Ask the Author: Robin Jarossi
Answered Questions (9)
Robin Jarossi
I’ve been dipping in and out of Stephen Fry’s Greek myths, and I’m about to start Court Number One (about the Old Bailey’s defining trials) by Thomas Grant
Robin Jarossi
Walking home across Highbury Fields late one night, I thought I saw my old maths teacher. And yet he had died 30 years ago, and I had killed him.
Robin Jarossi
At present I'm mostly working in non-fiction, so – like any journalist – I'm on the lookout for good real-life tales. The period and setting are important factors for me, so in researching The Hunt for the 60s' Ripper I was intrigued by the Swinging 60s and London as a backdrop to this unsolved series of murders.
Robin Jarossi
I would be intrigued to travel into the world of Lonesome Dove, an absolutely gripping depiction by Larry McMurtry of Montana at a time when pioneers were making a life there amid incredible challenges – bears, storms, battles. Come to think of it, I probably wouldn't last five minutes…
Robin Jarossi
In writing The Hunt for the 60s' Ripper I loved doing the research – reading old newspapers, looking at old photos and interviewing people. There are some wonderful institutions around to lose yourself in while investigating a subject. There are some wonderful places to while away hours lost in the past, such as the British Library and Metropolitan Museum of London. The downside to being a writer is revisions – a slog, but a necessary one. Suggestions and requests to change your work are usually well-intentioned and constructive – your manuscript will emerge the better for it. And then when one or two readers say they liked the book and hope you do more, that's all the incentive you need.
Robin Jarossi
I'm putting a proposal together for another non-fiction book – again around the subject of crime – and am mulling over some fiction ideas.
Robin Jarossi
I still feel like an aspiring writer, to be honest. I suppose the advice you hear often – keep going, don't give up – is perhaps the best. Keep going despite how many rejections you get, keep improving and learning. And keep enjoying it!
Robin Jarossi
The Hunt for the 60s Ripper, which is published in July 2017, is a non-fiction account of a series of murders in London that were never cleared up. I got the idea while researching it for a proposed new true-crime magazine that, in the end, never got off the ground.
Robin Jarossi
I don't think there is any such thing. There are times when you don't feel in the mood, but the important thing is to have a schedule and keep plugging away.
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