Jonathan Neves Mayers interview

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

A little introduction:

Hi! I’m Jonathan Neves Mayers, the author of my debut novel Vevin Song, a post-apocalyptic dystopian adult fantasy about an invasion of winged creatures. I live just outside of London in the UK with my wife and dog.

When did your love of books begin?

I was around 7 when we studied Roald Dahl at primary school, and I was captivated by his stories – particularly James and the Giant Peach, which I read so many times. From there, I got into C.S. Lewis, J.M. Barrie and Douglas Adams, and realised there was a wonderful world of fantasy and sci-fi to explore.

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

I started writing short stories around the time that we were studying Roald Dahl. I wrote various stories – about a wizard, about a group of people stranded on an island who have to fight a giant snake, about a cat with a computer built inside of it. I even wrote a Pokémon choose-your-adventure story! I was also obsessed with designing little video games and would come up with stories through that. I’ve just always had an interest in creating characters and worlds.

How have you found the process for becoming an author?

Quite fun, for the most part! It took me about four years to write Vevin Song on and off – it was just a hobby and something to get through a challenging time in my life. Whilst there are some advantages to traditional publishing, it was never my intention to go through this route, so I published it myself through Amazon KDP and found a wonderful artist to do the cover. (www.coverdungeon.com)

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

It’s an obvious one, but just get some words on the page. But be patient and don’t obsess with getting 1,000/2,000/5,000 words down (and then feel deflated for not achieving this goal). What worked for me, when I hit a period of not being able to write, was to say to myself that I will just write something every single day. Even if it’s just a paragraph, a sentence…even a phrase. That kept the writing muscle going, and I managed to do that every day for two years straight. What I found was that, more often than not, because I felt accomplished writing even a phrase, it built up to even more than that during a lot of those days.

Don’t be hard on yourself. Every word counts!

Tell us about your book/books:

Vevin Song is a post-apocalyptic dystopian adult fantasy about winged creatures who invade the world and destroy a massive chunk of humanity. Because water is harmful to creatures, the surviving humans build habitats underwater called cocoons and live their lives down there. Years after the invasion, one of these humans finds out she has abilities similar to the creatures, and escapes her cocoon to find out about her origins. Without giving too much away, there’s BIPOC and LGBTQ+ representation, found family, betrayals, ancient evil, other worlds and plenty of action (and blood and gore – it’s definitely an adult book!).

What do you love about the writing/reading community?

They’re just very friendly and encouraging. There’s a lot of people who are dedicated to discovering indie books which is such an awesome thing to do. And, especially when it comes to fantasy, when someone likes a book, they REALLY like a book, and they’ll do what they can to encourage and support you.

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

Thank you so much for giving me a chance – the fact that you would spend time in my world means so much to me. There’s a lot of books out there, and a lot of really good indie books which have been coming out over the past few years. Please keep supporting indie books – people have some wonderful stories that they want to share, but need the support!

And yes, there will be a Book 2. And more.

Where can people connect with you?

I’m on Instagram (@jonathannevesmayers) and Twitter (@JNevesMayers). Always up for a chat!