What is your writing process like?
The process is quite simple, actually:
1. I plan the current arc's general plot (Example: The Main Character and his friends enroll into a tournament in a far away kingdom and it goes crazy as one of the world's greatest warriors).
2. Let myself write literally anything that cames up my mind that fits my mental image. Just improvise and let the plot flow until you finish the first draft.
3. It's editing time, baby. Try shorten paragraphs and sentences to keep the narration as simple as possible and keep the plot the most fluent.
4. Don't worry if a single chapter's production ends with the tenth draft. Keep polishing it until it keeps up with your self-imposed standards.
5. Return to step 2 until you finish the arc.
6. Return to step 1 for the next arc.
How do you come up with ideas for stories and characters?
As a fantasy writer, I love going wild with a fictional world, BUT even in a world like that there are some things that we can relate. People will be people, after all. War, love, struggle, fear, treason, grinding.
Even a humble blacksmith of a kingdom deals with family issues, work daily, pay taxes, even some love drama in his life like a cheating girlfriend leaving him for a richer man. That's all about character-designing.
About the worldbuilding, I love making it as balanced and broad as possible, like having vital energy that goes up as you train physically, magic powers that comes up from the soul, relying on the mental and spiritual prowess.
What do the words “writer’s block” mean to you?
When you can't either write a single word or you can't come up with a clear mental image for the plot.
Even I struggle with writer's block from time to time, even with having the arc's plot planned already I can just have a blank mind when I try to write.
How do you process and deal with negative book reviews?
Currently, my book has only ONE review rating it 5 stars, but I had quite a lot of feedback in different platforms and circles.
When I read each comment on my work I can filter the constructive criticism from garbage.
There were A LOT that didn't say anything useful in a 500 words long paragraph about my work. "You should make the plot more dynamic", great, what does "dynamic" means in this sentence? Keep the plot flowing from scene to scene or keep cooking one scene, extending it into a major plot?
I can't feel anything about garbage and useless opinions, while I take at heart the useful retroalimentation like "The plot line of this character felt forced".
It's a matter of keeping a cool head and take the useful information for your writer development.
What is the most challenging part of your writing process?
Distractions. Writing is quite easy for me but sometimes I think the whole world doesn't want me to do it.
When I finally made time to write it can happen literally anything. A bird crashes in my window, someone knocks on my door, an email for a job interview comes and I need to attend a videoconference, anything.
How long have you been writing, or when did you start?
I started in June 2019 writing my first book, when I was in my darkest point in my life at 25 years old. Unemployed, flat broke, dealing with depression and the first time I had mental breakdowns due to anxiety.
Writing became my therapy and it worked, the first half of my first book took me a year while the second half just 3 months.
What advice would you give writers working on their first book?
Don't get disappointed if the book doesn't sell well the first few years. Everything takes time and also keep working on improving the marketing on the book until you reach potential readers.
Also, defend your book in tn every way possible, registering it with an ISBN, publishing it yourself in different platforms before anyone pirates it. OUTSMART THEIR OUTSMARTING.
How do you develop your plot and characters?
I often choose the "Hero with a Thousand Faces" to design the plot for every character in my book since I write epic fantasy.
When you read between lines you can pretty much tell that every character in the main group are in a different stage of the Path of the Hero.
Also, each character has their own values as I create them as diverse as possible (Example: The MC is in an epic journey of self-discovery, his first friend is a buffed warrior that has very bad luck with women, his second friend is a monster huntress that wants to find her origins while being a traveling gourmet). Even if they are all too different, they all come up together as a team to complement each other, since no one is completely capable by their own.
How many books have you written, and which is your favorite?
I just have ONE SINGLE BOOK published and it takes quite a toll on me to write the direct sequel since it's an even bigget adventure with even more sensitive topics.
From each book that I have planned for the future, my favorite is precisely the second one, since in the first book the MC's party are just a bunch of young warriors finding their place in the world, while in the second part they finally attain their true purpose and become a more mature set of people. Their journey escalated into a big, epic, legendary adventure.
What part of the book did you have the hardest time writing?
The MC's past since he is inspired in myself, but not literally.
By writing his life and past traumas I was reflecting upon my own emotional scars and it was quite cathartic.
What inspired the idea for your book?
I always was surrounded by fiction in my childhood to help me keep my sanity.
From legendary anime like Saint Seiya, Digimon, Pokémon, Hunter X Hunter, One Piece, to legendary videogames like Zelda, Metroid, Castlevania and Golden Sun.
It all went down to finally create my own fictional world when I was 19.
What was your hardest scene to write, and why?
When the MC had his first abandonment.
He became void in the inside due to being left in a temple and his soul got fragmented, leaving him literally broken in the inside. Since then he couldn't function like a normal person, completely unattached to everyone and everything, drifting in the turbulent stormy sea that is life itself.
That's how I felt IRL and worked very hard to express it in the MC's perspective.
What do you need in your writing space to help you stay focused?
Not much, I have written in my bed quite a lot since I don't have a desk anymore.
The only thing I want is no one and nothing to interact with me. Other than that, I don't care if the apocalypse rises up.
If you could spend a day with another popular author, whom would you choose?
I don't know any author other than J.K. Rowling due to the movie adaptations of her books. I would chat with her nonstop for hours having her as a mentor figure.
When was the last time you Googled yourself and what did you find?
Nothing, LITERALLY NOTHING.
I'm still a nobody, but when I searched my book instead it appears in the results the online shops where it's published so at least that's something.