Uxbridge Writers' Circle members were fortunate to enjoy a virtual meeting with acclaimed author, Natalie Jenner.
Natalie kindly agreed to an email interview as a follow-up to that meeting and we're pleased to be able to share her informative and insightful answers.
Natalie has a new book coming out next year. Please check her website out for info on her other books: https://www.nataliejenner.com/
I feel compelled to add that I love The Jane Austen Society, and recommend it!
Here is the interview:
Please give us a brief outline of your journey to publication.
I did not get any traction at all in the industry with my first five books, which were written over a twelve-year period before I turned forty. I approached hundreds of agents and only two ever really engaged with me on my work. My first published book, ironically, was the first I wrote with absolutely no goal of publication: I wasn't even planning to submit it anywhere until my husband urged me to do so. I simply wrote it for fun and distraction while coping with an ongoing health challenge for him. When I did send out the MS, my query email's subject line mentioned that I was a former indie bookshop owner and, of course, Jane Austen's name was in the title: two things which I have since learned are of significant interest to agents and editors. My agent read the first forty or so pages, which was also helpful to me as an author of character-driven fiction since most agents ask for a much shorter submission. My agent then emailed me and asked for a twenty-four exclusive to read the rest - two days later we spoke on the phone, and he said he receives Jane Austen-related queries every week but "I don't think anyone has ever done WWII before." That was the first moment when I knew I had hit upon something and that my life was about to change.
Your writing process does not involve outlines. How do you make your approach so successful?
I try to write as if I am reading the book - in other words, every new sentence involves a decision as to whether the reader needs to know it now, or later, or ever. I write in order, word by word, sentence by sentence, brick by brick. For me, the characters lead the plot - I feel as if I am watching them through a camera and simply writing down what they do and say. Not all writers write like this, but many do, and it is the reason why I am never happier than when I write. There is a wonderful BBC documentary on Muriel Spark that pretty much sums up my own approach: BBC Two - The Many Primes of Muriel Spark, How I write, by Muriel Spark
How do you create your characters?
My characters just pop up on the page, fully formed. I can instantly see and tell everything about them except their facial features, which always remain a little fuzzy to me. But right away I know who they are - what I don't know are their secrets. I write to find these out.
What contributed to the popularity of The Jane Austen Society?
There is always great interest in books connected with Jane Austen, as there should be. I am also told that my book's messages of hope, community, and resilience struck a chord with readers upon its release in the first wave of the pandemic during a global lockdown.
How did you approach your research for your books?
I actually don't enjoy research, so I only ever do what serves the story. I simply write stories mostly set in the past. Usually I get an idea for a book (Villagers save Jane Austen's house! Female bookshop employees stage a workplace coup!) and sometimes I start typing right away and do the research on an ad hoc basis. Other times I research in-depth to understand a particularly complex time or place in history before I commit my characters and their actions to the page. Again, my research is inextricably linked to the demands of the tale.
Who is your favourite character and why?
Probably the first character in my first published book, Adam Berwick, the lonely farmer who falls in love with the books of Jane Austen and ends up initiating my fictional Jane Austen society, because his was the first voice I heard as I sat down to type the very first lines. He is the reason, in a way, that I ended up published at all.
How has writing helped you as a person?
My writing feels very separate from me as a person. For decades it was the smallest part of my identity, and often a totally silent, dreamy, and unexpressed one. I have always loved communicating with others in person or in print, but really, I think the act of reading has had much more of an impact on me as a person.
How do you create a balance between looking after yourself and your family, and all the research, writing, and promotion?
As a stay-at-home mum of a toddler when I started writing, those early books definitely took a back seat to family life and it absolutely shows in the finished products! When a decade later I sat down to write what became The Jane Austen Society, my daughter was finishing high school and heading off to university and my husband was nearing retirement. So I became a debut author when I ironically had the most free time for myself and still do. I do not think this was, for me, a coincidence in my journey to publication.
Do you have a few marketing tips for writers?
Do what you love. If you love posting on Instagram, do it often. If you love connecting in person with readers, look for ways to do that because it can definitely yield dividends both in "reader reach" and authorial inspiration. If you like numbers and logistics, invest in the sites that promote books to the extent you can afford to do so and track your movement in sales. Always play to your interests and strengths, because there is no one way to write, get published, or market a book. And have a really effective one-line description of your WIP.
What books do you like to read (in addition to those by Jane Austen!).
Shakespeare, Jane Austen, the Brontes, George Eliot, Henry James, E.M. Forster, Edith Wharton, Virginia Woolf, Ernst Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, Katherine Anne Porter, J.D. Salinger, Isak Dinesen, Truman Capote, Harper Lee, Kazuo Ishiguro, Michael Ondaatje, Laurie Colwin, Penelope Fitzgerald, Paul Auster, Ian McEwan, Susan Minot. I crap out in 2000 with fiction. My favourite poets include John Keats, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, e.e.cummings, Edna St. Vincent Millay, W.H. Auden and Wallace Stevens.
What do you do to relax and unwind?
I play advanced piano and intermediate cello, I enjoy kayaking, swimming and biking, and I love watching film, live theater and ballet.
What words of wisdom can you share with writers?
Write the one story that you absolutely have to tell, fictional or otherwise, because that is the one story that you alone can tell—and that will help you stand out in a very crowded and gatekeeping market. My other advice is to really understand why you want to tell that particular story: For yourself? For your family or friends or work colleagues? To get published in any shape or form? In my case, with The Jane Austen Society, I wrote it for myself and was having so much fun that trying to get published never once entered my mind. I think that kept the story organic, authentic, and whole—and it kept it uniquely mine.