Updated on 28th December 2012
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Genre – Short Stories (PG13)
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Website - http://simonjenner.com/
Tell us a bit about your family. My wife’s the sensible one although she did agree to let me become an author! We have one son who could really have done with a sibling because we spoil him rotten and we’re sure that whilst our hearts are in the right place, we’ve done him no favours whatsoever. My parents are pretty great – I get my sarcasm from my father and my sensitivity from my mother. The mix is not always an easy one and means I have to watch what I say, especially when meeting new people!
What is your favorite quality about yourself? I’m not blessed with self-appreciation and so this really is a toughie. I guess, if anything, it would have to be honesty. I struggle to tell lies and I always own up if I do something wrong – well nearly always. I save all my lies for the characters in my books.
What is your least favorite quality about yourself? Where to begin? I can be lazy, I drink too much, I swear too much, I let people annoy me too much, I don’t practice what I preach, I judge people on first sight… the list goes on. If I had to pick only one… I have no faith in the human race. The number of people that give a damn about anything seems to get less and less by the day. Please tell me I’m wrong.
What are you most proud of accomplishing so far in your life? Staying sane (just about!) in a world that I don’t understand and that sure as hell doesn’t understand me.
What is your favorite color? Blue, only in its darker shades.
What’s your favorite place in the entire world? Home, wherever it is at the time.
When and why did you begin writing? I started when I was about seventeen and, for the life of me, I can’t remember why. At various stages I started again and it took about thirty years after starting to actually realize that I should have been doing it all along.
What inspires you to write and why? I don’t really get inspiration until I sit down and beg for it to come. I’m rarely stuck for words and struggle more with keeping direction during a piece than at the start of it.
What genre are you most comfortable writing? I like to write stories where good things happen to good people and the bad get their comeuppance. I’m all for seeing justice done on the page or at least by the end of the book. If I had to narrow it to a genre I would say that ‘thriller’ works best for me.
What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general? I think that once you decide to write a novel, it is the sheer scope of what you are about to attempt that really is the challenge. As a self-published author, I am writer, researcher, editor and self-help guru. I’m sure there are plenty of us out there. I find that once I am a third of the way through, the belief that I will finish it begins to enter my mind and from then on it gets a little easier. Until the marketing, that is!
Do you intend to make writing a career? I’m already trying and failing miserably. It’s not that I haven’t had good feedback or that the encouragement isn’t there from my family, but the amount of work that you need to churn out until that wonderful best seller comes along at the peak of your creative processes is bordering on endless – or maybe you just get lucky. You only have to look around at a number of recent bestsellers to know that predicting the market is impossible. Hopefully, I’ll strike a chord with one of my efforts before the bailiffs come a knockin’.
Have you ever had writer’s block? If so, what do you do about it? I’m not a writer’s block sort of guy. Normally, if I get stuck, it’s because the story doesn’t work and I have to revisit the whole premise of the book. That happens more than I’d care to admit. But writer’s block – never. Writer’s malaise – a little more frequently.
Can you share a little of your current work with us? Ethan Justice: Origins is a dark thriller with a good helping of dry humour. The baddies are super bad and the goodies flawed. Fate throws an underachiever and a beautiful escort together after the protagonist finds his best friend murdered. They must use their wits to survive and help foil a psychopath’s plan to destroy those who took his livelihood from him. Does the underachiever get the girl and save the day?
Who designed the cover? My wife and I designed the cover. Firstly, I came up with four mock ups and then we took our favourite and developed it further, playing with the arrangement of images, content and font choices. In the end we were happy with the outcome but checking out what a professional could come up with is on my never-ending ‘To Do’ list.
Who is your publisher? I self publish all of my work. I think in this day and age an author owes it to him or herself to learn the business inside out. The way things are going, the publishing industry will play a minor part in getting work out to the general public in the future. Of course, in its place we require a filter to avoid the need for the reader to trawl through mountains of choices before finding something suitable and what that is remains uncertain at present.
How do you promote this book? I’ve tried all sorts: my own blog, guest blogs, paid advertising, KDP Select, Twitter, Facebook. To tell you the truth, the promotion side really sucks. It drains your creativity and finding a successful formula still evades me.
Have you included a lot of your life experiences, even friends, in the plot? A few here and there, although, I’ll let you guess which and who they are. I always try and draw from experience because when mixed with fiction it adds a touch of realism that can’t always be achieved from imagination alone.
How important do you think villains are in a story? Just as important as the protagonist – assuming they aren’t one and the same. You need one to bounce off the other to create the conflict and tension that a good thriller needs.
Have you started another book yet? Currently I am working on the sequel to Ethan Justice: Origins and it is developing into a darker and more gruesome story than the first in the series. Don’t worry, there’s still a huge dollop of dry humour to balance the equation and give you a few laughs along the way.
Where do you see yourself in five years? I hope that I will be writing nine to five for a living and not worrying that I might have to return to mainstream employment if the next book tanks. I’m probably unemployable now, anyway. Prospective employers, please note that the preceding sentence was a joke and I’m available for interviews most mornings, afternoons, evenings … and weekends, of course.
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