This week I am uber thrilled to have Jas T. Ward with me. So belly up, grab some liquid noms and join me as I pick Le Brain of pure Fab!
So, what inspired you to write your first book?
Write or publish? My first book was a journal I started when I was just a small child. Full of poems, drawings and stories. I carried that journal around with me everywhere. And many more joined it as I grew into adulthood. My inspiration for Bits & Pieces was not so much inspiration but fan request. It was a simple little collection for the fans to show them how much I appreciated all their encouragement and support.
What were the challenges (research, literary, psychological, and logistical) during it? Did you find yourself daunted at all?
For Bits & Pieces there wasn’t much research involved since its poems and short-stories. Now the novella that is included did take some research. You don’t want to create a split-personality made hero and offend or make light of any issues it may touch on. But since most of the issues I have dealt with personally, it was heartfelt.
Do you ever find yourself torn between what YOU want for the character and what ACTUALLY ends up happening?
Yes! All the time. Especially with Reno. He’s great fun to write. But at times the writing takes twists even I didn’t see coming just by imagining how would Reno handle this. How would Emma feel about that.
Do you have a particular style of writing? Organized or do you wing it?
The “real” writer response would be- of course I organize it and use detailed outlines and schedules. The actual response is no. I do make a very loose timeline so I don’t forget where I want to go. But the rest? Totally winging it as the flow of creativity takes me.
What's currently cooking in that amazing gray matter of yours?
Many, many pots. Besides Madness coming out this winter (December 4th), I have a romance coming out in February. I have two other series I am working on as well as the very first book I put out there to be published inspired by the suicide that twisted my life- Soul Bound. I never seem to stop cooking. My brain just keeps coming up with new “recipes” I have to try…now.
Add to running Dead Bound Publishing, my gray matter is never out of the literary kitchen and I don’t mind that a bit.
If you could choose any writer, who would love to have as a mentor?
Ken Follett. I love his style. So precise and efficient yet able to make characters based on real history and facts that I only aspire to. I truly would feel like I’ve made it to even be in the same room with him.
Time for the "randoms" as I call them:
Fave food group?
Cheese. Is that a food group? Sushi. Hmm..next random….
Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne?
Totally Tony Stark. That sarcasm? That attitude that not only is he the shit? But it doesn’t stink either.
Celebrity Death Match...name your top two?
Darth Vader versus Yoda
Historical, sci-fi or fantasy?
Depends on my mood. But I love historical fiction.
Of all your characters, which one is closest to YOU?
No question. Reno Sundown.
Care to share an excerpt from any of your works?Sure. This is from the upcoming book Madness- Book One of the Shadow Keepers Series:
Reno crashed through the roof of an abandoned warehouse on the waterfront to land in a crumbled heap on the floor. Barely able to move, he decided he would just lay there awhile. Maybe a nap. A really, really long one. Bears did it, maybe he could too.
His shoulder throbbed in pain and his right arm had gone from wounded to down right useless with the fall combined with the bullet that ripped through it. His head was back to aching and as he poked at it with a mental stick, actually hurting more. Blood was tripping out of his nose and he felt that strange acid taste of it in the back of his throat.
But then there was the good stuff. Like the taste of kissing Witch that still lingered on his lips. His fingertips still recalled the softness of her hair as he brought his hands up to his face to breathe in the scent of her on them. It was the first pleasure he had felt in weeks and the first time in weeks that hope flared that maybe she didn’t hate him after all. That perhaps there was chance for this to all be worked out. For him to go home and he realized he wanted that more than anything.
“She set us up. Don’t lose sight of that. We were a butt-hair close to be ended. A big weird ass bloody spot from being killed. Don’t forget that or I will find a way to kick your ass as a reminder.”
“I don’t know.” The pain of voicing that maybe Witch didn’t love him and was just trying to help Bounce destroy him hurt too much to believe.
He rolled to his back and winced in pain as he cocked a knee up and stared at the roof above him. He had blurred in the daytime and he frowned when he looked at his hand. The black was even more prominent under the paleness of his skin but that was totally disregarded as he realized the sun also shown there. Sitting up, he looked up at the roof and the pool of sunlight that flickered across him from his making a new hole in the roof above. Turning his hand over slowly, waited for the pain of the sun hitting it and only felt warmth. Warmth he hadn’t felt in over a century.
“How is that…”
Reno slowly got to his feet, stumbling from his injuries to stand in the ray of the light of day and felt only warmth. He should have exploded in excruciating pain and then vaporized in its light but instead there was only the long ago lost sense of warm. He closed his eyes and turned his face into it and soaked it up with a long shuddering breath of pleasure whispering out from between his lips. This sensation was almost as overwhelming as the kiss he shared with Witch. Both of which confused him. Both should have been impossible.
-I can help you.-
His head whipped to face forward as he back-stepped fast into dark shadows, his left hand coming forward with his gun in its grasp, right arm hanging useless. “Whose there?”
The words seem to be so strong in a voice that it tickled something in his brain as if a memory hidden deep within the brain pan he couldn’t dig up.
“Sundown? You hear that?”
“Hear what? You land on our head?”
That just increased Reno’s fear as he pressed his back against the wall, his eyes skittering across the darkened warehouse expecting a squad of Relays or a horde of Eaters to appear like a really bad horror movie.
Or worse. Bounce.
“Who are you?” He didn’t expect an answer and hoped really hard not to get one. Yeah hope sucked.
-Someone that can help you. Make all this stop. Put an end to them chasing you. The only one you can trust.-
Sliding down the wall, Reno landed on his ass and kept his grip on his pistol but brought the back of his hand to press against his forehead. He heard that voice but was it really there? It wasn’t just in his head or Sundown would have heard it too.
He was so desperate for an out. For all this to end so he could just go home. To wrap himself around Witch and hold her until he felt right again. Whole and complete. The pistol dropped from his hand as he dropped his arm, exhausted and weak, mentally, physically, down to his soul done.
“How? Can you help me get home?” His voice was choking with emotion, swallowing down a sob as he whispered. “I just want to go home.” I just want her to still love me.
-Stay moving. Do not trust the Grid. Bounce wants to end you. I want to help you. Trust no one.-
He nodded as if on auto-pilot and then his brain did like a little switch being turned on. The other times a voice had spoken up to help him; when he was still inside of Jess’ head. “Wait. Did you help me before?”
There was a silence as he dropped his chin in exhaustion thinking his new found friend had already left their convo.
-Yes.-
And that was all Reno needed to know as he nodded his head, saying weakly as he listed over sideways to fall heavily on the floor to lie on his side. “What took you so long?” And then let darkness take him to where it didn’t hurt for awhile.
Want to keep up with Jas and his bloody brill brain? You can find him at:
Series Page: https://www.facebook.com/TheShadowKeepersSeries
Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJasTWard
Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Jas-T.-Ward/e/B00CJO70A8/
Blog Address: http://authorjastward.blogspot.com/
Thank you so much for stopping by today and chatting a spell with me. I wish you much joy, luck and magic in your ALL your endeavors!
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