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Interview with Jon Rance, author of This Thirtysomething Life

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Tell us about This Thirtysomething Life.
Here is the official blurb –

Being a thirtysomething man isn’t easy – especially when you still yearn to be a twentysomething man. Meet Harry Spencer. History teacher, lover of snack food and terrified of growing up. However, when his wife Emily drops the P-Bomb, Harry is suddenly thrust into the role of expectant father. Cue baby doctor visits, breast-pump demonstrations, morning sickness, self-help books and the birthing class from hell.

When he’s tempted by the greener grass of an ex-girlfriend past on Facebook, he must make the most important decision of his life. Will Harry have what it takes to become a man or will he succumb to the lure of adolescent fantasy?

Set in London, This Thirtysomething Life, is a love story about what happens after we’ve fallen in love, when we’ve swapped frolicking in the bed for cigarettes in the shed and Match of the Day for Mothercare. Brutally honest, laugh-out-loud funny and often heart-warming, this is a diary about one man’s bumbling journey on the road to adulthood.

What genre is it?
I would say its commercial fiction. It’s a romantic comedy that will appeal to anyone who is, has been or is going to be a thirty something.

Ha ha, nice one. But if we were going to be more specific?
Anyone who reads Mike Gayle, Matt Dunn, Nick Hornby, Lisa Jewell and likes funny, heart-warming novels about love, life and relationships. This is something that most couples probably go through at some point and I think most people can relate to. I think it will appeal to both men and women equally. Men will nod their heads in recognition and women will shake their heads for the same reason.

It has been described as “the male Bridget Jones”. Is it because of the diary style or does it go further than that?
The diary style definitely attributes much of the comparison, but I think it’s much more than that. I think Bridget summed up a whole generation of women. She gave them a voice and women all over the world could relate to her. I think Harry is typical of so many men and sums up perfectly the struggles we have going through that difficult ‘growing up’ phase. I think it’s a book that men can read and relate to and women can read and go, yeah, just like my husband. Bridget was funny because people could relate to her and so is Harry.

You are a 30-something man. How much of This Thirtysomething Life is autobiographical?
A lot. With This Thirtysomething Life, so much of my own life was in there and although Harry and I are very different, a lot of the thoughts and worries he has, I had too. It was essentially based on my own experiences of becoming a father, so quite a few things were taken straight from my own life. Of course, most of it is fiction and the characters aren’t directly based on anyone, but strange hybrids of people I know, have known etc. I took my own experiences and used that as a starting point for the novel.

You announced today that you’ve just signed a deal with Hodder and Stoughton. Congratulations. Did this all come from self-publishing This Thirthsomething Life? How do you think this will change things in the short and long term?
Thank you. I am very excited about the deal. Self-publishing has been a great experience, but one thing I’ve learned is that it has its limitations and I hope working with Hodder will take me to the next level. With regard to how I was discovered, it was because of my book being on Amazon. They read the book and liked it and it went from there. If I hadn’t self-published, I would still be looking for an agent and trying to get noticed. Self-publishing can open that door for you, but you have to do well in the charts to get noticed – that’s the hard part.

In the short term it’s made me very happy and given me a bit of money and I hope in the long term it will mean I can be a full-time writer.

What do you think you’ll miss about being indie?
I’m still in the early stages of developing my work with Hodder so I don’t really know yet. All I can say is that so far I’ve loved every minute of working with them. Ask me a year from now and I’ll let you know if I miss anything or not.

We know it’s a stereotype, but there’s an expectation that men are only interested in books with guns and fast cars. Will we ever see a Jon Rance novel with a wisecracking police detective who doesn’t play by the rules but always gets results?
Ah, no. I’m not the sort of bloke who watches action films, drives fast cars and likes guns either. I prefer comedies, like Mini Coopers and don’t understand why anyone loves guns. I think one of the interesting things about my book and also my next novel, Happy Endings, is that it brings up the questions of where men stand today. The world has changed and I think men have changed too. Harry is part of a new generation of men, trying to be a new man, sensitive and caring, but fighting the demons of biology that make us want to sleep with other women.

Tell us a bit more about yourself.
I’m 37, originally from Southampton, England, although I currently live in San Diego, California with my American wife who I met while backpacking in Australia. I have two wonderful children and I love writing. I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was about 15. I remember telling the careers guidance person at school that I wanted to be a writer so they just wrote down journalist. I never wanted to be a journalist, just an author.

I love Richard Curtis and Judd Apatow films, books by Mike Gayle and Nick Hornby, although my favourite book will always be, The Catcher in the Rye. I love Oasis and Blur, I support Manchester United, drink lots of tea and spend far too much time on Twitter.

Talking about Twitter, what’s your Twitter handle, and do you have a website?
www.jonrance.com is my website where you can find all things Jon Rance.

Please follow me on Twitter @JRance75

Email me at jonrance@yahoo.com

I love social media and the fact it allows me to interact directly with my readers.

Where can we buy This Thirtysomething Life?
At the moment only on Amazon as an eBook only, although it will be available as a paperback through Hodder and Stoughton and you can already pre-order that on Amazon, so go and do it now!

What’s next?
A lot. Hodder and I are working on editing This Thirtysomething Life and also my new novel, Happy Endings. I’m also beginning work on my third novel, but this is all very hush hush at the moment, but watch this space!

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