WELCOME AUTHOR
Mister JMI
Author bio: Founder
of Fictitious Fox Publishing, author of The
Glory and owner of a sweet head of hair, Mister JMI is a long-time lover of
the art of storytelling. When he isn’t
lost in a storm of ink and paper you can find him buried up to his afro in
comic books, wrapped up in an anime or clutching a video game controller.
At the age of 12, Mister JMI knew he wanted
to become a writer. Unfortunately, his dream was delayed for over a decade due
to suffering from a severe case of chronic procrastination.
Now fully recovered, Mister JMI is ready to
unleash a deluge of exciting, funny and fantastic stories for your
entertainment. So sit back, relax and enjoy.
On his rise to the
top, Whitlock gains a great friend and ally in Nathaniel Oaks, as well as a
bitter rival in Omar Baptist. Despite his extraordinary talent and dedication,
Adam Whitlock’s path is riddled with opposition from naysayers and
nonbelievers.
Meanwhile, Admiral Douglas C. Calhoun
is tasked with quelling the rising tensions between mankind and the
Kelzmisians, a group of alien races, as their long-standing Cold War is about
to turn hot.
Book title: The Glory
Brief synopsis of your book:
The
first in a new series, The Glory is a
fun, funny and exciting character-driven sci-fi adventure that follows Adam
Whitlock, a young, brilliant, fiercely determined boy who gives up everything
to join the United States Space Force in hopes of becoming captain of the
fabled and prestigious warship, The Glory.
On his rise to the
top, Whitlock gains a great friend and ally in Nathaniel Oaks, as well as a
bitter rival in Omar Baptist. Despite his extraordinary talent and dedication,
Adam Whitlock’s path is riddled with opposition from naysayers and
nonbelievers.
Meanwhile, Admiral Douglas C. Calhoun
is tasked with quelling the rising tensions between mankind and the
Kelzmisians, a group of alien races, as their long-standing Cold War is about
to turn hot.
Current book or
project you’re working on:
What moment or event sparked the
inspiration for your novel?
At the beginning, the book was especially inspired to be
honest, I just wanted to write a fun, fast-paced action/adventure typical
sci-fi book. I originally had the idea of a kid seeing a spaceship being built
and being in such awe of it he became determined to become captain of that ship
someday.
Somewhere along the line as I started down to write, the
story told me “Nah. That’s stupid. Let’s do something cool.” (laughs) And
that’s kind of where the shift happened and I became more interested in
creating characters and a world then just a paint-by-numbers sci-fi plot.
Please share
three interesting facts about the characters in your book.
1) Because
it is set in the future and I had all of these new technologies, landmark
discoveries and important events, I sat down and wrote out about three page
long timeline with exact dates and everything. This was completely
unintentional I was just doing the math but the flagship, The Glory was built the same year that the main character Adam
Whitlock was born. I thought was pretty cool and added a bit more to his
connection with the ship.
2) There
are about 3-4 characters that wrote themselves into bigger roles. One character
in particular, Natasha Hilson, was just suppose to be this single appearance
character but she instantly clicked with one of the main characters. She was a
perfect foil to him so I kept her around and she actually because an important
part of that character’s story.
3) Two
characters, Captain Theodore L. Richards and an alien ambassador nicknamed
“Ralph” we such great and enjoyable characters they caused forced me to
restructure my plans for the entire book.
Which if any
characters in your current novel are based on someone you know? None of them. I tried really hard not to bring
anybody that I knew and squeeze them into my book. I thought that would be
cheap and I really wanted to test myself in creating completely new characters.
Which really sucked sometimes because I wouldn’t even allow myself to use the
names of people that I knew in real-life for characters in the book. It was
tough. (laughs)
Are there any
characters in your book that remind you of yourself? No but
I did notice that I was becoming more like one of the characters in my book.
The main character, Adam Whitlock, is smart but definitely not a genius but, he
is just an absolute bulldog that never stops studying and working. I noticed
that mentality rubbing off on me. There would be a lot of times when I would be
watching TV or was just on the internet and in the back of my head I would hear
“What are you doing? Go back to work! You’re not finished. Whitlock wouldn’t be
watching TV he would be over there working!” (laughs) And I would feel guilty
for relaxing and get up and go back to work.
