How did you become a writer?

I was given a pencil for my third birthday. I started just scribbling and doodling, then eventually formed letters and started writing. Sadly, I didn’t learn to read until I was twenty-three, so couldn’t actually appraise what I’d done until then.

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.).

My writing Influenza was a rather nasty bout I caught while attempting a tricky novel in the early nineties. Luckily, I recovered, but the book did not, and had to be put in isolation. I can still work on it, but have to wear a hazmat suit to do so.

When and where do you write? 

I'm writing at this precise moment, for a real-time answer to your question. Wait, I’ve stopped - no, I’ve just started again. I’m currently awaiting trial for mass murder (see below) so I’m in cellblock 17 of the Madupia National Jail.

What are you working on now? 

My defence. It’s a tricky one as I fired my own defence lawyer yesterday. And since I was conducting my own defence, I fired myself - and am currently suing myself for wrongful dismissal, which hopefully will pay for a proper defence lawyer.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

Well yes. As a serial killer of writers who write serial books about cereal, everything would have been fine but the 23,000 writers I killed and tried to flush down the loo caused a bit of a block. Perhaps I should have tried to flush them down one by one. Ah, well, maybe next time.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

Give the reader what they expect, but never in the manner in which they expect it.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Do your own thing. Break the mould. Take bold new steps and find new narratives anywhere you can - even in ‘advice to writers’ questionnaires.

Jasper Fforde is a Fantasy Writer living and working in Wales. His 17th book, ‘The Constant Rabbit’ will be published in June 2020 in the UK.