Ask the Author: Jasper Fforde
Answered Questions (45)
Jasper Fforde
The US books have very little changes. Indeed, Thursday Next 1 to 3 are actually better as I had a chance to rewrite them a bit more as there was a year's delay in publication. There are minor changes to 'house style' sentence construction and more commas - not sure why - but otherwise they are pretty much identical.
Jasper Fforde
I have not yet ever given a talk in Belgium. I desperately want to visit the Tintin museum, so if there are any Belgium festival organisers reading, the answer is yes!
Jasper Fforde
My current book is called 'Early Riser' and will hopefully be published in early 2017.
Jasper Fforde
Hello Jeanne. Because Humpty Dumpty and the Three Bears are, apparently, more an English-speaking allusion, the books remain untranslated in any language - aside from Russian. At this point, there are no plans for a translation - sorry!
Jasper Fforde
Yes; I finish the book I'm doing at present - Early Riser - in July and have six months to write DS4 'Humans V Trolls'. Expect it late 2017 or early 2018.
Jasper Fforde
Thank you, Sally. Oddly, the one character who would not play was Jane Eyre herself. The book stalled for almost a year as I tried to make Jane a partner of Thursday, kicking butt around Thornfield - but giving words and actions to her just didn't seem to work. In the end, I just leave her alone and have her say only a few words of mine - for the most part she is just doing the 'First Person Narrative' thing in her book, and thus cannot be messed with. I didn't feel the same way about Pilot the dog, Edward, Bertha and Grace Poole. Perhaps because they are not so complex.
Some books are so good I wouldn't use them. Having Scout Finch in a Thursday book is just adorning myself with borrowed , better, brighter, feathers, but I did feel that Boo Radley could make an appearance - and he does, at the Bookie awards in (I think) TN3.
Some books are so good I wouldn't use them. Having Scout Finch in a Thursday book is just adorning myself with borrowed , better, brighter, feathers, but I did feel that Boo Radley could make an appearance - and he does, at the Bookie awards in (I think) TN3.
Jasper Fforde
First chapter important? First line is vital! When I'm talking about writing to students, I can easily fill over half an hour with this one subject alone. The first line is what pulls us in. It will have foreshadowing, it will be intriguing, and it will also let the reader know that they are in good hands. The first line draws you into the first paragraph, the first paragraph to the first chapter, the first chapter to the rest of the book. I do an excercise with students which is simply about writing first lines - without any notion of what the story might be about. I also find that in new writers, it is often a good idea to remove the first chapter completely and see if it all still makes sense. My first book, 'The Eyre Affair' had an entire first chapter, 'setting the scene' as I thought. I removed it to make the story more intriguing to potential agents/publishers, and when I was picked up for publication, I asked if I should put it back. They said no - and what's more, didn't even read it. I think this was because I was 'infodumping' Thursday's strange world, and the best way to describe a new world is slowly - and let the reader do much of the work by using subtle pointers.
The start of my books are always the most polished as they are the ones I have gone over most. The end of the book, by definition, is the one that has least work - unless you write the end first, which I rarely do. I make it all up as I go along - if you're reading one of my books and can't see where it's going you're in good company - neither do I!
The start of my books are always the most polished as they are the ones I have gone over most. The end of the book, by definition, is the one that has least work - unless you write the end first, which I rarely do. I make it all up as I go along - if you're reading one of my books and can't see where it's going you're in good company - neither do I!
Jasper Fforde
I don't have an answer - I just want to say Thank You! I have loved that you read all my books!!?
Seriously, you guys pay my bills and allow me to do the best job in the world. Thankyouthankyouthankyou
Seriously, you guys pay my bills and allow me to do the best job in the world. Thankyouthankyouthankyou
Jasper Fforde
Oh, I don't know. It's what interests me at the time, I think. I'm currently working on a Standalone book about a world in which humans hibernate because I thought it would be fun. That was two years ago and I'm still writing. (Sorry)
Jasper Fforde
..in the same way that Butch Cassidy - hands up - was my favourite outlaw. (Lame joke) Yes, of course, I'll sign pretty much anything. Elderly relatives, children, pets. There is an address on the 'Contact' page of my website. Use that.
Jasper Fforde
Have a look at the answer to Jordan Ingram, somewhere close by. Thank you!
Jasper Fforde
I liked it too. It's the book I am most proud of, although not my favourite, which is ''The Fourth Bear'. It IS unusual, and it's 'Absurd Heavy' which turned a lot of people off. It never sold well, and for those who get it, they really get it, but for those who don't, it's in the trash. Sales are picking up now, so a sequel, or prequel, beckon. Probably the book after the book after the book after next. 2019?
