with B F Jones
Q1: When did you start writing and first influences:
B F: When I was a teenager I wanted to be a playwright and theatre director and my dream was to direct Sartre’s No Exit as well as Waiting for Godot. I had a go at writing plays but didn’t follow through.
Fiction-wise my first influences were a mix of French and English classics and contemporary gothic, horror and realism. Villon, Beaudelaire, Maupassant, Du Maurier, T.S Elliot, Poe, Ellis, Bukowski to name a few.
I wrote my first piece of flash fiction in 2013 and then wrote a bit on-off until 2017 when I did a short creative writing course. After that I started submitting more work out and writing more regularly.
I didn’t get into poetry writing (apart from that one poem about a feather in 6th grade) until late 2020.
Q2: Who are your biggest influences today?
B F: I’d say most of those cited above are still valid along with some new classic and modern discoveries (Sarah Kane, Emily Dickinson, Manchette among others) and the work from writers and poets from the indie writing community that I have huge admiration for. I would struggle just picking one of them out of the lot though!
Q3: Where did you grow up and how did that influence your writing? Have any travels away from home influence your work?
B F: I grew up half in France and half abroad, I spent a few years in Russia as a kid and developed a taste for Russian literature as a result, in particular Bulgakov and Chekhov.
Moving a lot as a kid turned me into an anxious adult and I’m definitely using quite a bit of that in my writing!
Q4: What do you consider the most meaningful work you’ve done creatively so far?
B F: I don’t think it’s any piece of work in particular, much more the ability to write and edit confidently and to no take rejections too personally.
Q5: Any pivotal moment when you knew you wanted to be a writer?
B F: I was always keen on writing, writing-related assignments at school were the only thing I got good grades at – but didn’t think I could do it until I discovered flash fiction.
Q6: Favorite activities to relax?
B F: Running/hiking, cooking, family time, reading, listening to music.
Q7: Any recent or forthcoming projects you’d like to promote?
B F: Yes 2 collections published by Alien Buddha, my debut poetry chapbook, The Only Sounds Left, that was released last month and a Flash Fiction collection, Artifice, out on 9 July.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B096TTR7BG/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1
Q8: What is a favorite line/stanza from a poem of yours or others?
B F: Oh that’s a tricky one. There’s a couple of things I like more than the rest but no specific line in particular…
Q9: Who has helped you most with writing?
B F: I’m very lucky to have a great group of writers that I talk to regularly and that are super supportive. To name a few: Stephen J. Golds, James Lilley, HLR, Scott Cumming, J. Travis Grundon, Max Thrax, John Bowie.
Links:
https://punknoirmagazine.com/2021/05/06/iv-poems-by-b-f-jones/
https://www.bristolnoir.co.uk/tag/bf-jones/
https://idleink.org/2020/03/01/flowers-by-b-f-jones/
https://www.deadfernpress.com/b-f-jones
https://rejection-letters.com/2021/06/17/revenge-is-best-served-with-coffee-b-f-jones/
Fevers of the Mind 
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