Meet Jasper Fforde
Jasper Fforde has been writing in the Comedy/Fantasy Genre since 2001 when his novel 'The Eyre Affair' debuted on the New Yorks Times Besterseller list. Since then he has published ten more books, several of them bestsellers, and counts his sales in millions. He lives and works in Wales. Here he talks to gr about his books for young adults.
What were some of your favourite books when you were growing up?
Here are ten:
1: 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Alice through the looking glass' (Lewis Carroll) Nonsense of the highest order, yet to be surpassed. Extraordinary invention on many levels. Read it as a child and later as an adult - you'll get different things from it. Special Mention: The Jabberwock wearing spats and a tunic in John Tenniel's excellent illustration.
2:'Three Men in a Boat' (Jerome K Jerome) A book that I still laugh out loud whilst reading. Fresh and joyous self-deprecating humor of lazy Victorian gentleman going for a cruise on the Thames in the late nineteenth century. I challenge anyone to read the 'Taking two cheeses by train' story without smirking. Special Mention: Montmorency the dog, cooking with a spirit stove and trying to open a tin.
 3: 'Diary of a Nobody' (Bert and Weedon Grossmith) Again, a book of infinite charm written over a hundred years ago but still relevant to us today. Follow Charles Pooter, a middle class clerk as he attempts social climbing, dealing with his dissolute son Lupin and all the 'fads' of the time, with highly amusing consequences. Special Mention: The Pooter's odd friends, Cumming and Gowing, Parlour games, the boot-scraper incident and the Mansion House Ball spelling mistake.
4: Slaughterhouse-5 (Kurt Vonnegut) A bizarre and surreal story that spans time-travel, the bombing of Dresden and conventions of Optometrists with a style, pace and verve that is extraordinary. Special Mention: The Tralfamadorian's centipede view of the life cycle of a human.
5: Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) Much has been written about this book and it is all true. One of the finest, if not THE finest books of the twentieth century. Especially notable for the way in which the narrative unfolds as we go from character to character. The section where Milo Minderbinder explains to Yossarian how he can sell eggs cheaper than he bought them and still make a profit is quite simply a delight. Special Mention: The catch itself. It's the best there is.
6: To Kill a Mocking Bird (Harper Lee) Made a great impression on me when I first read it aged twelve and still makes me angry and frustrated after the verdict - you can feel the heat in the courtroom! Special Mention: The truth about Boo Radley.
7: The Little Prince (Antoine De St. Exupery) Allegorical children's book that continues to enthrall and delight. Oddly, St. Exupery wrote and illustrated this on a whim - the rest of his writing is good but does not reach the heights of 'Prince'. Perhaps because he wasn't trying and the door opened to his heart. Special Mention: The rose, the fox and the baobab trees. I never looked at one the same way ever again.
8: Summer Lightning (P.G.Wodehouse) I mention this one book although I dearly love all of Wodehouse's writing. 'Summer Lightning' is probably the most indicative of his work. A story set at Blandings Castle in Shropshire In the twenties, it has all the Wodehouse elements: Forbidden love trysts in the rose garden, idiot sons, fearful aunts, damaging unpublished memoirs, theft, intrigue, pretty dancers and an impostor - there is always at least one at Castle Blandings. Special Mention: Empress Blandings, winner of the Shropshire Fat Pig Competition - Lord Emsworth hopes.
9: Decline and Fall (Evelyn Waugh). Again, I mention this book but his others are equally as good; 'Scoop' being my next favourite. 'Decline and Fall' has an episodic quality that I enjoy immensely and snaps along with a dry humour to die for. Special Mention: Captain Grimes and Margot Beste-Chetwynde. Comic creations with depth and humour.
10: The Calculus Affair (Hergé (George Remi)) I'm a long-time Tintin fan and he remains a big inspiration for story telling. 'The Calculus Affair' is one of the later books and probably the best. By this time Hergé's illustrations, characterisation and humour was never better. The story about secret inventions and kidnappings by foreign powers just snaps along at a breakneck speed. Tank, Helicopter and car chases - this book is like a movie on paper! Special Mention: The locations drawn in the book are for real. You can visit them.
What inspired you to become an author?
I've always loved writing but came to it late. I wish I'd started much earlier. Sadly, the accepted wisdom and rule-of-norm - and I try to tell myself this is not an English thing - attempts to dissuade one from striking out on a tangent and doing anything too unusual. It took me until I was in my late twenties to realise that you could do whatever the hell you wanted and not to listen to detractors who tell you that no-one ever gets published, you can't cross genres, it takes seven books and ten years to get published, why bother? etc, etc. Well, it took me six books and eleven years, so they were almost right. The one thing I've learnt from all this is that with application, you can achieve your goal. Luckily for me my paid work at the time was quite sporadic yet well-paid and I could slot my writing in between projects. I used to work on a film for six months, take three months off writing, wait until the money ran out, did some more work and so on and so forth.
There are two skills to writing: 1) To be able to write, and 2) To be able to sit in one place for hours on end. Luckily, I could do the second, so the first followed on - eventually.
Do you have any hobbies that you like to do when you’re not writing?
Plenty. One of the hardest things about writing is having to write and not do hobbies. In fact, the most productive writers would be the writer who has one hobby - writing. I like to take pictures (http://www.ffotographica.com/index.html) and have done for many years, and tinker with vintage cars and vintage aeroplanes - both of which take up a lot of time. In fact, I don't have enough time to fit in all my hobbies in, which is annoying.
Do you have a favourite place that you like to sit and write?
