Interview with Jana Williams

About the Book:

The deep-space transport ship, the Vera Rubin, is light years from Earth when botanist Elle Silver begins to question the use of their space-travel drug, HCH.  Elle notices a growing number of her friends and  fellow colonists awaken from their 90-day sleep cycles exhibiting a variety of negative side-effects and she begins to believe the drug is the culprit.  Some of the effects are minor, dry eyes and lack of appetite. Other symptoms are a bigger concern on a tiny ship packed with colonists.  With each sleep cycle completed, more and more colonists awaken both confused and barely concealing a simmering rage - rage that could be a catastrophe on a ship as crowded as the Vera Rubin.  Elle needs proof, but she also needs a plan. If the drug that allows them to travel deep-space is at fault, what then?  Elle and her friends Ashok, Achebe and Jin-Hai are pressed to their limits to find a solution to their problem before the ship erupts into chaos... with light years left to travel.



Find FREEFALL on Amazon.Com & Amazon.In


An Interview:

hen did you decide to become a writer?

I have been a storyteller for most of my life. I come from a large and quite poor family (by north american standards) and so we had to entertain each other. Good training for a screenwriter/novelist. For more information on my background have a look at my website https://www.janawilliams.ca

What are your ambitions for your writing career?

My ambitions are to tell the stories I am drawn to in my own style and manner. I love people and love connecting with them - and really think story/writing is a fabulous way to start a conversation. Besides telling/writing stories I hope to inspire other women to write! And finally, fiction has been a key feature of my learning that a woman's life can be so much more than what our parents might proscribe for us. Fiction encouraged me to dream and take chances. My dream now is to have my fiction sales support literacy initiatives around the globe. I want everyone to know the joy of reading!

Do you have a special time to write or how is your day structured?

I generally write as soon as I get home from my day job and on weekends.... Because I LOVED Freefall.... it was agony not to write. I did spend some time each morning as I was going to work thinking about what I would write when I got home. I believe it was that process of 'think & then write' that made Freefall flow so easily from brain to page!

Where do the ideas come from?

I have a writer's advice blog which I will launch as an eBook (Unlocking the Writer Within) in the new year. In my blog I advise that stories are all around us - we simply have to train ourselves to start seeing them! Much like a photographer is constantly looking for photos - a writer can train their brain to recognize the seeds of an amazing story ! From those seeds - great stories can be nurtured.

Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?

I think Elle does what many, many women around the world do - she persists ! She's dogged in her pursuit of answers, she doesn't give up and doesn't take no for an answer. One of my readers described her as a superwoman of space - but I disagreed. Elle is every woman - she is you and me and your neighbor. What she does that's special - is she applies what she already knows to solving problems and doesn't stop until she gets an answer that feels 'right' to her. It is her persistence that I admire so much!

Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?

I do think planning is critical to completing a long-form writing project - be it screenplay or novel - and having it feel cohesive. I think the whole process goes more smoothly if you have answered some important questions before you start. Writing is all about choices and it's hard to know a good story choice from bad if you're not sure who your main character is and what motivates her in the story.

Any tips on how to get through the dreaded writer’s block?

If you are not writing to deadline - or for money - what's wrong with stopping and giving yourself some time to think? Writer's block usually comes from lack of preparation - you didn't know enough about the main character, what motivates her and what she was willing to risk in order to triumph over her ordeal. Often writer's block is the signal to you that it's time to stop, and map out your characters journey a bit more fully before you leap back into the fray. I think the absolute necessity in 'pausing' to reframe your story details - is to hold yourself to a firm START time to go back to your manuscript and start writing again. We all know people who have half-finished manuscripts in the bottom drawers at home!

What can we expect from you down the line?

     In the new year I will launch an eBook of writing advice for beginners entitled Unlock the Writer Within - all proceeds from this very affordable little eBook will go towards literacy initiatives.  I hope to start a conversation on my Facebook page where beginning writers support each other in their goal to complete a long-form project.  You can't learn to write - unless you do it!  And each project you undertake is supported by the writing that went before it. 

     At the same time, I will be moving forward on my sequel to Freefall.  I am so excited about getting back to my characters and discovering where the story takes them. Because for all the planning you may do to begin creating a novel or screenplay - there will still be surprises for you as you follow your characters through the choices they make in the world you create.  It's so very cool how often that happens.  Like 'set plays' in a soccer game.... every player knows the ball is supposed to go in the net - but it's different every time how you manage to get it there!

Good luck with your writing..... everyone.  And thank you for the opportunity to share some of my experiences, Rethi.   Writing for me is definitely a labor of love !!!

About the Author:

Jana Williams is certain that fiction can change people’s lives - especially women and girls.  Her own life is testimony to that fact.  One of five daughters, she was raised by a single-mom who placed a high value on reading and storytelling.

The ability to read, coupled with a child’s innate curiosity about the world, and access to books to satisfy that curiosity can offer significant opportunity to a child. Like most writers Jana has bounced from job to job, absorbing stories, cultures and customs as she worked.  She has been a high-speed motion picture photographer, a VFX coordinator, worked in the film industry, and the publishing trade as a book seller - a publisher’s rep and now an author.

But her first love is reading…. and with each book of the Freefall trilogy sold Jana will donate funds to Literacy agencies around the world whose work is to bring the joy of reading to others.

Enjoy a good adventure story and help others learn to read at the same time !

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