Blog 164: The Magic of Woven Words – Author Interview #46

Dear Readers,

A huge Thank You and a Loud Shout out to the Author Patrick Johns –  for agreeing to participate and kind enough to send prompt response to all my questions.

Patrick Johns   –  The Lost Soul (Book 2 is the Hoarding Series.)

–>  A Brief Bio (As is written by the Author)

Hello! I’m Patrick. I’m from Ramsey, New Jersey and studied industrial and systems engineering and mathematics at Virginia Tech. I didn’t discover my true passion for writing until I began working for a large engineering firm just outside Washington D.C. and came to the realization that I was on the wrong path. I came to a reflecting point in my life, trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the time I have on this earth. I began to recall my childhood. I remembered how much I used to read as a child. Books like The Magic Treehouse series, the Harry Potter series, the Redwall series, and so much more. I remembered all the times I used to ride my bike to the bookstore just to be surrounded by books and discovering new adventures waiting to be read. I recalled all the short stories my teachers made us write in elementary school. All the song lyrics and poems I wrote during my teen angst years. The creative writing class I took just for fun in university. All of these memories were like different puzzle pieces, scattered across the table, and I was putting the pieces together to find my answer. Once I saw the completed puzzle, the answer was obvious: I didn’t want to solve problems in the real world; I wanted to solve problems in the worlds that I create. So, in 2016, I made it my goal to write a book and then leave my engineering job behind. In 2018, after I published Junkland, the first book in The Hoarding series, I left my engineering job and moved to Spain to teach English and pursue writing.

I now read more than ever. I love fantasy. Especially the series A Song of Ice and Fire, The Kingkiller Chronicles, and The Wheel of Time. I also like anything by Michael Crichton, especially Jurassic Park, Next, and Prey. I love reading a good mystery, too. I’ve been very into books like Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, and The Woman in Cabin 10.

Question 1:  Are there any secrets from the book (that aren’t in the blurb), you can share with your readers?

Author’s Response: I can’t give away all my secrets! But I will say that The Lost Soul, book two of The Hoarding series, takes place just after the events of Junkland. It follows the main character, Jahrys Grent, as he finally realizes that what he really wanted, to become a knight and a hero, isn’t exactly what he needs. The Lost Soul follows Jahrys on his journey of discovering who he truly is. With a lengthy cast of new characters, the further development of old ones, a thickened plot, an expanded world, and a darker story, The Lost Soul will not disappoint readers as it will take them further across the Farrest Sea and maybe…just maybe…over the Western Mountains. 😉

Question 2: Are you working on anything at the present you would like to share with your readers about?

Author’s Response: I am currently preparing my poetry series, A Poetry Collection of Growing Up,for publication. This series focuses on the poems I wrote in the last twelve years of my life from the ages of sixteen to twenty-eight, focusing mainly on love, breakups, moving on, and change. These poems are my raw, true emotions I faced while I was a teenager, entering my young adult years as I experienced what love was and how much love could hurt when it’s taken away. This fall I will be publishing the first book in the series, Stages of a Scattered Mess, focusing on the themes of infatuation, love, and disillusion. The second book in the series, Stages of a Breakup, will focus on denial, anger, and depression. The final book in the series, Stages of a Healing Heart (title may change), will focus on the themes of false acceptance, true acceptance, and change. I am really excited to share this poetry series with my fans as I hope it helps someone else who is going through a hard time in their own lives, realizing that they are not alone.

This summer I plan to start outlining The Palms of Light, the third book in The Hoarding series. I would like to participate in NaNoWriMo in November (National Novel Writing Month), where participates have to write 50,000 words in a month. It’s a good way to really sit down and pump out a story. Unfortunately, I predict the word count for The Palms of Light will be well over 150,000 words, so it will take me three NaNoWriMos to finish it. I’m just praying book three won’t take me as long to write as The Lost Soul, which took me three and a half years to finish. Fingers crossed!

