{"id":83,"date":"2016-01-09T13:04:12","date_gmt":"2016-01-09T13:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lightyellow-chough-712152.hostingersite.com\/blog\/?p=83"},"modified":"2018-02-08T13:13:27","modified_gmt":"2018-02-08T13:13:27","slug":"questions-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.janneedle.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/09\/questions-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Questions, questions!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This is an interview I&#8217;ve done for The Big Thrill, an international thriller magazine. Because of my natural incompetence the book&#8217;s not out yet &#8211; it&#8217;ll be another couple of weeks before it goes live. Sorry! Here&#8217;s the words, though &#8211; and if you want them in context, click this link:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"Vxkk3rnAmq\"><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thebigthrill.org\/2015\/12\/the-bonus-boys-by-jan-needle\/\">The Bonus Boys by Jan Needle<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thebigthrill.org\/2015\/12\/the-bonus-boys-by-jan-needle\/embed\/#?secret=Vxkk3rnAmq\" data-secret=\"Vxkk3rnAmq\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;The Bonus Boys by Jan Needle&#8221; &#8212; THE BIG THRILL\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>By Lynne Constantine<br \/>\nThe Bonus Boys<\/p>\n<p>Jan Needle brings back the beloved characters from KICKING OFF in the second of a series. This one is called THE BONUS BOYS. Cynical investigator Andrew Forbes \u2013 drinker, smoker, gambler \u2013 was always an unlikely partner for Rosanna Nixon, so apparently demure that she\u2019s known as the Mouse. Their love affair has not survived their first brutal clash with sordid reality, although both have found the break-up devastating. Now they are thrown together in the world of \u201cthe bonus boys\u201d\u2013 men so rich that normal rules do not apply.<\/p>\n<p>But the world of wealth and country mansions loses its veneer when a gang of psychopathic killers comes to call on Thea Hayter while her husband is \u2013 conveniently \u2013 in America. As it turns to blood-soaked horror, a blundering police force and a politician on the make turn up the screws to fever pitch. It seems impossible Rosanna, hostage in a hidden chalet in a wood, can survive.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s talk about your main male character in the series Andrew Forbes. He\u2019s the complete opposite of Rosanna Nixon. What does she see in him?<\/p>\n<p>Although she\u2019s got an inner core of steel, the Mouse gets involved in the brutal worlds of politics and crime only when she meets, then falls in love with, Andrew. He is hard-bitten and cynical, but he\u2019s very much on the side of the angels underneath it all. He\u2019s a widower, and essentially a one-woman man. But life has knocked him about a lot. They say feeling sorry for a man is the most dangerous thing a woman can do. Rosanna does \u2013 and falls!<\/p>\n<p>Do you envision this to be a long running series?<\/p>\n<p>Yes. Andrew and the Mouse came together in the first book, Kicking Off, almost by accident, and it took me some time to realize they were going to be inseparable. Then, of course, they separated. The strains they both live and work under are very great, and will get worse as the series goes on. To be quite honest, I don\u2019t know how, or if, they\u2019ll survive! That\u2019s why I love writing about them.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s next in the series?<\/p>\n<p>As The Bonus Boys could be seen as being rooted in the traditional country house mystery \u2013 only much, much bleaker \u2013 the next one takes them into modern noir, with a police force getting rapidly overwhelmed by a series of brutal killings which seem motiveless and bizarre. Behind it all is mysterious ex-soldier who lives within, and minutely observes, a small community but manages to remain invisible between killings, and impossible to track down. Key to it all appears to be an immensely tall crane that broods over the blighted and terrified community.<\/p>\n<p>You are a very prolific writer with a wide variety of books, plays and essays to your credit. Do you have favorite genre in which to write?<\/p>\n<p>At the risk of sounding like a flibbertigibbet, I tend to be tempted to carry on in the same vein as the book before, whatever \u201cgenre\u201d it is. Having finished The Bonus Boys my mind leaps to the next crime thriller. But I\u2019ve got other strands that need a new one, so I have to force myself into that \u201cmode.\u201d At the moment I\u2019m doing a series of novellas based on Nelson\u2019s life, a series of full-length historical sea adventures, and some short spy\/Cold War thrillers. And a film company has just asked if they can make a feature of my award-winning teenage novel about racism, My Mate Shofiq.