The Author Interview featuring Jayne Bamber

Welcome to the Author Interview. This time, it features the lovely Jayne Bamber, author of Happier in Her Friends Than Relations.

If you’re an author who’d like to take part in the series, email me: debbie@myrandommusings.co.uk

Now over to Jayne.

1 Firstly, tell us a little bit about yourself

Sure! I live in Texas, y’all. I have 2 fur babies – rat terriers, Ringo and Pearl. I’m an avid reader, a huge nerd, and I am obsessed with costume dramas.

2 Tell us a little bit about your books

My debut novel was Happier in Her Friends Than Relations and the sequel, Unexpected Friends & Relations, is my second. It will be a 3-book series once complete.

The series approaches Austen as if all of her characters from her various novels all exist in the same world, and are connected through friendship or family bonds. For instance, Mrs. Jennings was once a Miss Darcy. So this series gives the readers a chance to watch what happens when the characters jump off the pages of their own books, and into those of others.

It’s been great fun to write, to imagine all the Austen characters I love interacting with one another, sometimes in surprising ways. There is a HEA for Darcy & Lizzy, because I don’t think any Janeites could live in a world where there wasn’t, but beyond that the series offers some other more *unexpected* couples. There’s also a bit of fan service involved – who couldn’t want to see Mrs. Bennet gossiping with Mrs. Jennings, or Mary Crawford scheming with Caroline Bingley?

3 Where do you find your inspiration for your books?

Oh man, weird places sometimes. I have my most inspired moments when it’s impossible to write them down. Like if I’m driving or in the shower or something, that’s when I get struck with the best ideas.

A lot of my inspiration is really just from the obsession I have with Jane Austen, imagining her characters interacting together. I will occasionally re-watch the film adaptations, and sometimes I am struck with new insights to the characters.

4 What, for you, is the best thing about being a writer?

Being able to indulge my imagination. I think that I would, anyway, even if I hadn’t decided to take that final step of actually committing to writing a full book. Just being able to visualize characters and scenes in my head so clearly, and then writing them into existence is so wild to me – sometimes I can’t believe I can really do that – and most of the time I don’t want to do anything else.

5 And the worst?

Hahaha – oh gosh! Some days I would almost answer “everything!” I think it comes down to time management vs. creative obsession for me. One day I will stay up writing until 4 am and then the next day just feel like rubbish and get nothing done – it sort of cycles like that, so most of the time I have no idea what day it is or what’s going on, and my apartment looks like it was hit by a tornado, but I will just be so in my head with story ideas that I don’t notice anything else.

6 If you could have any super power, what would it be and why?

Oooh, this is a tough one! I think I would prefer admission to Hogwarts – I would rather be a witch than a superhero, and I’ve already come to terms with the notion that my Slytherin side would win out over my Ravenclaw side. Also, I’d love to be able to do that thing Tonks does with her hair!

7 Do you have any tips for anyone wanting to write their first book?

Be kind to yourself, first and always. This is something I am always having to remind myself of, whether I’m feeling down about something I’m struggling with in the story, if I’ve had an unflattering review, or even if it’s just that I want to marathon some TV instead of being productive and writing – I have to take a step back and juts be nicer to myself for a while, because it really makes the writing process easier and more fun in the long run.

8 Tell us one random fact about you

I’m a total geek for the Game of Thrones and Harry Potter fandoms – I have an impressive and mostly useless wealth of knowledge about the worlds of both series.

9 Who is your favourite author?

Jane Austen, of course!

10 And your favourite book(s)?

My favourite book of all time is One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy is a close second.

11 What book are you reading right now?

To get myself psyched for book number three, I am re-reading Jane Austen’s Persuasion

12 Where is your favourite place to write?

I have a relaxing spot now on the balcony of my apartment, but I will be moving in about a month – before I start book number three, so I am of course already obsessing over what my new writing spot will be once I’m in the new house.

13 Do you prefer to write in silence or do you have a writing soundtrack?

I write via voice-dictation on my phone most of the time so music would interfere with that, but when I am editing I have a specific playlist that helps me get into the right mood.

Sometimes when I am stuck in a certain spot writing I will find the right song to push me out of it – when I was working on book number one, I was really not sure about the flow of the Lizzy/Darcy waltzing scene, and I ended up listening to “Stay” by Rihanna like twelve times in a row while I tweaked the scene, LOL. It worked!

14 What can we expect from you next?

There will be a third book to complete the Friends & Relations series, which I expect to release this fall. Book number three will focus on characters that haven’t been seen much in the first two volumes, so Anne Elliot, Catherine Morland, Eleanor Tilney, etc. will be making an appearance, and some stories from book number two will carry over as well.

15 Anything else you’d like to share with us?

I’d really just like to share a huge hug and thank you to everyone in the Jane Austen fandom – I’m so glad y’all exist! I have loved Jane Austen for wayyyy longer than I have felt comfortable in admitting my love for her books, so realizing how big her following is, was something huge for me, something very encouraging.

16 Where can we find you? (Links to your Amazon page and social media)

My Amazon author page and Facebook.

Jayne’s Author Bio

Jayne Bamber is a life-long Austen fan, and a total sucker for costume dramas. Jayne read her first Austen variation as a teenager and has spent more than a decade devouring as many of them as she can. This of course has led her to the ultimate conclusion of her addiction, writing one herself.

Jayne’s favorite Austen work is Sense and Sensibility, though Sanditon is a strong second. Despite her love for Pride and Prejudice, Jayne realizes that she is no Lizzy Bennet, and is in fact growing up to be Mrs. Bennet more and more each day.

After years of dating Wickhams, Collinses, and the occasional Tilney-that-got-away, Jayne married her very own Darcy (tinged with just the right amount of Mr. Palmer) and the two live together in Texas with a pair of badly behaved rat terriers, and a desire to expand their menagerie of fur babies.