1. Can you please introduce yourself and tell us something about your book.
Ans - My name is JJ Lynn Daniels. I go by JJ or Daniels most of the time. I have been writing since just after high school, but I took a hiatus from novel writing for a few years while I attended nursing school. I currently work as a registered nurse at a community hospital and I absolutely love the work I do there. Verdigris is my first published book. It’s a young adult dystopian novel following a pair of twins as they discover secrets buried deep within their society and seek to protect the innocent from corruption that most in the culture don’t even know exists.
2. When did you get the thoughts of writing this book?
Ans - My brother actually came to me with the book idea. He mentioned the idea for a utopian society wherein the rulers were determined by the selflessness inherent in their hearts. I’m almost certain he got the idea from Plato’s Republic. I told him that a society based on that would never work because of the nature of humanity. He responded with, ‘write that’. So I did.
3. What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?
Ans - I didn’t take much time to research before I began Verdigris. The story flowed onto the blank page quickly and smoothly. It was like I was discovering the story along the way. It wasn’t until I started working on the third book of the series that I actually sat down to outline the main point of the book so I knew where I was heading.
4. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
Ans - Writing isn’t the hardest part of being an author. Editing and finding the right readers to give you feedback is harder.
5. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
Ans - This current series is a trilogy so there will be at least two more books within this body of work. Most of the other ideas I have in my head for future books are unrelated to The Metal’s Bane Series.
6. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?
Ans -There is definitely power in language. Poetry can make you feel in a way that not much else can touch. I find, however, much more power in characters than in the writing itself. Characters can give you something to admire, something to aspire toward, something to emulate. If you’re lucky, you find a nobility you can’t help but seek in yourself and in others. Stories shape a generation, a culture. Characters show us who we want to be in life and who we definitely don’t want to be. That is power.
7. Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
Ans - My biggest mistake in self-publishing was not doing the research ahead of time to get my book into as many hands as possible. Those readers who have been generous enough to leave a review have been overwhelmingly positive in their feedback, but I would love to hear more; to grow more.
8. How would you express your journey as an Author?
Ans - This has really been mostly a learn as you go situation. I wrote the kind of story I would like to read. I didn’t have time as I was pursuing my nursing degree to take many literature courses, so I just read as much as I could. I learned what I could from other author’s work and then I simply wrote.
9. What other things do you love than this writing?
Ans - I absolutely adore being a mother. My wonderful husband and I have two beautiful daughters born within two years of one another. We are busy and exhausted and loving every minute of it. I also love to read when I have time and work out as much as possible.
10. And last, What advice do you have for writers?
Ans - Read everything. Read within the genre you write; read outside the genre you write. You don’t have to go the traditional publishing route if you don’t want to, but if you self-publish, do as much research as you can into marketing strategies before you hit the upload button. You’ll thank me later.
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