Ask the Author: Jane Cable
Answered Questions (9)
Jane Cable
Henry and Clare in The Time Traveler's Wife stick with me because both are so beautifully drawn. You feel you know everything about them, and yet you cannot possibly. Also theirs is an unusual love story and they are made to fit it like a pair of gloves.
Jane Cable
Hi Jeremy. For me the initial spark is always a place. I first thought about a book set around the tree near the Hamble the very first time I visited it. It was so magical, with the gifts and letters from the children and the replies and thank you notes from the faeries. I knew there just had to be an interesting story behind the type of person who would go to all that trouble. To make the story take life I needed a second spark of inspiration and that come one morning in Winchester when I was having a cup of coffee looking out at the homeless men gathering at the Buttercross and the thought crossed my mind as to what it might be like to recognise one of them as an old flame.
Jane Cable
For me the initial inspiration for any story is the setting - I'm not sure why, it just works out that way. Sometimes I find a place I visit stays with me and begs to be written about - for example in The Faerie Tree the actual tree in the woods on the banks of the River Hamble seemed so special it cried out for its own story.
Of course a great story also needs a hook, a question or mystery which needs to be answered. Very often when I start to write I don't have a fully formed idea of what that might be, but my characters normally find it for themselves as I get to know them and their story unravels.
Of course a great story also needs a hook, a question or mystery which needs to be answered. Very often when I start to write I don't have a fully formed idea of what that might be, but my characters normally find it for themselves as I get to know them and their story unravels.
Jane Cable
I think writing in the first person allows readers to live alongside the main character (or, in the case of The Faerie Tree, characters) and experience what they are going through, so yes, it does allow for more of an emotional impact.
The first person narrator also allows for greater suspense. I discovered this quite early on while writing The Cheesemaker's House because it was crucial to the plot that Alice didn't know what was going on in Owen's head. It can be a bit of a risk if readers don't relate to your narrator but in general I've found that they do.
The first person narrator also allows for greater suspense. I discovered this quite early on while writing The Cheesemaker's House because it was crucial to the plot that Alice didn't know what was going on in Owen's head. It can be a bit of a risk if readers don't relate to your narrator but in general I've found that they do.
Jane Cable
With a great deal of self discipline! For me it helps to actually put writing time in my diary and make it as important as any external appointment. When I'm writing something new I book in half days because by about eleven o'clock I'm emotionally exhausted, but when I'm editing a whole day in fine.
I do have a certain degree of flexibility because I work for myself so as long as writing time is actually booked into my trusty Filofax alongside client time it tends to happen.
I do have a certain degree of flexibility because I work for myself so as long as writing time is actually booked into my trusty Filofax alongside client time it tends to happen.
Jane Cable
Hi Becky - the answer is that I don't know! I've just reached a very exciting moment in my writing career when my agent has accepted my draft manuscript and is starting to look for the right home for it.
I'll keep readers posted here and on my website when there's more definite news.
I'll keep readers posted here and on my website when there's more definite news.
Jane Cable
Tell the story that's in your heart. Write for your own pleasure, not anyone else's. Then, if and when you're ready, find a reputable editor who will be honest with you about the quality of your book and your chances of publication. But never, ever, stop enjoying writing or you will be lost.
Jane Cable
I'm currently working on another romance-suspense novel with the working title of The Faerie Tree. It's set on the banks of the river Hamble and tells what happens when a couple meet again after twenty years and discover their memories of their brief liaison are not quite what they seem.
Jane Cable
The Cheesemaker's House was inspired by the house, pure and simple. It's a real house, and one I fell in love with but never managed to live in. Place is so important to me as a writer - get that right and the characters and the story just seem to follow.
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