Ask the Author: Jo Allison
Answered Questions (6)
Jo Allison
I plan. If the words themselves don't come to me, I write down what the scene will be about. And then plan the next one. Or, I interview my characters. I chat with them all the time. They generally tell me what should happen next.
Jo Allison
I'm always thinking about it. It's not just a job, but a passion.
Jo Allison
Figure out what you love to do, the kind of thing you love to read and therefore want to write. Study good writing--which is harder than it sounds because everyone has a different process and a different voice. Then find time to actually write. Even harder, right?!
Jo Allison
I'm just finishing up the first book in a new series. It's set in World War One--about six years after the last book in the Julia Nye Series. In fact, it focuses on a character from that book. The tentative name is The Reluctant Spy.
Jo Allison
My characters are very real to me. If I ignore them for too long, they interrupt the ball game I'm watching (in the summer--huge baseball fan). So, I start wondering what they're up to. Do the tons of research historical fiction requires. Let them tell me what really scares them. And go from there.
Jo Allison
Train trips back in 1911 were the quickest way to get someplace: four days from San Francisco to St. Louis. And I got to thinking about the somewhat common suspense idea of a crime or the threat of a crime on a moving train. Maybe I was reliving Murder on the Orient Express or some such. I decided Will and Julia were due a belated honeymoon, complete with all the trouble they usually find.
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