General Non-Fiction posted January 21, 2025


Exceptional
This work has reached the exceptional level
Youthful, understated and with talent galore!!

Interview With...JACOB COLLINS

by Rachelle Allen


Hi, Fellow FanStorians!

I’ve never done two interviews in the same week, but the reason I’ve chosen to now is because this member I’m about to introduce has a book started that I do NOT want anyone to miss. More on that in a moment. For now, here’s JACOB COLLINS, a/k/a Jacob1395

Hi, Jacob, and thanks for agreeing to this interview. You’re like a stealth bomber. You are all kinds of impactful, but you fly under the radar.

I became familiar with you because you were a wonderful, warm, gracious and encouraging reviewer. But then I stepped aboard your new novel, Convicted, and I just had to know you more.

        Please tell us some history. I know from your profile that you’re twenty-nine, live in London, run a blog entitled “Hooked from Page One,” have been writing since you were nine, and joined FS in 2023.

        Do you, like so many writers, also have a “day job?”

Yes, I do have a job. At the moment, I work for our family business based in Essex, UK, where I have worked since September 2013, so I’ve spent just over eleven years here.

        Wow! That’s a lot of time. What business is your family in?

We supply odour control units for restaurants all around the world and we run a couple of holiday caravan parks and a residential park in Essex. The business was built up by my grandfather in the 1980s.

        Wowie zowie!! I love learning writers’ backstories. They’re as varied and interesting as the authors, themselves!

 It’s crazy to think I left education more than ten years ago now. I’ve been running my book blog since 2016 where I review the latest thrillers I’ve read. I’m also active on X, which used to be Twitter, and Instagram.

        That’s very exciting and entrepreneurial! How is your following?

Well, I have nearly eight thousand followers on X and a couple of thousand followers on Instagram. My X (Twitter account) is @collinsjacob115 and my Instagram account is @hookedfrompageone

        JACOB!!! That’s incredible!! I love, though, that you remain so understated despite such success already! Go you!!

        Did you have someone who inspired you to write when you were nine?

Yes, the author who inspired me twenty years ago was J.K. Rowling. I think without her books, I probably wouldn’t be writing today, or perhaps, I would’ve found writing much later. I remember reading her Harry Potter books and thinking I want to do this.

         I remember watching students of mine in dance classes take out their enormous Harry Potter books whenever we took a break. It was as if the BOOKS were enchanted! So, it makes perfect sense to me that you were inspired to become an author after that experience!

That was when I wrote my first novel, which was terrible.

        Well, maybe compared to your abilities today, as a grown-up, but I bet you anything it was excellent for your age.

        What kinds of pieces did you write back then?

I wanted to write for the young adult market and was obsessed with the fantasy genre. I also wrote some shorter pieces for younger children. I loved the idea of creating my own world. But now, I want to write for the adult market.

        Did you share them, or were they just for your personal pleasure?

I do remember my English teacher reading a section of my first novel out loud in a school assembly, so the whole school heard it. I remember feeling very embarrassed, particularly when my teacher asked me to stand up after reading it.

        Ohhh, dear. I can absolutely picture quiet, sensitive you at that moment, absolutely dying from the limelight of that. The Educator in me sees it from her perspective, too, though: that she was extremely proud of you.

 I also entered a few writing competitions for young adults along the way, and I was lucky enough to win a couple.

        Nope; I guarantee you ‘luck’ had NOTHING to do with it, Jacob. Your writing prowess stood out even back then, I am sure.

        I can’t say enough about how much I am loving your current book, Convicted. It’s edgy and intense with an undertow that I cannot walk away from, despite how harrowing on the emotions I know this ride is going to be.

        What inspired this book?

Thank you, you’re really kind. It was inspired when my brother was selected for jury service a year ago. I’ve always wanted to do jury service, and I remember thinking what if the defendant’s mother chose to follow a member of the jury home after her son was convicted for murder. This is what’s going to happen over the course of the next couple of chapters, and it is the main hook of my novel.

        Do you write as you go, Jacob, or do you have a plot line formulated beforehand?

I used to hate plotting and always wrote whatever came to mind. I think it was because I didn’t know how to plot back then. Now I have a much better understanding of plot and structure. I recently read Save the Cat Writes a Novel, and it is the best book on novel structure I’ve read. It clearly explains all the action beats your character’s journey should follow throughout the book and gives you examples from other successful books. I will now use this for plotting everything I write going forward. It really was a lightbulb moment.

        Hmmm! That’s really interesting. You’ve piqued my curiosity to explore that now, myself. Thank you.

        Now, Convicted is a re-write of a book you began and posted earlier, but then didn’t complete, correct?

That is correct. I started writing this book last year but fell out of love with it and started writing something new, a book about a fourteen-year-old boy who murders his parents, called His Silence, which is now complete.

        Yes! I notice that it is in your FS Portfolio, and it is my next indulgence on here! I can’t wait to start reading it!

Whilst writing His Silence, I started to get new ideas of how to make Convicted work, and I like the new structure I have come up with much better and feel I’ve fleshed out the characters more.

        Any writer who is that brave, I have to get to know better because that is one seriously difficult decision. Can you please take us through the inner workings of that?

