Interview with:Hermesse James [hermessejames]
WRITING
 | What did you first read? How did you begin to write? Who were the first to read what you wrote? I always liked to read romantic historical novels. I became a bit of a history freak.
I wrote articles for journals and started to write for a Dutch library site called www.infonu.nl
After 2001 9/11 I started a website about Nostradamus called Nostradamus-puzzle.net. The site got an award for its design. For several reasons I stopped the site in 2008. I'll write a book about my findings of Nostradamus one day. |
| What is your favorite genre? Can you provide a link to a site where we can read some of your work or learn something about it? I write about quite a lot of topics: politics, economics, law. I also write about things that are rather 'spiritual' such as articles on Nostradamus, spirituality itself.
I like to search the Internet for answers on questions such as where did Merlin go to or come from, did Arthur exist, did jesus really have a wife, a daughter, when was his real birthday....
You can find those articles on: www.infonu.nl/hermesse |
| What is your creative process like? What happens before sitting down to write? I like writing about facts within a frame of secrets. I do an enormous amount of research before I start writing my articles. |
| What type of reading inspires you to write? Everything that takes my fancy. It can be a book, but also an article on a site. |
| What do you think are the basic ingredients of a story? Novelty. Secrets, Good journalism. |
| What voice do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Third is safer. If you write first in a journalism article it's weird and may become too personal. |
| What well known writers do you admire most? Can't say. I read so much, and you should really specify that per genre. |
| What is required for a character to be believable? How do you create yours? In my line of work sturdy research is the best thing to do, I think. |
| Are you equally good at telling stories orally? I like to think so. I'm terrible at jokes though. I think the stand-up comedian is too far away from my character. I'm basically terribly serious. |
| Deep down inside, who do you write for? I like to be read. I write for my readers. |
| Is writing a form of personal therapy? Are internal conflicts a creative force? No, not in my line of work. I hate to become too personal, so no, I won't show my internal conflicts. I'm too down to Earth. |
| Does reader feed-back help you? Yes, I like feed-back. I am mostly amazed when people rave about my articles but some do (in a positive sense.) I don't often get people who approach me in a negative way. Some very religious people tend to criticize me or want me to shut up. With what I write about Jesus Christ and say his daughter or Mary Magdalen or the Shroud, or the Roslin chapel I'm bound to be criticized by strict religious groups, but I like to point out to them that they are not the only ones who have freedom of speech. |
| Do you participate in competitions? Have you received any awards? No. I'm not bound to get a Pulitzer. |
| Do you share rough drafts of your writings with someone whose opinion you trust? No. Also because I can publish whenever I please. At infonu.nl the publishers are quite strict to some extend, but that concerns style etc. not about the content of your article. |
| Do you believe you have already found "your voice" or is that something one is always searching for? My voice is in whatever I write about. I'm more a journalist than a writer. |
| What discipline do you impose on yourself regarding schedules, goals, etc.? I have a job with HamptonJones Books (www.champtonjones.com) and next to that I write my many articles. Sometimes on demand, sometimes because I want to. |
| What do you surround yourself with in your work area in order to help your concentrate? Books, notes, different pc's, anything that helps me in my research before I write an article. |
| Do you write on a computer? Do you print frequently? Do you correct on paper? What is your process? I write in the cloud, through a cloud system. That means I only write on a computer. I keep an enormous amount of handwritten notes though. |
| What sites do you frequent on-line to share experiences or information? Everything that can help me write my story. Every source that is factual and useful. |
| What has been your experience with publishers? I work for one, that's all I want to say. |
| What are you working on now? I'm focused on getting Constance HamptonJones' books prepared, published and hopefully sold. (www.champtonjones.com.) We are planning a big media do in autumn. |
| What do you recommend I do with all those things I wrote years ago but have never been able to bring myself to show anyone? Old pie never sells. |
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Hermesse James
Amsterdam netherlands
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