Ask the Author: Tamara Jones
Answered Questions (6)
Tamara Jones
I've been a 'writer' since I was a kid - wrote my first book when I was seven, my first novel at fourteen - and writing was always a way for me to vent, to cope, to explore whatever was bugging me.
Back in 2001, when I wrote Ghosts in the Snow, my father was rapidly declining from an illness and our family rallied to take care of him. Dad and I had a contentious relationship but, besides Mom, I lived the closest so I spent plenty of time 'dad sitting'. Since we didn't get along well, I'd come home afterward and write. And write. And write, all about a crazed man killing servant girls for their kidneys and hair while a group of good men tried to stop him. (I was venting. Oh boy, was I venting!)
So that's how the series started. Me venting off anger/frustration with my dad. {{hugs}}
Back in 2001, when I wrote Ghosts in the Snow, my father was rapidly declining from an illness and our family rallied to take care of him. Dad and I had a contentious relationship but, besides Mom, I lived the closest so I spent plenty of time 'dad sitting'. Since we didn't get along well, I'd come home afterward and write. And write. And write, all about a crazed man killing servant girls for their kidneys and hair while a group of good men tried to stop him. (I was venting. Oh boy, was I venting!)
So that's how the series started. Me venting off anger/frustration with my dad. {{hugs}}
Tamara Jones
Because of my brother in law, Rick. He lived with us for several years and he'd spend Sundays watching football and yelling at the TV. He was a huge Steelers fan and had Steelers 'stuff' - a jersey, posters, beer coozies, etc - he used year round. I started watching football with him and got hooked. He doesn't live with us anymore, but despite still learning more and more about the sport, I'm a proud member of Steeler Nation! #LetsGo
Tamara Jones
In the middle of the night about twenty five years ago, my husband and I were in bed, sleeping. I woke up and saw a man standing in the bathroom doorway. I remained silent and started to reach for my husband but froze, terrified, when the man walked into our room, to the foot of the bed, past the window (where he was silhouetted against the light from the neighbor's back door) then he continued on into our closet.
Right then, my hubby sat up and whispered to me, "Someone just walked into the closet."
He crept out of bed and flicked on the closet light.
No one was there. There was nothing but our clothes and stuff.
We both saw the ghost and it freaked us out.
Right then, my hubby sat up and whispered to me, "Someone just walked into the closet."
He crept out of bed and flicked on the closet light.
No one was there. There was nothing but our clothes and stuff.
We both saw the ghost and it freaked us out.
Tamara Jones
It's actually a tool in my writer's toolbox. Let's say, for example, there was a terrible car accident in a residential neighborhood and the driver was brutally maimed and killed in the collision. If I (and therefore the reader) investigate the scene with a seasoned police officer who's scraped countless people off of the pavement, it's is a lot less horrific and more detatched than if it's the same collision only it's the kid who lives in the house by the road who sees the bodies first.
Do I want more tension or horror, or do I want to soften the blow? Who the reader's seeing the event through makes a big difference on how the scene's perceived. :)
Do I want more tension or horror, or do I want to soften the blow? Who the reader's seeing the event through makes a big difference on how the scene's perceived. :)
Tamara Jones
No, I never have nightmares about the characters. They tend to quiet the nightmares, to be honest, not feed them.
As for the 'shutting off the author', it doesn't seem to happen much. Even if I'm not actively working on a book, I always have the current project in the front of my brain (right now it's a graphic novel titled Six Shades of Blue) and the next project (a trashy women's fiction novel, as yet untitled) simmering in the back. I can get distracted, though, but it's never gone. My family has become used to it.
As for the 'shutting off the author', it doesn't seem to happen much. Even if I'm not actively working on a book, I always have the current project in the front of my brain (right now it's a graphic novel titled Six Shades of Blue) and the next project (a trashy women's fiction novel, as yet untitled) simmering in the back. I can get distracted, though, but it's never gone. My family has become used to it.
Tamara Jones
I always have my story and character concepts nailed down, and I research what I *think* I'm going to need for the nitty gritty details of the story. Most of the research becomes background info for me and never appears in the final piece, and there's always a pile of things that pop up that I need to clarify as the story unfolds. I don't plan a lot, and my outlines - if you can even call them that - are really short, just a few plot point 'stage marks' to hit, leaving much of the story a discovery for me as it unfurls.
I know where it starts, where it ends (usually, I was surprised once) and I know what sort of structure I'm aiming for (three act, five act, over-arcing theme, etc). Each story has its own essence, though, so more often than I'd like to admit I'm just along for the ride. Once I nail the beginning, it tends to race along while I follow, typing and trying to keep up.
I know where it starts, where it ends (usually, I was surprised once) and I know what sort of structure I'm aiming for (three act, five act, over-arcing theme, etc). Each story has its own essence, though, so more often than I'd like to admit I'm just along for the ride. Once I nail the beginning, it tends to race along while I follow, typing and trying to keep up.
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