Exclusive Interview with 18 NY Times Bestselling Author Jane Green
Interviewed by Ana Sunjka
Ana: What was the moment you realized writing wasn’t just a passion, but your calling?
Jane: It took years for me to understand how different I am as a person when I’m writing, hence it being a calling rather than a passion. I’ve come to understand that writing is the only way I know to still the squirrels in my head and bring me peace. Most of us writers become writers not because we want to, but because we have no choice.
Ana: Can you take us back to your first published book? What was it like seeing your name on the cover for the first time?
Jane: It was as surreal as you would expect, but even more exciting was seeing people reading my book on trains and buses and on beaches. That excitement never wanes. In almost thirty years I still get overwhelmed when I see someone reading one of my books, and invariably have to say something.
Ana: How has the publishing industry evolved since you started, and what changes have had the biggest impact on your career?
Jane: When I first started my only job was to write the best book I possibly could, then to go on the road and promote it. A number of things have conspired to change publishing, with the emphasis now being much more on the money than the art. Many publishing houses are staffed by people who are overworked and underpaid, and there simply isn’t the manpower to devote real time and energy to your book. Plus, they are terrified of making a mistake, so every decision is done by asking all the departments what they think. When I first started there was always one editor who championed your book and fought for you. Now, no decision is made without the input of marketing, publicity, sales and distribution. And then there is social media. Every author is now expected to be not only an author, but to run their own social media accounts, and to essentially be their own marketing directors and publicists. It is exhausting. And demoralizing. And hardest of all, it kills the creativity.
Ana: Do you feel your voice as a writer has changed with each stage of your life? How does your early work compare to what you write now?
Jane: My voice has definitely changed, but more than that, I have so much more wisdom now. I wish I could go back and rewrite some of those earlier books from an older, wiser perspective. In some ways I think living in America for 24 years also changed my voice – I lost the raw edgy humour I had in my early books, but thankfully, now that I am living between Marrakech and London, and surrounded by English people again, I feel that I’ve tapped back in to my original voice.
Ana: Eighteen New York Times bestsellers later, how would you define your career in one word?
Jane: Epic. It has taken me years to acknowledge that. For ages I would just say, oh no, it’s not a big deal, I just got very lucky, which I truly thought was the case. But now I understand that whilst luck is part of it, it is the combination of luck, hard work, talent and timing, a certain fearlessness, and the ability to recognize, and grab, opportunity when it presents itself.
Ana: Your Goodreads profile names you as one of the world’s leading authors in women’s fiction — do you ever find it challenging to maintain that level of reputability ?
Jane: I do now because I am not as prolific, and my last book was historical fiction which didn’t do as well as the others. But, I have to remind myself that whatever I am doing now, by any metric 18 New York Times Bestsellers is an extraordinary thing.
“The only way to do it is to write the story you are burning to tell, regardless of what anyone else will think.”
Ana: Where do you still find inspiration after so many books and years in the industry?
Jane: Often it’s something I hear, a story I’m told, an article I’ve read, or, a theme drawn from my life or the lives of women around me. I try and remain curious, and am always fascinated by people, the choices they make, and the hardships they have to deal with in life.
Ana: Do the people around you ever inspire the characters in your books? How much of your stories are drawn from the lives you observe?
Jane: So many of the stories are drawn from my life and those around me, but, even if you think you’re basing a character on someone you know, because you have no access to anyone’s interior world, they very quickly become their own people, and usually completely different to the people you know who may have inspired them. It is rare that anyone has realized they were the inspiration, but more common for people to presume it is about them when they never entered my mind.
Ana: Do you ever find that you’re writing less for yourself and more for the audience, and how do you balance that? Do they clash?
Jane: Such a great question! In actual fact, focusing on the audience, even thinking about the audience as you are writing, is a disaster. If you’re trying to write something that you think will be a bestseller, or will please a specific audience, it’s usually a recipe for disaster, because it’s not authentically you. The only way to do it is to write the story you are burning to tell, regardless of what anyone else will think.
Ana: Can you walk us through your writing process? Are you a meticulous outliner, or do you let the story unfold as you write?
Jane: I am some combination of the two. I tend to think in terms of the traditional Greek three act structure, with a plot point at the end of each act that spins you into the next act. So I paint with broad strokes, but leave much room for the characters to lead the way. When you draw your characters correctly, they will tend to tell you where they want to go, and often it’s entirely different from what you have planned, hence the looseness.
Ana: How do you deal with creative blocks, and what reignites your passion for storytelling?
