Whether through accident, design, or just being blessed with a catchy name, Jasper Fforde is well on his way to becoming a cult novelist. Often compared to Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett and influenced by Monty Python, Jasper's novels to date have offered readers a rip-roaring blend of alternate reality, literary in-jokes and Swindon hotspots. His first novel The Eyre Affair introduced us to literary detective Thursday Next, racing around in her rainbow-hued roadster to mend holes in narrative plotlines, not to mention rescuing Brontëan sourpuss Jane Eyre, kidnapped from her own novel. It's a bit like Last Action Hero for lovers of classic literature, and if that lights your candle, Thursday returns in Jasper's subsequent titles Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots and Something Rotten.

Jasper's success was nothing if not hard-earned. In fact, he endured 76 rejections before landing a book deal, ultimately proving them all wrong when The Eyre Affair became a bestseller. It's a lesson in tenacity that any struggling writer who believes in their work should take note of. Now though, Jasper has a worldwide fan base, and he strives to add value to his work through his website, where readers can discuss work and even download additional chapters.

His latest book The Big Over Easy showcases a new detective Jack Spratt, assigned to the Nursery Crimes division to investigate the case of fall guy Humpty Dumpty. As you can pretty much guess, this is Marlowe-meets-Playschool; something that should make perfect sense to Fforde fans. Next year's book, The Fourth Bear, will stay in similar territory and you can probably surmise a lot from the title alone.

What follows is a mixture of new questions we put to Jasper, and (at his suggestion) some answers pulled from the pages of his Questionarium - a body of work devoted to past Fforde features. Which considering his books, seems oddly appropriate.

Great Writing: Many reviewers have tried to classify the genre(s) of your work. How would you do it?

Jasper Fforde: I always describe my novels as 'The Swiss Army Knife of books' as I was trying to have something for everything within the covers - a trans-genre novel that I hoped would find a broad readership - perhaps even introduce a reader from one genre to the joys of another. As it turned out I have been embraced by readers from Science Fiction, Fantasy, Crime, Horror, Romance, Thriller - and now, (and least expected) by academics, the last people on earth I would have thought might embrace it. They enjoy it for its: 'post constructional demodernism' ....or something.

GW: When did you realise your writing style had taken shape or is it something that will always develop and change?

JF: I don't think I have a writing style. It's just the way I write, or the way I walk, or talk, or stare at someone trying to figure out what they're talking about without appearing to be an idiot. It's just how I do things. I can affect a different writing style for narrative purposes in the same way as I can affect a different talking style for different audiences or even affect a silly walk for no adequately explained reason. Having said that I hope my style (whatever it is) will develop and change - I'd hate to stagnate.

GW: Do you need to set yourself challenges to progress your work or is writing enough of a challenge in itself?

JF: I have no trouble with writing other than the overwhelming urge to search eBay for things I don't need and can't afford. I have been doing a book a year for the last three years and a deadline is a pretty good incentive to me. I was a freelance assistant for many years and that sort of uncomplaining follow-orders-or-get-fired ethic seems to have stuck with me.

GW: How did you get through 76 rejections?

JF: When I finished my first novel I was convinced then and still am now, that it would be enjoyed by the reading public. Sadly, this isn't enough. A far greater battle is convincing a publisher of the same thing. The book business is exactly that - a business - and if a book isn't going to make money or is an unacceptable risk, then only a brave publisher will touch it. After the initial rejections for the first book I resigned myself that this would either take a long time or I would never be published. Once that fact had been entered into the equation and I realised that I was doing this because I enjoyed it, then all the rejections suddenly seemed that much less important. After all, I was earning a good wage in the film business and it wasn't as though agents and publishers were reading my book and rejecting me - they just didn't like the idea of it. So I wrote 'No surrender!' and 'Press on regardless!' on post-it notes and stuck them on the wall of my office. I felt a bit low after each rejection but redoubled my efforts each time.

GW: How does writing under contract compare to writing a first novel?

JF: I wrote six books before I was published, and four under contract. The only difference is that I have to write to a deadline, something that focuses the mind wonderfully.

GW: Does being the 'Thursday Next guy' make it difficult to break out into other projects?

JF: Not at all. I had a new series out this year and am working on several new projects, only one of them a new Thursday Next book. It's an exciting time for me as a semi-established author; established enough to be able to get books into print, but not established too much that the audience only wants the Thursday Next.

GW: Are you now going to resurrect and publish your previously unpublished novels?

JF: Too bloody right. I have committed myself to publishing a book a year for ten years - and publishing some of my back catalogue allows me to take two years to write a book instead of one.

GW: Your web presence by which you communicate with fans is more extensive than most. Does this level of interaction with your audience feed into your writing?

JF: I'm not sure my website is really much of a communication medium in truth - aside from the forum which I scan through every now and again (mostly for obscenties or spam), the level of two-way communication is limited to the 'reader's contribution' page which hasn't seen many additions recently. I tend not to think too much about what people think when it comes to book expectation. I'm very concious of the unspoken contract between reader and writer - you give me your hard-earned money and in  return I agree to entertain - but I don't try and harvest my readers for ideas or anything unless it is something specific that I need to know, such as whether the 'happy families' game is known in the US, or something like that. I want to deliver the goods, of course, but I tend to regard my website as 'after sales service' for readers who only see a new Fforde book every year, and might want some Fforde-based tomfoolery in between.

Where the website does help me is that I often use it as an 'R&D' lab for ideas - the 'Hamlet' and 'Pete and Dave's' page both helped me to figure out the context of the ideas and how they fit into Thursday's world.

GW: What are your thoughts on contemporary crime fiction?

JF: I think the ongoing joke in The Well of Lost Plots is about how fiction of any sort tends to descend into stereotypes as the genre becomes tired. The Crime genre is certainly very tired - has been since the 'Golden Age' of crime fiction, and there does seem to be an overabundance of detectives who fall into that "maverick loner detectives with domestic strife" syndrome. From a writer's point of view it is important to make characters interesting, and sadly many teachers of writing advocate the 'progress the story through conflict' ideal which means many less skilled writers go balls out for the worst possible scenario. 'Caversham Heights' is just this type of clumsily written book which litter the Well of Lost Plots. Thursday is simply trying to help Jack Spratt out of the morass of tired and stereotypical ideas that he has -through not fault of his own- become embroiled. In many ways Thursday's troubles with her own husband are a rejection of the idea that a single female has to have different boyfriends going through her life to keep the story interesting. Going against type - as I like to do - I thought I should have Thursday firmly with one man in her sights - and add difficulties around this idea.

GW: What's Swindon got that Slough hasn't got?

JF: The letter 'W' in its name.

For the Ffordean life and times, and a taste of all things Swindon, visit Jasper's website.