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June/July 2003 |
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Some time ago I chanced upon an advert, just a small one, on the Official Jasper Fforde website. To mark the release of the UK Edition of The Well of Lost Plots, Foyle’s bookshop, along with the publishing house of Hodder & Stoughton, would be hosting an evening with Jasper Fforde. My heart skipped a beat. An evening with Jasper himself? How could I miss it!?
I rallied ‘round my friends and a band of us made it our mission to make it to the launch - even if we had to don ski masks and abseil through a skylight. Luckily, on telephoning the wonderfully helpful King’s Head Theatre, we secured ourselves four tickets and so the commando garb was left safely at the back of the wardrobe (although I must confess some disappointment in not having an excuse to dress up a-la action man and flaunt my ‘Mission Impossible’ style cool.) We headed off on the bright and sunny Monday afternoon and after some mighty hassle with the trains (where’s the surprise?) we made it to Islington.
The theatre itself was a wonderful place and, as an actor myself, a brilliant place to be. The fronting was in the style of a decadent 1930’s pub with central bar, jazz posters and an old fashioned crank-handle till. Two Fforde veterans, a Fforde virgin - although soon converted once they had shared an evening with our favourite surreal author – and I settled down to a drink before the main event.
Once our drinks were finished we swiftly made our way into the auditorium, the doors to which were cunningly concealed behind a fake wardrobe – surreal is as surreal does! We settled right down at the front, as we were some of the first to arrive (no displacement field technology unfortunately.) We looked about at the other Fforde fans that were filling the cosy auditorium. I have to say even a relative newbie to the Fforum, like myself, was able to spot a few recognisable faces – you know who you are! Before the main events took place, I took the opportunity to purchase a gorgeous, pristine copy of The Well of Lost Plots, as did nearly everybody else in attendance. Many people bought copy upon copy for themselves, friends and family.
After a short wait, Jasper was finally introduced and made his way to the centre of the stage, sitting beside a table decked out with a huge sign for WOLP. He began just by introducing himself before going on to talk about his writing, his career, and his hopes for the future of his books and his characters. He is an incredibly captivating speaker, soft tones peppered with joke after joke, often at his own expense. He revealed how he got into writing, how he acquired a publisher and agent, as well as the influences on his writing and the inspiration for the characters we all love so dearly.
After talking for a good half hour, he asked us if we had any questions for him. At first the crowd was reluctant, but soon questions were coming from all angles, probing every aspect of his writing and the books themselves. There were some fantastic questions such as, ‘Why Swindon?’ Jasper answered in wonderful style, recounting that when he was working on a film that was being shot in the area, he was struck by how utterly plain the entire city is and that it would be a wonderful location for a book. He also explained that. statistically, Swindon is the average capital of Britain. Everything from round-a-bouts to unemployment, Swindon hits the average marker across the board.
He told us that writers do talk to each other about publishers and agents, not just what type of pencil they prefer to use. Also, he let slip the rather amusing secret that he used to glue two pages of his preview manuscript together to see if publishers really did read it before sending the ‘photocopied rejection slip’.
I asked if he really thought nano-technology would turn us all into strawberry Dream Topping, which evoked quite a laugh. He said it wasn’t a great fear of his, but that he does worry when technology is going so fast and it’s not until later that we realise the danger of what we have created. I also asked if there were any modern books about which he would like to be able to write (were he free from copyright difficulties) and he said that he much preferred the richness of older literature, although I suggested that Harry Potter getting it in the neck from Hades would prove to be endlessly amusing, as much as we love Hogwart’s, of course.
Jasper told us the now-famous story of Eeyore’s exclusion from WOLP due to copyright problems; how his agent and publishers were absolutely lost in how to market such a unique and bizarre book as The Eyre Affair; and how he feels the Fforde Fforum, the online community that has grown out of these very publications, is a brilliant, vibrant community of which he is very proud.
Something that was news to many of us was talk of Jasper’s previous forays into the world of writing. The Jack Spratt Nursery Crimes series that has had a lot of discussion on the Fforum, was included in WOLP not just as a great theme, but also as a ‘subtle’ hint to his publishers that there are some great (no doubt) Fforde gems waiting to get out in to the world.
After Jasper let us run dry on the question front, he offered up his table for a book signing. A queue formed fast but thanks to some forward planning and some swift ducking and diving, I managed to nab a spot towards the front of the queue. Jasper was more than happy to sign all three of my books to me with the word “ Enjoy!” beneath my name and above a nice curvy signature saying “Jasper”. Provoked by Jasper’s earlier comment of having to sit in a hanger and sign 4500 books by hand for bookshops and companies and having to develop a speed signature, I asked if he had ever thought about doing something utterly unique to a book and selling it on eBay. He said he hadn’t thought of that, but he plans to sign one book, or one of each book, “J M Fforde”, as he has never signed with that signature. He then hopes to auction this for charity. So guys, start saving those pennies!
After Jasper signed the books, Mari slipped in one of each of the collectable postcards depicting a “JurisTech Mispeling Vyrus respirator”, a “Dodo owner’s manual”, and a “Welcome to De Ja Vu” card. As if this wasn’t bonus enough, each of my books were stamped; one with “Goliath Approved reading” and the others with “Grammasite Free Zone”.
Once we had our books signed, we all set off – wildly excited and desperate to read the new book as soon as we got onto the train.
Jasper is as wonderfully entertaining in person as he is in his books. To be at the launch was wonderful and if a similar event takes place for TN4, I’ll put my name down now! Let’s just hope the publishers take the hint and we see Jack Spratt in print soon.