Jasper Fforde
Oooooh, tricky one. I'm not sure that any are, really - characters are always amalgams of people that I know, characters I have read about - a real pot-pourri. Often, when I write a character who is similar to a real life person - like a friend or a member of my family, I think they might recognise part of themselves - but they never do. We don't see ourselves as others see us. I use this idea in 'Something Rotten' when Hamlet comes to the real world to try and figure out why he has been misinterpreted. To Hamlet, he is a poet, given to worthy thoughtful digression. To us, he talks a lot and can't make up his mind.
Jasper Fforde
Hello Chris. I think the interesting thing about unpublished works or even unwritten works is that right now, they don't exist anywhere at all - yet in two years they will be a book, printed, all to read. Where is that book right now? Is it still in its individual building blocks of story, a narrative quantum state of semi existence, or do we just create something from nothing, defying all laws of physics. As for manuscripts, yes, I've got a few sitting on my hard drive, but they're a bit lame, and will require six months or so to bring up to scratch - and in that time I could write something new..
Jasper Fforde
I haven't seen Lear in years, about time for a refresher. I can't recall to be honest, but it might be fair to say that they are somewhat dysfunctional - and open to interpretation. When Hamlet kisses his mother Gertrude it was, for many years just a peck goodnight. Just recently it has been getting longer, which does tend to add a new twist to their relationship. And I think that's whats so particularly wonderful about the plays. That they are not fixed, and can subtly change as the mood of society takes them. The paucity of stage directions are actually, I think, a positive thing..
Jasper Fforde
Well, the plot of Cardenio would be handy, especially if I could buy the copyright, or perhaps to ask whether he thought Mel Gibson's 'glowering, gloomy Dane' Hamlet or Kenneth Brannagh's more 'Charismatic yet rapid descent into madness' was more what he had in mind. I could also ask whether in the Hamlet opening it is: "O, that this too too SOLID flesh would melt" or "O, that this too too SULLIED flesh would melt" as the folio is unclear and I'd really like to know one way or another as it is keeping me awake at night.
Jasper Fforde
Growing up in the seventies. The best decade for sitcoms. My family are/were a little odd, and I was the third sibling of four, so you have to be a bit loud to make the others know you're there. Showing off, making jokes, me me me that sort of thing. My brother was very funny, too - I dedicated my first (written) book to him: "For my brother Mathew, whose love of the absurd - and the profound - enlightened my childhood.."
Jasper Fforde
To my knowledge, the 'Rocky Horror' audience participation of R3 has been performed at least four times, always with my blessing!
Jasper Fforde
I think probably Richard III. It's probably the one I am most familiar with, having seen the Olivier version a lot of times. Oddly, McKellan's is far, far, better - the gold standard, I think - but I somehow enjoy the outrageous hamminess of the 1955 version, especially as everyone aside from Olivier is playing it dead straight. Olivier's Richard III is such a gorgeously pantomime villain, sort of like Gordon Gecko, Dexter and Frank Underwood all rolled into one.
The gravedigger is good fun, too - Billy Crystal does it very well in the Brannagh version. Mind you, it's really in the interpretation. I've never been a fan of Falstaff or the 'The Merry Wives of Windsor', but then I went and saw the Oddsocks production, and it was superb. There was a 'Two Gentlemen of Verona' I saw once at Stratford, too, back in the 90s. Not Will's best, but this version was excellent. It was set in the thirties and was notable for one of the actors doing a key speech (I forget which) while slicing a melon - and finishing the slicing as he finished the speech. There was a spontaneous ripple of applause. I think what I'm realising here is that the players, interpretation and direction are everything. In strong, firm and inspiring hands, any character can be brilliant - even Osric, although I'm not holding my breath.
The gravedigger is good fun, too - Billy Crystal does it very well in the Brannagh version. Mind you, it's really in the interpretation. I've never been a fan of Falstaff or the 'The Merry Wives of Windsor', but then I went and saw the Oddsocks production, and it was superb. There was a 'Two Gentlemen of Verona' I saw once at Stratford, too, back in the 90s. Not Will's best, but this version was excellent. It was set in the thirties and was notable for one of the actors doing a key speech (I forget which) while slicing a melon - and finishing the slicing as he finished the speech. There was a spontaneous ripple of applause. I think what I'm realising here is that the players, interpretation and direction are everything. In strong, firm and inspiring hands, any character can be brilliant - even Osric, although I'm not holding my breath.
Jasper Fforde
The whole Temperance Brennan thing was part of a 'Character Exchange Programme' idea I did with Kathy Reichs. She had Temperance reading a Thursday Next novel, and I had Temperance appear in my book. All the stuff I wrote I sent to her for approval, and she generously agreed to everything - a fine lady. I also had to agree that the characters were not transferable if I sold the movie rights. That's the tune of it!
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