Q&A with Jennifer Jaxxon-Louis
Please welcome Jennifer Jaxxon-Louis to our Featured Author Q&A series at Writer’s Fun Zone. Enjoy!
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About Jennifer Jaxxon-Louis
Jennifer Jaxxon-Louis is a former computer programmer and math professor who writes young adult sci-fi thrillers to inform people about STEM areas.
She has written eight other books, a memoir, and a short story collection, all of which she will publish.
Besides writing, she is passionate about animals, architecture, woodworking, dance, gymnastics, and cheerleading. She would like to clone herself to have time for all her interests.
On to Our Interview!
Q. Tell us who you are and what inspires you to write.
A. I was referred to you by Matt Posner, who I just did a podcast with.
I’m a former math professor and computer programmer, now an academic advisor, who writes YA sci-fi thrillers to encourage teens and young adults toward the STEM areas.
I want to give others information about these disciplines that I did not have so they can make informed decisions.
Writing is my main motivation in life and is my greatest source of joy because I love words and ideas.
Although I have many interests and hobbies, the first thing I ever wanted to be was a writer.
Q. How did you get to this place in your life? Share your story!
A. I wanted to be a writer, but then an Olympic gymnast, then an architect.
I have tried so many other things, got writer’s block, and was plagued with self-doubt, but after working with a famous author mentor and participating on a great website called writingforums.org out of London where I wrote over 30 short stories in their weekly contests, I realized it was my main reason for being alive.
I was born to write, and I have so many experiences and ideas to share with others, to hopefully help them while entertaining them.
Q. What are you most passionate about?
A. So many things!
I am very passionate about animals and their welfare. My sister is a vet and rescues, and I greatly admire her.
I am also obsessed with writing, and stories, and movies, and ideas.
I’m equally enamored with architecture, interior design, and woodworking, a lifelong passion.
I am a self-taught woodworker, and I have built many things, from walls, decks, and rooms to furniture.
My other main love has always been gymnastics, dance, and cheerleading in all forms, and I have danced my entire life.
In another life, I would have been a world-famous choreographer.
With writing, I am most interested in the how the mind works, and how the mind could work. That stems from my degree in psychology and all the reading I have done and experiences I have had regarding mental health.
In addition, I am passionate about telling the world what happened with my mother, how our medical system let her down which led to her death, and how the laws need to be changed.
It is something I plan to write a lot about very soon.
In my opinion, she was basically murdered by a senseless and incompetent system.
Q. Can you tell us a little bit about your writing process, routine, and/or rituals around your writing?
A. I just did a podcast on this on The School of Fiction, Matt Posner’s YouTube channel that focuses on writing technique.
I use a combination of Joyce Sweeney’s The Plot Clock, which I live and was taught to me by Joyce Sweeney herself, a famous author, playwright, poet, picture book expert, and agent. I also use The Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson.
I start with my concept and brainstorm, and I usually have the first act all worked out early on.
But then, instead of moving forward with the Plot Clock into the second act, I do what Mr. Ingermanson suggests and write an elevator pitch, a one-sentence synopsis.
This is challenging, but helps me define my story.
Then, he says to expand into a five-sentence paragraph where there is a setup, three disasters, and an ending.
This follows the Plot Clock, and so I go back there and plan where my disasters will fall and other parts of the four-act Plot Clock structure.
I use both until I craft a solid outline. But, often I abandon and start over as the characters take me in different directions!
Q. What are a few challenges you faced in creating, marketing, or publishing your creative work? And your solutions to them.
A. I have met more scammers than I can count, and I’m a math professor!
I’ve been taken advantage of, and so have many other writers I know. I do not trust anyone now who says they’ll market my book.
I go by word-of-mouth now by writers I have met, and I will only hire someone for artwork and editing.
I’m trying to learn how to format, distribute, and market on my own. I feel like I need to go back to college.
There are a million avenues, everyone insists their way is the right way, and it’s hard to know what will work.
Everyone seems to have an ulterior motive, and I’m competing against 60,000,000 books! It’s mind-boggling.
But, I prioritize, do my research, and try to take it one thing at a time.
The formatting of the EPUB has been a bit of a nightmare, and also, although I loved my illustrator, right before publication, I got negative reviews on my cover.
I published with that cover, but I’m having it redone. I’ve been through another illustrator who was not good, so now I’m hiring a third one. The cover really matters.
Q. What do you wish you had known before you started writing fiction?
A. Nothing would have stopped me.
I assumed there were honest marketing people and such out there whom I could afford to help me get my book out there, but I realize there really is not, as far as I know.
I can’t think of anything else I have learned that would have really stopped me.
I’m happy if anyone reads my stuff. It’s not about the money for me at all.
Q. What’s next for you in your creative work?
A. I am planning Two in Vermilion May Die, and then Three in Vermilion May Lie. Then, not sure about that series.
It may be a trilogy. We will see.
In the meantime, I am revising my novel of short stories, entitled What Happened in the Janitor’s Closet, which I’m very proud of.
It contains my favorite twelve short stories I’ve written, which I’ve been working on for years.
After that, I have a series called Burning Harbor that I’ve had in my head for about 20 years, so I would love to work on that, but I have 8 other books and a memoir to revise and also publish, so I will prioritize them as I get there.
I’m particularly excited to return to my first novel, Compound Fracture, which questions the morality of cannibalism during a post-apocalyptic event.
Those poor kids have been trapped underground in their doomsday bunker for years, waiting for me to return and decide on an ending already!
Q. Is there anything else you wished I’d asked? Please share!
A. Sure.
What is your book about and what inspired you to write it?
My book is called One in Vermilion May Live, and it’s The Hunger Games meets Sons of Anarchy and The Brady Bunch. Seriously!
The main plot is about a group of high school kids on a college tour who are kidnapped, shot full of nanobots, and forced to play a deadly game called Vermilion all over the Midwest.
I was inspired by the concept of being held hostage from within, and the Lois Duncan book Ransom, and the Michigan Tech bus tour I took while in high school.
I was also inspired by Dan Brown’s MasterClass on writing thrillers, where he encouraged me to use interesting real locations throughout my story.
That gave it a very authentic feel that makes the story even more terrifying.
Reviewers have said it feels very real, like this could happen very soon. And I fear it could.
One in Vermilion May Live (Blowing Up The O’Grady Kids Book 1)
How can you escape when you’re held hostage from the inside?
Dancer Mallory Rosenbaum dreams of Broadway, but her parents force her on a college tour up to Michigan Tech. When her tour bus is hijacked, she and eight other students are injected with super-advanced nanobots that take control of their bodies.
Now, they are unwilling contestants in Vermilion, a deadly game designed to entice criminal VIPs to invest in a terrifying new technology. Only one contestant can possibly win the antidote to dissolve their nanobots. The others will be eliminated — and disintegrated.
Desperate to save her, Mallory’s prudish twin Davina must infiltrate a violent biker gang invited as VIPs to Vermilion to score an invite to the next round. Can Davina become an unlikely hero and save Mallory in time?
Connect with Jennifer Jaxxon-Louis
Site Link https://authorjenniferjaxxonlouis.com
