AUTHOR INTERVIEW: FIVE MINUTES WITH ​SARA JAYNE TOWNSEND

​Sara Jayne Townsend is a UK-based writer, and someone tends to die a horrible death in all of her stories. She lives in Surrey with two cats and her guitarist husband Chris. 
 
She is author of several horror novels, and a series of mysteries featuring contemporary actress and amateur sleuth Shara Summers.
 
Follow Sara on Amazon (US: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003QROE8S and UK; https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B003QROE8S) or Twitter (https://twitter.com/sarajtownsend), and learn more about her writing at her website (http://sarajaynetownsend.weebly.com) and her blog (http://sayssara.wordpress.com).

Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourself?

I was born in the North of England and spent the first ten years of my life living in Lancashire. One of my classmates was TV presenter Melanie Sykes – we used to go to each other’s birthday parties as children. Then my family emigrated to Canada, and I lived in Ontario for a few years. When I turned 18 I moved back to England and I’ve been living in the South East ever since. I’ve been writing stories all my life; even before I knew how to write I was making up stories. I had an array of dolls and soft toys as a child and they all used to have names, family histories and different personalities. I used to select a toy every night when I went to bed and tell myself a story about them before going to sleep.

What do you like to do when you're not writing?

I like playing video games (the Resident Evil series is amongst the favourites), playing Dungeons & Dragons (that’s the tabletop version) and playing bass guitar. But I also have a day job, so juggling all of this with the writing can be challenging.

Other than the horror genre, what else has been a major influence on your writing?

Crime, especially crime series featuring strong female protagonists. Sara Paretsky, Kathy Reichs and Sue Grafton are my favourite crime writers. There are some similarities in the sort of crime stories I write and the horror stories. They both feature people dying in horrible ways. In the horror the perpetrator generally turns out to be some sort of supernatural entity, and there are more gratuitous descriptions of how people die.
 
The term horror, especially when applied to fiction always carries such heavy connotations.  What’s your feeling on the term “horror” and what do you think we can do to break past these assumptions?

Horror scares people. A lot of people say they don’t like horror because they find it too scary, and although I understand that, I also think the appeal in horror is that we like being scared. Horror, be it fiction or film, is a way of being scared in a controlled environment, a bit like roller coasters at fun fairs. Terrible things happen to characters in horror stories and they are often facing a threat to life. But we can enjoy the fear vicariously through the characters, and at the end of the book we put it down and go back to our ordinary lives knowing everything is OK because the horror isn’t real.
 
One of the preconceptions of the genre I’d really like to get past is that women don’t write horror. The first modern horror novel was, arguably, Frankenstein, and it was written by a 17-year-old girl. Despite this I still encounter surprise from people when I tell them I write horror.

A lot of good horror movements have arisen as a direct result of the socio/political climate, considering the current state of the world where do you see horror going in the next few years?

Themes in horror tend to reflect fears of society. The last few years we’ve seen a rise in natural disaster films, as people become more aware of environmental damage, and before that we had a lot of ‘conspiracy theories’. I would say that we are due for a lot of dystopian future stories over the next few years, but it’s more likely that people are looking for escapism. Superhero stories do well when the real world feels lacking in heroes, and in horror we see a rise in supernatural monsters – vampires; werewolves; zombies etc: things that are clearly defined as evil, that can be fought and defeated and there is no ambiguity. So as ever more awful things seem to be happening in the mortal world, stories about supernatural evil that can be defeated will be on the rise. Of course that might just be wishful thinking, since that’s what I write.

What are the books and films that helped to define you as an author?

I was scared of horror films as a child, but the year I turned 14 I discovered Stephen King, and he’s been a big influence ever since. In the summer of 1984 I read It and it’s still one of the King books that stayed with me. The idea of a Big Bad that can take the form of whatever scares you the most I thought was a brilliant idea.

What new and upcoming authors do you think we should take notice off?

There are a lot of women horror writers out there that don’t get enough attention. Laura Mauro and Priya Sharma are two that are going places – watch out for them.
 
Helen Callaghan writes psychological thrillers and her second novel, Everything Is Lies, is outstanding. I think she’s someone to keep an eye on.

How would you describe your writing style?

It’s been described as reminiscent of Stephen King, which I think is a big compliment. My writing is very linear. I like clear beginnings, middles and endings. I’m not fond of ambiguity. My writing is not very literary and probably won’t ever win any awards, but I just want to tell a story that people will enjoy reading.

What aspects of writing to do you find the most difficult?

Beginning. Having to stare at that blank page, trying to decide how to begin, is agonizing. That’s why I plot before I start writing – to help guide me in what’s happening next.
 
