An Interview with…Jane Jackson
Singletitles.com chats to popular British novelist Jane Jackson about history, romance, Cornwall and writing.
What made you want to become a writer?
Writing was something I did, and found totally absorbing, as soon as I could hold a pencil and form words. I learned to read when I was four, so by the time I was five I was making up stories to tell my younger sister. I wasn’t very happy at school. So being able to create a world in my head then bring it to life on paper provided a wonderful escape. English was my best – and favourite – subject. So I think I was born a writer.
What drew you to writing historical fiction?
Since my early teens I loved reading it. Jean Plaidy, Norah Lofts, the Angelique Series by Sergeanne Golon, Frank Yerby, the Whiteoaks Series by Mazo de la Roche – were all favourites. In more recent years I’ve read and re-read all Patrick O’Brian’s novels, CS Forrester, Alexander Kent, Jane Austen, Elizabeth Chadwick, Georgette Heyer and countless others.
As well as sea stories which I adore – perhaps because I’ve been brought up in a county with sea on three sides – what fascinates me about the past is how gender and class defined people, and the struggle women faced to achieve any kind of autonomy. Less than 200 years ago when a woman married she ceased to be her father’s daughter and became her husband’s wife: his property. Everything she owned automatically became her husband’s to do with as he wished. Yet marriage was the aspiration of virtually every woman because it conferred status. Unmarried women were pitied or scorned. Gifted women – artists, writers and painters – or even those with a flair for business often had to choose between self-fulfilment and marriage. This theme is an immensely rich source of stories and I’ve explored it widely in my historical romances.
What in your opinion accounts for the genre’s success?
A well-researched historical novel opens a door to the past and leads the reader through, showing life as it was. It touches all the senses, bringing the world of the story to vibrant reality. But more than that, it helps a reader understand not merely how people behaved, but why. The social and cultural restrictions of the period meant men and women’s life were far more separate and circumscribed. In terms of story, such limited opportunity for physical contact means tremendous potential for sexual tension. I’ve always believed the reader’s imagination is the writer’s best friend!
What are your favourite historical eras and why?
Though I have enjoyed reading historical fiction set in all periods from Wilbur Smith and Ken Follett’s Egyptian dynasty stories through to WW2, my preferred favourites are the Victorian era, because of the huge expansion of world-wide trade in which my home town of Falmouth played an active part; and the Edwardian, because of the changes in society as women demanded their right to be heard. More recently I have set several novels during the late 1790s. Two featured the Packet Service: small, poorly armed ships that not only carried mail to North and South America and the West Indies (Dangerous Waters) they also carried bullion, or ransom money to buy the freedom of wives and daughters captured from merchant ships by Algerian Pirates (Tide of Fortune) In my latest book, Devil’s Prize, the action stays in Cornwall and one of the storylines concerns the role played by smugglers in bringing back from France information vital to the English government.
How do you go about researching your novels?
The internet is wonderful for sourcing old maps, documents and pictures. But I prefer to do most of my research from books, particularly those written during the period, or by scholars who have access to original sources not available to me.
I’m very fortunate as I live only a few miles from Charlestown. The captain of the brig Phoenix, which is regularly hired out to film companies, kindly spent several hours talking me through life aboard such a ship. I read numerous books written by round-the-horn sailors. Learning the names of every sail and under what conditions it would be used, threw up this little gem. In the tropics where winds are very light, the mainmast would carry the mainsail, topsail, topgallant, royal, skysail, moonsail, angel’s whisper, and finally, a trust-to-God!
Books on costume of the period are vital, so are visits to museums of costume, or re-enactments to actually see materials and colours, and how clothes were constructed – no zips!
What’s a typical day for Jane Jackson like?
