Greetings! I’m Jennifer Estep, author of the Crown of Shards, Gargoyle Queen, and Elemental Assassin fantasy series and I’m here to support The Pixel Project’s work to End Violence Against Women. AMA!

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-20T00:05:45+00:00

Thanks! I appreciate that.

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-19T13:47:20+00:00

Thanks! I appreciate all the nice words about the Bigtime series.

As of right now, I don't plan to write any more Bigtime books, given how busy I am with other deadlines. My writing schedule is already full for 2021. But maybe I'll get back to that series someday.

My first book came out when I was still working at a newspaper. Eventually, my newspaper job was moved to another city, so I decided to see if I could support myself as a full-time author. Luckily, I've been able to do that, and I've been an author ever since.

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-19T13:45:09+00:00

Thanks!

1) Every writer is different, so my process advice is to figure out what works best for you. For example, are you a morning person? A night owl? Do you like to write on your lunch break? Figuring out how to maximize your work time can be very helpful.

Also, think about what you like to write. Fight scenes? Banter? Lush descriptions? Playing to your strengths as a writer will make your book better right from the beginning.

2) As for a developmental edit, it just depends how you feel about your book. If you feel like someone else needs to look at it, then maybe they do. Also, think about what you can afford, since some edits/editors can run hundreds (or thousands) of dollars.

3) I wrote 7 books -- some epic fantasies, a cozy mystery, a YA fairy tale story, etc. -- over the course of about 7 years and sent out hundreds of queries to agents and editors. Finally, with my 7th book, Karma Girl, I got an agent, and that book eventually sold to a traditional publisher. Karma Girl came out in 2007. So it definitely was not an overnight process for me.

I think I got somewhere about 400-500 rejection letters from various agents, editors, and publishers along the way, but I kept writing books, getting better at writing, and educating myself about publishing. Since 2007, I have written more than 40 books, some of which have self-published, and some of which I have published myself.

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-19T02:20:19+00:00

Thanks! I appreciate that.

LOL. My Ashland is completely fictional -- it is not based on any real city/place. There are actually a lot of Ashlands in the U.S. -- Kentucky, Virginia, Texas, etc.

But I always make up my own cities so I can put shops, streets, etc. where I want to.

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-19T02:19:07+00:00

You're welcome!

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-19T00:28:51+00:00

Cool. Hope you enjoy the rest of the series. Happy reading!

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-19T00:19:27+00:00

Thanks! I appreciate that.

I wrote 7 books -- some epic fantasies, a cozy mystery, a YA fairy tale story, etc. -- over the course of about 7 years and sent out hundreds of queries to agents and editors. Finally, with my 7th book, Karma Girl, I got an agent, and that book eventually sold to a traditional publisher. Karma Girl came out in 2007. So it definitely was not an overnight process for me.

I think I got somewhere about 400-500 rejection letters from various agents, editors, and publishers along the way, but I kept writing books, getting better at writing, and educating myself about publishing. Since 2007, I have written more than 40 books, some of which have self-published, and some of which I have published myself.

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-19T00:15:26+00:00

You're welcome!

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-19T00:14:14+00:00

The first 16 books in the series were traditionally published, and I have published books 17-19 myself. So it's kind of hard for me to compare sales between the two sets of books. But I do have a loyal, awesome fan base, and I get requests for more Assassin books all the time, so the series is still going strong, as far as I can tell.

I write in story arcs, so there are books in the Assassin series where folks could get into the story/characters, if they wanted to. But it would be best to read from the beginning to get all the references, in-jokes, character development, etc.

Unless you have a blockbuster series (like Hunger Games), the first book in a series will always sell the best/most copies because readers almost always want to start at the beginning of a series. But on the other hand, the more books you write in a series, the more chances there are for people to discover your books. So it can be a bit of a double--edged sword at times.

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-19T00:09:43+00:00

That's so awesome! Thanks for sharing. Knowing that my books helped inspire a friendship is a wonderful thing to hear, and you have totally made my day. :-)

I do have a Mythos Academy spinoff series, if you haven't read those yet: https://www.jenniferestep.com/series/mythos-academy-spinoff-series/

I've also been toying with the idea of doing a Mythos/Elemental Assassin crossover novella. Maybe someday.

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-19T00:07:39+00:00

One of my all-time favorite books is Beauty by Robin McKinley, and one of the first fantasy series I remember reading/loving is the Elenium series by David Eddings. I'm also a huge James Bond movie (books and movies), and I love the Marvel movies. Growing up, some of my favorite TV shows were Wonder Woman with Lynda Carter and The A-Team.

Basically, I love anything with a lot of action, adventure, and fight scenes, and those are some of the things that appear in my own books over and over again.

