single how-to. I prefer to read books with plots, and I refuse to believe anyone else knows how to run my life better than I do. Seriously. ;-)

Art
A. Rachel sketches her characters in charcoal when she gets stuck plotting.
B. Rachel once drank watercolor rinse water in elementary school on a dare.
C. Rachel’s lowest grade in college was in Art History.

And the answer is… C. Rachel’s lowest grade in college was in Art History.

From Rachel: I like art, and I like history. So it seemed natural that I’d like a combination of the two. But that turned out to be the hardest class I ever took, because I’m really bad with dates, and we had to identify pieces of art (shown on slides) by the name of the work, the name of the artist, the name of the period, and the dates the period lasted to and from. I just couldn’t do it.

After that, my electives were all in either English (even though that was my major), philosophy, or women’s studies.

Technology
A. Rachel is addicted to her iPhone.                                 
B. Rachel makes her own book trailers.
C. Rachel doesn’t know her own voicemail password.

And the answer is… A. Rachel is addicted to her iPhone.

From Rachel: Number 1 makes my trailers. And though I did forget my voicemail password once, I remembered it. Without having to call tech support. ;-) But I am never out of reach of my phone. Without it, I feel disconnected from the world. Lonely and alone. It’s sad, really. ;-)

Fears
A. Rachel is terrified of spiders.
B. Rachel is terrified of drowning.
C. Rachel is terrified of large cats.

And the answer is… C. Rachel is terrified of large cats.

From Rachel: I get nervous around large cats (lions, tigers, etc…) even at the zoo. And my fear has been validated by various stories of mauled zoo workers over the past couple of years. But writing my Shifters series is a kind of therapy, if you can believe that.

Incidentally, I’m also phobic-ly afraid of wasps and tornadoes. I spent eleven years in Oklahoma (and plan to return at the first opportunity), where tornadoes are a very real worry, and came close to getting blown away twice. I was in my closet during the F5 in 1999, which passed less than a mile from my house, and killed more than 40 people. And #1 wasn’t there. It was me and my best friend (at the time) and my cat Tirzah (may she rest in peace), huddled beneath several pillows, listening to the weather man say we wouldn’t survive without an underground shelter.

Fortunately, he was wrong. I’m still here. And I still hate wasps. ;-)

Rachel’s novels
A. The very first (unpublished) novel Rachel ever wrote was a YA.
B. Several Soul Screamers characters are named after her friends.
C. Rachel first learned about bean sidhes from her Irish grandmother

And the answer is… B. Several Soul Screamers characters are named after her friends.

From Rachel: My grandmother isn’t Irish. Her family is German, and she knew nothing about bean sidhes until she read MY SOUL TO TAKE. And my first novel was a very adult high fantasy.

I refuse to kill off characters named after people I don’t like (and really, there aren’t many of those) on the theory that Karma then owes me a huge wallop. And I refuse to model characters after friends or family, because I don’t want them to be hurt by anything I write. However, several of my friends have asked me to use their names in a book, and I was happy to oblige—with the caveat that that character may someday die. You never know about those things.

Which friends?
Laura (Sophie’s best friend) is named for a friend I’ve had for the past seven years, and hated leaving behind in Oklahoma. And Lisa (Addison Page’s hotel alias) is named for another good friend from OK.

Incidentally, Kaylee’s chemistry teacher, Mrs. Knott, has my highschool chem. 1 & 2 teacher’s name. I’m not sure how that happened, but there you go. ;-)


Thank you so much Rachel.  I loved reading your answers and it was alot of fun having you here!

Now to announce the winner!
The winner of a copy of My Soul to Save by Rachel Vincent is.....
Beleth! Congrats! I'll be emailing you using the address you provided. Thanks for playing everyone!