It’s Hump Day again and this week we have Alex Jane in the hot seat…
What’s your favourite TV Show and why?
Ooo, picking just one show is hard. I like so many things! I’m big into detective and crime shows, although I’m more partial to the cosy detective side of the genre. I like sci-fi and superheroes. I love things like Buffy and Supernatural. I’m currently making my way through the Defenders. I guess though if I had to pick one, it would be Poirot. The David Suchet version, of course. It just has everything for me. It’s engaging and clever, beautifully shot and has some great casting. You have the wonderfully funny moments, through to the dark despair of Murder on the Orient Express. It’s complete too, and that last episode was such a perfect way to end it, even if I do end up in floods of tears every time. And best of all, I was delighted to find that even though I enjoy the series, the stories differ enough from the books that I can be surprised by them too.
What is your favorite childhood book?
I had a volume of fairy tales illustrated by Arthur Rackham when I was quite small. I remember taking the slip cover off and touching the rough texture of the hard cover for the first time, and knowing I preferred it that way—no pretty cover, just a plain thing with gold letters on the spine with all the magic inside. There were some Grimms tales and other stuff in it, and not the Disney-fied versions either. I remember it had a scene from Midsomer Nights’ Dream at the end which seemed out of place but totally worked. My mum used to read it to me, doing all the voices and singing the songs. The book itself was gorgeous and I’d spend ages looking at the pictures and remembering the stories when I was too small to read. I still get that feeling of being swept away by a story on occasion and it still feels like magic to me. I think I got my love of storytelling from that book.
What was the hardest thing about writing your latest book?
Oh, don’t get me started! Seth was the hardest part. Bloody Seth Mason. I had the story plotted out and knew pretty much how it was going to go but once I started, it became clear very early on that Seth wasn’t going to play nice with what I had planned. Or say the things I expected him to say or do the things I needed him to do. I think perhaps it was because he was a totally new character who was supposed to be contrary, or maybe just because I was writing in two POVs which is something I don’t normally do, but he wasn’t reacting the way I thought he would. It sounds ridiculous, I know, that a character can boss the writer around but he surely did. I’d love to say that by the end of the book we had reached an agreement but nope. I shan’t forgive him for all those rewrites. I sort of miss writing him in a way…but I’m also very glad that I got that thing finished so I don’t have to put up with him screwing with my plot anymore.
How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
I think…two? I have my first novel, although a version of that does exist as a fanfic somewhere, and another book, with the working title of Blackbird that just keeps getting pushed back and back and back… I’ll get it done eventually. I have plans and sequels and sequels of plans in my head and some notes on paper but generally, once I sit down to write something, it gets done. And even if “done” isn’t perfect, I’ll change the names and put it up as a fanfic so at least it isn’t festering in a metaphorical drawer somewhere and I can get some feedback. Being that I plan to go back and work on them again I should probably horde them but I’d rather they get an airing until I get around to it.
Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?
I plot. Like, uber plot. But I do it in such a way that the characters still have room to maneuver within the framework. There are definite clear scenes that I can see from the beginning how they will play out but then the bits in between, not so much. It’s like I block out the scene and everyone always hits their mark and the designated plot point for that scene but how that happens isn’t set in stone. My favorite example is in Home Is Where You Are, I knew that there would be a point when Caleb and Jacob would have an intimate moment brought on by a stressor. But it wasn’t until I was describing Jacob’s injuries and mentioned his ankle, that I realized what that stressor would be. It wasn’t planned but I knew it was going to happen…if that makes sense. It’s the main reason I have to write in continuity. A lot of times I know something is going to happen in Chapter Six but until I write the dialogue or whatever in Chapter Two I don’t understand exactly how it will play out or why it’s happening in the first place. It’s exciting, and motivating too. It keeps me wanting to write as I don’t really know whats going to happen. But I couldn’t be a pantser. I think all the planning really helps me to get to know my characters but also keeps me on track. There’s so much in my head—conversations between side characters, small interactions and background information—that just isn’t pertinent to the story in hand, the plotting stops me from rambling too much. At least, I hope it does.
Seth Mason arrives at the Alphas’ Homestead under duress. The Council have made it clear that if his cousins, Caleb and Jacob, can’t tame Seth’s wild ways his very last chance will be used up and he’ll have nowhere left to go.
Seth is horrified to find that he’s going to have to spend a year living in the backwaters of Nebraska. He hates the Alphas. He hates the dirt and the horses. He hates the nearby town and everyone in it.
In fact, the only thing he doesn’t hate is Malcolm, the deputy sheriff. Unfortunately, Malcolm doesn’t seem to feel the same, especially when Seth uses his bad behavior to try to get the deputy’s attention.
Jacob feels for Seth—knowing what it’s like to lose family—but when his cousin’s bad behavior turns the town, not only against Seth but against all the werewolves at the homestead, he has to put his sympathies aside and fight to save his family and the place he’s called home for the last five years.
Sometimes the only shelter we can find from ourselves is in the hearts of others.
After spending far too long creating stories in her head, Alex finally plucked up the courage to write them down and realized it was quite fun seeing them on the page after all.
Free from aspirations of literary greatness, Alex simply hopes to entertain by spinning a good yarn of love and life, wrapped up with a happy ending. Although, if her characters have to go through Hell to get there, she’s a-okay with that.
With only a dysfunctional taste in music and a one-eyed dog to otherwise fill her days, Alex writes and walks on the South Coast of England—even when her heart and spellcheck are in New York.
Heather Rawlins says
My favourite TV, so hard to pick. But currently I have become completely obsessed with Masterchef Australia. I have binge watched on the weekends.