Experiencing the Impossible Through Story
1) Starting from the top. What is your Author name; use your Pen name if you have one.
DJ LeJeune
2) What is your genre and what drew you to it?
Science Fiction. It never really was a question for me. I’ve always loved Sci Fi. My dad and godfather were both huge science fiction fans, and that transferred over. But I also follow technology news, space news, biology, etc. I love knowing what’s new and what might be possible in the future.
3) What inspired you to become a writer?
In grade school, my English teachers would sometimes have us write a short story based on a novel we were all reading together. Then we would read it in front of the class. At first I was nervous, but my stories always went over well. Classmates looked forward to them. That’s when I knew I might have some skill at this writing thing.
Then in early high school, I was watching a movie and when the credits rolled; I remember feeling so emotional. I realized then I wanted to do that for others. To give them that kind of feeling after they’ve experienced a great story.
4) Which character of yours is your favorite and why?
Terry Devereaux, my main character in Path of Relics. Writing him was cathartic, because he suffers from flaws I struggled with for much of my life. Mainly that of low self-esteem. It was great to work through his character arc, because I felt like an older brother who was guiding him through the necessary life lessons.
5) Do you prefer writing dialogue, action or other scenes?
I do enjoy writing action, but I love setting the scene. I enjoy a sense of atmosphere that lets readers feel like they’re inhabiting a location. That’s great fun for me.
6) Did you ever feel like giving up? If so, how did you overcome that?
Oh yeah. Especially when my manuscript felt like crap and it would never be any good. Having other writers to chat with helped a lot.
I’m in a writing group (The Write Practice), and seeing others going through the same struggles as me actually helped. Not in a sadistic sort of way! Just knowing I wasn’t the only one let me know I was on the right path.
7) What is the one thing you wish you knew at the beginning of your writing journey?
That authors and readers really want to help you out. I started with an attitude of needing to do it all, and do it all alone. But that might just be impossible. It’s certainly lonely. Learning about people’s willingness to help was a wonderful revelation.
8) How many books do you try to read each year?
I used to consume a lot of novels in audiobook form, because I drove a lot. Back then, I’d go through at least ten to fifteen a year. I realize that’s nothing compared to some readers, but for me it was a good pace.
I stopped driving so much and my reading decreased, but I’m building back up to about a book every month and a half. I’m just a really slow reader.
9) In your opinion, can a book series be too long?
Depends. If it’s a serialized story where the events of book one lead into book and so forth, then yeah, I think that can go on too long. If you’re telling a full story in each book (and not just breaking up a long story into shorter novels), eventually I feel it gets stale.
On the other hand, detective stories usually have tons of novels in the series and it doesn’t matter so much. You can pretty much pick up any book in the series without having read those that came before.
10) If you could take one item out of any book that you have ever read, what would it be or why?
I really loved the Farcaster portals in the Hyperion Cantos. They were so small and common, incredible things became possible in the story.
One of the main characters had his house built on multiple planets, basically. His living room was on one planet, while his bedroom on another, and so forth. Farcaster portals served as the door between rooms, so he could walk from room to room and planet to planet like it was nothing. That would be amazing!
11) Do you own any interesting ‘bookish’ memorabilia or clothes? If so, what?
The first thing that comes to mind is my recent renaissance festival outfit. I bought everything last minute before the fest, just picking out what I liked. It wasn’t until I put it all on that I realized it was pretty much the same outfit my main character wore in my novel. I’ll send a pic.
12) What is your best book memory?
There’s an old “choose your own adventure” style novel I read as a kid called “Nightmare Universe.” I remember reading that book on a Saturday morning, sitting on my mother’s couch at her old house.
That weekend, I wasn’t at home. I was in the world of that book. It had the right sense of mystery and awe to pull me in and not let go. Pretty magical.
13) What is the name of your book/series? Tell me a little bit about them.
My novel is Path of Relics: Aether Shard. It’s book one of the Lore Seeker Odyssey, which will be a four to five book series.
Path of Relics is about the down-on-his-luck-guy in a job-starved future who loves to play video games. Then, he gets the chance to play the game of his dreams and win money doing so. And this game is a real-as-life virtual reality fantasy world of lost civilizations and creatures and mysteries.
But as he’s competing in this tournament, he suspects that events in the game are triggering malfunctions in real world Manhattan, and that it's killing people.
So it’s like this mash-up of Ready Player One, Lord of the Rings, and Indiana Jones.
You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Path-Relics-Aether-Seeker-Odyssey-ebook/dp/B0B9RRJ2MQ
14) Do you have a website? If so, what is it?
15) Where can we find and follow you? (Name your social media platforms.)
You can find me on Facebook and Twitter at DJLAuthor
16) If there anything important that you would want my readers to know about you?
I love thinking about the incredible experiences we can’t have yet, because the technology hasn’t matured. That’s why I write. I want to bring those currently impossible experiences to life in my stories, so readers have the chance to live the future, now.
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