Joining us today is the very funny and enormously talented British author Jane Wenham-Jones. She has been kind enough to answer a few questions about her writing career and her latest release Prime Time.
Kathy: From you website I know how you became a published author, but what prompted you to try your hand at writing?
Ms. Wenham-Jones: Being at home with the child-that-never-slept and feeling my brain slowly atrophy. An aunt sent an entry form for a short story competition and I thought I’d just have a tiny go. I did finish it but it was pretty dire. And no, it didn’t win.
Kathy: Where do you get the inspiration for your novels? Just your imagination? Real life events? Both?
Ms. Wenham-Jones: Most of the stuff in my four novels sprang from stuff that has happened to me in some form or another, which I’ve then heavily laced with fiction. I did get involved in the buy-to-let market, I have owned a wine bar and I’ve done my share of trashy daytime tv. As for Perfect Alibis – the book about having affairs – well I had to rely on what my friends get up to 🙂
Kathy: Do you see any of yourself reflected in the heroines of your novels?
Ms. Wenham-Jones: Yes, there’s a little bit of me in all of them but I make them younger, slimmer and prettier.
Kathy: LOL!!! What is the typical day for author Jane Wenham-Jones? Do you write every day? How long does it take for you to complete a novel?
Ms. Wenham-Jones: I write every day but sometimes it’s just emails and twitter entries. How long books take vary hugely. This latest novel, Prime Time, seemed to go on for years but I wrote my last non-fiction book – Wannabe a Writer We’ve Heard Of – in under five months.
Kathy: Your novels have been translated into nine different languages. Did you have any input as to which languages? Were you surprised at any of the language selections?
Ms. Wenham-Jones: No, I have no part in it. It just depends which foreign publishers offer for them. I was surprised by the countries that wanted Perfect Alibis – Serbia, Croatia, Russia, Estonia…
Kathy: As a reader, I sometimes find there are some characters that I just don’t want to say goodbye to. As an author, have you found it difficult to leave a character behind when you have finished writing their story?
Ms. Wenham-Jones: Not at all. Writing THE END is the best bit! And they are with me for ever – I can always go on thinking about them, just as you do when you’ve read a book you’ve enjoyed – I just don’t have to wrestle with them every day.
Kathy: What types of books do you read? Do your choices as a reader influence the type of books you write?
Ms. Wenham -Jones: I read all sorts. At the moment I’m reading a thriller by Seumas Gallacher; before that it was Joanna Trollope.
Kathy: Could you please tell us a little bit about Prime Time?
Ms. Wenham-Jones: It’s the story of single mother Laura Meredith, who’s feeling old, flabby, fed up and hormonal (write what you know, they told me :)) after her husband, Daniel, leaves her for a younger, thinner woman. Laura gets involved in a daytime TV programme about PMT which leads to all sorts of things she would never have expected. As the blurb goes:
“Suddenly there’s a camera crew tracking her every move and Laura finds herself an unlikely star. Wined, dined, and pampered, she begins to see the charms of a younger partner herself. But as things hot up between her and gorgeous TV director, Cal, they’re going downhill elsewhere. While Laura’s caught up in a heady whirlwind of beauty treatments, makeovers and glamorous film locations, Charlotte’s husband, Roger, is concealing a guilty secret, Stanley’s got problems at school, work’s piling up, and when Laura turns detective to protect Charlotte’s marriage, things go horribly wrong.
The champagne’s flowing as Laura’s prime time TV debut looks set to be a hit. But in every month, there’s a Day Ten …”
There are a few twists and turns and although it is billed as a comedy (and is suitably hilarious, natch!) I like to think it makes some serious points too.
Kathy: What projects are you currently working on? What can readers look forward to in the upcoming year from you?
Ms. Wenham-Jones: I’m probably going to start work on some more writing-related non-fiction.
Kathy: I have thoroughly enjoyed chatting with you today. Is there anything else you would like to share with us before you go?
Ms. Wenham-Jones: I’d love to be an agony aunt! I am one for Writing Magazine – and I really enjoy it but I’d like to get my teeth into some non-writing problems too. A national newspaper would be nice! 🙂
Kathy: Ms. Wenham-Jones, congratulations on your latest release and thank you so much for visiting with us today. Feel free to drop by anytime you happen to be in the neighborhood.
Ms. Wenham-Jones: Thank YOU very much – I appreciate it xx
Vist Ms. Wenham-Jones at her websites HERE and HERE .
Title: Prime Time by Jane Wenham-Jones
Publisher: Xcite Books
Genre: Contemporary, Fiction, Romance, Comedy
Length: 370 pdf pages
Summary:
A British romantic comedy by Jane Wenham-Jones, author of ‘Perfect Alibis’.
Laura Meredith never imagined herself appearing on TV– she’s too old, too flabby, too downright hormonal, and much too busy holding things together for her son, Stanley, after husband, Daniel, left her for a younger, thinner replacement.
But best friend Charlotte is a determined woman and when Laura is persuaded on to a daytime show to talk about her PMT, everything changes. Suddenly there’s a camera crew tracking her every move and Laura finds herself an unlikely star. Wined, dined, and pampered, she begins to see the charms of a younger partner herself. But as things hot up between her and gorgeous TV director, Cal, they’re going downhill elsewhere. While Laura’s caught up in a heady whirlwind of beauty treatments, makeovers and glamorous film locations, Charlotte’s husband, Roger, is concealing a guilty secret, Stanley’s got problems at school, work’s piling up, and when Laura turns detective to protect Charlotte’s marriage, things go horribly wrong.
The champagne’s flowing as Laura’s prime time TV debut looks set to be a hit. But in every month, there’s a Day Ten …
Read my review of Prime Time HERE.
Buy links for Prime Time:
thanks for the interview and letting us get to know the author.
Thanks for the interview. I love learning about the authors.
Mel
Great interview! Thanks for sharing.
Great interview…I always enjoy these peaks into authors minds!!!