Ask the Author: Janet Benton
Answered Questions (21)
Janet Benton
Hi, thanks so much for getting in touch! My next novel is in process. I'm hoping to have a draft I can submit to publishers in 2026! I hope we're connected through here so you'll know when it's coming out. Alternatively, you're welcome to let me know if you'd like to be added to my newsletter mailing list. I'm going to send out my first newsletter in several years soon (so no need to worry about being overrun by them). I'll be offering some fiction workshops, online, too--in case of interest. In any case, happy reading! And if you haven't read her yet, I recommend the diary novels of Geraldine Brooks--I loved Year of Wonders especially, and Caleb's Crossing is also good. Sending warm regards, Janet
Janet Benton
That is so kind of you, Cheryl! It's readers like you who make the work that much more gratifying. If you'd like to, you can sign up for my occasional newsletter (I sent one every few months), which will start having news about the next book in a bit, at www.janetbentonauthor.com or www.thewordstudio.us. Happy New Year. :-) Janet
Janet Benton
Dear Cheryl, Thank you very much for your lovely note. I so appreciate your love of Lilli and Charlotte. I'm working hard on my next book, in addition to working full time, and I hope to have good sleep and concentration on my side so I can have a manuscript to offer to publishers by winter of 2020. That would likely mean it would come out in 2022. Writing well is not a quick process, but it helps me work even harder to know that you and others who loved Lilli's story are waiting. Thanks for loving books and supporting authors . . . Sending my best, and hoping the new year will be a good one for you and yours! Janet
Janet Benton
Hi, Louise, Lovely to hear from you. How very neat that your family has been in the region for over 300 years. I'm so glad the novel was convincing and authentic enough to bring you back to your great-grandparents' time. The next novel is in process, and I'm loving it and giving it every moment possible, but as I am a meticulous writer, it takes a while. If I could write full time, as I pray to be be able to do one day, it'd be ready to publish in under a year. It will likely be several years till I'm done and then another one to two years before a publisher puts it out. But miracles do happen--could be sooner! If you'd like to be in the loop re the next novel and learn of events related to Lilli de Jong (ongoing) and even to remain in touch, you can sign up for my occasional newsletter at www.janetbentonauthor.com. I visit book groups, too. With warm regards, Janet
Janet Benton
Dear Cheryl, I'm moved to know that the novel moved you. Also that it made you think of all the women today who face prejudice, wage inequality, difficulty finding and affording good childcare, and so much more. Thank you for reading it! Spread the word. I do Skype visits with book clubs and libraries (and could do with other groups, too), or sometimes can come in person. I look forward to sharing my next novel with you.
Janet Benton
Hi, Kathi! Thanks for your inquiry. I've emailed you. Best, Janet
Janet Benton
Thanks for your note! I'm so glad to know that you loved the novel and will get a hard copy. Thanks for knowing how important that is for writers (sales make it more likely that a publisher will publish our next books!). :-)
So many stories of women have inspired me and my writing. First comes my mother's story, which I know more intimately than any other woman's but my own. Then the stories of women I've met throughout my life. Novels and history books have inspired me, too. Among the novels I found most inspiring in ways relevant to LILLI DE JONG are TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES by Thomas Hardy, MARY REILLY by Valerie Martin, THE SCARLET LETTER by Nathaniel Hawthorne, JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte, and PAMELA by Samuel Richardson. I think of the novel, in part, as an homage to the heroines and authors of these novels.
So many stories of women have inspired me and my writing. First comes my mother's story, which I know more intimately than any other woman's but my own. Then the stories of women I've met throughout my life. Novels and history books have inspired me, too. Among the novels I found most inspiring in ways relevant to LILLI DE JONG are TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES by Thomas Hardy, MARY REILLY by Valerie Martin, THE SCARLET LETTER by Nathaniel Hawthorne, JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte, and PAMELA by Samuel Richardson. I think of the novel, in part, as an homage to the heroines and authors of these novels.