I think I mainly got excited about a new idea that was bubbling away inside my head, that I decided to pause what I was currently working on. Also, as I said earlier, I fell out of love with it, and when you do, I think you need to take time out and perhaps work on something new which always, for me, helps get the creative juices flowing. I think if you continue writing something you’re not liking, you won’t produce your best work. Now I’m really excited about getting the rest of the story down.

        That makes sense and sounds right.

        I love your style of writing incredibly much! Your descriptions are so breezy and flowing and varied and just plain delicious! And, as I mentioned to you recently, I marvel at how tremendously well you write from your female protagonist’s point of view. However in the world did you acquire such a knack?

Thank you, that’s really kind of you to say. I read a lot of thrillers and read between 100 to 150 books a year.

        HO. LY. MOLE. Y!!! I guess you are another fine example of that adage that great writers are, first, great readers.

A lot of the thrillers I read have female protagonists and are written by women, a good 80% I would say. I actually find it really hard to write from a male point of view, which is quite surprising.

        And yet, also fascinating!

        Have you ever dabbled in short stories or poetry?

I have written short stories and poetry in the past, but I find short stories really difficult and much prefer writing novels.

        Are there any other writers in your family?

No, I’m the only writer. My brother is an actor, and we’re the only creative people in the family.

        Is that a perk for your parents, or do they find it difficult to relate to it?

They’ve both been quite proud of our achievements. My brother was recently in two episodes of Masters of the Air, which was featured on Apple TV, and also starred Tom Hanks and Austin Butler.

        Wow! That’s impressive!!

        So, your favorite genre is thrillers, but what authors do you prefer?

 I love Sarah Hilary’s books, especially her Detective Inspector Marnie Rome series, which is set in London. I love anything published by Orenda Books, an independent publisher based in the UK, so I highly recommend checking out their books on their website if you want good writing and good stories.

        I, too, love thrillers, so I will definitely check these out! Thanks for the tip!

        Have you always loved thrillers, and do you foresee that changing as you encroach on The Big Three-Oh?

I’ll be thirty in July of this year, so I’ve still got six months left of my twenties. It feels very surreal that I’m approaching this number. I’ve been reading thrillers for more than ten years now, so I don’t think this will ever change.

        How did you come to choose FS?

I was actually a member when I was a teenager way back in 2009 and stepped away for a while, but always thought about this site, so I made the decision to come back. I did lose my old login details so created a new account.

        What appeals to you most about the site?

I like the variety of different works on this site, and everyone who I have met so far has been really friendly and supportive. I also love the sense of community on here.

        Yes, that’s a huge draw. It feels good to be with others who share your excitement for the craft and are willing to appraise your finished product with a sense of understanding that non-writers just can’t.

        Any suggestions for making it better?

I actually can’t think of any suggestions, myself. I quite like how everything is at the moment.

        Wow. If only cloning were legal, Jacob…

        Any words of advice you’d like to share on the topics of writing, reviewing or navigating the waters of a site like ours? Something maybe a newbie to our site could use to succeed here?

With reviewing I would say always be kind, first and foremost and if you are going to offer criticism make sure it’s constructive and helpful to the writer, but you should always still be encouraging. We are all at different stages in our writing journeys. It takes years of practice to hone your writing skills, and I’m still learning myself. I feel I still have a long way to go, but I’m always willing to learn, and I always really appreciate when people offer me constructive criticism.

        I agree with both of these statements. It’s crucial to be kind when reviewing. If you’re a confident writer, you don’t need to be acerbic or condescending when giving suggestions. And it’s because you’re up for learning and honing your skills, Jacob, that you’re interested in constructive criticism. Those who don’t feel that way remain mediocre at best, but usually more like “substandard.”

        Okay – time to spread those talented-writer wings of yours, Sir. Please compose a 5 – 7 – 5 on the topic of Becoming A Famous Author. 

Well, I’ve never attempted a 5-7-5 before, as my poetry isn’t up to scratch, but I’ll give it a go.

Thrillers I will write

It is my dream to publish

With luck one day soon

        Um, I have a newsflash for you: you’re a natural at it!!! I’m very, VERY impressed because I know it can’t be easy to participate in (read: DEBUT!!!) a brand-new form on a writing site where people are getting to know you. In my eyes, you are a champion. I am VERY impressed. xo

        And just so you know, I chose that topic because I hope, more than anything, that fame and fortune come to you, since I genuinely think your talent merits that. You can weave a story around your reader like no one else. I become ensconced in the plot and characters at once and hate when the end of a chapter arrives, and I have to wait for the next installment.

That’s very kind.

        A million thank-you’s for agreeing to do this. Quiet, understated soul that you are, I’m imagining it was not easy. So, thank you for accommodating this insistent female from across the pond!

        Fellow Members! I promise that you will love Jacob’s writing and be mesmerized by his style and his ability to draw you in quickly and so very well. Please check out “Convicted.” (Listed under "Jacob1395") It’s only Chapter Three, so you can catch up quickly. But hang on tight. It looks like it will be QUITE the exciting adventure. xoxo




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#24
January
2025
Pays one point and 2 member cents.


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