Jane Green: Books Are Both A Window And A Mirror

For years I said I was a writer, which led to a few more questions, so now I tend to say either author, or novelist.

I wake up early but spend a good hour in bed reading through emails, the news, slowly waking up. After showering and dressing, I leave the house for my office, a ten minute drive away, and try to be at my desk by nine am. Taking myself offline, I write until lunchtime. If I’m editing, I’ll stay for most of the afternoon, but generally, I’m gone by 2pm. Back home I’m cooking dinner for the three kids left at home, answering more emails, writing columns, blogs, running my social media accounts. We always have a family dinner around the kitchen table, usually with lots of chat about politics, after which I tend to head up to bed (my happy place) with a pile of books and an ipad. My husband always comes up later, but I will happily spend the evening reading. In winter we might watch a family movie, and occasionally we go out for dinner, but I am always happiest at home.

I had three giant piles of books on my nightstand but my housekeeper did something with them two days ago and I have no idea where they’ve all gone. But the last book I read was The Lie of The Land by Amanda Craig, and I loved it.

I cannot, but I was reading very early thanks to a mother who sat and ran through flash cards with me every night.

I hate folding pages, but will do it if I can’t find a slip of paper to use as a bookmark.

As far back as I can remember. I read long into the night, and would pray for rainy days so we could spend our recess in the school library, curled into beanbags and reading.

I cannot, but I was always writing little stories.

I will come up with the idea, and then spend a huge amount of time on the characters. I do believe in outlines, but I very much believe in knowing your characters so well, they will tell their own stories within that outline.

Story by Robert Mckee for the science of what makes a story, and particularly, the importance of conflict in your stories and characters; My Ex-Life by Stephen McCauley to see how funny, well-written and compelling good commercial fiction can be, and On Writing by Stephen King because it has such clear and simple good advice that all commercial writers could use.

Charles Dickens because I remain a huge Dickens fan, Armistead Maupin, because the Tales of the City series has been my favourite since it was first published, Jean Hanff Korelitz because she’s fascinating and she makes me laugh, AM Homes because I adore the way she writes, and Emma Straub because she is huge fun.

The Love Letter by Cathleen Schine because I adore her books, and I had read online that this particular book, I think the only one of hers I hadn’t read, was based on a bookstore in our town called The Remarkable Book Shop. I have just created a mobile Little Free Library on a tricycle in homage to that book shop, called The Remarkable Bookcycle. So I bought the book.

Books for me are both a window, and a mirror. I love diving into other worlds which is the ultimate form of relaxation for me. And, there are times when I want to be reassured by stories and characters that reflect what I am going through.

I adored My Ex-Life by Stephen McCauley, From the Corner of the Oval by Beck Dorey-Stein, and Circe by Madeline Miller.

Put me in a Tales of the City book! I dream of having a circle of friends like Mary Ann, Mouse, D’orothea and Mrs Madrigal. I would have loved San Francisco in the seventies, and a little apartment on Barbary Lane would suit me perfectly.

Don’t think about writing, talk about writing, or spend hours at writing conferences…just write. I also think that a writing career requires a PhD: persistence, humility, and discipline. And discipline is the most important of all.

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. That was the book that single-handedly changed the face of commercial fiction. It was honest, funny, and completely relatable, and it paved the way for Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding, and in fact, an entire genre known back then as Chick Lit.

Far too many to think about!

Inheritance by Dani Shapiro. She is one of my dearest friends and I have lived this story with her. I cannot wait to read her beautiful memoir about finding out that nothing in life is what you thought.