Today's guest author on Interviews with Dante is Jessica Werner. Enjoy learning a bit about this wonderful author.
My name is Jessica and I was born and am living in Germany. I have been writing pretty much all my life, from poems, short stories, multi-author stories with friends or even lyrics. I honestly cannot imagine not to write in some way and the love of my life, whom I am living with, is quite supportive of my creative outpours. If I don't write I either am creating other things like renderings, Photoshop graphics and such, enjoy myself in virtual environments, or geek out over my favourite TV Shows and video games.
My latest book is my debut novel Sra'kalor. It is the first part of the Ashwood Falls Trilogy, a story about magic, love and fate. The main figures are a young girl named Alana, who developed magical powers she cannot control, and Leandrus, a demon caught in a human body, who gets pestered by his host's soul while he tries to figure out if he wants to love or kill Alana. It gets especially hairy when it turns out that another demon wants to claim Alana for himself and Leandrus has to make a decision. The whole series is inspired by an old roleplay that I made up with friends, but has taken a whole life of its own.
Right now I am working on the second part of the Ashwood Falls Trilogy, to continue the story of Alana and Leandrus/Tyler. Next to that I have a couple of ideas for a few short stories, that I am writing on, when I need to leave them alone for a little bit.
From everywhere. I know it sounds cliché, but it's how it is. I have drawn inspiration from just looking around myself, watching people or situations out on the street. Sometimes I am inspired by music, by an object, or even a single word or sentence I heard somewhere. I also am roleplayer, which offers a lot of inspiration along the way. It can really hit anytime and anywhere.
Not really. While the people in my real life are great and some surely would be quite tempting to write, I would feel strange knowing that someone in my stories is based on someone I know. I could never see them without the real face, or hear them without the real voice. In my head I would also restrict myself to do certain things with them, because I would feel guilty towards the real person, if it is something bad. I prefer to make my characters up, so I can write without borders that my mind puts up.
All kinds of books. Well okay not all. I do not really read religious books or self-help books, actually not a lot of non fiction books at all. I do love to read a lot of fiction though, no matter what kind of genre. Even if it is a genre I usually do not have a strong connection with, I do not mind trying to read a book that falls into it, just to have at least tried it once. I see it the same as I see it with music: I might not like a genre, but a certain song can still touch my heart.
I am self published, so it was quite different from classic publishing of course. While I was writing, the question on how to publish of course came up. I did not have any friends with that kind of experience at that point, so my biggest friend was google search. I have found several ways and sites that allow self publishing, have read many many Terms of Services, all together days of informing myself. In the end I really liked smashwords for ebooks, because they do not only help with the publishing but also distribute the book to several retailers and do not expect exclusivity. Same goes for my print book, which I published through Lulu. The most important thing, I think, is to really read every material you can get, no matter how small the fine print is, so you know what you are getting into.
It is the first part of a series, well a trilogy. So this book can be read alone, but if you want to have the full experience, I do recommend to read all three parts, once they are published.
In a way, yes. As I have mentioned I am a roleplayer as well as a writer. For about 15 years I have been writing roleplays online, via email and forum. For the last 3 years I have been member of a group of people, who do roleplay, but actively seek to improve their writing and share quality writing in a multi-author story environment.
To write when I am blocked. I do have a few mthods to get back into it, but the start of that is still difficult.
The ideas. I have random ideas all the time. Another easy part for me is the character interaction, though that might be, because my characters get a life of their own and sometimes even take over. I cannot even say how many of my plans have been kicked into the bucket by them. But it was always for the best.
In contrast to many other writers, I cannot write when it is quiet around me. What I need while I am writing is have the TV running. Since I know the lyrics to my music, it distracts me a lot so this is not an option. I also prefer to write at night, because it has less distractions in form of people wanting to chat, phone or come by. Otherwise it does not really matter to me if I am on my desk, the bed, in the park or elsewhere, as long as I can have my writing and TV shows with me.
A bit of both. I would not say that my plan is careful or even elaborate, but I have key points. What happens between them is flowing as it comes. And if something during the flow-phase changes the next key elements, I'll change them.
I always knew that I wanted to write. But I always thought I would write for myself and maybe for my future kids, in case of children's stories. But a couple of years ago, while thinking about the story of Sra'kalor something in my head clicked and I wanted to reach the point where I would publish it once I'd be done. In the middle of writing I realized I have too many ideas to make it one book, so I decided to split it into three books. I don't regret it a second and I am looking forward to many stories that I'll be publishing in the future.