Image Credits:-
Many thanks to Jennifer C Wilson for her author shot and book cover shots. Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images.
It is a great pleasure to welcome back Jennifer C Wilson to Chandler’s Ford Today. Jennifer’s new book, published today, is 31 Days of Writing, which will be so useful to a wide range of writers.
Amazon Buy Link – Pre-order link
Blurb for 31 Days of Writing
31 Days of Writing draws on the prompts and exercises from seven years of North Tyneside Writers’ Circle. Whether you’re wanting to build scenes for a work-in-progress, or generate ideas for short stories/poems, there’s something for everyone in this collection, to keep the inspiration flowing for a month of writing…
Books like this are always useful. I have a few “writing idea” type books on my shelves and have contributed to books of prompts for Bridge House Publishing. I like to see these as an additional and useful “weapon” for writers to have on stand by because if you are feeling uninspired, dipping into books like these will lead you to a prompt which takes your fancy and off you go. Writing mojo restarted which, of course, is the whole idea.
Jennifer is best known for her Kindred Spirits series which crosses historical fiction with ghost stories but she also writes historical fiction/romance (The Warriors’ Prize, The Last Plantagenet? to name but two).
She has also published A Novel Approach, a useful guide to novel writing. Her new book is Part 2 of her non-fiction series aimed at creative writers and is a follow up volume to A Novel Approach. Jennifer also leads the North Tyneside Writers’ Circle, whose first anthology, Black Coals White Sands, came out last year.
Firstly, Jennifer, welcome back to Chandler’s Ford Today. Secondly, many congratulations on 31 Days of Writing.
1. What inspired you to come up with 31 Days of Writing? How long did it take you to put together? What have you found most useful about writing idea books yourself?
Hi Allison, and firstly, thanks for welcoming me back to your blog!
For 31 Days of Writing, I was flicking through my old notebooks for ideas to develop, and kept coming across old prompts from previous Circle meetings. I realised there were some pretty good ones in there, and perhaps there was a way of using them, rather than leaving them to languish where they were. After some thought, and briefly considering an online course, I decided to combine some of my favourites into the book.
It was really enjoyable pulling them together. I attend a few spoken-word events on Tyneside, and looking back at some prompts, I could remember hearing the pieces Circle members wrote, edited after the session, and then performed. When I hear pieces I know have come from my prompts, I always get a ‘proud mother hen’ moment.
In terms of finding it useful myself, I never write when I’m hosting workshops. I know some writers do, and I’m incredibly jealous of them; I just find I’m too focused on making sure everyone had understood the prompt, and are happily writing away. Re-reading the prompts now has been a nice opportunity to think about how I would respond. It will be nice to sit down and work through the book myself and see what I come up with.
2. You’ve self published 31 Days of Writing and A Novel Approach via Amazon. What have you found have been the advantages to doing this? Have there been any disadvantages? You are with an independent press for your fiction so did that lead you to go down the self publishing route for your non-fiction? It struck me it might be a similar kind of thing to those authors who become well known in one field, write something different and then put that out under a pen name.
For me, the advantages are around control and being able to work to my own time frame. Being part of a collective (Ocelot Press) gives me a wonderful, supportive group of authors to get help from when needed too, so if I do get stuck, it isn’t for long. I’ve now published a range of fiction with Ocelot Press, as well as my non-fiction, so I suspect that will be my main route going forwards.
The main disadvantage is obviously having to do everything myself, but it’s a good learning experience, and I haven’t struggled that much. Having the rest of the Ocelots around helps get over that too.
3. Have you found self publishing via Amazon easy to do? Bookshops won’t stock Amazon published books (you can understand why) but one huge advantage is you can bring a book to market more quickly and you keep more of the royalties. What tips would you give to a writer, Jennifer, who is considering going down the Amazon route?
Honestly, I was nervous when I started, but now I’ve got into the swing of it, Amazon is quite intuitive. The system does walk you through each stage, and the only bit I struggled with at the start was working out what information they needed from a tax perspective. One shout-out for help on Facebook later, though, and I was sorted. There are templates for paperbacks as well, for example, including with sample text, so even that is half-done for you.
My main tip would be to give yourself plenty of time. Whilst it may be intuitive, and relatively straightforward, there’s still fiddly little niggles which need working out. For our first anthology last year, it took us ages to work out the problem with page-numbers, and doing that against the clock is never fun.
4. What are your favourite forms of writing prompt and why? I love the opening and closing line ones in particular. What is the most unusual type of prompt you’ve used? I was pleasantly surprised to find I could use random numbers as a form of prompt for some of my stories. Prompts do make you think outside of your normal creative limits, which is why I love them.
As a prompt-setter, I love the ‘random word’ prompts, because of the creativity they inspire within the group to fit their writing to the (often VERY random) words they get thrown at them.
As a writer, I don’t get along to as many writing workshops as I’d like, so I take any prompt I can get! I attend a monthly poetry workshop, and the prompts there can range from a broad theme to specific situations, and I love all of them.
5. Are North Tyneside Writers’ Circle hoping to bring out another anthology? What have been the joys of bringing out anthologies together? How have they spurred the Circle on? Does publishing through Amazon here make all the difference to viability and, if so, why do you think that is?
We absolutely are! As I’m writing this, I’ve been having submissions landing in my inbox, and once again, we have a great mix of poetry, prose, memoir, and non-fiction. This year, our theme is ‘folk’, and we’re hoping to bring out the anthology in the autumn.