Jane: The biggest block I had was during the pandemic. A series of personal things just made it impossible for me to write. I was dealing with a real depression and a failing marriage, and it was all I could do to get out of bed in the morning. I had always been so smug about writer’s block before that, thinking it was a question of discipline, and whilst discipline is paramount in the life of a writer, I now know that we also have to give ourselves grace. When it feels hard, go slow. Instead of writing a chapter, write a page, or, write a line. The important thing is to write something, anything, on a regular basis.
Ana: If you could only re-read one of your books forever, which one would it be and why?
Jane: I think Sister Stardust. Even though it’s not a typical Jane Green, it’s historical fiction, about Marrakech in the late sixties, it feels like it transports me to a world I want to live in every time I open a page. It’s quite a bit of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll, combined with the exoticism and magic of Marrakech. I still dip in every now and then, and still feel like I’ve embarked on a magic carpet ride when I do.
Ana: What’s a moment in your life that felt like it could have come straight from one of your novels?
Jane: How can I possibly pick one?! Dancing under the stars on a rooftop in Marrakech, buying a riad hotel (which will be open later this year) in which to hold writing retreats, midnight swimming in a quiet bay on a secluded Greek island. I feel very lucky to live the life I do.
Ana: Is there a dream project or genre you’ve yet to explore?
Jane: I’m trying to put together a proposal for a memoir on rewilding – essentially what happens to women when their children leave home and they find themselves feeling untethered and lost. How do we find ourselves again when we’ve stopped being someone’s wife, someone’s mother; how do we tap into those brave, strong, fearless little girls we once were before the world told us who we were supposed to be.
Ana: What inspired you to create a cookbook, and how did you decide on the recipes and the overall theme?
Jane: I have always cooked, and took myself off to culinary school in 2011 to understand the science of cooking. I wanted to write a book that was less about food, and more about comfort cooking, about gathering the people you love in the kitchen and serving them delicious, nurturing, easy food that tastes as if you have slaved for hours, but is in fact easy to cook. It’s called Good Taste, and I still cook those recipes all the time.
“How do we find ourselves again when we’ve stopped being someone’s wife, someone’s mother; how do we tap into those brave, strong, fearless little girls we once were before the world told us who we were supposed to be.”
Ana: You’re also an agony aunt for the Daily Mail, and often write articles for different media outlets - how would you differentiate the creative process between writing articles and books?
Jane: Fiction is very different from non-fiction, and in many ways I find the writing for the Mail much more natural. Generally the articles tend to be about something that’s happening in my life, and it always feels very natural to write about something I know so well. Responding to letters as an agony aunt is entirely different, and my most favorite thing of all. Years of studying people, therapy, twelve-step wisdom and a healthy dollop of common sense has – hopefully – helped me see people’s problems very clearly, and how they can help themselves in ways they may not have considered.
Ana: What role has failure played in your success, and how do you handle the inevitable ups and downs of life?
Jane: I have definitely had books that haven’t worked, and, have in the past been dropped from publishing deals. I seem to have a weird inner switch where I’m not only frightened of failure, but I don’t focus on it, even when something has clearly failed. I keep moving, presuming that it will all work out, and it usually does, even if it’s not in the way I expect. Fear of failure can keep you in a prison, and you will inevitably fail if you’re too frightened to try in the first place.
“It’s never about reaching the destination, for there is no destination. The focus and love has to be poured into the writing, not into how well the book does.”
Ana: What’s the one piece of advice you wish someone had told you about the industry when you were just starting?
Jane: I wish I’d been told to focus on the journey rather than the destination. I kept setting ridiculous goals for myself thinking that I would finally feel enough, finally be happy when I reached them, but every time I did it never felt the way I thought it would, so I would just move the goalposts and set an even bigger goal. I have learned that it’s never about reaching the destination, for there is no destination. The focus and love has to be poured into the writing, not into how well the book does.
Ana: Lastly, who is Jane Green beyond her books and success, and what comes next in this chapter of your life?
Jane: Beyond the Books I think Jane Green is a woman who is finally trying to find herself and live a completely honest and authentic life, and in the process, hoping to help other women do the same thing. She’s a woman who has realized that we are not on this planet for very long, and that it’s vital to seize every opportunity, and find a way to feel fully alive.
“We are not on this planet for very long, and that it’s vital to seize every opportunity, and find a way to feel fully alive.”
All views expressed in this article are the author’s own, and may not reflect the opinions of N/A Magazine.
Posted Friday 24th January 2025.
Edited by Ana Sunjka
Image Courtesy of Jane Green and Amazon