Bonus paragraph from Strange New World Evidence found in Ffordes novels mirrors the iconic style of writing

for the James Bond series by Ian Fleming: throughout Ffordes novels there is a fascination with cars and pulp fiction narrative, punning names of his main characters like Thursday Next, Landen Parke-Laine, Jack Spratt and Jennifer Strange, as well as the most recent TN novel, The Woman Who Died a Lot, has chapters structured into days of the week, like Flemings Moonraker. Prior to becoming a novelist1, Fforde worked as a focus puller in the motion picture industry, and his work on 1995 Bond film GoldenEye may have had some influence on his next career as a writer: this film was the first to feature Judi Dench as M, a strong female presence in a series stigmatized by helpless Bond girls. This film was also first Bond film not to contain any elements from Fleming's novels. (H2G2, para 2) It is possible that the crew would have been aware of innovative changes to a popular series, while attempts were also made to retain the classic features that made Bond a household name. Feature film production can be a lengthy, drawn-out process, with department such as camera, props and make-up waiting for lighting, grips and wardrobe to finish their work between takes. It is not difficult to image Ffordes position as focus puller, being one of the last steps lights, camera, action - involved in the filming process, would have provided him with enough downtime to read through a couple chapters of Jane Eyre or Martin Chuzzlewit in preparation for writing his first novel. According to a recent interview, Fforde claims his position in film crews did not allow for much reading time, and his first attempts at writing were screenplay, but he now prefers the control of the story afforded to him by novel writing. (Goodreads Live Chat, 2012, Nov 13)

Publishers rejected Ffordes novels prior to The Eyre Affair 76 times before accepting his first published TN story.