Jai
WHY I'M A WRITER
I haven’t always wanted to be a writer. What I wanted to be was a reader. A voracious reader. And I was. As a child in Adelaide in the 1960s, I caught the bus into the city every Saturday to visit the Children's Library. My goal was to read every book in the collection. The borrowing limit of four books a week was a bit mean, but thinking back, I doubt I could have carried more anyway.
The library opened up new worlds for me. Later I became a librarian for a while. Best job ever!
I didn’t think about writing until 2012, when Amazon opened their Kindle store to international indies. I read ebooks in vast numbers, and thought I could do better, or certainly just as well.
I couldn't find enough books I liked set in Australia. We have many tough outback adventures and gritty urban tales, but I wanted something else. I wanted suburban Canberra, with its strong ties to rural towns and villages, its amazing scenery and its diversity of people. So a late-blooming author was born! And what a wild ride it's been. I wouldn't have missed it for anything.
The library opened up new worlds for me. Later I became a librarian for a while. Best job ever!
I didn’t think about writing until 2012, when Amazon opened their Kindle store to international indies. I read ebooks in vast numbers, and thought I could do better, or certainly just as well.
I couldn't find enough books I liked set in Australia. We have many tough outback adventures and gritty urban tales, but I wanted something else. I wanted suburban Canberra, with its strong ties to rural towns and villages, its amazing scenery and its diversity of people. So a late-blooming author was born! And what a wild ride it's been. I wouldn't have missed it for anything.
ON WRITING
My inspiration comes from images. I'm an avid watcher of Netflix and its rich feast of action-adventure stories like Arrow and The Musketeers. Spy movies, too, and westerns and science fiction. I love any story with heroic battles against evil conspirators and darkest fate. I started using iStock for book cover images, but it's also a wonderful place for finding inspirational ideas.
I don't plan out books in advance, although I create a rough framework. I've tried detailed plotting chapter by chapter, but the results were uninspiring, and it was too much like work. Like painting by numbers. I wanted more excitement. The story emerges from the response of the characters to their situation, and I like working that out as I go along. Sometimes I'm surprised. And sometimes I have to rewrite the whole thing several times. It’s all good.
If having the time of my life is a definition of success, I’ve made it. I love writing, I'm learning new things, improving all the time, and have many happy readers.
I don't plan out books in advance, although I create a rough framework. I've tried detailed plotting chapter by chapter, but the results were uninspiring, and it was too much like work. Like painting by numbers. I wanted more excitement. The story emerges from the response of the characters to their situation, and I like working that out as I go along. Sometimes I'm surprised. And sometimes I have to rewrite the whole thing several times. It’s all good.
If having the time of my life is a definition of success, I’ve made it. I love writing, I'm learning new things, improving all the time, and have many happy readers.
ON TECHNOLOGY
I love ebooks. I love the lower prices that let me read so many more stories. I love getting rid of dusty bookshelves. I love the trees that no longer have to be chipped for paper and printing. I love the international markets that let me read authors I would never otherwise have found. Changing the text to a readable size is fantastic. And ebooks are great for genre fiction, which is what I enjoy most. I do worry about the long term availability of digital books though.
I love my computer. Not just for writing, but also for research, for sharing with readers and other authors, and for learning. I have lots of tools; Scrivener for writing, but also software for creating images, for proofreading, and for file backups, as well as publishing tools like Vellum. And social media, of course. To be fair, the map creating software, which still defeats me, was an indulgence, but I love books with maps so I'll keep trying.
I love my computer. Not just for writing, but also for research, for sharing with readers and other authors, and for learning. I have lots of tools; Scrivener for writing, but also software for creating images, for proofreading, and for file backups, as well as publishing tools like Vellum. And social media, of course. To be fair, the map creating software, which still defeats me, was an indulgence, but I love books with maps so I'll keep trying.
ON CHARACTERS
Characters always try to hijack my stories, but I'm getting better at reining them in. In my first novel, my protagonist's mother, Susan, was so stroppy I had to kill her off. Doing that created an entire new thread in the plot and probably improved it dramatically. Susan was meant to be an overbearing and unloving mother, just one more burden for Joanne to bear, but she blasted her way onto the page and insisted on being the centre of attention. I had to do something! I swear, it was self-defence.
All my characters are completely imaginary. The settings are often based on real places, but the people, no. Once I’ve created them, though, they become disturbingly real. I sit in the corner and rehearse conversations with them. Not that authors are weird or anything.
All my characters are completely imaginary. The settings are often based on real places, but the people, no. Once I’ve created them, though, they become disturbingly real. I sit in the corner and rehearse conversations with them. Not that authors are weird or anything.
MY FAVOURITE AUTHORS
These are books I read over and over again, and find something new every time.
For crime and mystery, I love Australian authors Sulari Gentill, Emma Viskic, and Graham Storrs, also Louise Penny, and SJ Rozan.
In science fiction and fantasy, I enjoy Lois McMaster Bujold and Nathan Lowell.
For romance, I’m a fan of KJ Charles, Joanna Bourne and Courtney Milan.
I also like old-fashioned adventure stories like Dudley Pope's Ramage series and everything Gavin Lyall ever wrote.
For crime and mystery, I love Australian authors Sulari Gentill, Emma Viskic, and Graham Storrs, also Louise Penny, and SJ Rozan.
In science fiction and fantasy, I enjoy Lois McMaster Bujold and Nathan Lowell.
For romance, I’m a fan of KJ Charles, Joanna Bourne and Courtney Milan.
I also like old-fashioned adventure stories like Dudley Pope's Ramage series and everything Gavin Lyall ever wrote.
Where I live
New South Wales South West Slopes, about 2 hours away from Australia's capital city, Canberra.
