You have no idea how excited I am about this new author! Merciless will be coming out January 21, and I am over the moon for her. I know she is going to be so successful in her writing career, and it is my honor to do an interview with her.
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
Surprisingly, I didn't know I wanted to be a writer until I was a junior in high school. I suppose I should have realized it sooner--I have always loved reading books and writing little skits. The summer after my junior year, I found the website Wattpad and wrote a 50-thousand word story about a girl living in a post-apocalyptic zombie world. It wasn't very original (and I am very glad it is no longer out in the world) but it received some good feedback from the few readers whose eyes it had managed to catch. I found that I thoroughly enjoyed writing daily, and I simply couldn't stop! After that, I wrote a book about a girl who goes back in time to prevent the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii. When I learned that independently publishing was a very real and affordable option, I had the book edited and published it as my first novel, Defying Vesuvius.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I don't know if you'd call it a quirk, but I'm definitely a night owl, so my favorite time to write is between the midnight-2 a.m. period. Writing is really relaxing at the end of a long day, and it's easy to focus when everyone else in my house is asleep. (Plus, on those few occasions when I'm writing while deliriously tired, it makes for some really funny typos!)
When did you write your first book and how old were you?
I wrote Defying Vesuvius while I was a senior in high school, so I was eighteen.
What do you like to do when you're not writing?
If I'm not reading or writing, I'm either playing video games (Dragon Age is my all-time favorite) or traveling. I've been to France, Spain, England, and Scotland, and I can't wait to visit more places. I also teach gymnastics part-time.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
Honestly, the most surprising thing about writing was how welcoming the community is. There are so many seasoned authors--Craig Martelle, Derek Murphy, and Michael Cooper, to name a few--who are more than happy to help us newbies, and their support and wealth of knowledge is positively invaluable.
The readers, too, have been absolutely amazing--from bloggers to reviewers to bookstagrammers. They have welcomed Mercy's story with open arms, and I'm grateful every day for their support.
How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
Merciless is my second book, and it's my current favorite. Over the course of editing and rewrites for the book, I reread it about five times, and I'm still in love! Building Mercy's world was so much fun, and I really enjoyed writing morally gray characters; no one is quite who you think, and there are no characters who are quintessentially good or bad. I can't wait to explore more of Beltharos in the rest of the series. In addition to Defying Vesuvius and Merciless, I'm currently working on books two and three of the Born Assassin series, as well as a prequel novella from King Ghyslain's perspective.
Do you have any suggestions to help others become better writers?
READ! Read as much as you can, as often as you can. Read books in your genre and books by authors whose writing you wish to emulate. Kiersten White's And I Darken series was a big inspiration for the style of narrative in Merciless. If you're really serious about publishing your writing, I can't recommend Facebook groups more strongly. There are so many authors who are more than willing to give advice and critiques. My favorite groups for indie publishing are 20booksto50k and An Alliance of Young Adult Authors.
What do you think makes a good story?
The key to a great story are the characters. One may have an amazing plot, but if the characters aren't people for whom the readers can root, the book is going to fall flat. There are so many ways to craft intriguing characters: playing with dialogue, backstories, their relationships with the rest of the cast.
In Merciless, Mercy starts off as a fairly dislikable character. She's not completely heartless, but she was abandoned at one week old and given to the Assassins' Guild to train, and that had a profound effect on her personality. Every day of her life, she was taught to obey her tutors, to see everyone around her as a threat or a target, to be completely emotionless in the face of danger. I really tried to emphasize the fact that she was raised to become a killing machine, nothing else, and it's really intriguing to see her develop relationships with the royal family and the nobility over the course of the book.
As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
I've wanted to be a lot of things. As a child, I was obsessed with dinosaurs, so I really wanted to become a paleontologist. Later, when I started watching Project Runway with my mom, I decided I would become a fashion designer. That stayed my go-to all the way from elementary to high school, and I even took a few classes in Fashion Design in college. Writing eventually won out when I started treating it more as a business than a hobby. I love my books, and it's so exciting (and nerve-wracking!) to share it with readers. I also teach gymnastics and do freelance hair and makeup. (Honestly, my interests are all over the place, haha!)
How did you come up with the idea for Merciless?
My book ideas always start with a character rather than a plot. Some influences for Merciless were the And I Darken series, Throne of Glass series, and Zevran from Dragon Age. I really wanted to toy with the idea of a young woman growing up in as brutal a place as an assassins' guild, and what it would be like to watch her regain her humanity over the course of the book. I crafted the rest of the characters and the world around Mercy and the Guild.
Thank you so much for your time, Jacqueline. It was a pleasure working with you, and I am itching to read your book. The 21st can't come soon enough. Links for the article:
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