Ask the Author: Jan Needle
Answered Questions (15)
Jan Needle
Maybe it's just history itself - plus the personality of the people involved. Nelson and Napoleon were a pretty strange phenomenon to appear at roughly the same time - pity they weren't on the same side, perhaps! - and Hess represents one of the great mysteries of WW2. Reading about them is fascinating enough, but writing about them is even better. I was brought up in Portsmouth, and loved the sea. From there I grew to love history, despite the best efforts of my school!
Jan Needle
I prefer to keep to one subject at a time but sometimes it's impossible. At the moment I'm writing the third in a series of novellas about Nelson, and also a draft screenplay for a novel about children and racism, called My Mate Shofiq. I do tend to end up with a headache! Sorry it took so long to reply. I got into technical difficulties. The nuts and bolts of an 18th century man of war sometimes seem easier....
Jan Needle
I find all research difficult. It took me nearly an hour to find out where all these questions were on my Goodreads page. Someone should have told me!
Jan Needle
Not really. I wrote my first published story when I was eight. Not because it was any good, but because my dad used to edit the local labour party news letter. He put it in because my spelling was so funny, the cheeky swine! But I never stopped writing. And in the end my spelling was pretty good!
Jan Needle
I much prefer writing novels because there is no one else sticking their oar in! TV in particular can be maddening - everyone involved has their own idea, and they all think it's better than yours. That said, they pay well!
Jan Needle
Generally speaking, my problem with ideas is too many rather than too few. Which means I have a vast file of subjects I'd like to write about, but some of the good ones get pushed to one side and forgotten. I read too many newspapers, which are full of stuff that fires my imagination.
Jan Needle
Hallo Isabella. I tend to be a very quick writer, which maybe to do with having started as a reporter at the age of seventeen. You get used to spouting words. But no, I don't have a time frame. I let it find its own pace.
Jan Needle
Yes I have. There's one forming in my mind, but it's taking a long time to emerge. Perhaps I need to drink more of Ma's bitter! Thanks for the question. Sorry I took so long to answer. Techie failure (me)!
Jan Needle
That's a hard one to answer, Charlie. I've been reading navy literature - fiction and non-fiction since I was a kid. But there are some good ones in any reasonable library, and they'll lead you on to what you're looking for. Sorry I took so long to answer. I pressed the wrong button!
Jan Needle
I'm hoping to do a dramatic version of Nelson's life in short bites. And a sequel to my latest thriller, The Bonus Boys, is gestating in my head.
Jan Needle
Ideas come from everywhere and anywhere. My problem is time - and annoying people by not stopping!
Jan Needle
The third in my series of novellas about Nelson, which are published by Endeavour Press
Jan Needle
Just write. There's no other way. And read your favourites over and over again.
Jan Needle
I can work wherever and wherever I like. On my boat, in bed, on a plane. Or not at all!
Jan Needle
Not sure if I should apologise - but I've never had it. Lucky me...
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