If you could pick
any famous author to review your book who would you pick and why? Hmmm.....I
would have to say William Shakespeare not so much because I want to know their
thoughts on my book are but more so because thanks to some weird time-travel or
voodoo magic I get to meet William Shakespeare and that alone would be awesome.
Genre/Author/Reader:
What genre and
age group does your book fall into? It’s a
science-fiction book but I think the characters transcend the genre and are
relatable and enjoyable to everybody. I think the range of people that who
would enjoy this book is incredibly wide but I would recommend at least high
school ages and up.
Have you read any
books that received great reviews and popularity that you just could not get
into? Yeah, The Great
Gatsby. I had to read that book in high school and I love reading and I
liked most of the books that we had to read in class but just for some reason I
just hated that book. I ‘m sure that if I read now I would probably love it
because you, kids are stupid and whatever but it just left such a grating
impression on me I loathe just hearing and seeing the title. (laughs)
Which authors have inspired you the most, and why?
There
is only one writer that I connect with and that’s comic writer and superhero
creator Stan Lee. Now, I’m sure there are a lot of people that wouldn’t
consider him an author or think that comic books are lowbrow but, shut up,
nobody cares what you think.
For those of you who don’t know who Stan Lee is, he
created Spider-man, The Incredible Hulk, The Fantastic Four, Iron man, X-men
and was instrument in the development of Captain America and many others.
His work resonated with me because, as a kid and even now
I’m just so amazed that so many and such diverse roster of complex and
celebrated characters and their respective worlds all came from one man’s mind,
and that inspired me as a writer. My goal as a writer is to, not just have a
successful book but a long list of complex, unique and long-lasting characters
that will far outlast myself.
The process:
How many books
have you written? One but it’s a damn good one! Bias opinion is
bias, so check it out for yourself.
Which book is
your favourite and why? I have a favourite book but I don’t like
to tell anybody what it is. It says too much about me. (laughs.) Which I know
is the point of all this is to get to know me but, a man’s gotta have his
secrets. I haven’t told my friends. I’ve actually been meaning to come up with
a fake favourite book just to tell people when they ask. The Great Gatsby?
Is there anything
that helps get you in the mood to write? Yeah, I kinda
have a ritual that I go through every time. I start by playing the same songs
from this same playlist, usually starting with the same song. Then I make some
hot chocolate almost from scratch. I measure up the milk and other ingredients,
melt the chocolate and mix it all together. I think going through the same
events with the same song playing in the background really triggers something
in mind and has trained it to get in the mood to write. The only downside of
that is now I can’t hear that song without wanting to make hot chocolate.
(laughs)
Name three things
that you believe are important to character development?
1) Creating
a robust identity for the character besides what the plot needs them to be.
2) Display
multiple aspects of a character’s personality, even if they are the
strong-silent type. Strong-silent type people laugh in real-life, the cry too.
3) Give
them the depth to question themselves, their goals, and those around them.
What lessons have you learned as
an aspiring writer? Trust yourself. Trust yourself and trust
your story. If you truly believe that you know how to write a good story then
write it. Write it the way you want to tell it and don’t feel forced to make
changes to your book because “that’s not how you’re supposed to write a book”.
Because, the parts that you get rid of could be the most fantastic and unique
parts of your book that separate you from everybody else. The person that wrote
your favorite book wrote it in their personal style. Find your personal style
and champion it.
Do you ever
experience writer’s block? If so what helps you to ‘overcome’? I
luckily have never experienced writer’s block. If anything I have the opposite
problem. As I was writing the book I would hand it off to my friends to read
and give me feedback before I would get too deep into something and I remember
we were standing outside of a Starbucks one night and I suddenly got really depressed.
My friend asked me what was wrong and I told him I just realized that I will
never be able to write stories as fast as I can think them up. I was
legitimately heartbroken by that thought. (laughs) Still am.
What is the most
important thing you’ve learned, either in the self-publishing or traditional
publisher, route? The odds against your success aren’t
important, the amount of work that you’re going to put into your success is.
