Jasper Fforde
Jasper Fforde
Jasper Ffordeis a British novelist. Fforde's first novel, The Eyre Affair, was published in 2001. Fforde is mainly known for his Thursday Next novels, although he has written two books in the loosely connected Nursery Crime series and has begun two more independent series, The Last Dragonslayer and Shades of Grey...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth11 January 1961
book writing years
It took me ten years and seven books to bag an agent - it took me that long to start writing good.
fun book writing
The fun one can have writing books about books is limitless, to be honest.
reading writing long-ago
Reading, I had learned, was as creative a process as writing, sometimes more so. When we read of the dying rays of the setting sun or the boom and swish of the incoming tide, we should reserve as much praise for ourselves as for the author. After all, the reader is doing all the work - the writer might have died long ago.
writing agents want
Agents and publishers only want one thing - good writing.
teacher writing essence
Writing needs to be practiced; there is a limit to how much can be gleaned from a teacher or a manual. The true essence of writing is out there, in the world, and inside, within yourself. To write, you have to give.
art writing discovery
Writing is a subtle art that is reached mostly by self-discovery and experimentation.
book writing people
To a great extent, I still write for myself, write what amuses me. Fortunately, I have a quirky sort of strange sense of humor that appeals to other people and that's good. I still sort of write for myself though there are some areas of the book I feel I have to put in and I feel I have to deliver.
fall writing risk
I've never been averse to a little risk - after all, writing without risk is not really writing at all. Sometimes one has to just let fly with a high concept piece and see where the pieces fall. As it generally turns out, the central story is familiar, but just with different rules of engagement.
enjoyed far found good longer short sort stories treatments
I started writing because I wanted to write scripts, but I wasn't very good at it. Then I started writing short stories, sort of as treatments for the film scripts, and I found I enjoyed writing short stories far more than I enjoyed writing film scripts. Then the short stories got longer and longer and suddenly, I had novels.
perhaps
Perhaps fantasy offers imaginative escapism more than other genres.
movies people until
When I was about 10 or 11, I realised that people made movies; until then, I had thought they just happened.
entertain reader readers
There is a contract between the reader and the writer. The readers give me their hard-earned cash, and I have to entertain them.
home
When you're an author, you're always two people. Jasper the writer is different from Jasper the person at home.
ask editor turned
Speak to any editor and ask them what they turned down, and they'll have long lists of books.