Moonlight on Jane Eagland!!

I was very lucky to be able to talk to Jane! I had just finished reading Wildthorn and wanted to know more about the person who wrote it! You can find a review of Wildthorn in the September archives! Thanks Jane for taking time to talk to me!


Photo by: Jonathan Bean

Interview:

What was the best part about the area you grew up in?

I grew up in Ilford, Essex which is more or less an outer suburb of London - streets and streets of identical houses. I used to have nightmares about not being able to find our house. But I remember playing in the park when I was small - there was a stream we used to paddle in and try to dam up. I also loved going to the library with my dad and when I was older I often went to a secondhand bookshop - which you can read about on my website:http://www.janeeagland.com/news/on-second-hand-bookshops/

Where is your favorite spot to read and write?

My favourite spot is either in the garden or my living room because the back of my house looks out over fields towards hills and we get some great sunsets. Normally, though, I write in my 'office' which is where I keep my pc. It's a rather boring, functional room and just looks out on the street. What I would really love is a writing shed - I love the woody smell of sheds and feeling cocooned but close to nature.

In High School what group were you in?(popular, jocks, drama, nerds, geeks)

I'm not entirely sure of the meaning of the last two and we didn't have these categories then but if we had I suspect I would have been called a nerd or a geek! I went to an all-girls school and liked studying. I hung out in the library a lot of the time reading. But I also liked music - I sang in the choir and played timpani and percussion in the school orchestra. This was good because we got to go to the Boys School to join up with their orchestra. So I didn't spend my whole teenage life reading!!

If you could go back in time where would you go?

Because both my books so far have been set in the Victorian period I would like to go back to that time and see if I was right! I think it would be fascinating. But I'm sure I'd find it rather smelly and dirty and I would hate to need medical or dental treatment And I don't think I'd want to wear those clothes for too long - far too constricting.

Why do you write young adult historical fiction?? What is the draw to the genre?

I didn't set out to write in this genre - I just wanted to tell Louisa's story ( in Wildthorn). You can read more about how this came about on my website. When it got taken by my English publisher, Macmillan, they decided it was a Young Adult novel. And then they asked for another one and I'd got an idea from my research that I wanted to follow up - about Victorian spiritualism. This became my second novel Whisper My Name. I didn't know much history when I started - I gave it up when I was thirteen because I didn't like the teacher - so I've had to do lots of research. But I've loved reading about the period - it gives me ideas - but then I'm also free to invent things because no one is now alive to tell me I'm wrong!

If you could send one message to teens what would it be?

It sounds a bit corny but I suppose I'd say, don't be afraid to be yourself, to value yourself. I think teenagers today come under a lot of pressure to conform and it takes courage to stand out from the crowd.