Since
Jane Jackson last featured on my blog she has been a very busy lady. I
certainly cannot keep up with what she is working on so, over to you Jane. Tell
us all what you have just finished.
Hi Lynne, and thanks for inviting
me back. I finished the second in my Polvellan Cornish Mysteries series, ‘Fallen
Hero’ which was released as an ebook in May. I’m thrilled that these contemporary
cosy mysteries are proving popular, and not just among Cornish people, though
feedback from them has been fantastic. The series grew out of a long short
story (I’m a novelist. I don’t do ‘short’ very well!) written for Accent
Press’s ‘Wishing on a Star’ Christmas anthology.
And
what other projects have you been working on? Just stick to this year. Space is
limited!
I started writing a sequel to
‘The Consul’s Daughter,’ my latest full-length historical
romance and 29
th
published book. I had to break off part way through to do the edits for ‘The
Consul’s Daughter.’ Once those were completed, and as I’d stopped anyway, I
decided – with my editor’s encouragement - to write the third in the Polvellan
series. I’m a planner so I already had a detailed outline. Actually I have
synopses for five more. I’ve been working on it since 1
st June. It
will be about 25,000 words – though I’ve probably written 60,000 - and the end
is tantalisingly in sight. Once it’s finished I shall be going back to complete
the sequel.
And
what’s happening next?
Researching, planning and
writing the first of a historical spy-thriller trilogy - and trying to fit in writing
the fourth Polvellan story.
Now you’ve exhausted us all can I ask what you would do if you woke one
morning and discovered you were in the middle of an industrial town and could
never go home to Cornwall.
That is a really cruel
question! As long as I still had my laptop, Kindle, notepads and a supply of
pens I’d cope. I would find the location of the nearest national park and the
nearest bit of coast, and use my free bus pass to explore both. I would also
visit stately homes/gardens. It wouldn’t be Cornwall, but I’d try to appreciate
and enjoy their different kind of beauty.
You
do so much research – I’ve seen it on your blog – (www.writethepast.co.uk) that you must be a walking encyclopaedia of
Cornish knowledge. Have you ever considered writing non-fiction about the
county’s history?
The short answer? No. Why? I’m
a novelist. My first love is fiction. Besides, I’m blessed - or cursed - with a
butterfly mind. When I choose the background for one of my novels, I immerse
myself in the location and period. I find out all I can about clothes and
hairstyles, furnishings and colour schemes of houses, costs and methods of
transport, the price of the food they ate, jobs and professions. Those details
help bring the physical world of the story to life. But what’s even more
important is to understand the social attitudes of the time. People’s
aspirations and emotions haven’t changed. But how they expressed them was
governed by the rules of society and what was considered acceptable. So, while
I want the (non-fiction) world of my
story to be as authentic as possible, the (fictional) people in my story and how they respond to the challenges life
throws at them are what fascinate me most. There are so many books I want to write,
and with time passing all too quickly I want to spend it doing what I love.
The
Consul’s Daughter Accent
Press July 2015
Ebook: £2.99
Paperback: £12.99