I also find that crippling self-doubt that hits every once in a while hard to deal with, but since it seems to hit all writers, even the really successful ones, I try my best to ride it out.

Is there one subject you would never write about as an author?

I actually think that in order to grow as a writer you should tackle the subjects that you don’t want to write about. I can’t say that there’s anything I would make a point of never writing about. However, I once had to write a rape scene and I can honestly say that was the most difficult scene I ever had to write.

How important are names to you in your books? Do you choose the names based on liking the way it sounds or the meaning?

Sometimes characters seem to name themselves. Sometimes I choose names because of their sound, or their meaning. I keep a book of baby names on the book shelf with my other writing books, which always confuses people since I don’t have kids and have never had any desire to have any, but I use it to pick random character names. Sometimes I work out when and where a character was born and check the internet for the top ten baby names in that year for that region, and choose something from that list. Which might be quite an analytical way of naming characters, but I find that a helpful process.


Writing, is not a static process, how have you developed as a writer over the years? 

I learned years ago the importance of plotting. My first horror novel, SUFFER THE CHILDREN, was based on a short story I wrote in the early 90s. When I started writing it as a novel, I knew who the main characters were, I had the beginning and a vague idea of where I wanted to get to but I got stuck halfway because I didn’t know what happened next. That book took 10 years to write, and for about six of those years it was stuck in a drawer because I didn’t know what to do with it. When I finally decided I was going to finish it, I dug it out again, re-read what I had and wrote a three-page plot synopsis, covering not only what I had written, but what would happen next and how the book was going to end. From that I wrote a chapter-by-chapter breakdown, and I used that to start the book again and get to the end of the first draft.
 
I have used the same process for every novel I’ve written ever since. I know some writers don’t like to plot, but I never start a novel now without plotting first. And it has eradicated writer’s block for me.
 
I think I have improved in writing dialogue as well. This has come about from listening to other people. I confess I am terribly nosy. I will eavesdrop on conversations people are having across from me on the train, or in restaurants, or wherever. But it has helped me develop an understanding of how people really talk, and it helps me in writing dialogue.

What tools do you feel are must-haves for writers?

Time, discipline, and a thick skin. None of us ever have enough time, and most writers are juggling the writing with day jobs, family commitments, hobbies, sports, and so on. Time to write must be planned, and protected. It usually means sacrificing something else. With me it’s sleep, since I get up early to take the early train into London so I can write for an hour in a coffee shop before going to work. But I put that time in my diary and treat it like an appointment so I have no excuses not to do it. This is where the discipline comes in. It’s easy to find something else to do when the words will not come, but when you schedule writing time you need to write, even if you have to tie your leg to the chair to keep yourself at the laptop.
 
A thick skin is also essential because you will get rejections, and they can be crushing. You just have to pick yourself off and send the manuscript off again. You will also get bad reviews, but some authors make the mistake of having public meltdowns on social media whenever they get a bad review. Don’t be that kind of author. Not everyone will like your books. That’s just the way it goes. Accept it, and move on. Focus on the good reviews instead.
 
What is the best piece of advice you ever received with regards to your writing?

Fix it in the rewrite. I can’t remember who said this initially; it’s a phrase people used to throw around a lot in the early days of my writing group. But it’s invaluable advice because when I am struggling with a first draft I remember this. Sometimes, if I can’t work out how a chapter is going to unfold – say I’ve got my character in a fix that she has to escape from but I haven’t figured out how yet – I will just write FIX IT IN THE REWRITE on the page and move on to the next chapter. I then carry on to the end of the first draft. Getting to the end of that first draft is the most important thing. By the time I get to that same scene again in the second draft, I will usually have figured out how the scene will play out.

Getting your worked noticed is one of the hardest things for a writer to achieve, how have you tried to approach this subject?

If I knew the answer to this, I’d be selling a lot more books than I am! I’m pursuing all the social media outlets. I have a blog and I host other authors (on the ‘Monday’s Friends’ feature). A lot of writers with blogs will host you on theirs if you host them on yours and that’s a win/win for a writer because it means the blogger might get some new followers amongst the established fans of the writer, and the writer might get some new readers from the blog’s established followers. I also go to as many conventions as I can and offer to be on panels and do readings. I am quite lucky that this sort of attention doesn’t bother me – I used to do amateur dramatics years ago and standing on stage having to be the centre of attention gave me a lot of confidence in speaking in front of people. Most writers are introverts and don’t like standing up in front of people, and it’s rather unfortunate that this becomes a necessary part of self-promotion at some point.

