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| photos courtesy of the author |
Thanks for answering my questions today, Janice
How Do you Voodoo? is
a little different from your other novels?
Where did the idea come from?
Interestingly, the idea for How Do You Voodoo?was sparked by a
real life event. I was on a flight back from the Caribbean which had originated
in Port au Prince, Haiti, when two female passengers got into an argument on
board. When one of the women went onto to be quite ill later in the flight, my
imagination took over and I started scribbling down the synopsis for a story
about a girl with a voodoo curse on her and what happened afterwards!
Story
Synopsis: How Do You Voodoo?
Loveless fashion model Nola Nichols thinks being
beautiful is a curse; that is until she is cursed and her looks begin to
fade just a week before the most important photo shoot of her career.
Nola rejects all rational explanation on what might
be causing her lost looks and decides she has to find a way to get uncursed.
This imaginative quest takes her from the Caribbean to Glasgow’s own City of
the Dead. Along the way, she finds herself taking part in a rather
unconventional funeral, involved in a voodoo ritual, reveals one or two unrests
in her own past and falls madly in love with a doctor. Erm, that would be a
witch doctor, right…?
This one is a
novella, was it easier or more difficult to write?
This is my first novella and,
although at 20,000 words it was much quicker to write that my full length
novels, I don’t think it was any less difficult! In fact, I found the writing
process very similar in the respect of creating character, plot, story arc,
etc. The only difference is how I tell the story.In my longer
novels, I have more characters and more viewpoints and there is at least one
subplot. In How Do You Voodoo?the
story is told only from Nola’s viewpoint and there is no subplot, only a bit of
backstory that I weave in as the story progresses, so that we understand why
she behaves as she does and what she really wants in life.
Will you be looking
at writing another novella, or are you working on a full novel next?
I’m working on another full length
novel at the moment but I’m aware that I’m not the fastest novelist in the
world and so it’s unlikely to be finished, edited and formatted, until
mid-2013. It occurred to me that there are certain times of the year, like
Halloween, Christmas and Valentine’s Day, when it’s an ideal time to bring out
a novella to keep your readers interested in your writing between full length
novels or perhaps to introduce them to your writing.It also gives me a bit of
fun. If How Do You Voodoo?proves to be popular then I’ll release another
two follow on novellas over the next year. I already have
ideas for Voodoo Wedding and Voodoo Child.
Janice Horton lives in
Scotland and writes contemporary romance with humour. Her novels ‘Bagpipes
& Bullshot’ and ‘Reaching for the Stars’ are both Amazon Kindle
bestsellers. Her latest title ‘How Do You Voodoo?’ is a romantic and humorous
novella for Halloween and out now!
Find out more about
Janice and her novels:


Thank you for a brilliant post and a really great interview, that was very interesting! x
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting me Carol and taking the time to read and review How Do You Voodoo? I'm thrilled you enjoyed it. It was good fun to write and research (in Glasgow’s Necropolis or City of the Dead as it is known!) and I hope that comes through in the reading. I'm really looking forward to writing the sequel 'Voodoo Wedding'!
ReplyDeleteLove, Janice xx
Thank you for your kind comment, Lucinda. Carol asked some interesting questions, didn't she!
ReplyDeleteJanice xx
I keep hearing so many great things about this book - it's on my Kindle - I need to get to it!! Love the Voodoo Wedding and Voodoo Child ideas!
ReplyDeleteMandy x
I love those titles, too, Janice. I'm not sure I could do it, but you are right, novellas are a fab way of keeping readers interested and yourself 'out there!'. Good luck, sweetie! :) xx
ReplyDeleteBrilliant post and fascinating to hear what inspired the novella. And Voodoo Wedding - looking forward to reading! Wonderful stuff. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone - I really enjoyed reading your comments.
ReplyDeleteJanice xx
I loved it too! A great read and rather nice to have something to read in an evening. It's another fab read from the talented Janice Horton - love the Scottish flavour!
ReplyDelete