Holiday-maker, wine-lover and public speaking instructor Jim Jackson spent five years wandering the spicy-food-eating lands and collecting stories (most of which can’t be shared). Jim’s mission is to show that the stories we all grew up with – the heroes, the monsters, the adventures – are still solid, muscular realities that can shape our lives (for good or for ill).
Thanks for joining me today Jim!
When did you know that you wanted to be a writer? How did you start?
A few weeks before I was 15, I found a brand-new, 3-cassette boxed set of Bob Dylan. I’d been listening to his greatest hits record from my father’s collection, and something compelled me to lay out the $50 or whatever – pretty much the only money I had – for this thing. I took it home and listened to every side that day, and something old and good at the center of who I was responded to the ability to use words in that way. Not for conscious thought, not for getting a point across or explain something, but to slip around the brain into the amygdala or whatever and change the way I looked at myself.
I started writing songs that year. I’ve been writing in some way or other since, though only really turned pro a little while ago.
Can you tell us a little about what kind of book(s) you’ve written so far?
It’s a bit all over the place, honestly. I’ve got a non-fiction book – a handbook on how to use the power of story to make your message memorable and meaningful – called How to Tell a Really Good Story about Absolutely Anything in 4 Easy Steps. That’s really taken off – I’d never seen another book like it!
(Get yours here).
My novel, Stones in My Passway, is a supernatural thriller about a deal with the devil. If the devil offered you a chance to undo a past decision – just to see how your life would have turned out – would you take it?
(Find out my answer by getting your copy here).
Then, coming down the pipe I have a couple books drawing on my years living in the Far East. First is a full-on, fantasy noir book mixing old-style pulp and Chinese mythology on the streets of Hong Kong called Kiss of the Cockroach Queen. After that, there’s a soulful sex comedy I’ve co-written called Dispatches from an Accidental Sex Tourist. (And the less I tell you about that, the better for my reputation! But you can get a little tease at www.accidentalsextourist.com)
What is it that you love about the genres you write in? What makes you write in different genres?
It’s probably just impatience that makes me write in different genres. I want to do it all, man! Limiting myself feels, well … limiting. I should probably stick to one thing and do it really well, but I’m not one to listen to should. I once met a dragon that had the words you should etched onto every scale. I didn’t care for him.
What do I love about my genres? Well, with non-fiction, I love that, once you get the writing clear – once the words reflect as clearly as they can your message – you’re done. There isn’t the fussing around in the dark with trying to phrase things better, more artistically, more true-to-character.
With the kind of urban fantasy of Stones in My Passway, I love using the suspension of disbelief I learned as a kid from reading far too many comic books that could be healthy. Grant me the devil is real and makes deals – and that you can meet him just before Christmas outside Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – and I’ll keep the rest of the details believable.
With noir, I just love writing in that hard-boiled, wisecracking voice. Nothing like it.
With sex comedy? Sex comedy is hard. (Is that a pun in there, or are you just happy to see me?)
Can you tell us about your path to publication?
How to Tell a Really Good Story about Absolutely Anything in 4 East Steps came out of my work traveling the country as a public speaking instructor. It was always meant to be an adjunct to the message I deliver about opening a presentation with a personal story. I always knew I was going to self-publish that. I knew my audience (though it has done well in parts of the world I’ve never taught in!)
I played around a bit with the traditional route for fiction. I did a pitch session with an agent at a writers’ conference before I’d finished a fiction book. Just for practice. She was great about the whole thing, and I was very impressed with the Corvisiero Agency.
But not nearly as impressed as I was with the process of self-publishing. So I started a publishing company to publish myself and others. If you believe in your work – and put as much care and attention into it as you would pitching it to an agent or publishing company – I really think it’s the way to go.
What are some of your go-to genres when reading and who are some of your favorite authors? What is it you love about those genres?
Reading? Who has time for reading? I’m a writer!
No, but seriously. I don’t really have a go-to genre. Authors that get me going (and get me wanting to write) range from the very literary Philip Roth or John Crowley to comic books and music writing. It’s all words and stories – it all goes to the same mysterious place that coughs up creativity.
Are you a pantser, a plotter or somewhere in between?
I would love to be more of either. I like to do things in the extreme, but here I’m pretty middle of the road. I plan what I think is enough, start, come up with a better idea, write it, get stuck, push through, get stucker, step back, replan, rewrite, drink a bottle of wine, rinse and repeat.
It’s the oldest story ever told, really.
When you first get an idea, how long until you know you’re ready to begin writing and what does that progression look like?
How long? I don’t have a clock that measures microseconds! I’m ready to go the minute that idea comes a-knockin’. Now, that means I need to research on the fly, but that’s part of the fun of the whole thing, isn’t it?
What does a typical writing day look like for you/what is your process?
I write 500-1000 words when I first get up with a cup of Chinese black tea in my hand. My wife convinced me to do the important stuff first thing. No exceptions. There’s a Chinese proverb – the family of a man who gets up before dawn to tend the fields 350 days a year will not go hungry. I try to live by that. I might just squeak in at 350 mornings (though I don’t take the “before dawn” part literally all the time – I do live in Canada, after all).
What have been some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned on your writing journey so far?
Those passages, bits of story, pieces of dialogue that aren’t as good as you think they should be, but you think people won’t really notice? People will notice. Fix them.
That, and get good beta readers. And treat them well. They’re your connection to your readers.
It is such a crazy and competitive market. How do you tackle the marketing and promotion of your books?
Ah, the great necessary evil. Marketing in an attention economy. With How to Tell a Really Good Story about Absolutely Anything I’ve been lucky – it’s the only book of its kind I could find, so anyone looking for a storytelling handbook they can use for life and not just writing tend to find that.
With Stones in My Passway, it’s very linked to the blues – I call it “a novel in blues.” So, I go to various music open stages and venues, bring my guitar and noodle on some blues riffs while I read from the book. That goes over well.
For Dispatches from an Accidental Sex Tourist, I have plans to send advance reading copies farther than just the book and literature people – to sex toy reviewers, sexuality bloggers and people like that. I like to have a little fun with the marketing.
Also, I love working with Creative Edge, my publicist agency. Wish I would have started earlier. If you’re serious about being a writer – if you’re ready to turn pro – I’d really recommend a publicist.
How do you feel about Amazon exclusive versus going wide?
Amazon has been good to me. Right now, I’m Amazon exclusive. People have asked me why they can’t get my book on Kobo, but they haven’t asked me enough to make up for having to check yet another site for sales. I’m really very lazy.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers about writing? What about the process of trying to get published?
Advice for aspiring authors? Write. And read your stuff in public. Find an open stage or something and read your work in front of others. You’ll hear when you speak whether you’re being true to your voice. You can’t hide in the act of performance like you can during the silent act of typing.
Be true to your voice. And write. That’s my advice. But not in that order. Write first. Always write first.
As for the process of trying to get published? Finish your book. Make it good. Then really consider doing it yourself. What you lose in prestige and ego-stroking, you make up for in control and royalties.
Thank you so much! Where can people find out more about you and your books?
Website: www.reallygoodstory.com
Online at: Twitter: @jacksontron
Facebook: www.facebook.com/jim.jackson.author
www.accidentalsextourist.com (if you like your updates a little racier!)