With Author Jethro Punter
Welcome to the Clan-Witch Interviews!
Meet, Jethro Punter, creator of The Daydreamer Chronicles (2 book series.)
Link and Synopsis fom Book 1, The Boy Who Dreamt the World below;
Adam is living the dream – literally…..
There are two worlds which have always lived alongside each other, The Waking World and the Great Dream, Reverie. Adam is living a very ordinary life until he becomes aware of the link between the worlds and discovers that, as a Daydreamer, he is one of the very few people who can travel freely between the two and achieve impossible things.
You would think that being in control of your dreams would be fun. But when both worlds are threatened by a new and growing danger and when Nightmares not only roam the dream world but also start chasing him even while he is awake, Adam realises that he will need all of his new found powers just to survive the night.
With the help of a very unusual band of friends Adam now has to save both worlds, discover more about his past and, if he can, try and avoid yet another detention.
The Boy who Dreamt the World is the first book in the Daydreamer Chronicles series.
Interview
Q1. What was your inspiration and drive behind your latest book?
It started out as a bedtime story for my own children, short sections made up each night and stitched together to try and make some sort of sense while still holding an 8-year old’s attention. I ended up enjoying the story-telling far more than I expected, and the seeds of the first book in the ‘Daydreamer Chronicles’ series were firmly planted. My latest book is the third in the series and a chance to draw together a few story threads that have run throughout the previous two, some of which were intentional and cunningly laid down in the first books and others which seem to have been thrown in by the characters themselves as a deliberate act of sabotage (or at least I can’t remember writing them).
Q2. What is your writing kryptonite?
Realising that I have got carried away and managed to incorporate an eight-day week half-way through the book. Then having to go back and re-order a huge chunk of story so that the timings still made sense.
Also reading anything by Michael Marshall Smith, Leigh Bardugo or Neil Gaiman and then re-reading my latest draft. It’s hard not to feel intimidated sometimes by the sheer quantity and quality of other writing already out there, but I can always live in hope that someday someone might feel the same way about something that I’ve written… although perhaps on a much, much smaller scale.
Q3. If you could tell your younger self anything, what would it be?
Don’t worry about writing your story in chronological order, write what interests or excites you and that will keep you going when you head is down or you’re in a slump. Of course, that may have led to the eight-day week issue mentioned in Question 2, but I am pretty sure it’s still worth it.
Q4. Tell us about an early experience where you learned that words have power.
When I was stuck in bed with the flu while I was at Primary School and worked my way through ‘The Lord of the Rings’ over the course of a few days. I remember struggling with some of the language and the slower paced sections of the story, but the strength of the tale and the quality of the writing was enough to hook me completely. What could have been a horrible few days ended up being a great holiday spent in my own (possibly slightly feverish) imagination.
Q5. What does success look like to you?
It’s always nice to re-read something that I had written after leaving it for a few months and still be pretty happy with it, but my biggest feeling of fulfilment comes from someone reading one of my stories and finding it entertaining or engaging enough to have a favourite moment or character.
Q6. Tell us what we should look out for from you in the future.
The third book in the ‘Daydreamer Chronicles’ series will be out very soon (or depending when this interview is published it might already be out). So, you can expect lots of Facebook posts, Amazon Ads, shameless self-promotion and the constant, never-ending quest for reviews. I’m very happy with it as a temporary conclusion to the series, with a few of my favourite characters having finished their own personal trials within the wider story, and really hope that people enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Despite this I strongly suspect that it won’t be long before I get dragged back into writing the next one, I already have a few ideas bouncing around which I am trying to ignore for the moment.
If anyone wants to find out more check out Jethro’s Author Facebook page and Website:
Clan Witch & Word Refinery 