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Kerensa Jennings

Goodreads Author

Born

The United Kingdom

Website

http://seasofsnow.com/

Twitter

zinca

Genre

Thriller, Crime, Suspense

Member Since

January 2017

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Kerensa Jennings is a storyteller, strategist, writer, producer and professor.

Kerensa's TV work took her all over the world, covering everything from geo-politics to palaeontology, and her time as Programme Editor of Breakfast with Frost coincided with the life-changing events of 9/11.

The knowledge and experience she gained in psychology by qualifying and practicing as an Executive Coach has only deepened her fascination with exploring the interplay between nature and nurture, and with investigating whether evil is born or made - the question at the heart of Seas of Snow.

As a scholar at Oxford, her lifelong passion for poetry took flight. Kerensa lives in West London and over the last few years has developed a career in digital enterprise.

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How do you deal with writer’s block?

Kerensa Jennings I am not sure I experience writer's block as such, but my own version of it... which is that if I am not in the mood to write, I don't.

I use writing t…moreI am not sure I experience writer's block as such, but my own version of it... which is that if I am not in the mood to write, I don't.

I use writing to process anything and everything that happens to me - I write bits and pieces and poems every day. Mostly brief aperçus and poems of 40 lines or less.

Throughout my career I have had endless deadlines to work to. In news and current affairs you simply have to make transmission. There is no other choice. So I am very disciplined and can turn things around in a very efficient and effective way. I simply would not have been able to do my job if I couldn't. So many times I was writing a changing headline as the introduction music to a TV programme had started... but I always, always made it.

I started my professional media life at ITN, where I was one of the founding team at Five News; went on to Sky News where I worked on rolling news programmes then as Editor of Sunday with Adam Boulton; then became Programme Editor of Breakfast with Frost at the BBC. From there I went on to head up News Specials (where one of the pieces I led was the BBC News coverage of the Soham case); then was the BBC's Election Results Editor, made an eight part series on palaeontology for the BBC's Natural History Unit; then segued into strategy via the Colleges of Journalism and Production. I was the BBC's Head of Strategic Delivery for a number of years.

In all these jobs, making deadlines was a pre-requisite. When it comes to writing for pleasure, I just do it when I want to and I don't when I don't.

With fiction writing, I build my scaffoding and know where I am heading in terms of plot and structure, but the characters arrive fully formed in my head with names and attributes. I find it incredibly exciting as my typing enables the story to be born, my fingers breathing life into unfolding scenes. As a TV producer, I do tend to write in quite cinematic scenes, so my chapters are short and punchy. The process of writing itself is a flow that organically emerges... it is my pleasure to read along as I write and discover what is happening. I find the honing and refining far harder... I have been known to work on perfecting a sentence for an entire afternoon...

Writing Seas of Snow was a labour of love - I did it in all my holidays over several years. I would not have had the time or headspace to simply sit down and write it in between the stresses and responsibilities of my working life.

Time is such a precious commodity... the hardest thing now is choosing whether to do something on social media to help people discover Seas of Snow, or carry on writing! I try to make my times on social media personally enriching and inspiring so that in turn that nourishes my soul and sets me up for writing when I get to that.(less)

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What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Kerensa Jennings I'd say the best thing you can do is read. Then read some more. Then carry on reading. Pay attention to the world. Learn to notice things. Become fine…moreI'd say the best thing you can do is read. Then read some more. Then carry on reading. Pay attention to the world. Learn to notice things. Become finely tuned to the things people don't say as well as the things they do.

Voraciously consume art in all its forms - the stuff you are naturally drawn to and the stuff that you feel might be boring or not quite your 'thing'. Hone your sixth sense for story and develop your Perception Superpower.

Say less and listen more. Be happy in your own company. Learn to appreciate silence and stillness.

Let your ideas flow into you and jot things down as and when they occur to you. Not everything you write has to be your masterpiece. Collect the things you notice and scribble them down and notice what makes them special.

Start to join the dots on themes and thoughts.

Live life mindfully, allowing quiet moments to become brain nourishment. Feed your soul with beauty and light. Enjoy the company of others and where you don't, extract what you can for a character in the future, or an emotion you can draw on as you write.

Bit by bit, your scribblings and your musings will start to percolate into something more substantial. I think writers are born to write... you can learn technique and you can get better - mostly by reading great writers and noticing what makes them great. But you either need to write, or you don't.

When you are writing, you are creating something where nothing was. Be proud. Be brave. Find your truth. Discover your voice. Let it happen.

A good technique for anyone stuck is to see what you have around you and use an object, a photograph, a view as a starting point. Start making stuff up.

Gracie and Billy (from Seas of Snow) arrived fully formed in my head - and I realised I had seen them before. A delightful black and white 1950s photograph by the extraordinary American photographer W Eugene Smith - a little girl dressed in a smock holding hands with a little boy. Walking off into woodlands together, slightly silhouetted from the back; haloed in light but embarking into darkness. A whisper of evil lurking over them as the voyeuristic viewer sees their innocence clinging precariously between them, the picture of sweetness possibly soon to be tainted by who knew what horror... I even place the photograph itself into Seas of Snow, as Gracie's Ma takes a picture of Gracie and Billy when they head out to play one day...

That's the kind of thing I would advise. All of that.

And did I mention... read!(less)

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Kerensa Jennings’s books

Average rating: 3.85 · 128 ratings · 41 reviews · 1 distinct work • Similar authors

Seas of Snow

3.85 avg rating — 128 ratings — published 2017 — 6 editions

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Kerensa Jennings's Blog

Orchids were the repository of her dreams

One of the questions posed to me was how do I get inspired to write. I thought for anyone who really does want to know the answer, it would be useful to share the text from my professorial lecture.

I presented a critical analysis of the creative process in 2015 when I officially took up the honour of becoming Visiting Professor of Media, Strategy and Communications at the award winning University Read more of this blog post »

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Published on February 12, 2017 05:06

Kerensa is Currently Reading

Kerensa Jennings is currently reading

Seas of Snow

by Kerensa Jennings (Goodreads Author)

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read in February 2017

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Feb 11, 2017 03:54PM

Kerensa Jennings is currently reading

Days Without End (Days Without End, #1)

by Sebastian Barry

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Feb 11, 2017 03:43PM

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