I’m usually awake by 6.30am so, trying not to wake my husband, I creep to the kitchen and make a cup of tea. Then I check my email and send replies. I might rough out one of my twice-monthly postings for the Georgian/Regency authors Blog (http://historicalromanceuk.blogspot.com ) At 7.30am I call husband, prepare breakfast, pack his lunch. Then when he’s left for work, and I’ve done the usual household chores, I walk the ¼ mile to the village – this is important as it’s my daily fresh air and exercise. Once I’ve done the shopping I call in to see my 93-year-old father who, with the help of a once-a-week cleaner still looks after himself. Then it’s back home, a quick cup of tea, hang out the washing, then by 10.30am I’m in my office. First job is paperwork for self-employed husband. Then I re-read and edit the previous day’s work to get me tuned into the story, and plunge into the current chapter. After a ¾ hour break for soup and a sandwich at 1pm, I work on until 5.30pm. Then – always reluctantly despite tired eyes and stiff shoulders – I leave the story and start the evening meal. Ironing, gardening – we now have an allotment and are growing masses of fruit and veg – the big weekly shop, and family get-togethers with offspring and grandchildren, and monthly meetings with other writing friends get fitted in as well. It’s busy, often tiring, but very fulfilling.
Any advice for aspiring historical romance writers?
Choose a period that you are passionately interested in. By all means study trends. But keep in mind that it may take you a year to write your book and perhaps eight months or more to go through the publication process. So what is currently selling is likely to have been started two years ago. What’s hot today might not be in four months’ time.
You need to be totally absorbed in your book. If you aren’t, how can you expect a reader to be? (Your first reader will be a hard-pressed editor or extremely busy agent) Ensure that your setting is authentic, your characters realistic and believable, and that the conflicts and problems they face accurately reflect the period in which they are living. Editors and agents too often find that novels claiming to be historical actually feature modern-day heroines in fancy dress. But you won’t make that mistake! Above all, enjoy it.
Favourite characters from your books?
My favourite characters have always been those I was involved with while I was writing that particular book. I’ve identified with all my heroines – and what a varied bunch they were: a consul’s daughter; a Quaker girl who goes to Shanghai with her missionary aunts and falls in love with a gun-running ship’s captain; the young wife – still a virgin – of a wealthy landowner, whose world is changed by the engineer building a new railway line; a gifted herbalist travelling to Jamaica and an arranged marriage with a dissolute plantation owner who challenges the ship’s doctor appointed her guardian for the voyage. And I’ve fallen in love with all my heroes. As I’ve written 24 novels, ten of them historicals, you can imagine what a fantastic time I’ve had! If I had to choose one particular favourite, it would be Devlin Varcoe – hero of my latest book, Devil’s Prize. He’s a smuggler who despises the law but believes in justice. He’s passionate, proud and loyal. But a wretched childhood left him emotionally scarred and wary. However I’ve almost completed Wild Justice, and my current hero, Branoc Casvellan, is absolutely gorgeous!
What are your favourite books and who are your favourite authors?
Too numerous to list! I read every day and as widely as possible. I adore Terry Pratchett. I’ve read and re-read Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen, and thoroughly enjoyed Amanda Grange’s Mr Darcy’s Diary. Katie Fforde, Elizabeth Chadwick, Madelaine Wickham, Andrew Taylor, Marian Keyes, Natasha Cooper, Kathy Reichs, and all those I mentioned in my answer to Q2. Choosing just one is impossible – sorry!
What’s next for Jane Jackson?
I hope to complete Wild Justice by the end of June. Though it features two characters who appeared briefly in Devil’s Prize and is set in the same location, it is very much a stand-alone book. What next? In Devil’s Prize Jenefer Trevanion lost her father and her home in a fire, then discovered her fiance is not the man she believed him to be. I’m longing to know how she goes about regaining her position in society, and the price she has to pay for independence.
Thank you, Jane for chatting to us. If you want to know more about Jane and her books, visit her website at www.janejackson.net.
Jane’s publishers, Robert Hale, are offering her latest novel, Devil’s Prize, in a beautiful hardback edition at the specially reduced price of £16. Just e-mail them at orders@combook.com and quote single titles offer!
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