J.A. (Judy) Jance weaves worlds – with the ability to bring to life the strongest, most empathetic and intoxicating survivors. Her readers meet characters that reflect reality. They’re, at times, in your face, a little too real and wonderfully entertaining.
J.A. Jance
Jance told me, “Authors are the original recyclers – whatever happens is grist” for your story. Despite having lived 18 years with an alcoholic, and gone through the majority of parenthood as a single parent, Jance overcame setbacks and found her voice. She used her experiences, her personal growth, and channeled them into the background of J.P. Beaumont and Joanna Brady.
A born writer, Jance struggled to find her rhythm in the creative world. Initially banned from the creative writer field because she was not a man, a professor at the
While Jance was “bent out of shape about it for a long time,” she moved past the experience with the sinister Professor. She now views the experience as “if I had gained admission into a class where the Professor was determined that I would fail, that early failure could have changed my path.
“Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Jance learned that lesson from spending 18 years with an alcoholic husband. “My first husband imitated Faulkner and Hemingway primarily by drinking too much and writing too little.”
The struggle propelled Jance, instead of defeating her. She “wrote poetry that I hid when I was married. I used art to deal with the central issues of my life.” Unwilling to become the victim of her pain, she took something hideous and infused it with a little magic. Jance’s book of poetry, After the Fire, can be found through
“From the time I read The Wizard of Oz in second grade, I knew I wanted to be a writer. I saw Baum in the words, not the wizard behind the curtain.” Jance dreamed not of skipping like Dorothy, or possessing Glenda’s magic, like many young girls did. She wanted to be Baum, to create a world like Oz and the characters that thrive within it.
Jance took her passion for creating and wrote her first book, a slightly fictionalized story of murders that occurred in
Armed with the awareness that fiction writing suited her better, Jance teamed up with her character J.P. Beaumont and wrote the novel, Until Proven Guilty, which was published in 1985.
“I have a limited attention span,” Jance says with a smile in her voice. “After writing nine
When Jance returned to Detective Beaumont, “it was fun again.” She missed her old friend and reentered his world refreshed. Then, “my editor encouraged me to write about another character to give myself another break. I knew more about the desert than
Jance grew up in Bisbee, Arizona and spent years teaching on the Tohono O’Odham reservation west of
Jance has written thirteen novels with Joanna Brady, the fiery Sheriff who is equal parts charming and edgy. After Joanna Brady came the creation of Ali Reynolds. “The inspiration for Ali came one afternoon in Tuscan when I heard that Channel 4 News had fired my favorite newscaster, because they thought she was a bit too old.”
Does Jance ever think about retiring her beloved characters? “Characters are really hard to come by, and I am not done with any of them yet.” Jance laughs again, “they and I are happily employed.”
Has she thought about retiring and spending more time on the golf course? “I want to be writing books when I am
Does she have a particular favorite? “Characters are like your children, in the sense that you can’t say one is your favorite.” She pauses and continues, “usually my favorite is the one that I’m not working on.” For when she’s writing about them, they may give her trouble, or do things she may not have predicted.
“Writing in any voice is hard work. To call it fun is erroneous. When I write about a character I have been away from, I find the character has been doing stuff behind my back.” For instance, “Joanna’s mother eloped behind my back.” You can’t leave some characters alone for a minute.
One reason for Jance’s success at completing novels: “I write on deadlines.” She penned 40 novels thus far, and her readers hope she will write 40 more. But, she takes a realistic view of her career. “It is a business.”
Her business allows her to stay in touch with her fans. “I have 8800 names in my database. Every one of the names is someone who has written me and I have written back to. I write my own email and my own books.” No assistant responds to your email, nor does a ghostwriter alter Jance’s worlds.
Are the characters real to Jance? Fans fall in love with her stories because the protagonists feel like their friends. “The characters are a part of my world.
Some of the hardest moments in Jance’s life turn into fodder for her books. She’s seemingly fearless, so what is the hardest part of writing a story? “It varies from book to book. I always try to find a topic that interests me and the reader. The hardest thing for this writer to change is my mind.”
Jance was denied the course she had hoped would teach her the skills to be a great writer, so she had to attempt it on her own. “To learn how to write dialogue, I read dialogue aloud to make sure [what I wrote] sounded like people talking instead of people giving speeches.
“Many aspects of writing are on the job training. It’s like practicing the piano.” You have to work hard and often to get better.
As for other passions, “someday I would like to be a better golfer,” Jance says, although for now she plan to keep writing for as long as she can, and as long as it brings her (and her readers) joy.
“There are aspects that are work and aspects that are joyful, like finishing the novel. I learned how to be a public speaker, because who is a better advocate for your book than you? You can’t be introverted; you have to get behind your book.”
One facet of her work is to focus on the length of her novels. They can’t exceed a certain number of words, and Jance counts them “every day. The publisher needs to know how I am progressing and how close I am to finishing. It’s not an offensive [follow up].”
The numbers simply need to stay within a certain range. Jance loves to write but the word count can get away from her: “1. I would have written 10,000 extra words, but they won’t pay me for it,” she says on a laugh, and “2. the book would have to have a larger sized shipping case.”
Is Jance a fan of outlining? “I hated outlining in 6th grade, and I hate it now.” For Jance, “the story organically comes together, one page at a time.” Jance “sees and hears the story as she writes it.”
What advice does Jance offer other writers? “A writer is someone who has written today,” so be consistent in your craft. “No matter what goes on in your world – write. If you say, ‘someday when my life is perfect…then I will write.’ Well, life is never perfect.”
Remember, “agents are essential.” Jance has “kept the same agent and changed the book. I still have the same agent after all these years.”
The agent, publisher and publicist are “all pieces of the puzzle. All of the process is hard work.” But, it’s worth it when it’s what you love.
To learn more about J.A. Jance and her fantastically woven novels, visit her website at: http://www.jajance.com/jajance.com/Welcome.html
Jance will be in
Stay tuned for my review of her newest novel combining the forces of Joanna Brady and Detective Beaumont in Fire and Ice.
Images courtesy of J.A. Jance official website
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