I think the best things to come out of the first anthology was our performance evening at our ‘home’ library, and in a way, simply being published. For some of our members, the anthology was the first publication they had been part of, and that’s a lovely thing to have been part of.
Our launch event was a lot of fun too. I had a wonderful ‘editorial committee’ helping me out with proofreading, checking for typos etc., as well as agreeing the cover design, so the whole process ended up being a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to doing it all again.
In terms of publishing routes, I know other writing groups use different approaches, but I wanted to make use of Amazon’s ‘print on demand’ function, for a number of reasons.
Firstly, it means our book can remain on sale continually, and that’s great. Secondly, it gives us access to Kindle Unlimited, and pages read. But the third, and most important one for me, was the fact that there was no upfront financial commitment from any members, and nobody was under any obligation to spend money if they didn’t want to.
Everyone ended up buying one author copy, and happily, those are at cost only, so didn’t break the bank for anyone. Some bought up to twenty copies, because they wanted them for gifts, or like me, they go to events where copies could be sold, but there was no pressure for this. It also means there’s no boxes of unsold books sitting in anyone’s houses, which could be demoralising! Because of those reasons, Amazon was the most viable option for our group.
6. One thing I love about the writing community is it is so supportive. Do you find writers in the NTWC come up with prompts to share with the rest of the group? I love it when you get two way feedback like that.
Recently, we have started having guest hosts doing prompts. In autumn 2023, the Whitley Bay Poetry Trail took over for the month, and fellow members have also contributed prompts, or run whole sessions when I’ve had to miss a month. I think it’s good for the group to have somebody with a different perspective setting prompts, or on different themes. We had a fairytale theme recently, which went down really well with everyone, and it was nice to be sat with the writers doing the prompts myself for a change too.
You’re absolutely right about two-way feedback; when members share their work, I love hearing what directions they’ve taken prompts in, and thinking about how I could adapt their inspiration to my own experiences.
7. Your new book 31 Days of Writing is volume 2 in your A Novel Approach series. Are you hoping to bring out more creative writing guides? Which would you say were your favourites? I love On Writing by Stephen King which is memoir and writing advice rolled into one.
Well, I’ve been coming up with prompts for Circle for seven years now, so there’s definitely more in those old notebooks which could come out in another year or so, I’d reckon…
One of my favourite books is The 3am Epiphany I got as a gift from a fellow writer a few years ago. The prompts are incredibly detailed, and fairly prescriptive, which I wouldn’t usually go for, but I find the challenge interesting, and I’ve used it a few times to kick-start a scene or two for my books. I did enjoy On Writing too when I read it – that interesting balance made it a fascinating read.
8. One of the joys of The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, is in being able to bring your books to sell in the Book Room. Will the paperback of 31 Days of Writing be out in time for that? You’re also running a workshop with Alex Inskip on Anthologies and Creative Collaborations at Swanwick this year. Can you share something about the joys of creative collaborations as there must be a fair bit of that going on to bring out any anthology?
If all goes according to plan, yes, I’ll have copies of both my writing-related books ready for the Book Room at Swanwick this year. It’s one of my favourite things about the week, being able to pick up books from your friends, and supporting each other.
Alex and I have both been part of a number of anthologies, both for the written word, and graphic art/comics, so we have plenty to share which I hope people will find useful. Our collaborations are more about groups working together than individuals writing one piece together, if that makes sense (although that’s something we’re keen to try and explore in the future), but there’s certainly a lot of joy that comes out of these collaborations. Seeing everyone respond to a theme in their own way, and yet somehow still coming out with a coherent collection is wonderful.
9. Jen, would you like to bring CFT up to date with your other fiction work? Will there be more in the Kindred Spirits series in due course, for example?
I’m currently refreshing the whole Kindred Spirits series for a bit of a relaunch, and it’s strange but nice to be revisiting some of the early books in the series; like seeing old friends properly for the first time in ages, somehow! I’d really like there to be at least one more Kindred Spirits book, and I know what the story will centre around, but I don’t currently have exactly the right ‘way in’.
In terms of my other fiction, I’m about 20,000 words into a contemporary romance novel that’s been buzzing around my head for over a decade now, and which needs to get written. It’s set between the Scottish Highlands and Rome, both places I adore, so it’ll be fun to finish, once I get back to it.
10. Do you find a writing routine helpful?
I definitely WOULD, if I could get into one! At the moment, the day-job is being demanding, and I’m struggling to find the level of calm I need to settle down to write fiction. When I am in a writing phase, I try to avoid getting stuck too much into a routine/ritual though, in case I fall out of that routine and can’t write as a result. My general ‘routine’ is more around writing as regularly as I can, and making sure I add at least something onto the WIP every day.
Conclusion
A huge thank you, Jennifer, for a wonderful interview and the very best of luck with 31 Days of Writing. I am sure it will prove useful to many.
Social Media Links for Jennifer C Wilson
National Association of Writers’ Groups
Related Posts:-
Author Interview: Jennifer C Wilson – The Joy of Writing Groups and Workshops
A Novel Approach – Jennifer C Wilson In Conversation With Allison Symes
Stepping Back in Time: Part 2 of Jennifer C Wilson Interview
Ghosts, History and What Might Have Been: Introducing Jennifer C Wilson
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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Author Interview: Jennifer C Wilson – The Joy of Writing Groups and Workshops
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