Linda: Jamieson, welcome to Reading Rucker. I am so pleased that you decided to add me to your tour.
Jamieson: Thank you so very much for having me Linda. It's been so much fun going on tour!
Linda: I was very intrigued with Hope Falls, so tell me, Jamieson, what gave you the idea to do a soap opera?
Jamieson: Well, I touch a little bit about this on in the Introduction to Electric Pink. A few years back, I was watching the Emmys. The woman who has played Alice Horton on Days of Our Lives since the beginning of the show as recieving a life time achievement award. I was thinking to myself: Man, she really HAS been on the show her entire lifetime. I also knew she had a lifetime contract...
The next day, I was walking home and thought to myself, what if you really WERE on a show for a lifetime. What if your contract really was for your life itself; what if a studio owned you? And what would happen if your ratings dropped? And thus Hope Falls was born.
I started doing a serial novel set up for this because I looked at Hope Falls like an emil soap opera. A chapter, or an episode if you will, a day. And the rest wrote itself. :)
Linda: Do you find it difficult to keep the storyline for each character fresh and new?
Jamieson: I do somewhat. I've written three novels with the same characters and my new novel HUNTED features some characters from the origional trilogy. I find it a little difficult to make sure that all the characters don't sound the same and that their storlines, while intertwining, don't become too confused.
It was a good challenge though. I wanted to see if I could write a daily email soap that would be fun and could make fun of itself, but still keep a dark edge. It's hard when you're basically writing a first draft on the fly with little to no time for editing and putting it out there for readers every day. But I think that's part of the fun. It's a blast writing characters that are funny, human and parodies all at the same time.
Linda: What has been your biggest challenge in creating Hope Falls?
Jamieson: My biggest challenge? Odd as it may sound, maintaining realism. Sure, the characters have bad dialogue, steamy love scenes, and some really funny parts, but I had to ground the novel in reality, even though it's essentially a parody of soap operas and all that they stand for. This was no easy feat.
Hopefully, I pulled it off.
The other challenge was continuing to write. Hope Falls was my third serial novel that I had written, but it was the first one that I kept grounded in reality, outside of the fantasy realm. I love writing fantasy because it's easy to do; you can do anything you want, change the rules, put characters in whatever world works for you. But with realism, even just the basic realism of a soap opera, you have to keep it grounded.
Linda: What are your hopes for Hope Falls? Are you looking for an agent? Will this become a book or are you aiming for television?
Jamieson: Well, Hope Falls is currently under option by The Friday Project. I've submitted three drafts to them now and I should hear something. Hopefully something good. *crosses fingers*
I've been wanting to develop Hope Falls for television for some time. I think it would be the next Hot Canadian Soap Opera! I mean, a soap that makes fun of soaps, with a dark, twisted edge to it? What's not to love? I figure I'll focus on it being published as a book before I focus on television. That's a bit of a ways away yet. :)
Linda:Tell us about your new book, Garden City.
Jamieson: Jamieson: GARDEN CITY is a book of collected fiction. The stories actually span my entire writing career and, without really know it, I set all the stories in the same place.
Founded by the Goddess of Time, Garden City is a sprawling city metropolis that is home to more than concrete and glass. Roaming it's streets are ghosts, spirits, Goddesses, the Three Fates and, perhaps most importantly, Magic.There are 20 fictions collected in GARDEN CITY and in each story, we see a little bit of different lives.There's Owen Wolfe who stumbles upon a grisly murder involving magic. There's Kimberlee, who is claimed as a bride by a statue come to life. Or Nancy, a young woman who meets the Goddess of the Fae in a city park.But there are others who live in Garden City as well. There is Poppy who is able to turn into a Crow after a mysterious dream. There is Alex who prolongs his life by out running the Three Fates; Hillary who disappears while on assignment for a reality TV show. A woman named Miriam disappeared on the thirteenth floor of Edison Tower.Magic comes in many forms and can effect lives in so many different ways. GARDEN CITY is like a dozen of lives, all happening at the same time. Look at Garden City like a bouquet of flowers: beautiful, but with sharp thorns.
Linda: I have to tell you, I absolutely loved your trailer for Garden City. Can't wait to read it.
Jamieson: And I really hope you enjoy it. I had so much fun making the book trailer. It's a good way to promote your books and your work to those who are more visual people. I've even created a trailer for Electric Pink. They're great to get people interested and they're just so darn fun to make.
You can view my book trailer for GARDEN CITY here:
GARDEN CITY: A Book Trailer http://beta.photoshow.com/watch?sc=fQ3Df7mt&cid=12
Linda: So, what's next for Jamieson Villeneuve? What dark and dangerous tales do you have in store for us?
Jamieson: I have a few works in progress, actually. I'm currently working on my sixth serial novel called HUNTED and my second serial novella called SECOND SIGHT. As well, I'm working on a book of non-fiction called WATCHING THE ROSE BLOOM. I also just finished a children's novel titled THE GHOST MIRROR, so I'm working on the sequel titled THE SILVER GLASS and another children's book called CLEOPATRA AND THE CATS.
In HUNTED, we meet Susan Halliway. She has been an actress on the popular soap opera Hope Falls for thirty years and now, after leaving the show, a serial killer has singled her out. He is following an old storyline where young girls died and where Susan was the last victim. But nothing is as it seems and Susan must rely on others, especially that of ex-lover Derrick Madison, if she is to survive.
HUNTED is my current serial novel which you can read at the yahoo group. It's located here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hunted/
In SECOND SIGHT, we meet Sophie. She wakes up in a strange place that is all gray and desolate. She is covered in blood and she's not sure if it's all her own. Waiting for her is a woman named Wanda Mae who evades Sophie's questions with vague answers.
Wanda takes Sophie to meet Miriam, a woman from Sophie's past. A woman that Sophie distinctly remembers killing herself. But then Miriam tells Sophie the unthinkable: Sophie's life as she knew it was all a novel. It was all written by an author, all of her memories are his story and not real. When he decided to stop writing with her as a character, she was cast to the grey place; a burial ground for lost characters.
Will Sophie, Wanda, Miriam and even Alice from Alice in Wonderland ever find their way out? Or will the Shadows that stalk the streets at night find them before it's too late?
You can read SECOND SIGHT (and its predecessor AT FIRST GLANCE) at my blog which is located here: http://www.jamiesonwolf.blogspot.com/
WATCHING THE ROSE BLOOM is a collection of essays that take a personal look at Stephen King's Dark Tower Series. I have a free version up on my web site now, actually, with three essays. Each takes a look at different elements of the series. The finished book will have these three essays, plus an essay for each book and a new introduction and conclusion.
But in the meantime, feel free to check out the free version. You can do so by clicking here: http://jamiesonwolf.tripod.com/id4.html
Linda: I want to thank you for stopping by, Jamieson. Best of luck to you in all your endeavors.
Jamieson: You're very welcome Linda and thank you for having me!
Linda: Be sure to stop by Jamieson's website at:http://jamiesonwolf.tripod.com/ and please check out Hope Falls at: http://hope-falls.tripod.com/. And trust me, you're going to want to visit Jamieson's blog at: http://www.jamiesonwolf.blogspot.com/ and get involved in Jamieson's serial novel, " At First Glance"