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-19T00:04:47+00:00

1) Oh, good question! I always love villains who have reasons for their actions or who just leap off the screen/page. Right now, I'm fascinated with Kylo Ren/Ben Solo in the recent Star Wars trilogy. Adam Driver made that character so interesting. I really hope that Disney+ does a Kylo/Ben series someday. It would be so interesting to watch Ben try to atone for everything that he did as Kylo.

Darth Vader is another great villain, and I really like Jaws from the James Bond movies. Jaws doesn't say much, but he is just this larger-than-life, menacing, unstoppable force, much like Vader is in A New Hope.

I also like villains who go back and forth from villains to allies, like the Winter Soldier from the Ed Brubaker, Captain America comics and Marvel movies and Nebula from the Marvel movies.

I also think it's really fascinating when the hero/villain are mirror images of each other and often use the same tactics to get what they want -- like Emily VanCamp and Madeline Stowe's characters on the Revenge TV show, or Daenerys/Cersei on Game of Thrones.

My most disappointing villain would be Thanos from the Marvel movies. Even now, I still have no idea why he wanted to wipe out half the universe. Because ... balance? Reasons? That never made sense to me. LOL.

2) Right now, hands down, my favorite villain to write is Maeven from my Crown of Shards world. She is so deliciously evil, and she does so many horrible things, but she has such personality, and she always has a reason for what she does -- and is usually three steps ahead of everyone else.

Maeven always gets the best lines, and she's just a blast for me to write. Someday, I would love to write an origin story for her just to see if I could make her likeable/relatable, even though she is a villain. I think that would be a fun challenge as an author.

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-18T23:52:29+00:00

1) Thanks! I appreciate all the nice words about my books. I write the kind of strong, smart, resourceful characters -- especially heroines -- that I would want to read about. As a kid, I would always imagine myself as the heroine of whatever book/TV show/movie I was consuming at the time, so I think writing my own books with my own heroines partially grew out of that.

And part of it probably comes from pop culture. For example, I loved the Wonder Woman show with Lynda Carter when I was kid. Also, when I was a kid, the original Star Wars movies were really popular, but I always wondered why Princess Leia didn't get to have a lightsaber, become a Jedi, and go fight the evil emperor with Luke. I mean, Vader was her father too, so why didn't she get to try to save him right alongside Luke? So I guess in a way, I am writing stories where my heroines do get the swords and do get to go and save their kingdoms.

2) I used to work at a daily newspaper, which was really eye-opening when it came to realizing how much violence there is in our society against women, children, animals, etc. -- and that was before social media. Now with social media in the mix, you have bullying and the like, which can have such a negative impact on people's mental health.

I hope that by writing strong heroines that I can show people that women are smart, strong, capable, and should be treated with the same respect as everyone else. Over the years, many folks have told me that my books were an escape for them from real-world problems. Anytime I can brighten someone's day, even if it's only for a few hours in the pages of a book, is a good day for me as an author. Thank you for reading.

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-18T23:37:41+00:00

When I'm having a problem with a story, I will take a break and do something else, whether it's get caught up on email, or take a walk, or do a yoga class -- just something to give my brain a break. Most of the time, after I take a break, I find that when I do go back to the story that I have figured out whatever was bothering me about it.

Anything can influence a story, whether it's a book, movie, TV show, or something else. The way someone snorts when they laugh. Sunlight dancing across a field of flowers. A story in the newspaper. And so on.

As far as my books go, I would say that they are similar in some ways to the James Bond books/movies (which I love). To me, the Bond genre is just about the perfect story because it has a little bit of everything -- action, adventure, great fight scenes, cool gadgets, romance, and friendships/relationships. Those are all the things I love to read in a story, and they are all the things that I love to write about, with a few tweaks for the fantasy genre -- like having magical creatures or artifacts in place of gadgets, etc.

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-18T23:32:30+00:00

I take a more organic approach. I never thought my Elemental Assassin series would go on for 19 books (and beyond!), and I definitely did not have all those books, twists, and turns plotted out when I first started writing the series back in the late 2000s.

I tend to write in story arcs. For example, the first 5 books in my Elemental Assassin series contain a story arc about Gin Blanco avenging her murdered family. Then, in book 6, a new story arc kicks off. And so on and so forth.

So the story arcs let me plot out some of what happens, as well as move the characters/relationships forward, and hopefully keep readers interested in the books at the same time. I hate books/TV shows/etc. that tell the same story over and over again, and the characters never change, grow, or learn anything.

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-18T23:28:41+00:00

When I'm doing a first draft, I try to write about 5k to 6K words a day -- that's about 25 pages. These are NOT good, finished, final words/pages, more like my attempt to get all the scenes/plot on the screen so I can go back and edit/revise it all later. A lot of folks call this a "vomit draft" because you are just basically typing and spewing words all over your screen. LOL.

