Jenny Worstall, author of the novel ‘Make a Joyful Noise’

She shows a lovely story and believable characters on her fiction book Make a Joyful Noise. She’s also planning a new novel.

«The author has given us a engrossing read, her obvious expertise and strong grasp of the classical music world result in authentic characters…» Tink

«I enjoyed reading it. My only quibble is I would have liked to have more music and more time in rehearsal. » SallyKate

«An enjoyable read, well-observed and humorous. » Lucy B

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By: Alberto Berenguer    Twitter: @tukoberenguer

Jenny Worstall is a British writer

We begin the interview with the book’s main topic: the music. Why is the world of music a rich source of inspiration for you?
I love music, particularly classical music, and I find musicians and the way they interact with each other endlessly fascinating. The classical music world breeds mighty egos and this always sets the scene for comedy!

Lucy, Tristan, Miss Greymitt and Claire are the main characters of Make a Joyful Noise. While creating the characters, were you inspired by someone, in your own experiences or something along those lines?
Make a Joyful Noise is a complete work of fiction but I hope that the characters seem realistic. I feel most comfortable writing about what I know and as I inhabit a world of teaching, music and family, that is usually what I write about. I have tried writing a mystery/thriller but couldn’t get very far without laughing at the melodrama of it all.

The characters in the novel suffer from hopeless yearnings, romantic misunderstandings and the unfortunate consequences of their own misguided actions. Do you think that the relationships between characters are paramount to the tale?
Yes, the relationships are paramount to the story; in fact the book is mostly about the interaction between the characters – what they say to each other, what they think of each other and what goes wrong between them. It is a tale of emotions rather than an action packed adventure, although there are some fairly dramatic moments along the way!

All readers agree that your eBook is an easy read and very entertaining. Was it difficult to write the plot of the novel?
I found the plot and characters came to me very easily initially. What I spent most time on was endlessly rewriting and editing. I kept a lot of notes about the characters and events so that the story would flow realistically.

Belshazzar’s Feast

Make a Joyful Noise is set in an unusual location and uses an enticing choral piece «Belshazzar’s Feast«, as the backdrop for this marvelous tale. Why did you choose this choral piece for your tale?
I have sung this fantastic choral piece by the English composer William Walton a few times with various choirs and find it very exciting. The words are arranged by Osbert Sitwell (from the bible) and depict a particularly dramatic and colourful story from the Old Testament. King Belshazzar comes to a sticky end after yet another evening of debauchery involving praising false gods (this bit is really fabulous in the music!), and feasting. There is a magnificent picture by Rembrandt of the moment when a mysterious hand appears and foretells the King’s demise. I thought it would be amusing to take this flamboyant story and make it the backdrop for a pair of love stories in a setting far removed from Babylon, and to inject the whole story with comedy. Just as King Belshazzar is slain, so Tristan in my story…but no, I mustn’t spoil the plot!

eBook: ‘Make a Joyful Noise’

Do you think that the cover could be improved?
Yes, probably! Any ideas? I chose the colour from the Rembrandt picture mentioned above, then kept it fairly simple.  I did think of using an image of the Rembrandt masterpiece as the cover but thought I would probably fall foul of some copyright law, so avoided the temptation.

I wish to emphasize that you’ve received many positive reviews from your readers, but have you received any negative reviews too?
No negative reviews on amazon but perhaps a few negative comments from my children along the lines of “Why are you wasting your time on that – no one wants to read that sort of book!”,  which probably translates as “Stop writing and cook us a meal!”.

Also, do you think that an important factor in your success lies in the interaction that you set up with your readers through social networks?
I think twitter has been useful but I still find facebook a bit of a mystery.

How important are online platforms as Amazon for freelance writers?
Very important. I ought to give them more serious consideration.

And, when did you begin to write?
I have always kept notebooks with observations about characters and various happenings, and I started work on this novel when my children were tiny.

When you are writing, do you have any part of the process that you particularly dislike?
I find the formatting for ebooks challenging in the extreme and have to enlist the help of my long suffering husband. I have also published Make a Joyful Noise in paperback and that did not seem quite so tricky.

Jenny’s short stories

In addition to promoting your eBook, are you writing a new novel now? What are your future literary projects?
I have published three collections of short stories since writing Make a Joyful Noise. I am also planning a new novel in my head and waiting for a time to get it down on paper. It will be about Mozart, The Messiah and possible a murder. One or two characters from Make a Joyful Noise may pop up along the way and the book will sit firmly in the humour category, despite the murder.

Will you self-publish your new novel or will look for a traditional publishing?
Self publishing seems to work for me.

Finally, why would you recommend Make a Joyful Noise to everyone?
I don’t like blowing my own trumpet, so this is a difficult question. However, I would say that if you are looking for a feel-good story with plenty of humour, music and romance, you have come to the right place. I hope you enjoy singing with the choir!