Jon’s previous novels include Happy Endings and This Thirtysomething Life. His new book, This Family Life, was released today. We chat to Jon about his new book, his writing rituals and the character he’d like to meet.
Happy publication day, Jon. Tell us about your new book, This Family Life and what inspired it?
Hello. It’s great to be back on Novel Kicks! This Family Life is the sequel to my debut novel This Thirtysomething Life. I always knew I wanted to write a sequel because I fell in love with the characters from the first book and I knew I had continue their story. Both books are in some ways autobiographical and I use lots of experiences from my own life as a parent. There’s just so much comedy in being a father.
The difference to the first book is that this is a much bigger story. The first book really focused on Harry going through pregnancy with his wife Emily, and the book covered the nine months until they had their baby. This Family Life takes us through their whole first year of parenthood, and includes more characters, some old ones return and a few new ones are introduced. This reason it’s called This Family life is because it focuses on Harry and Emily’s family a lot more. With the introduction of baby William, his grandparents are much more involved than the first book, and so we really see the whole family in all its complicated, hilarious, uncomfortable, and brilliant best.
If you loved the first book then I think you’re going to love this even more. I’ve tried so hard to make this sequel even better than the first book, and hopefully I’ve succeeded. It’s definitely a very real, honest, hilarious and heartwarming story about family life and being a new parent, and one that I hope my readers will be able to relate to and laugh along with.
Do you have any writing rituals?
Just lots of tea, coffee, and me staring at a blank screen waiting for inspiration. I think every book is a little different. I think the beginning process for me is the nearest I have to a ritual. When I start writing a book, it’s very much me just brainstorming ideas and I spend a long time writing down completely unrelated bits of lines, character info, jokes, ideas for scenes, and then eventually, after lots more coffee and tea, I start writing the actual book. I also wear my lucky underwear through the whole year-long process – which my wife isn’t very excited about.
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