What part of the
writing process do you enjoy the most? Just disappearing
out of this world. When I am deep in the zone I feel like the only part of me
that is still in my room is my hand and the rest of me is millions of miles
away in another universe standing next to my characters. I almost feel like
more of a reporter than a writer.
Does anything
bother you when you are trying to write?
Running out of ink. (laughs) I like to physically write,
paper to pen, I just can’t create on a keyboard, and I would lose my mind
whenever my last pen would run out of ink and it would always happen just
before I could finish out that last bit of a chapter. I have always used the
same type and brand of pen to write with for at least a decade know and I
refuse to change that, so I would have to stop everything and drive to Wal-Mart
at like, 3 in the morning just to comeback and write like two paragraphs. It
was the worst.
How long does it
usually take for you to complete a book? It took me just
shy of two years to complete end to end. I started writing the book back in
October of 2012 and I finished writing in December 2013. After that it was an
unending spree of rewrites, edits, complete overhauls and small tweaks. So many
tweaks. (laughs) I finally published this book in August of 2014.
Do you have any
ideas for your book and Hollywood? Actors, directors, music. Hell
no! Hollywood ruins everything.
Which book to
movie conversion is your favourite? I don’t have one
but I also don’t think there is a good book to movie conversion. As I’m sure
you’ve heard before, “The book was sooo much better than the movie.”
Do any movies you
watch ever inspire anything you write about? No, I’m not
really a movie buff. In fact there is a long list of classic movies I’ve never
seen. Seriously, I bet you could rattle off 10-20 of your favourite or just
classic movies and I might have seen two or three. It’s enraging to my friends.
(Laughs)
If you could
change anything about book marketing, what would it be?
Nothing. I haven’t been in the industry for long but I can already tell it is
incredible difficult to hold someone’s attention for a moment let alone get
people to reach into their wallets and spend time reading your book. But, I
like that. There are so many people who absolutely love to read and do hand
over their hard earned money for a book and I think that they should be
rewarded with only the best stories. The best stories from the best authors
that had the discipline, work ethic, courage and determination to press through
the dense jungle of unlikelihood and make it to the top.
Do you know the
ending of your books before you finish writing them? Yes, definitely. This is the first book in a
series and I know how every book is going to end along with the overall endgame
of the series.
How do you think
reading has benefited your writing? I actually try
not to read too much fiction because I don’t want to become influenced by other
stories or authors. I don’t want to think in the back of my head when I sit
down to write, that I have to write like that. I don’t want to think that I
have to do something like they did. I just want to have my head filled with my
ideas.
Do you study
science, the planets, history, or anything special to help you with your
writing? Of course. I love astronomy and history and have since I
was a kid. Having a working knowledge of the cosmos helps out a lot when you’re
writing a sci-fi because it allows you to ground your concepts in reality but
still allow you to take those ideas to the next level.
What, who, and
when first inspired you to write? I knew when I was about 12
that I want to be a writer. I would watch all these cartoons and video games
and I would draw myself as an extra character from that show because, I want to
be a Power Ranger too! (laughs) And I would come up with all the stories for my
character and that’s when it kind of hit me that I wanted to do this for a
living. Took me a while to get around to writing a book but I finally did it!
My 12 year old self is very happy for me but he’s also very sad that he’ll
never get to be a Power Ranger. Poor kid.
Personal info:
Favourite:
Drink – Toss
up between lemonade and orange juice.
Food – Uh...pizza.
Come on that shouldn’t even be a question. You should just automatically assume
that everyone’s favourite food is pizza because they are wrong if it isn’t.
Vacation – A
summer trip I took to Chicago back in 2010. It was the first time I ever
visited another state.
TV show – Don’t
think I have a favourite TV show but I really like
Movie – Disney’s
Aladdin.
Animal – Tiger
Sport – Not a
sports guy but I show up for the NFL and NBA playoffs, the Super Bowl and the
NBA Finals.
Song – Whichever
one is stuck in my head at that moment.
Comedy – Coming
to America with Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall. Classic.
How can people
connect with you?
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MisterJMI
Email: writejmi@gmail.com
Where can readers
find your book?
Amazon:
Facebook: Facebook.com/readtheglory
No comments:
Post a Comment