J.E. Clarkson interview

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

When did your love of books begin?

I’ve always loved books. My mum and dad always used to read to us and we were very fortunate to have book cases full of old books of all kinds. My favourite was The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton.

When did you start to have the wish to become an author?

I can’t remember not wanting to do it. I submitted poetry to Hull University’s poetry journal in my early twenties. The poems were accepted but then I didn’t submit anything else for years. During the early days of the pandemic I was furloughed from work and I had time to write and I went for it. I haven’t stopped since.

How have you found the process for becoming an author?

It’s a lot of work and I’ve loved it! I’ve learned an awful lot since I started. Good beta/ proofreaders are like gold! I design my own covers and ads too so I’m enjoying all of the different creative aspects to it. There are pitfalls but I used to be in a band and those pitfalls are quite similar so I often use those experiences. There’s so much to learn but so far I’m having a complete blast. I think on the marketing side, it very much helps to have money but there are a few things you can do on a shoestring. Posting short readings of my books on twitter, facebook and Tik-Tok seems to help.

What would you say to those wanting to become an author?

Go for it. Write as regularly as you can.Treat writing and editing as two separate processes. Listen to constructive criticism but don’t let anyone put you off. It doesn’t matter how good your work is someone will hate it. Someone will also love it. Unfortunately trolls are part of life in the writing world, don’t let them put you off. 

Tell us about your book/books:

I have two series available at the moment. A sci fi/technothriller series called The Nemo & Co. series. It follows a young woman who finds a job working for a data storage company. She finds that her life becomes much more dangerous as a result. My second series is a detective series following the cases of a small-town Yorkshire detective and her colleagues. The books are noir style reads with a Yorkshire twist. I’m just getting to the end of writing the third book which forms a kind of trilogy with the first two.

What do you love about the writing/reading community?

People are generally really supportive. I’ve made some good friends and had some enormous help from both the writing and reading community in the form of suggestions, support, beta-reads etc. I hope that I do the same for others too. 

If you could say anything to your readers what would it be?

Thanks very much for supporting me. I appreciate it. You help to inspire me to keep writing.

Where can people connect with you?

On Twitter https://twitter.com/lizziedrip32

On Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100065287891081

On Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard?ref=nav_profile_authordash

On TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@jeclarkson46

On Amazon https://www.amazon.com/J-E-Clarkson/e/B08XJYTHV2/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1