Guest Post: Jennifer Jabaley

Today I welcome Jennifer Jabaley, author of Crush Control to My  Reading Room.  She's here to talk about how she was inspired to write Crush Control which I will be reviewing later today. 

When people find out that CRUSH CONTROL is about hypnosis, the first thing people ask is, "How did you come up with that idea?" quickly followed by, "Did you know much about hypnosis or did you have to do research?"

This is the true story of how I became inspired to write a story about hypnosis: It was the middle of the night.  I was up with my daughter who was about one at the time.  She was a horrible sleeper and I was quite exhausted.  On this particular night, I was rocking her back and forth and with a touch of delirium, I started to say, "You are getting sleepy.  SLEEEEEEEEPY" in my best hypnotist voice.  Then suddenly it occured to me - that could be a really great topic for a book! I don't think I've heard of any other books about hypnosis - especially not in YA. And what teenager wouldn't be drawn to the idea of being able to control their circumstances?

But I knew very little about hypnosis.  So once I decided this could be a great topic, Idecided to learn as much as I could. I booked a trip to Las Vegas to experience a real stage performance! It was quite entertaining :) There is a party scene in Crush Control that was heavily influenced by the Vegas hypnosis show I saw. I did have to tame down the antics a bit to make it appropriate for a teen book, though.

Much of the hypnosis used in Crush Control is not the stage variety, but rather, closer to a technique called hypnotherapy.  I did a tremendous amount of research on this form of hypnosis. It is used to help people break bad habits like smoking or to aid in weight loss, or combatting fears like a fear of flying.  I was really surprised and impressed with how much science backs the idea of hypnotherapy.  And even though Willow uses her form of hypnotherapy in an immature way, I do believe that hypnotherapy, if used appropriately, is a valuable tool to help people change habits that are hurting or inhibiting them.

I know some people might be skeptical about the idea of hypnosis.  The people on stage could just be faking, right? But after doing research for this book, I do believe that hypnosis is real! And it can be used not only to provide entertainment, but can help people erase bad habits or feelings.

Thanks so much for hosting me on your blog and I really hope you enjoy reading CRUSH CONTROL!!