A huge thank you to everyone who came to the inaugural book club meeting. Local author Jo Wallace was a fantastic guest and it was a wonderful way to kick off V&T’s Book Club. The notes from the evening are below:
Book Club Notes – Joanna Wallace Q&A
Jo shared with us that writing is a hobby that is getting out of control, and she faced 11 years of rejection before her publishing deal with ‘You’d look better as a ghost.” It all emerged through the process of dealing with her Dad’s dementia diagnosis and subsequent decline. Jo felt utterly powerless throughout and writing gave her a strange comfort, she wrote for herself, it was therapy.
The book has been optioned with Universal and now Lionsgate for a series.
I can’t picture Claire in my mind. How does she look to you?
I didn’t see her when I was writing her, she came from the pure emotion of the situation I was in. I think though she’s tall, attractive, a charmer – she did manage to seduce Lucas.
(Jo earlier shared her Dad was diagnosed with early onset Dementia and was sectioned at a local hospital. She spent most days on the psyc ward visiting and writing was her emotional release to help cope).
She wasn’t initially called Claire either, I knew I wanted it to be a one syllable name. It was only after bumping into a friend on a dog walk (who is called Claire) and after saying “Bye Claire” that I went home and updated the name from Ann. It was unassuming and it stuck.
I love the authenticity and masks, the tie to social media. How did that come about?
So much was happening behind the hospital walls that I couldn’t share. I would leave there to go off on the school pick up and be “normal” – I was struck with the contrast.
The flash backs worked well, introducing the concept of her mother. She was grieving for her Dad which we knew and it was this nature/nurture relationship. I wanted the reader to have an understanding and to also give a voice to children experiencing emotional neglect (as well as mental health and dementia). We often hear about these things when it’s too late. She was a brilliant character to write because she was so awful and overlooked!
Is the head still in the fish tank?
Hopefully she cleared it out!
Jo went on to tell us that whilst visiting her Dad, the unit he was in had a really dirty fish tank. Over the 13 months he was there she asked to clean it out and was told no, for health and safety reasons.
After visiting a friend on the children’s ward at the same hospital she noticed their fish tank was gleaming which prompted her to ask again. The answer was again, no. She then left the hospital thinking “right she’s going to put someone’s head in a fish tank”
How do you write so much?
I’m a pantser not a plotter. I’ve never done a writing course. I do something called free writing. I open a document and just write with no punctuation It’s just ideas, a mess. I liken it to a sculptor starting with the clay. I’ll then go through it, rewriting, thinking and giving it a format. It’ll then go off to the editor who will no doubt say, “it’s shit”.
(A pantser is someone who “flies by the seat of their pants,” meaning they don’t plan out anything in their story, or plan very little.)
How do you work?
My brain is busy 24/7. I open my laptop at 5am and I’m in the story daily. The ideas keep on coming! Especially when I have a deadline – I’m currently due to submit a sequel to my publishers at the beginning of January.
Jo shared that the American’s love Claire. She had a standalone two book publishing deal with her UK publisher and was writing a new novel. However, in the US her publisher Penguin have been pushing for a sequel, which is where her agent has really earnt her money. Jo is now writing the sequel and the standalone novels will follow.
The Dead Friend Project
Thursday 11th July Jo’s new book “The Dead Friend Project” is published of which she read an extract. Copies are available at Gerrards Cross Bookshop. This book isn’t about Claire – it’s a standalone murder mystery based around the politics and treachery of the school run.