Jayson Jolin interview

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

When did your love of books begin?

I was one of those kids who would rather play pretend than play sports.  My pretend tended towards adventure science; I’d be a time traveller or an explorer of the deep, stuff like that.  I’d read tons about dinosaurs and marine life and astronomy.  For fiction, I used to devour Choose Your Own Adventure stories.  When I’d read a novel like The Crystal Cave or one of the Doctor Who novels, I’d always envision myself in those stories, what I’d do that the main character hadn’t, etc.

When did you start to have the wish to become an author?

My father had built an apartment building (he was an electrician by trade, but knew all the trades extremely well, and actually built the house I grew up in), and was too busy working to hold the Sunday open houses himself, so he had me do it.  I was in 7th grade at the time, and would really have rather been doing anything else.  Most Sundays no one showed up.  So, there I sat, alone in a one bedroom unit, bored out of my mind for hours.  Keep in mind, this was before smart phones.  I had a Walkman, I think.  It was dull.

So one Sunday, I think to myself, “hey, I should write a story to keep myself entertained.”  So I brought a 3-subject notebook and a pen and started writing.  A 100 page sci-fi vampire story resulted, which took two or three Sundays to complete.  It was pretty terrible, and has since been destroyed, but I thoroughly enjoyed writing it.  

The urge to write simmered in the background for a few decades after that, with me wanting to write but not sure what to write about.  Then in 2017 I got involved in a role-playing game blog called Marvel Plot Points and wound up writing several adventures and game supplements for the site.  I’d been involved in various role-playing games both as a player and gamemaster since the early 90’s but this was the first time I’d really written adventures for others to use.  With all of this writing, the idea of crafting a novel began to creep back to the front of my mind.  I started coming up with short stories, and those eventually inspired my current novel series.

How have you found the process for becoming an author?

Well, during the time between writing that vampire story and joining Plot Points, I wasn’t stagnant.  I knew I wanted to write something, I just couldn’t figure out what.  I spent a lot of time reading about writing.  I bought most of the Writer’s Guides, I read and re-read Charles Sheffield’s Borderlands Of Science because I knew that I really wanted to write in the hard sci-fi genre, I studied Dwight V. Swain’s Techniques Of The Selling Writer and Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake Method of writing.  

None of that prepared me for the practical side of writing, however.  I remained ignorant of things like proper word count, editing techniques, pacing, and the like.  Those I had to learn by doing, and re-doing, and frantically searching the internet for submission standards and proper formatting guidelines.

What would you say to those wanting to become an author?

Finding your own style will be easier if you expose yourself to other people’s styles.  Reading other people’s stories is important, yes, but reading style guides and writing technique guides helps immensely.  You don’t have to cut your own path from scratch; look where others have tread and see which of their paths will help you get where you’re going.

Learn about pacing and scene structure and formatting before you start your manuscript.  It will help you sculpt that manuscript into something submission-ready ahead of time so you aren’t scrambling to make a finished work fit into the proper format later.

Tell us about your book/books:

I have two books currently published, and two more on the way, all four of which comprise my Fate Of The Forged fantasy series.  Fantasy is a broad term here; there are lots of little science fiction elements sewn into the story.  The first two books are one story in two parts.  Together, they are entitled Soul.  Taking place an unspecified number of millennia in the future, Soul features resurgent magic, reawakened robots, ancient doomsday weapons, and social upheaval.  And it all centers around an old soldier struggling with survivor’s guilt and driven to complete one last mission.

What do you love about the writing/reading community?

Everyone has been very supportive of each other.  There’s a sense that we help ourselves succeed by helping each other succeed.  I’ve never had an easier time networking, to be honest.  

If you could say anything to your readers what would it be?

I hope that you enjoy reading my story as much as I enjoyed writing it.  I have many more stories to tell. 

Where can people connect with you?

I’m fairly active on Twitter.  My handle is @realityjaysonj.  You can find my author site and blog at jaysonjolin.wordpress.com/home/.