Janet Benton
Dear Alice, I'm so pleased to hear that your book club is reading my book. As for historical background, the author's note at the end of the book supplies a lot of background on the novel's underpinnings, and if anyone has specific questions, I would be pleased to answer them here. if you'd like. regarding things to discuss, there is a discussion guide that my publisher's marketing person and I wrote for the Penguin Random House site. it is easily available for download at my website, www.JanetBentonauthor.com. There is a tab called Excerpt and Discussion Questions. One thing that I always like to mention when I visit a book club, if I get the chance,, is that my novel is in part an homage to so many Victorian novels I have loved, including Jane Eyre, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, and The Scarlet Letter. I don't know if that will add to your discussion, but maybe it will. Let me know how it goes! And please pass my best wishes to the group. Janet
Janet Benton
Hi, Judy! I did know a little--my mother attends Meeting often, and through living in Philadelphia, I learned some about Quakers, particularly activist women. I'd attended Quaker weddings and have Quaker relatives. But of course I learned a great deal more and had many more experiences in meetinghouses, retreat centers, etc. after starting the novel.
Janet Benton
Ah, thank you so much for letting me know that the physical experiences came across vividly for you--that was one of my main aims. These parts of life, which we know as children, too, are so deep. I hope the next book will be out by 2019.
Janet Benton
Wow right back, Becky. What a delightful question. The most unexpected delight is how much pleasure it gives me simply to see my daughter. I just feel such pride and happiness when I see her face and her sweet self. There is a joy for me in the simple fact of her existence. How about for you, if you are a mother?
Janet Benton
I'm so pleased to hear that you enjoyed the novel so much, Kathy. It does seem that all my fiction writing considers questions of human's place in the universe and looks at how we make sense of our experiences and connections with others--so yes, I can safely say that these issues will appear in my next novel, too. It's nice to know that you appreciated those aspects of Lilli's story. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on my next novel (in a few years or so!). :-) J.
Janet Benton
Dear Carrie, Lovely to get your note. Thanks for reaching out. Yes, there are several more novels in process. If Lilli does well, I'll be able to devote the thousands of hours it will take to get the next book done sooner rather than later. Go, Lilli, go! ☺️ Warmly, Janet Benton
Janet Benton
Dear Delores, Thank you so much for your note and questions. The novel took me about a dozen years, from the first time Lilli's voice came to me until the book sold to my publisher. But there were certainly long periods in there when I was raising my child and running my business as an editor and teacher of writing, with just little bits of book time in there. There was indeed a great deal of research, which I found fascinating and rewarding.
Thank you so much for recommending my novel to your book group. It is in the hands of readers like you to determine how well a book does, and this determines whether there is a market for the next book, as well as how much a writer will be paid if that book is bought by a publisher. I sacrificed so much to write Lilli de Jong. I do have three novels in process, but whether I can dedicate the thousands of hours to finishing one or not sooner rather than later will depend on how Lilli does. Thanks for loving her story and for being a dedicated reader. With warmest regards, Janet Benton
Thank you so much for recommending my novel to your book group. It is in the hands of readers like you to determine how well a book does, and this determines whether there is a market for the next book, as well as how much a writer will be paid if that book is bought by a publisher. I sacrificed so much to write Lilli de Jong. I do have three novels in process, but whether I can dedicate the thousands of hours to finishing one or not sooner rather than later will depend on how Lilli does. Thanks for loving her story and for being a dedicated reader. With warmest regards, Janet Benton
Janet Benton
The challenge for me is not to get inspired to write. By which I mean, everything gives me ideas. But all these ideas create a sense of pressure, of always being terribly behind. And in fact I AM always terribly behind on what I want to write. I hope one day to write full time and comecloser to keeping up. That said, I was at a writers' colony called Hedgebrook for two months a few decades ago, and with more time, I only had more ideas. In other words, I will never be able to keep up--until I'm too old and decrepit to have a lot of ideas!
Janet Benton
My advice to creative people is to choose a project that moves you deeply. In spite of the many real barriers, do it anyway, in tiny amounts, until more becomes possible. Believe in the power of what you care about. Your knowledge and your work matter.
Janet Benton
Hi, Jackie, So pleased to get your note and learn of your lifelong dedication to babies and children. The painting, from 1906, is by an American named Gari Melchers (full name Julius Garibaldi Melchers), who lived from 1860 to 1932. The painting speaks to me, too. He painted other mothers and babies, too, with reverence. He taught and helped lead art schools in Europe, then came to the U.S. with his wife and set up a home in Virginia. She donated the home to the Commonwealth of Virginia, and it's now a museum with estteemed gardens. I hope to visit one day! :-) Janet
Janet Benton
Getting to work out what I think and feel. And then, believing that some of what I think and feel might be conveyed to others in a way that changes them a little.
Janet Benton
I don't know that I've had writer's block. I've certainly procrastinated at the start of pieces, but then words start coming to me, and I have to write them down.
Janet Benton
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