Jasper Fforde
The creator of Thursday Next knows how to work his pole…
What is your normal writing routine like?
Coffee first thing, and once the kids are at school/safe/otherwise engaged I sit in front of the keyboard, make a new copy of the previous day’s work, go back one chapter so I know where I am, and plough in. Following day, same. Repeat until book finished. Writing is 90% perspiration and 30% inspiration. The maths don’t work, but that’s writing.
Describe the room in which you write.
97.3% air by volume.
Do you find it helpful to listen to music while writing?
I have it on as a wallpaper so I’m not distracted by random noises in the house. I like to start the day with Nilsson’s “Everybody’s Talkin’”, and after that itunes on random.
How do you deal with writer’s block/ the urge to procrastinate?
Writer’s block I refer to as a logjam, like on a Canadian lake. You have to grab your long pole, jump on the logs and work like an idiot to free it. For dealing with procrastination I label it “research” and feel a lot happier with myself.
Which of your books was the most difficult to write?
Early Riser, which was murderous. Logjam Grand Central for three fucking years. I got to the point where
I didn’t want it good, I wanted it finished, and that’s so wrong in so many ways. I had to rewrite until I liked it.
Were you a keen reader as a child?
My “gateway to reading” book was Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. After that it was Biggles, Nicholas Fisk, then John Wyndham, Alfred Bester, Diary Of A Nobody, CS Lewis and Agatha Christie, whose story structure is still awe-inspiring even today. After that I went to adult stuff, but my soul remains rooted in the imaginative stuff of my teens. Special mention: The Dot And The Line by Norton Juster. Brilliant, just… brilliant.
Is there any author whose ability makes you envious?
Charles Portis’s dialogue in True Grit is of especial loveliness, and Douglas Adams’s conceptual zingers are hard to beat. PG Wodehouse just sparkles off the page, and Dickens has an uncanny knack of making all his characters utterly real and believable.
What’s the biggest misconception people have about being an author?
That you don’t have to work hard. That it’s wandering around on long walks, drinking coffee with writery friends doing fabulous dinners, then punching out 10,000 perfect words between 1am and 4am. If only. I must write eight words for every one that ends up in the book.
What’s the best writing advice you’ve received or read?
Writers write. If you can go from the rejection of your third book to starting your fourth with no loss of enthusiasm, you’ve got what it takes. It’s a long haul but the rewards are well worth it – even if you never get published.
The Great Troll War, the final book in YA series The Last Dragonslayer, is out on 9 September, published by Hodder & Stoughton.