Hi, Hivelings! I’ve been super busy getting my next book ready to publish and haven’t been blogging, but I’m back with an author interview!
I met Jay in a group of authors on Twitter, and asked him if he’d like to share some of his writing process with me.
LT: Thanks for doing this interview, Jay! Please tell us a little about yourself and your books.
JVB: Thanks for this wonderful opportunity!
I write fiction and non-fiction and am currently self-publishing on Amazon a Historical Fantasy set in 9th Century Britain. March of this coming year will see the release of “On Viking Seas,” book 3 of the Forerunner Series, as well as a non-fiction technical work as a contributing author and editor with members of the Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers called “The Media Workflow Puzzle.”
What’s one of your favorite things about your current WIP?
I have begun work on “Kara, Shieldmaiden of Eire” Book 4 of the Forerunner Series, which I hope to publish by the end of 2021, and the most fun aspect of starting the work for me is the creation of the maps, new characters and building the high-level outline of the plot to guide my writing. In other words, all the preparatory, dreaming, imagination stuff. I have new settings in 9th Century Europe to define and I have a really great cover artist drawing the design to feature Kara Agnesdatter.
Another great part of preparing the work is selecting the theme of the writing: based on some wonderful scholarly direction on how to carry a theme through one’s work, I select the theme in the initial stages and put it on my desktop where I see it every time I sit down to write, to subtly influence all the chapters while being careful to not be heavy handed. The theme of Book 1 was an origin story “Coming of Age” theme, Book 2 was “Courage,” Book 3 is “Heroism” and Book 4 will be “Love” in all its forms, deep and true, unrequited, spurned, infatuation, and lost.
Tell us about a book you’ve published. What do you love about it? Where can we find it?
While the first book in my Forerunner Series is a wonderful introduction to the characters, setting and “explains,” using Scandinavian beliefs of the 9th Century, how a person can become a vardoger, a forerunner ghost of oneself, the second book of the series, “The Vardoger Boy” really kicks off the adventures I had always planned for the Agneson clan.
The patriarch and his eldest son face Alfred of Wessex in the battle of Ethandun circa 878 (modern day Eddington, UK), the family is attacked and driven from their homes in a blood feud continued from book 1, and young Thorfinn, the forerunner begins Viking sailing adventures with his Uncle Karl, facing challenges in the “hidden world” beyond Midgard, including mythical creatures from Danish and Nordic legends. Book 2 is purposefully more adult, as main characters die and there are descriptions of bloody fights and carnage.
What’s next in your writing world?
A great photography duo is working with me to write the text for a picture book featuring the wild horses and snow owls of Assateague Island. I have two ideas I am exploring, a historical adventure novel set in the 18th Century Chesapeake Bay, and a comedy set in modern times in the resort communities of the Delaware shore where I currently live.
Wow! You have so much going on! Do you have a writing ritual or something that helps you focus?
Still working a full-time position, I typically write on nights and weekends—so I try to skip television as much as possible, and I sometimes “hide” from social media. I use noise cancelling headphones tuned to SOMA-FM channels that stream modern background ambient music such as “Groove Salad” and “Space Station SOMA” –these channels do not feature singing which I find distracting, but provide a background that I seldom actively hear while masking the noise of our family at home. When writing I attempt to get 5,000 words written each week, and my novels typically run @ 110,000 words.
Music is a great way to focus, I do that too, sometimes. What inspires you to keep writing?
I have a few really great author friends who inspire me and actively press me to continue my work. They are instrumental in reminding me of my commitment to continue my art. Some assist me with planning, others act as editors and some are advance copy reviewers, but all of them are amazing writers in their own right and I am honored to work with them.
The writing community is a wonderful source of intelligent, supportive and truly talented individuals who share their time, knowledge and abilities, and recognize that we all have a unique voice and we can all learn from each other.
I agree. The writing community is AMAZING! Do you have any advice for writers who haven’t published yet?
- Join the Facebook Group “20booksto50K:” They have a long list of great articles and provide a source of good advice. Search the blogs for topics that answer your key questions—there are hundreds of writers’ blogs on thousands of topics and a new writer never has to “go it alone.”
- Purchase a really good cover!
- Learn from the best: If you can afford it, join a writing class taught by an expert, especially for the critique sessions.
- Grow a “thick skin” when listening to critiques—your best friends will tell you the truth even when it is hard to hear, and that will make you a much better writer.
- Get an editor: everyone misses the minor mistakes in a manuscript, but agents, publishers and readers can be quickly lost if you haven’t addressed basic grammar.
- Try to find your “tribe,” a group of fellow authors who will support your work as well as enhance your creativity—they are not always easy to find, and one should never expect that a particular author will always be able to help you, yet I have found the best dedicated support comes from those in my “tribe.”
- By the way, this also works for musical and visual arts.
What brings you comfort in an uncertain world? Food, movies, series, music, nature—anything that helps you feel good is fair game.
We love traveling—seeing new places, meeting new people, trying new foods, visiting museums and heritage sites—and despite the pandemic cancelling our 2020 trips, we are hopeful that once we get a vaccination, we can return to visit the places on our “bucket list.” Next year we have a family weddings in South Africa and the UK which we are desperate to attend, and we want to go hiking, maybe in the Northern Rockies of Alberta which is exceptionally panoramic.
Those are some great locations! I hope we can all travel more soon. Good luck with everything!
Author Jay Veloso Batista
Amazon Author page
Bookbub
GoodReads
Thanks for reading!
I'd love to hear what books you're into these days, if you feel like leaving a comment and saying hello!
Peace @LeiaTalon / @katrina-ariel
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