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve stated in interviews that one of the things you love about e-books is the flexibility to go back and improve an earlier work. Do you think that a book is ever \u201cdone\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>When I finish a book I tend to consider it done until I reread it (sometimes much later) and think I could do bits of it better. The last book in one of my earlier series, for instance, suddenly struck me as being much weaker than the others. In the old days that would have been that, but I threw myself back into it, metaphorically speaking, and ended up with what I think is a much better book. Playwrights do this sort of thing all the time, of course. And I love the collaborative process.<\/p>\n<p>Over the years the publishing landscape has changed dramatically. In what ways do you think it\u2019s easier for a writer? In what ways worse?<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a sort of eternal question, and more or less unanswerable, as it really depends on what each writer wants out of the process. It\u2019s easier in that anyone can write something, and get it into print (whether concrete or virtual) and possibly just as hard to be \u201crecognized.\u201d That\u2019s a lottery, always was and always will be, I fear. There are some great books out there that no one will ever hear of. That\u2019s what mums are for; they always love your stuff! Mine did\u2026<\/p>\n<p>How has your background in journalism influenced your novels?<\/p>\n<p>I suppose the greatest single thing was speed. I was a reporter for many years, then a sub-editor. I had to write fast, I had to be accurate, and I often had to compose it as I went along, often into a telephone surrounded by utter mayhem. Now, I write wherever I am, and with whatever tool comes to hand, pen, pencil, laptop, tape recorder. And I enjoy it! That\u2019s worth its weight in gold.<\/p>\n<p>Tell us about your writing process. Are you a pantser or a plotter?<\/p>\n<p>Either or both, strangely. Ideas usually come out of the blue, and sometimes they\u2019re virtually fully-formed. Sometimes, though, they need a great deal of kicking into shape. I always hope it will be easy; sometimes it\u2019s hellish hard.<\/p>\n<p>Do you have any writing rituals?<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t think I do.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s the worst advice you ever received on writing?<\/p>\n<p>Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. I\u2019ve always found that if you rewrite something more than three times, the last will be worse than the first.<\/p>\n<p>If you could dispense just one piece of advice to beginning writers, what would it be?<\/p>\n<p>Ignore what I just said about rewriting! Everybody\u2019s process is different. Trust yourself, listen to others. But write. Always write.<\/p>\n<p>Has your success banished the self-doubt common to most writers, or do you still struggle with that with each new book?<\/p>\n<p>To be honest, it doesn\u2019t worry me much. The bonus of journalism again, I think. If something\u2019s not working I chuck it and start something else. The same with cutting. Even if you think something is much too precious to cut, remember that only you will ever know it was there in the first place. If you cut it, no one will miss it. It doesn\u2019t matter!<\/p>\n<p>What is something we would be surprised to know about you?<\/p>\n<p>How many of you think\/thought I was a woman? My mother again. She\u2019s got a lot to answer for, that lady.<\/p>\n<p>What books are on your nightstand right now?<\/p>\n<p>A solid tome on the life of Napoleon. My last novella (a Kindle Single) was called Napoleon: The Escape. I can\u2019t get enough about him. Did you know that at one time he had a wife and two mistresses all called Josephine \u2013 and that it wasn\u2019t the real name of any of them! Crazy or what?<\/p>\n<p>If you could have dinner with any writer, dead or alive, who would it be?<\/p>\n<p>Christopher Marlowe. To see if he answered to the name of Shakespeare! If he didn\u2019t I\u2019d want Shakespeare as well. Both good drinking men, I\u2019d guess.<\/p>\n<p>Where can readers connect with you?<\/p>\n<p>Email: jan.needle@gmail.com and my website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is an interview I&#8217;ve done for The Big Thrill, an international thriller magazine. Because of my natural incompetence the book&#8217;s not out yet &#8211; it&#8217;ll be another couple of weeks before it goes live. Sorry! Here&#8217;s the words, though &#8211; and if you want them in context, click this link: The Bonus Boys by&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.janneedle.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/09\/questions-questions\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Questions, questions!<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janneedle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janneedle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janneedle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janneedle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janneedle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.janneedle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84,"href":"https:\/\/www.janneedle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions\/84"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janneedle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janneedle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janneedle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}