Writers with Dienece-Jilly du Plessis
Welcome back to writers with Dienece!
Today we meet the author of the last book in the Our House on Jakaranda Laan series, House #15.
Jilly du Plessis is a wonderful South African author who writes romantic comedy, and after our chat, I totally get how she writes comedy. Keep reading and you'll know why too!
Welcome, Jilly! We haven't had the pleasure of talking much this year, and I feel like I'm meeting you along with my readers. Why don't you tell us something about yourself.
Jilly: A random fact about me is that I’m actually married to fellow Our House author Ashley Winter’s brother.
Dienece: Oo, that's not random. That's cool! It must have been fun to participate in a series with your sister-in-law, and her book is the one right before yours at House #14. How sweet.
Did you meet your husband through Ashley, or... well, how did you meet him?
Jilly: It's actually quite a funny story. My sister was friends with Ashley (we all went to the same church, but my now-husband, Brad, was overseas at the time so we hadn't met him). Ashley wanted to set him up with my sister so she made plans to introduce them when he came back to South Africa.
We actually met him for the first time in the church parking lot. Years later, Brad told me his first thought when he saw me getting out of the car with the rest of my family was, "Oooh, I hope that's the sister Ashley wants to set me up with" - it was obviously not. Haha. And the rest is history. I still laugh about the fact that Ashley tried to set him up with my sister. I guess God had other plans.
[Dienece laughs so hard she almost snorts] That's hilarious. I love it. I mean, God had much better plans for sure! But that is a very funny story.
Well, I know you live on the East Coast of South Africa, that you write romantic comedy, and that your future sister-in-law tried to set up your future husband with your sister--I'm still grinning over that BTW. That seems like a lot of information and not enough at the same time.
What else can you tell us about yourself?
Jilly: I’m an English lecturer at a local university and I also do freelance editing work when I’m not writing. I think perhaps because of this, I read very broadly in terms of different genres. I’ll read just about anything.
Dienece: That makes sense you would read widely with those jobs. What made you pick romantic comedy to write in if you read so broadly?
Jilly: I think one of the reasons I got into writing romantic comedy was because I needed something light and fluffy after reading academic books all day. I like to call my books “palate-cleansers” because they’re exactly that. Just something sweet and fun between more serious reads.
Dienece: That's a fun way to put it. I like that term, "palate-cleanser". What about you, Dear Readers? Do you read the occasional "palate-cleanser"? Let us know in the comments!
Now, Jilly, I can hear an awful lot of noise coming from your place. What has happened? It sounds like a whole flock of something has descended on your head!
Jilly: Our neighbourhood has a population of wild guinea fowl, but unfortunately, the local predators had been helping themselves to the numbers until we were left with a small, all-male community. A few neighbours decided the obvious solution was to introduce some females and get the population growing again. And since the guinea fowl happen to roost in a tree in our garden, I was somehow roped into this project.
Dienece: Oh dear, that sounds epic and not so simple at all!
Jilly: Before I knew it, I had thirty eggs in a make-shift incubator on my kitchen counter. Fast-forward a few months, and there I was, wiping guinea fowl bottoms.
[Dienece cocks her head to the side] Methaphorically or literally?
Jilly: Baby guinea fowl can develop something called pasty butt (like chickens), which is exactly as delightful as it sounds and can be fatal if you don't deal with it. Who would have thought I’d spend my days armed with a damp cloth, tending to tiny feathered posteriors?
[Dienece laughs] Pardon me. I should not laugh, but the way you put that is hilarious. I can totally see how you came to write comedy.
Had you ever been interested in birds before? Or was this a new thing for you?
Jilly: I can’t say when I imaged my future an avian butt-wiping service ever crossed my mind. The worst part? I've become quite attached to the little hooligans. They're noisy and entertaining, and I am devastated every time we lose one to the crowned eagles who live in our area.
Dienece: Aw, that would be sad.
Jilly: So, in addition to being a wife, mother, and author, I'm now a guinea fowl mum with kids named Boots, Bendy, and Gerald.
Dienece: As a proud guinea fowl mum, do you have photos? I mean of course you have photos; every proud mother does. But can we see them?
Dienece: I love them! Boots is gorgeous of course, and Gerald fits his name perfectly. He so looks like a Gerald!
Jilly: I'm not sure this is the sort of thing that helps sell romantic comedies, but if my next book features a guinea fowl, you'll know where I got the inspiration.
Dienece: Oh, it's definitely selling me on wanting to read your book, because I've totally had a taste of how funny you can make something!
Speaking of which, tell us about your new release, The Developer's Dilemma.
Jilly: The Developer’s Dilemma, is about what happens when a billionaire developer meets a stubborn handywoman who refuses to let him destroy a historic manor house. There are sparks, banter, a battle of wills, and a man who discovers that not everything can be fixed with money.
Dienece: I absolutely love the sound of that. I'm already smiling as I imagine how that's going to go down.