Question 3:  What do you like to do when you are not writing? Do you listen to audio books? If so, are there any you’d recommend?

Author’s Response: I do too many things. Sometimes it’s a curse because whenever I try to take a day to do absolutely nothing (sitting down on the couch and disconnecting from writing) I get to antsy, always feeling like I need to be doing something.

But when I’m not stuck behind my computer screen I’m traveling, surfing, doing yoga, reading with a cup of tea or out on the beach or near any kind of water, playing guitar and writing songs, performing at open mics, or playing Pokémon.

I listen to an audiobook every once in a while. I just downloaded the Libby app which gives you access to your library virtually. So I can now download eBooks and audiobooks available through my library. My plan is to switch over to the audiobook version of The Wheel of Times series because it’s just getting to be too much to read; I’ve heard the audiobook version makes it more enjoyable. I also like listening to self-help audiobooks. I’ve listened to both of Jen Sincero’s books, You Are a Badass and You Are a Badass at Making Money, and some good meditation books like The Power of Now and Total Meditation. Junkland is available as an audiobook, and I have to say that Paul-Alexandre Petit does an amazing job narrating. 😉

Question 4:  If you could ask one successful author three questions about their writing, writing process, or books, what would they be?

Author’s Response: I would like to ask J.K. Rowling, George R.R. Martin, and Robert Jordan (it’s too difficult to only pick one successful author) how much of the plot they had thought out before diving into writing the story. These stories were just so well planned that it’s hard to imagine that they invented as they wrote. I love how in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire one sentence can foreshadow something that happens two books later. That’s pure genius! I’ve also read an article that said J.K. Rowling had to rewrite the first Harry Potter book because she revealed too much of the overall plot of the series in the first book. I want to know what she revealed! If she really knew Harry’s outcome from the very beginning. And my mind can’t comprehend how many characters are in Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time. I want to know how he kept track of all of them, and if he had a plan for every character already thought out.

I would like to know how they found success in marketing their books. I’ve read many articles that say writing is the easy part and marketing is the hard part. I totally agree with this. I would like to know the extent of marketing each author had to go through to gain the readership they have today.

And finally, I would like to know how to write books faster. I don’t think this question relates to George R.R. Martin at all since he’s been working on The Winds of Winter for ten solid years. But I’m impressed with how quickly J.K. Rowling and Robert Jordan wrote books. More or less, it took each author one to two years to write the next book in their series. And if you’ve read either series, you’ll know that these books are lengthy in page count. I want to be on that level and avoid George R.R. Martin’s writing style of releasing a book every seven to ten years.

Question 5:  Recommend three of your favorite books to the readers.

Author’s Response:

I loved Sand by Hugh Howey. I read this shortly after I had finished A Song of Ice and fire, craving for more well-developed characters and a drama-filled story. Sand did just that. It’s a dystopian where all of Earth has been covered in sand. Sand divers have to dive into the sand to uncover things from years ago. The story follows four brothers, and Hugh Howey did a fantastic job developing them and wanting you to read the next page.

Next by Michael Crichton. Honestly, anything by Michael Crichton is amazing. He’s the creator of my all-time favorite movie, Jurassic Park. I love how he does so much research before writing his action packed novels. Next really stood out because it focused on multiple stories that seemed to not have anything to do with each other, only to collide and connect at the end.

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. I am not a huge fan of fantasy that deals with elves, dwarves, magic, etc. I’m more of a realism type of fantasy guy. And the series A Song of Ice and Fire does it perfectly. It starts off in a world that feels as if it could exist in our own history. And as the story progresses, fantasy aspects get introduced slowly, making it almost creepy as you read.

Author’s Favorite Quote: My favorite book quote comes from Tyrion Lannister when he said to Jon Snow, “Never forget what you are, the rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor and it can never be used to hurt you.”

#Stayhungrystaybookish

Lots of love,

mrsswiftnib

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