Terry Tyler: Phillipa Gregory

Wednesday, 25 November 2015

The Z Files: Wendy Janes ~ Capricorn

Astrology ~ a bit of fun, a load of rubbish, or something to take seriously?

I invited around 70 writers/bloggers to write a piece about how typical they are of their sign, and how its traits affect their writing life ~ if at all...

Has your favourite writer been featured yet? Links to all previous posts at the end of this one :)

Since I made my initial invitations to be featured in this series (I invited about 65-70 writers and bloggers; at the time of writing 51 have taken it up), it's been interesting to see which signs have given me an immediate 'yes please!' and which have not been so interested.

Those cautious Capricorns were one of the three least responsive, then, just when I thought I'd got all submissions in, the goats began popping their horns into my email inbox! Perhaps they were seeing how it panned out, first... and here is one of late, hircine arrivals, proofreader, supportive social networker and now contemporary drama writer, Wendy Janes :)

Wendy's recently published her first solo novel, What Jennifer Knows ~ it's HERE on Amazon UK. And there's a rather nice trailer for it, too:

Now I'll step back and let her tell you about her Capricornian traits!

"Let’s ignore those negative Capricorn traits and dive right in with the positive ones."

"Yes, my approach to writing is ‘organized’ and ‘efficient’. I revel in the sense of order and purpose I achieve via daily, weekly and monthly to-do lists for all my writing projects.

I aim for ‘high standards’. I plot, I plan, I write, rewrite and rewrite, edit and re-edit over and over again. Sometimes the initial getting the words on paper/screen is a little akin to pulling teeth, but once I have something down I love tinkering with it until it feels right.

I’m definitely ‘resourceful’. The initial spark for most of my fiction comes from my own experiences or, more often, from those of my family. The genesis for my short story ‘Verity’ came from rescuing an elderly lady who had fallen in the street. ‘Verity’ also contains a number of anecdotes that have become family folklore. My husband says he’s a trifle concerned that anything he says or does will be used in my writing. Oh look, I’m even doing it in this post."
(Terry's note: 'Verity' is from a lovely anothology about mothers, definitely the best anthology I've come across since Kindles were invented, my review HERE)

"People tell me I’m funny, so I’d like to think that in addition to creating some ‘witty’ characters, I’m fairly witty on social media, and hope I spread a little smile through the ether.

I can’t finish without making reference to the Capricorn trait of being ‘simply irresistible’. As I’ve only recently published my first solo novel, I think it’s a little too soon to judge whether the reading public think What Jennifer Knows is simply irresistible, but I can dream!"