Zi71bFS9nQHnivtvUJquhejTHIQ The Story Factory Reading Zone: Found: Jasper Fforde

Wednesday 23 February 2011

Found: Jasper Fforde

Last night I had the great pleasure of listening to Jasper Fforde talk about his latest book- 'One of Our Thursdays Is Missing'. In fact, he talked about a great many things and engaged in question and answer session as well. Jasper Fforde is a pleasure both to listen to and to read books from. He produces a laugh a minute and generally comes across as a really nice bloke. His talks are unprepared and so comments can take their inspiration from anywhere- including the drilling outside which permeated the otherwise quiet church in which this talk was held.
One of the thing that spoke to me most about Jasper's talk was his style of writing. He said that he doesn't plan what he's writing- instead he sets himself a challenge and writes his way out of it. For instance, one of his early short stories was about someone who turned into a banana (I think I've remembered the correct object- it was just as weird if not). Then, when he's finished writing, he goes through and becomes his own critic. This can result in a large portion of the book being rewritten, up to half of it being thrown out and approximately four times as much material in his home than in the published books (some of these 'outtakes' can be viewed on his website). Only then does he consider the book good enough to be sent for reading prior to publishing.
Right, by now (if you haven't heard of Jasper Fforde) your probably wondering what his books are about. Well, I'm going to take Jasper's advice and simply tell you that you have to read them and then you'll understand why people love them so much.
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