AUTHOR INTERVIEW: 'ALONG CAME JONES' VICTORIA BERNADINE

Victoria Bernadine (a pseudonym) is, as the saying goes, a "woman of a certain age". After twenty-something years of writer's block, she began writing again in 2008.

Victoria enjoys reading all genres and particularly loves writing romantic comedy and post-apocalyptic science fiction. What those two have in common is anybody's guess.

She lives in Edmonton with her two cats (The Grunt and The Runt). Along Came Jones is the second novel she felt was good enough to be released into the wild.

Q: Welcome to The Writer's Life! Now that your book has been published, we’d love to find out more about the process. Can we begin by having you take us at the beginning? When did you come up with the idea to write your book?

I quit my job and took a year off work to decompress and determine What I Wanted To Be When I Grew Up. During my time off, I found myself practically hibernating in my house, and that led me to wonder if I could write a romance novel where one member of the pairing was a hermit. Recluse. Nut job. Whatever. It was a long and winding road to the final product, because there were at least four different storylines in my head at the same time, but in the end, Along Came Jones was born.

Q: How hard was it to write a book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make the journey easier for other writers?

The hardest part of this book was settling on the story I wanted to tell and the tone I wanted to tell it in. Like I said, there were about four different storylines in my head during the first draft, and that led to some pretty jarring shifts in tone that took a lot of editing to smooth out. As for making the journey easier: follow your instincts and let those things that aren’t working go. Part of what slowed me down was letting my head do the driving instead of letting the story lead me. I decided I wanted certain things to happen and clung to those ideas for far too long. When I finally let the story lead me and let things go, the book flowed together. That first read-through as a reader where I enjoyed the entire thing almost made me cry, it felt so good!

Q: What other books are you working on and when will they be published?

I have three novels and one novella in second draft form, and about three others in not-quite-first-draft form. One novel and the novella should be published in 2018, although both are quite a bit different than the first two novels I’ve published. The novella is sci fi, and the novel is a dystopian/post-apocalyptic novel that, while more romance than anything else, is definitely not romantic comedy.

The publication dates for the others are still to be determined.

Q: Thank you again for this interview! Do you have any final words?

Along Came Jones was a real labor of love, and it’s meant to be a fun ride. I hope people enjoy it!

About the Book:

Title: ALONG CAME JONES
Author: Victoria Bernadine
Publisher: Love of Words Publishing
Pages: 324
Genre: Chick Lit/Contemporary Fiction

BOOK BLURB:

Benjamin Ferrin Macon-Jones has it all: a luxurious lifestyle in Toronto and the love of an intelligent, ambitious woman…until that same woman refuses his marriage proposal, tells him he’s a detriment to her career, and leaves him. Unable to deal with his cantankerous family trying to be supportive, he quietly slips away into the Canadian countryside.

Lou Upjohn has problems of her own. She’s a recluse and agoraphobic, staying safely within the walls of her ancestral home in small town Saskatchewan and depending on Ike, her best and only friend, to deal with the outside world. Only Ike’s just married another woman and now he’s moving to Vancouver. Before he leaves, he hires the new guy in town, Ferrin Jones, to run her errands and do her yard work. Lou isn’t happy, but even she has to admit the stranger looks mildly interesting.

Both their lives could be changed forever if she only has the courage to open the door.