Jane is not only a mother, dreamer, artist and storyteller, but dyslexic too, which only highlights her success even more. Jane refuses to allow the disorder to halt her dreams and continues to enjoy her favourite hobbies.
Jane is a lover of steampunk, adventure and children stories, which often play a huge role in her own books. She is the author of the Paradox Child Series, Garden and a number of other short stories.
What is something you’ve always wanted to do, but never had the courage?
Sky dive.
What is your dream holiday?
I dream to go to India and ride on a steam train and Elephant and visit old temples.
Is there a book out there that you absolutely love more than any other book in the world?
I have an old version of Alice in wonderland.
As a dyslexic author, how difficult have you found it to write?
Oooohhhhhhh……. So frustrating.
I get all my ideas at once, and often I can see the whole story. The more excited I become, the worse my spelling appears to be. Spell check won’t recognise everything, plus I can see grammar errors!
But on a plus side, dyslexic people are very creative people, so it helps being a dyslexic when you’re an artist or writer, as we think outside the box.
Here is one of my paintings. I have no real qualifications in art, but it’s something I enjoy.
How did your fascination with steampunk begin?
My youngest daughter, Emily, was attending a joint museums art week run by Adrian Brookes which I was also volunteering at. On the Wednesday of that week, Adrian chose to run the event in the History of Science Museum on Broad Street. On at the time was a steampunk exhibition, http://steampunkpremiereatoxford.blogspot.co.uk/ which hosted artists from all around the world, such as Haruo Suekichi from Japan.
Emily was taken with the style of art and it also peaked my interest.
Emily was taken with the style of art and it also peaked my interest.
Emily is now in her second year at university, studying contemporary crafts. Here is one of Emily’s diesel-punk works:
Why did you decide to include elements of steampunk within Garden?
Oh, I just can’t seem to write anything else! I have tried writing a short, grown-up story but it was not very good. I also like to write funny and short stories about dogs. You can read some of my short stories on my website,
I do spend most of my time talking to my dogs, as my children have all grown up now- And I am still waiting to meet that Mr Right!
There’s a photo of him here; let me know if you’ve seen him! ;-) LOL
How did it feel when you had your first book successfully published?
I self-published the first 3 books, so mainly it was just pleasure for me that it worked as I was also self-taught in the process of it. When Autumn Orchard decided they wanted to publish my 4th book, I was so that excited I was nearly sick! That feeling only doubled when an excerpt of Garden was narrated by Anna Parker-Naples was released; I am a huge fan of the work she has done. The whole audio book will be out very soon. Here is a link to the excerpt.
Besides the museum where you work, what else inspired your series Paradox Child?
My daughter Emily; the character Lilly is based on her. Emily can ride a horse, and shoot a bow and arrow.
The dogs are also real, Buster and Mandy. Here they all are:
How supportive are
your family of the new career that you’re building?
I only have my three grown up children now for family and
their partners. But I think they are as happy and surprised as I am that my
books have been so popular.
My children were already used to me being an artist, as I
have painted my whole life and they have all come along to support me at the various
art shows that I have run.
Would you like to see Garden, or the Paradox Child series, turned into a film? If so, who would you like to cast as your favourite characters?
You read my mind; I am sure Garden will be seen on the screen as it’s already a huge success.
And I have the main actor, who has said he will act in it: https://www.facebook.com/celebritypaul
He was one of the wizards in Harry Potter.
And I also have a theme music for the film being written by https://www.facebook.com/AgonyInTheGarden
Soooo excited!!!
Is there anything you would change about the books you have written, or are you happy with the way they turned out?
I would love all of the Paradox Child books to be re-edited, as I hear there are still some mistakes within- and also I have some comments to add.
Do you have any
future projects that you are working on?
Oh yes, thank you for asking.
Octopus タコ Pirate 海賊
This is the first part of my new book Octopus Pirate, which
I wrote for NanoWrimo last year. All eight legs of the Octopus are still in a
muddle. I have a couple of offers from publishers so far for it, but I am still
waiting for the right one. The first part of the un-muddled story is below, in
the link. Please write nice comments as I am dyslexic and I find it hard to
order things so need encouragement to finish it!
And, finally... Do you have any words
of advice or encouragement for aspiring authors?
Don’t listen to critical people who may think that you’re
not worthy of writing a book. Art and writing are for everybody, from small
children to the oldest person; from those who are qualified and those who are
not. My degree is in archaeology, not in creative writing- I have no formal
training in writing other than a fantastic short course ran by the Leys News in
community journalism.
Join a small local writing group, if you can, and participate
in NanoWrimo, that’s how I started.
So listen: Just write. I believe in you.
Also one good tip is to give yourself breaks and little treats,
to break it up!
Thanks for the
interview Paige, and thank you, kind
reader, for reading this far. Please ask any questions on twitter.
@jyparadoxchild
Time for tea! Jane
There we have it! Thank you so much for taking part, Jane, and I can't wait to find out where this journey takes you in the future!
All of Paradox Child is free to download April 23rd!
thank you so very much Paige you are a star x x
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