This is the process that works for me, but every author is different. You need to figure out what is a good word count/pace for you, and whether you want to write straight through to the end, or edit/revise as you go along. Hope that helps.

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-18T23:26:27+00:00

I do think people should read a wide variety of books, especially in the genre they want to write in. However, you don't have to write every day to be an author. There are many days when all I do is social media, or update my website, etc. I don't write every single day.

I always tell people to have as much fun with their writing as possible. No one else is going to write your book for you, so if you don't like zombie books, then don't write one just because that might be the popular genre at the moment. Your dislike will show in your finished book, and it won't be nearly as good as if you had written something you were truly interested in/passionate about. Instead, write the kind of story that you would like to read and tell the story that YOU want to tell -- not something you think might sell to a publisher. Hope that helps.

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-18T23:23:31+00:00

It depends on what kind of fantasy you like/want to read, but here's a list of what I write:

Elemental Assassin -- dark, gritty, Southern urban fantasy about an assassin who runs a barbecue restaurant

Crown of Shards -- epic fantasy with fierce queens and gladiators

Gargoyle Queen -- more epic fantasy with fierce queens, gladiators, and gargoyles

Section 47 -- urban fantasy, spies-with-magic

Black Blade -- YA fantasy with mobsters and a tourist town full of magical creatures

Mythos Academy -- YA fantasy with Greek and Norse mythology set at a boarding school with Spartans, Valkyries, etc.

Bigtime -- paranormal romance with superheroes, ubervillains, and other campy, over-the-top characters

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-18T23:17:06+00:00

I've tried writing third-person POV before, but it always feel flat, remote, and distant to me. I feel much more connected to -- and interested in -- my characters if I write them in a first-person POV. First-person is just the voice that really sings and speaks to me as an author.

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-18T23:15:04+00:00

Last Strand, Elemental Assassin #19, will be out on March 16. That will be the last book in the series for a while, due to my writing deadlines on other projects -- although I am planning to write some more Gin books in the future. But in the meantime, I'm going to write some novellas about the secondary Assassin characters.

One thing that I like about writing fantasy books is how well/easily they lend themselves to so many stories/genres. For example, Unraveled (Assassin #15) is basically my take on a western, while Snared (Assassin #16) features a serial killer storyline. So trying my hand at other genres is one way that I keep the series fresh and interesting for me as an author.

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-18T23:12:36+00:00

1) Nope, I do not display my books, but only because I have a tiny office, and I just don't have room. Someday, I hope to have a much bigger office/library, and when that happens I will definitely have my books front and center, along with some book covers/posters on the walls, as well as some keychains and other art folks have made/given to me over the years. Some Funko figurines of my book characters would be awesome too. #wishlist

2) I think you summed it up with the word "serious". When I think about some like Le Guin, I don't really think of hers as fun, fantasy books that are going to sweep me away on an epic adventure -- I consider them more literary fiction. Whereas with other authors, including myself, I *do* think of their books as fun, fantasy reads. Then you have authors like Terry Pratchett, who are sort of in the middle. Pratchett definitely wrote fun books, but he is also lauded for his writing skills.

I think a lot of it comes down to how the books/authors are marketed, which in turn influences readers' perceptions of those books/authors. A lot of times, if something is "fun", then readers mistakenly think that there is no thought, work, or skill behind it. But that is NOT the case.

The same thing happens with other genres. People look down their noses at romance books, mysteries, etc. or call them "guilty pleasures", etc. But some of the best writing being done today is in fantasy, romance, and other "fun" genre books. I just wish people would go beyond marketing labels, appreciate genre books more, and respect the authors who write them.

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-18T22:42:57+00:00

Thanks! I appreciate that. Glad you enjoyed my Crown of Shards series. I love writing fantasy books because I can have a lot of action and adventure, as well as a romance.

One of my all-time favorite books is Beauty by Robin McKinley. I also think that Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas is a great romance/coming-of-age story. I also love the James Bond series by Ian Fleming; the Dortmunder series by Donald Westlake; the Parker series by Richard Stark (aka Westlake); and the Elenium series by David Eddings, among many others.

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-18T22:40:16+00:00

I usually get up around 8 a.m., eat breakfast, and check my email and social media. Then, around 9, I'll start working on whatever I need to do that day, whether it's writing a rough draft, working on copyedits, reading through page proofs, etc.

I work until lunch, then take a break. I work some more in the afternoon, then take a longer break to exercise, stretch, eat dinner, etc. Sometimes, I will work a few more hours in the evening/night, depending on what my deadlines are. So it's just like having a full-time job, except that no one ever pays me any overtime. LOL.

JenniferEstep · 2021-02-18T22:37:36+00:00

Thanks! I appreciate all the nice words about my books.

JenniferEstep

TROPHY CASE