Jane lives in the beautiful westcountry with her large dog and her favourite husband (yes, he's large too).She spent half her working life cooking, and the other half editing other people's manuscripts. Both these occupations seemed to take up a large proportion of her waking moments, leaving little or no time for the stories that filled her imagination.
But time moves on and it became possible to squeeze out the odd hour here and there to get some words onto 'paper'. The Long Game took nearly two years to write, principally because the characters kept doing unexpected things requiring rewrite after rewrite.
Since then, Jane has learned that the story as it begins in her head is unlikely to bear very much resemblance to the finished book.
Equally, she has learned to enjoy the journey, as her characters take her to places she never knew existed while they play out their lives on the page in front of her.
What kind of books do you write?
I’m a compulsive genre-hopper. To explain the thread that runs through my stuff I think I mostly write about relationships and about the consequences of prejudice and hate. Except of course when I’m writing rude limericks.
Can you describe your writing why?
I write for a lot of reasons. First, because I enjoy the process of writing and the exercise of my imagination. Then there’s the excitement of having people read it. And finally the relief of evicting the stories that buzz around in my head like irritated hornets.
Share with us your favourite passage from the book you enjoyed writing the most.
This is from Aaspa’s Eyes, which is a fantasy for which I built a whole society and mythology. This made the writing great fun.
I crouched on a beam in the bat-smelling roof and worried. I knew my Mate wasn't dead, and I also knew he would die very soon without help. But I had to wait. If I got this wrong, the rogue vampire would kill both of us. Below me, the albino bloodsucker threw back his head as he enjoyed the sensation of the woman's mouth around him. I grasped the only chance I was likely to get and my dart took him in the throat. He gave a great cry before stiffening to immobility. The woman stopped what she was doing, and looked up in alarm, but she was befuddled by sex, pale and naked, and without the weapons she had stripped off to service her cold-blooded lover she stood no chance as I jumped from the cross-tree to the ground, spinning silken threads around them as I dropped.
'Be still,' I hissed, 'if you move the bonds will tighten.'
She must have moved an experimental muscle because she gave cry of pain before fixing me with an inimical glare.
'Whoever you are. You will suffer for killing a High Vampire.'
'He isn't dead. More's the pity...'
It was essential that the woman was quieted before she had time to recall her wits, so I rapped her on the side of the head with my fist, just hard enough to knock her out.
Tell us about your latest project.
The Dai and Julia mysteries are set in a Britain where the Romans never left. Being co-authored with my great friend E.M. Swift-Hook they are as much fun to write as they are to read. In the duo’s sixth outing, Dying to be Fathers, a heavily pregnant Julia is forced to cope when Dai and his boss are kidnapped.
School should be a place of safety, but what happens when you find out the very people tasked with the care of your children are abusers? When Ben and Joss Beckett discover their twin daughters are being victimised by their teacher, their reaction starts the unravelling of a farrago of lies and deceit. Will they and their friends triumph, or have they bitten off far more than they can chew...
What is your favourite cake?
Coffee and walnut sponge with coffee buttercream.
Thanks for dropping by, Jane! If you'd like to make a coffee and walnut cake, here is handy recipe.
Join me next week when I will be having a slice of cake with writer Maria Riegger, grilling them gently about their writing life and of course sharing their favourite cake.
If you would like to take part in A Slice of Cake With... please fill in the form found here. I'd be delighted to have you.
Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet, completely addicted to cake. Find all her books on Amazon. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop.
No comments:
Post a Comment