13 Questions shine Operation Awesome's Spotlight
on this
2022 Debut Author
The October Witches by Jennifer Claessen
1- Are there animals in your book, and if so, what role do they play?
Yes! There is one very, very small pony called Bobby. And she is extremely important to the plot in a way I didn’t plan when I started writing.
2- Would you please, in 160 characters or less, give a #WriteTip ?
Go for a walk.
3- What emotions do you hope your book will evoke for the reader?
I hope for The October Witches to be a very cosy fun read. It is an adventure and it’s about our ‘young hags’ finding their own way so if any young readers feel less self-conscious and a little less alone after reading, I’d love that too. But there’s no right response of course, all reader reactions are valid.
4- Did the Druids, pagans, or religion of Wicca play a part in your choice to use October in your story?
Not necessarily no, I don’t know a lot about Wicca but I do think October as a time of year just has a magical feel.
5- Would you share a picture with us of your book in a pumpkin patch?
6- How do you support your fellow debut authors and have any of them supported you?
I’m in a super lovely Debut twitter group which is lovely and reassuring (I’m only here answering these questions because Hannah Moffatt posted about it!)
I’m reading a lot of debut fiction, and of course buying multiple copies of the books to gift to small friends and readers and I’m not great at social media but I’m trying to keep up and shout about the ones I love!
7- Time to double-down on social media! What's your Twitter handle, and do you have two or three writer friends on there to shout-out to for #WriterWednesday ?
Also, can you please recommend a favorite #bookstagram account profile?
My twitter is @jclaessen_
I’m really excited for @LucyAnnUnwin’s debut next year
One of my favourite reads of this year is The Whisperling by Hayley Hoskins.
I just met bookstagrammer @pagesofpiper in person for the first time and she’s so lovely and supportive.
8- What is your favorite creative non-writing activity to do?
I love cycling, does that count as creative?! I have a wobbly yellow bike I ride all over London and it definitely helps me think up story ideas. I love the theatre, especially children’s theatre and go a lot with my children. I love dancing, mostly in my kitchen at the moment, and icecream, also mostly in my kitchen. My family is half-Dutch so we travel quite a lot too. I also love climbing trees very badly (I always get stuck on the way down), forest walks and of course reading. In October, I love crafting extremely elaborate and absurd Halloween costumes.
9- In what ways are the main characters in your book diverse? diversebooks.org #WeNeedDiverseBooks
As a cis white female writer, I personally don’t have much ‘own voices’ diversity to offer. The October Witches takes a lot of Arthurian legend and flips it in a fun, feminist way. There are no male characters in my book (there was one but he got cut early on) and after all the centuries of male-dominated narratives, I love books which are unapologetically female. My characters live in a matriarchy and there’s nothing remarkable about the absence of male characters at all, they’re just not necessary.
I love the diversity of the work of Katie and Kevin Tsang in their Sam Wu and Dragon Mountain series. And I love reading adventures with black joy like Janelle McCurdy’s Mia and the Lightcasters.
10- What's the biggest writing goal you hope to accomplish in your lifetime? #WriteGoal #BucketList #WriterBucketList
I have a little list which includes taking my writing group away on a retreat, going to a literary festival etc and I’ve ticked off some great ones this year. A total dream would be a stage adaptation. My background is in theatre and that would be two worlds colliding in the best way.
11- What was the query process like for you?
I queried projects years ago, got a lot of full requests and a lot of rejections too and ultimately no offer of representation. My rejections from agents probably ran into the hundreds in 2012. Then, after writing The October Witches very quickly in 2019, I was also offered representation by my agent very quickly. They are the Andrew Nurnberg Agency and I just started at ‘A’ and was going to query down the list but my agent is amazing and I didn’t need to! It’s that old case of slow-slow-slow-wow-so-fast.
12- Would you please ask our audience an intriguing question to answer in the comments?
If you had magical power for one month a year, what would you do with it?
13- Anything else you would care to share about your book and yourself?
My twitter is @jclaessen_
The October Witches by Jennifer Claessen
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