Author Spotlight
Tell our readers briefly about yourself.
I publish supernatural suspense, urban fantasy, and paranormal romance that will capture your imagination in ways that terrify and tantalize at the same time.
I live at the base of the White Mountains in New Hampshire, and during the summer months can be found on the shores of southern Maine.
What books do you have available? Can you give us a short description of them?
I have 61 titles available, but I’ll focus on the last four books.
Three of them are my post-apocalyptic urban fantasy Season of the Dragon trilogy:
Dragon Tempest, Dragon Storm, and Dragon Dawn. The Season of the Dragon trilogy is also available in an omnibus hard cover. The ebook trilogy set will come out in January.
Everyone thought monsters were things of pure fantasy. We were so very, very wrong.
The season of the dragon began with fire and fury, and ended with a new world order. One in which these giant terrorists held all the power. Then came their demands: humanity’s complete surrender and servitude.
Being a slave isn’t in my DNA, and yet I have been called upon to negotiate a peace treaty. If I blow this mission, the human race won’t be given another chance.
And my other release is Silent Night, which is a fun short story about all things Christmas. It features Chrissy Kringle, Santa’s daughter and his personal bodyguard on his Christmas eve travels around the globe. It’s a fun urban fantasy about the bond between father and daughter plus it has monsters and a wicked sword thrown in for a little bite.
Do you stay in one genre when you write or do you find yourself veering toward others?
I have written in multiple genres, but the one thing all my books have in common is a supernatural suspense element. I love the paranormal and that love of all things that may go bump in the night comes through in my writing. I don’t have multiple pen names, and I write in genres that cover young adult all the way to taboo adult themes. So those looking for young adult, may need to look at the book category to make sure it isn’t one of my adult themed books.
Are you a panster, planner, or someone in between?
Total panster. If I plot something out, I find I lose the spark that makes me want to write the story. With that said, I do have a bullet list of scenes that I type in the manuscript and delete as I go, but they are big scenes and not really in detail.
What is your writing routine like?
Not really structured at all. With my full time day job, writing usually occurs after work or after dinner and some nights it’s a solid three hour slot of writing, sometimes it’s twenty minutes if I’ve gotten sucked into the social media dilemma.
Tell me about your favorite character that you’ve created?
One of my very first characters is my favorite because he is in the space between morally right and wrong and dances on the lines of this throughout the books he’s been in. But he has a very good heart, even though his choices are not the best. Ty Ryan has appeared in at least a dozen titles of mine, and he finally gave me a rest after the last book in the Death Chronicles. I’m still waiting for him to pipe up again, but since that book came out, he’s been silently satisfied with his story.
Where do you get your ideas for world building?
Well, urban fantasy takes place in the modern world, so that’s an easy part of building the story. However, the magical laws within that world need to be consistent. My ideas come from dreams or long standing television series that I love (i.e. Supernatural). That show sparked an awful lot of what if ideas that just ploughed into full blown stories.
Do you add romance to your writing? Is it steamy or clean?
Yes, yes and yes. 😊 It depends on whether it is YA or adult as to the level of steam factor. I have written sweet romance, but I’m more likely to get steamy than behind closed doors in my adult books.
What was your favorite scene to create?
There are too many, so I’ll just go with the latest book I wrote. The entire Silent Night short story was incredibly fun to write. I incorporated the magic of Christmas throughout the book and this is my favorite holiday, so it was easy to pull in the glitter and bells to make it shine. So far, the feedback has been great too. A lot of this made me smile, which was the intent of the book.
Where do you get character inspiration?
Dreams, nightmares, real life situations.
What genre do you prefer to read?
I’m all over the map – horror, political thrillers, thrillers, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, post-apocalyptic, science fiction, adventure. Lately, I’ve been on more of a dark paranormal romance and dark urban fantasy binge.
Do you have any specific authors you follow and try to craft your work after?
Follow yes, Laura Thalassa, Allison Pang (she was my old editing partner in Margie Lawson’s writing courses and her writing is stunningly beautiful), K.N. Lee, Linsey Hall, Katie Salidas.
As far as try to craft my work after – I just try to figure out what they did to make their stories so dang good.
Do you have any recurring themes in your book?
Beyond paranormal suspense and good triumphing over evil, no.
What does your editing process look like?
Finish the first draft, let it sit for a few days. Send it to my kindle and take notes as I read through, edit and layer the draft. Send it to my beta readers. Wait for feedback. Address the holes, read the book on my kindle again and then correct anything I find after that read through then it goes to my editor.
Do you have a preferred drink or snack that you eat/drink while writing?
Nope. I drink water most of the time and I don’t like to pause to snack as I’m writing. So days that I have a good writing stint, I’m usually better on my diet than those where I’m struggling to get the words out.
When is your favorite time of day to write and why?
Evenings because I have a day job.
What is your favorite vacation spot?
York Beach Maine or Wolfeboro New Hampshire.
Marvel or DC? Do you have a favorite character?
Marvel all the way. I love Thor and Iron Man. Both have great comedic timing. And I love to laugh.
What hobbies do you have?
Snowmobiling in the winter, kayaking in the summer. I read a lot as well.
Where can our readers find you?
My books are wide, so they can find me on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes/iBooks, Kobo, Google Play. They can see the covers and blurbs on my website as well at https://JETaylor75.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/JETaylor/
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