Jane Lovering has had two books released this year through Choc Lit publishing, Please Don’t Stop The Music and Starstruck and I thoroughly enjoyed both. I was thrilled when we were recently allowed to ask Jane some questions and here’s what she had to say!

1. Describe your latest novel Starstruck in five words!

Funny, real, heartbreaking, character-led and..err…another word… my favourite word at the moment is ‘susurration’. Nothing to do with Starstruck, but a damn good word.

2. Are you currently working on a third novel for Choc Lit? (I really hope the answer to this is yes!) If you are, can you tell us anything about it?

Well, thank you! And - yes. I’ve actually just signed the contract for my third Choc Lit book, which is about vampires and their inherent desire to rule the world through designer clothing and really good admin skills. It’s another romantic comedy, but it’s a very different take on the usual vampire novel - this one is set in York, where the vampires are kept in check by a council-employed Liaison Officer. Who is, basically, pretty rubbish.

3. Starstruck is set in the Nevada desert, at a Fallen Skies convention, was the convention based on a real convention that takes place in Nevada or is it entirely fictional?

Whisper this, but I made it all up. I have absolutely no idea if there’re any similar conventions in Nevada, but, given the events of the book, I rather doubt it. Well, I hope not, anyway. And Fallen Skies is a completely made-up series, harking back to my long-running desire to write science fiction (and if any Sci Fi producers are reading this, I can knock you up a set of scripts…)

4.Most authors have a bit of a comfort zone that they tend to stick to with each of their novels, but Please Don’t Stop The Music and Starstruck are very different. Is that by accident or by design?

I can’t honestly say that I’ve ever actually designed a book at all. I just write the story that’s in my head. I did worry at one stage that all my stories seem to revolve around secrets, lies and self-deception, but then I realized that most of human life revolves around those things too, so obviously they were going to feature hugely in anything I wrote. I write about people, so my novels are going to be as different as people are, but with the same core desires, hopes and fears that we all share.

5.You wrote two novels before the two you’ve had with Choc Lit, called Slightly Foxed and Reversing Over Liberace, are they in the same vein as your two Choc Lit novels?

Both are romantic comedies too, and both feature less-than-perfect people. ‘Liberace’ deals with a hero who has cerebral palsy (but is a gorgeous computer geek) and a heroine who has a lot of hang ups about her upbringing, and Foxed’s heroine is a single mother who is worried about her teenage daughter and about falling in love with the wrong man. So, I suppose they have similarities with my Choc Lit books, but they are also different from those, and from each other. You’d have to read them to find out how far they differ (hint, hint).

6. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt after reading Please Don’t Stop The Music and Starstruck, it’s that you like your characters to be more real than most Chick Lit authors, is that what it’s about for you? That your heroines/heroes are normal, every day kind of people that people like myself can relate to?

Well, fiction is real life with the boring bits taken out, as someone once said, so my heroes and heroines are always going to be a little bit ‘larger’ in some ways - a little bit more communicative, more introspective and self-aware than a lot of people, otherwise you get a book with lots of umming and erring and embarrassing silences! But yes, I want to write about characters who are as real as I can make them. I’ve always wondered about the ‘perfect’ hero and heroine - what kind of couple are they going to be, when they are both so damn terrific that neither has ever had to struggle with more than a broken nail or a slightly disappointing exam result? What has life ever taught them? People who have suffered, are still suffering and have obstacles that aren’t just going to crumble at the first touch of ‘true love’ make far more interesting characters - in life, as in books.

7. For Starstruck, did you get to go on a cool research trip to Nevada? (I really hope you did!)

Oh, I wish! Sadly, my research was limited to the internet, watching a couple of Top Gear and CSI episodes, and reading up on the area. The kids and the need to get out of bed and go and earn money at the day job prevent me from doing much ‘in depth’ location research. Which is why most of my books are set in and around York, research is a bus-ride away, plus I can do my shopping at the same time.

8. How did your publishing deal with Choc Lit come about and where were you when you first heard they’d be publishing Please Don’t Stop The Music?

I’d been touting various manuscripts around for a while without much success, and my agent was sending stuff out and getting very close but not close enough. It was all very depressing, and only the fact that my agent thought my work was good enough to get published stopped me from throwing down my keyboard and taking up canoeing or deep-sea fishing instead. Then she heard about Choc Lit, I submitted Please Don’t Stop the Music and they loved it! The rest, as they say… and as for where I was - well I was sitting in front of my (slightly dented) keyboard when I got the e-mail. I think I might have drunk something fizzy that night, and just possibly danced on a table.

9. Both Please Don’t Stop The Music and Starstruck have heroines and heroes with secrets that come out late on in the novel. Ben, in particular, had a big secret. Did you know before writing the novel that Ben was what he was? (I know that sounds vague, but I’m loathe to give it away!)

Yes, I have to say I knew all about Ben before I started and structured the whole book around him. I know the ‘tortured rock star’ has been done to death, but no-one seems to have addressed a problem like his, something that is so profoundly life-changing that it can’t be overcome by the ‘love of a good woman’ (for my dislike of this trope, see my answer to question 6). Poor man, I really dragged him through the mill for the purposes of this story…

10. What books do you like reading in your spare time?

I will read almost anything. I love RomCom, obviously, particularly Jenny Colgan, but I also love Jasper Fforde’s slightly exotic sense of humour, Terry Pratchett. Justina Robson’s Quantum Gravity series; sci fi, fantasy, biography - I’ll even sit and flick through a thesaurus if I’m a bit bored. This also helps with my Scrabble-playing.

11. Finally, what advice would you give to writers who are looking to one day become published writers?

Firstly I’d say, be sure that you cultivate the skin of a rhino. The world of publishing is not for the easily-upset or those who take offence at criticism, it is a tough and bloody place with intestines everywhere…oh, sorry, that’s my living room, but you get the point. Then, read. Read everything, not just the genre in which you want to write, everything. You never know when the instructions on how to assemble a model Spitfire might come in handy, and the more you know, the more you have to write about.

And listen. Your dialogue skills will improve a million times if you listen to everyone, from very young children just developing language to older people complaining about their bus passes; the rhythm and style of speech is one of the most important things a writer can learn.

Then write. All the time. You may have to write a million words before you perfect your craft - don’t wait until you have THE story you want to tell, tell a few rubbish ones first. Don’t be afraid of the words, they’re like dogs, you have to be the boss of them, then they’ll do anything for you. Of course, you’ll have to shovel a fair bit of pooh off the carpets first, but it’s worth it in the end.

Thanks so much, Jane!

Starstruck by Jane Lovering was released on 1st September 2011!

• Digg
• Stumble it!
• Reddit

• Author Interview: Alexandra Potter
• AW Author Interview: Elodia Strain
• Author Interview: Lucy-Anne Holmes