To many writers, the characters they write become like children, who is your favourite child, and who is your least favourite to write for and why?

The answer to both is my amateur sleuth, Shara Summers. I make no secret of the fact that she has a lot in common with me – she’s got a background in Canada and in the UK, and she is far too nosy for her own good. But she’s a lot more courageous than me, and a lot less frightened of doing things she really shouldn’t. I like writing about her and the scrapes she gets into, but at the same time she gets herself into situations that I would never be brave, or stupid, enough to get into myself, and sometimes I end up racking my brains on how I’m going to get her out of it, because she always has to triumph in the end. Those times, I hate writing about her.

What piece of your own work are you most proud of?

I’m still very proud of my first published novel, SUFFER THE CHILDREN. Probably because it was the first published novel.

And are there any that you would like to forget about?

In my early teens I was obsessed with Star Wars, and had a big crush on Luke Skywalker. I wrote a series of fan fiction that was essential me placing myself in the Star Wars universe so I could hang out with the characters. Fortunately for me, I’m old enough that the internet was not a thing back then, so my truly terrible fan fic stories remain locked in a drawer and will never be let out into the world to embarrass me.

For those who haven’t read any of your books, which of your books do you think best represents your work and why?

I think the new novel, OUTPOST H311, is a good one to start with. First of all, I would hope that my writing gets better with time and this is the most recent work. But also it’s rather gruesome in parts, and I do enjoy the gruesome bits!

Do you have a favorite line or passage from your work, and would you like to share it with us?

That’s like asking a parent to pick their favourite child. Besides, what I like about my work is so changeable. Like most writers I swing between thinking that passage I just wrote is completely awesome, or it’s the biggest pile of steaming turds ever written. It’s a bit hard to be objective about your own work in those circumstances.

Can you tell us about your last book, and can you tell us about what you are working on next?

OUTPOST H311 is the newest release, and it’s a supernatural horror novel about an oil exploration team who crash-land in the Arctic and discover an abandoned Nazi base that has been conducting nefarious experiments. Then they discover it’s not as abandoned as they think. And there are Nazi zombies!
 
Without giving away spoilers, when I finished the book it became obvious that a sequel was asking to be written. I want to work on that next, once I’ve got it plotted.
 
If you could erase one horror cliché what would be your choice?

The air-brained and sexy young woman who goes wandering off, despite being told not to, and ends up meeting a grisly end at the hands of the monster. This is generally right after she’s had sex.
 
I loved the fact that ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ turned this cliché on its head to make the sexy young woman the kick-ass monster slayer instead of the victim, and I think it led the way in moving away from this cliché. One reason I loved that show so much.

What was the last great book you read, and what was the last book that disappointed you?

READY PLAYER ONE was the last book I ready that I thought was masterful. I was a teenager in the 1980s, and loved all the references to games and films that are familiar to me. And there were so many references to classic D&D modules, as well.
 
I don’t abandon books very often, as I like to see them through to the end, but I didn’t finish WOLF HALL. For a book of nearly 700 pages, there were a lot of scenes where not much happens, and I found Thomas Cromwell a really annoying main character. I know he’s an historic figure, and I daresay he wasn’t very nice in real life either, but I struggled to get through the book and never finished it.

What's the one question you wish you would get asked but never do?  And what would be the answer?
​
Nobody ever asks me when did I first become a writer, but the answer is that I think I was born one. I mentioned earlier making up stories about my toys as a child, before I was actually able to write. By the time I was ten years old I had made up my mind to be a published novelist. Every time I was asked about what I wanted to be when I grew up I said, “I’m going to be a writer” and all the grown ups said “you can’t make a living doing that. You have to get a proper job.” The first novel contract arrived shortly before my 40th birthday so it took me 30 years to fulfil that dream. And it turns out the grown ups were right. I still need the day job. But even so, I learned early on the importance of not giving up on your dreams.

Outpost H311 was a top-secret base used by the Nazis in World War II conducting experiments into paranormal activity, on a desolate island in the Arctic circle. An oil exploration team are plunged into a nightmare when their plane crashes on the remote island. The survivors soon discover that they are not alone, and a supernatural evil released by the Nazis’ experiments inhabits the island. With no way of calling for help, no chance of escape and zombie Nazis on the rampage, the team find themselves locked in a desperate race for survival. This scary, atmospheric, ice-cold supernatural thriller by Sara Jayne Townsend will chill you to the bone.

BOOK REVIEW: AHAB'S RETURN: OR, THE LAST VOYAGE BY JEFFREY FORD