Not really. I have small children, so the house is always noisy, so I sit in my office upstairs with headphones on and iTunes going - can't hear a thing and I'm off in the Bookworld. But it could be anywhere. I'm writing this now in a hotel room in Hamburg.
The Song of the Quarkbeast is the second novel in your Dragonslayer trilogy. What can we expect from this  latest instalment?
More silly nonsense, I think, all with a serious vein running through it, and with a mild sense of fun at the magic genre. This is the blurb:
Electro-magical devices were once everywhere. They ran the Mobile Phone Network, the radar for air traffic control and even medical scanners and microwaves. When the power of magic faded, they were switched off one by one. The only long-term electromagical devices still functioning as our story begins are yo-yos, the extremely useful compass-pointing-to-North idea and the spell that keep bicycles from falling over. And the reason for that is because they're so old no-one knew how to unspell them.
Things are about to change. As the background Wizidrical Power slowly builds after the Big Magic, King Snodd IV of the Kingdom of Hereford realises that the power of magic has untold financial possibilities, and the man that controls Magic controls almost anything. To this end he has appointed as 'Official Court Sorcerer' the odious Blix at Industrial Magic, one of only two Houses of Enchantment left in the world. With Blix's willing assistance, only one person stands between King Snodd and his plans for power and riches beyond the wildest dreams of avarice.
Meet Jennifer Strange, sixteen-year-old acting manager of Kazam, the only other House of Enchantment. She doesn't care for King Snodd or his plans for magic. Ancient decree dictates that Kazam can refuse Snodd's demands, but Blix challenges Kazam to a contest: The first team to rebuild their half of Hereford's collapsed 12th century bridge gains control of the other's House of Enchantment.
Contests are not easily refused, but no-one's worried: A win for Kazam seems in the bag - after all, they have six wizards to Industrial Magic's three, and all of Blix's people are rubbish. But then events take a turn for the worse. Kazam's Lady Mawgon accidentally turns herself to stone and with no-one able to read the ancient spell language of RUNIX, she seems likely to stay that way. Other incidents befall Kazam's other licensed sorcerers, and suddenly things don't look so good.
With only one functioning Wizard and her faithful assistant 'Tiger' Prawns, Jennifer must use ever ounce of ingenuity to vanquish Blix and derail King Snodd's plans. It may involve a trip on a magic carpet at the speed of sound to the Troll Wall, it may involve a second Quarkbeast sniffing around town. It might also involve the mysterious Transient Moose, and a powerless sorceress named Once Magnificent Boo. But one thing is certain: Jennifer Strange will not relinquish the noble powers of magic to big business and commerce without a fight.
Which character in The Song of the Quarkbeast did you have the most fun writing?
Possibly the Quarkbeast, although all the characters are great fun to write. I wrote an entire chapter with William of Anorak in it because I liked him from DS1, but couldn't see where to fit it, so left it out. They're all good fun: The cranky Lady Mawgon, the dopey King, His Useless Brother - Once Magnificent Boo's silent dignity, Tiger Prawn's sarcasm - Smantha and her self-augmentations, Wizard Moobin's failed attempts at Teleportation, Jennifer's hidden strength, Prince Nasil's bravery, the Troll's indifference to humans - I love them all.
Your books are very funny, quirky and imaginative. Where do you find your inspiration?
There is no short cut to inspiration. When I am lost for a good idea I generally just write 'and see what happens'. You would be surprised just how many seriously silly notions drop out of the ether fully formed as my fingers fox-trotted across the keyboard. Going for walks I've found doesn't help, nor does going to the pub. Ideas pop into my head at all sorts of odd times. I once sorted the first two chapters of a book while having a shower, and I also find the dull monotony of motorway driving very conducive to creative thought. Turn the radio off and tune out. Things often bubble to the surface.
What can we expect from the third and final Dragonslayer novel?
The tentative title is 'The Return of Shandar'. If you recall, The Mighty Shandar, most powerful of all the wizards, tried and failed to deal with the dragons. He was paid a vast sum of money for the task - 18 Dray-Weights of gold, in fact, which in today's money is worth £16 Trillion. If he hasn't got rid of the dragons, then a refund might be in order - and Shandar doesn't do refund. Can Jennifer defeat the most powerful wizard the world has ever seen, and protect the last dragons for all time?
 Do you have any advice that you’d like to offer to aspiring writers?
Write.
Write some more.
Then write some more after that.
It doesn't really matter what at this early stage.
You'll know what works when you stumble across it, and you'll build on the hits and delete the misses.
Think long term.
Learning to write is like learning to play the trumpet. It'll take time, and take a lot of practice.
Most authors are published after six books and ten years and a shedload of rejections.
Only it's not rejections, it's you learning your trade.
If you can start your fourth book after the rejection of your third with no loss of enthusiasm, you've got what it takes.
Fix in your head it's not for money. It's for the love of storytelling. It helps a lot, believe me.
Write what you want to write and avoid 'me too' books.
Search for your own voice and tell the stories YOU want to tell, not what you think will sell.
If you know something's wrong, delete it - even if it took two months to write.
If you THINK something's wrong, listen to your inner voice - it's usually right.
Don't be boring.
Respect the readers.
Don't give out all the backstory in one hit. It looks too obvious.
Remember that there is a secret pact between the reader and the writer - they give you their hard-earned cash, and you entertain them.
Respect that Pact
Rewrite.
Rewrite again.
Don't think 'okay' is good enough. It's not.
Don't worry too much if it's not coming out, or isn't working. All writers get that. You have to write through the logjam until it gets better, and it will.
Editing always makes a book better.
Write.
Write some more.
Ignore all advice
Make up your own advice.
Follow it if you want to.
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