Jennifer Kincheloe's 1906 Los Angeles mystery series introduces the irresistible Anna Blanc, the Kim Kardashian of her day, willing to sacrifice a life of wealth and privilege and challenge the status quo to pursue her dream of becoming an LAPD detective.

Hi there, I'm your host Jenny Wheeler and today Jennifer explains how much Anna is based on LA's first woman detective and tells how chronic fatigue got her writing.

Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode

How research training benefits her as a writer

Why starting with screenplays developed her skills

The first LAPD woman cop who inspired her story

Her adventures on the Sepik River

The writer she returns to again and again

And the mind attitude that's the secret to her success

Where to find Jennifer Kincheloe:

Website: http://www.jenniferkincheloe.com/

Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/TheSecretLifeofAnnaBlanc/

Twitter: @jenkincheloe

Pinterest https://www.pinterest.nz/jrobin66/

What follows is a "near as" but not word for word transcript of our chat with links to important mentions.

And now, here’s Jennifer . .  Hello there Jennifer and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.

Jenny: Beginning at the beginning . . . .Was there a "Once Upon A Time" moment when you realised you had to write fiction or your life would somehow be incomplete? And if so, what was there a catalyst?

Author Jennifer Kincheloe

Jennifer: I didn't start writing fiction until I was in my forties, so I suppose I thought I couldn't do it. In fact, I remember saying one time I could write non- fiction because I published various non- fiction articles in my career as a research scientist. But I didn't think I could make a story.

Then I got chronic fatigue, and I was in bed for two months. I couldn't work, I just really slept and listened to books on tape. When I awoke from that time of sleeping, my mind was very clear.

I decided I wanted to write something, so I sat down and wrote a screenplay. I knew nothing about writing - I had no training, and I never read a writing book. That was how it started, and I found myself so passionate about it. I would just write all day, and not do anything else. I didn't want to go anywhere or see anyone, just sit and write. I thought, this is something very special and I would love to do it professionally, so that was how it started.

Jenny: Was any of that writing the work that later became Anna Blanc?

Jennifer: Yes. The first thing I wrote was screenplays - I started with screenplays because I thought they were easier than novels as they were shorter. But actually, I think they're harder. I wrote a screenplay and it was contemporary, suited to kids.

It was really terrible, but I sent it off to my friend- he's a screenwriter, who's written all kinds of kids' movies including Shrek 2. He's an old friend, David N. Weiss. He read my screenplay, and he told me it was really awful. I asked him what I could do, and he gave me a bunch of books to read that he recommended. Then I started a second screenplay, which was the Secret Life of Anna Blanc. After I wrote the screenplay, I let it sit for a year and then I wrote it into the novel.

The Secret Life of Anna Blanc - Jennifer Kincheloe

Jenny: Fantastic. I think you're right about screenplays - there's quite a lot of necessary formula about them. You really need to understand what they're looking for. There's a little bit more freedom in a novel, although they do have their conventions, you do have more freedom - would you agree?

Jennifer: Yes I agree. I feel like because I started with screenplays, I'd written three screenplays before I started writing Anna Blanc into a novel. It taught me a lot about story structure which I thought was useful. But you're exactly right, you have more freedom in novels so you can deviate.

Jenny: The Secret Life of Anna Blanc introduced us to a whimsical naïve rich girl a “Gibson Girl” who wants to be a police detective and ha...