Plus, I read your opening chapter last night (it's at the end of Ashley Winter's book, Dear Readers), and it was awesome. I can't wait to read the rest.
Why don't you tell my readers about the special animal characters I've already met in the opening chapter? (Since we know Boots and Gerald aren't in this story. Maybe the next one though!)
Jilly: There may be a couple of goats with a better grasp of the situation than either of the billionaire or the handywoman. Naturally, romance (and a little bit of chaos) ensues.
Dienece: Naturally. They are goats, and of course they understand the situation better! Animals always do. They are much smarter than we are, and goats are a lot of fun.
Dear Readers, if you want to nab this awesome sounding story of chaos and romance find it via the link in the button below!
Jilly, how did you come up with this idea for a story?
Jilly: When I joined the Our House series, I only had a rough idea of what I wanted to do. Enemies-to-lovers is my favourite trope, so I knew from the start I wanted to include that. When I saw that some of the first books in the series were historic novels involving the original homesteads in the area, I thought it might be fun to base my book on something to do with that to create a connection with the historical books, so that’s basically how the idea was born.
[Dienece fairly bouncing in her seat] Oo, I know which historical homestead. It was one of mine! And I was so excited that you picked the Smit homestead to renovate. I cannot wait to see it again after so many years and learn what happened to it. What it is now, and which parts the goats invade. LOL
But I am totally interrupting, so I'll be quiet now. You were in the middle of telling us about how you got the idea for your book.
Jilly: I also knew that all the other authors in the series were writing quite serious books, so I chose to write the 15th book. I wanted to give readers a fun, light-hearted way to end the series. Hopefully even if they’ve cried their way through the books, they’ll end with a smile on their face.
Dienece: I just finished Francine Beaton's book a few days ago, and I cried so much. It was a great story, and I loved it. But yes, I did cry my way through it. I have a feeling I'm going to laugh my way through yours. Which sounds like a great 'palate-cleanser' just like you said!
Now, you mentioned before about being an English lecturer at a uni. Can you give us a fun fact about the English language?
Jilly: The English language is a crazy thing. I’ve always known this teaching English, but it’s become more apparent now that I write books myself. It’s filled with things like contronyms.
"A contronym is a single word that has two completely contradictory or opposite meanings depending on the context." Jilly du Plessis
For example, “variety” can mean one specific type of something, or multiple of those things. Or “cleave” can mean to split something apart, or to cling together. It must be such a confusing language to learn as a second language.
Dienece: Yep, it's totally confusing sometimes even for native speakers.
And I've just decided that it must be fun having you for a lecturer because I really enjoyed learning that. In fact, I've enjoyed our whole chat today! It's been awesome.
Okay, last question before we--very sadly--say goodbye today. What are you reading right now? Because we are readers here, even me, and we need to know what you are reading. [Dienece grins]
Jilly: At the moment, I’m reading a book called The Road by Cormac McCarthy with my students. It’s a book about a father and son just trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.
It’s an amazing story about how love survives in even the most horrible circumstances and the lengths a father will go to in order to protect his son. The father's actions are often driven by the need to protect his son, which leads him to make choices that may seem cruel, selfish, or morally questionable. For him they are right, because the consequence is they get to survive.
At the same time, the boy consistently advocates for compassion, generosity, and empathy toward others. One of the reasons I love the book is because it really makes you question what it means to be human and if it’s possible to remain ethical and keep our humanity in a world where law and order has collapsed.
Dienece: That's a very good question, and one I consider myself when I read books or watch movies like that. Oh, and I can see now what you meant about writing palate cleaners. That book sounds both intriguing and also a little heavy. But mostly very interesting. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Now, before we go, where is the best place to find you?
Jilly: I’ve just recently taken down my website for a revamp, so currently the best place to find me is Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/jillyduplessis_books/ There are also links at the end of each my books to subscribe to my newsletter, although just be warned, I am shockingly inconsistent when it comes to sending newsletters.
Dienece: Well, if we were all consistent life would just get boring! [Dienece grins].
Thanks for being with us here today. I've thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet you, and I cannot wait to read your book.
Dear Readers, this doesn't have to be the end. Feel free to ask Jilly questions in the comments below, whether about English, guinea fowl, or books! Or maybe even ask her to tell you a joke. You never know, she might tell you one. :)
Next week, we'll be back for one more Writer's with Dienece. Yes, Jilly technically wrote the last book of the series with House #15, but House #2 got delayed earlier this year. And we haven't forgotten about it.
House #2 written by Danielle Grandnetti will have it's turn next week. And that will be the last Writer's with Dienece for 2026. What an epic journey it's been for me. I hope you enjoyed meeting all these authors like I have.
But don't forget to check out Jilly's new book before you go!
Fun interview! I don’t actually remember trying to set my brother up with Jilly’s sister, but it is the sort of thing I’d do! 😂 - Ash Winter