Make-Believe Mondays With Jane Lovering

Today on Make-Believe Mondays, I'm pleased to introduce Jane Lovering.

Jane, first, tell us a little bit about the manuscript you’re working on now.

Jane: Well, at the moment I’m sweating over two manuscripts (it’s messy and I have to keep mopping, but at least I’m working). The first is called Unconventional Behaviour, and is about a woman being whisked away to a Sci-Fi convention by her best friend. While she’s there she meets the star of the show, a man she’s had a crush on for ages… but things are never that straightforward, are they? Last time I met a man I’d had a crush on for ages, he ran away. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that face at him, but..sigh, too late now.

Debra: Oh those crushes, they certainly can be surprising. lol

Jane: The second WIP is a Very British vampire novel, called Dead Run. It’s set in York, my hometown, and the vamps are menacing, sinister and very well dressed. They spend a lot of time driving Ferraris and being terrible posers, and they have no desire to find their Soul Mates because they’re having far too good a time shagging everything that moves, thank you.

Debra: Of course finding ones soul mate would put an end to those good times! lol

Jane: I’m flitting between the two, because one is very down-to-earth and features a sensible heroine getting involved in circumstances beyond her control, and the other…oh. Now I come to look at it, both heroines are sensible. Bother. Oh well, too late to do anything about it now. Just have to hope no-one notices all the sensibleness. To be fair, there’s also a lot of bonkersness going on too.

Debra: Oh but it's fun when the sensible ones fall in love. Fun to watch them.

Ray Bradbury said, “We are cups, constantly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.” How do you keep your creative cup filled?

Jane: That’s something I rarely have to worry about. I’m more concerned about my creative juices spilling out and staining the carpet or letting the crumbs of the HobNob of imagination (recently dipped into the cup of creativity, and therefore slightly soggy) drop onto next door’s poodle of despair.

I don’t have time to worry about it, I guess is the answer. I’ve got five kids, a husband, a job, two dogs, four cats, two rats and athlete’s foot. Writing novels is what I do to stop myself from running around the house yelling about the mess and waving a saucepan in a threatening manner. Ideas I’m not short of. Time and space to write them up… that’s what I’m lacking.

Debra: With such a lively household it's no wonder your creative cup never empties out!

As a child did any particular book or author pull you into their imaginary world?

Jane: The Amazing Mr Whisper, by Brenda Macrow. I read that book so often that the cover fell off, which was a terrible blow for the local library, from where I’d borrowed it. The story of a magical tutor (hey, I’m British, we all have tutors and governesses over here), who taught the children in his care to use simple magic. I loved that book! It was kind of like Harry Potter, without the sex, drugs and violence. I wouldn’t say that this book made me ‘want to write’ – that was later books, where people supposedly lived real lives without ever going to the toilet or having a bath, which made me desperately want to write realistic stuff – but it filled me with an innocent kind of longing to live that life. Oh, and he was rather sexy, as I remember, Mr Whisper. Or maybe I was just at that age…

Debra: The title alone is enough to intrigue me. It sounds like a wonderful book! And anyone named Mr. Whisper must be simply marvelous.

Is there anything else you would like to add about the role of imagination, and dreams in creating fiction? Any other message for our readers?

Jane: Yes. Keep reading. And not only because it’s the only way I’m ever going to be able to afford to build that stable block, but because stories are essential. Anything that takes us out of today, away from those bills that need paying and that shopping that needs doing, and transports us to a world where maybe – just maybe – everything we’ve ever wanted could become real. Oh, and if that ever does happen, just remember one thing -

Johnny Depp. I saw him first.

Debra: Jane thank you for visiting with us here on Make-Believe Mondays to share a little bit of the magic of writing with our readers.

Please visit Jane at www.janelovering.co.uk/

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Debra's News/Debra is Watching:

This week I am getting ready for another medieval weekend with the SCA, called Border Raids. I plan to take along a notebook and squeeze in a bit of writing. We'll be camping and I hope the nights are a bit cooler. It's been passing 100 and the heat index has been around 110.

Also revising the work in progress this week. There are some pics from the book signing at my beauty salon, A Clientage, which will be up on MySpace and Faceboook this week.
www.debraparmley.com