Jami Montgomery Interview

So now we have a interview from the wonderful Jami. Hope you enjoy and want to go check out her book Knights End by the end of reading this.

We are currently working on a blog hop so keep your eyes peeled.

1) When did you decide that writing was your thing?

Honestly, writing is something that I’ve always done. I learned to read at a really young age because my sister was in kindergarten and learning, so I learned with her. But “See Spot Run” and “Sam chases Jane” were so pointless to me because I was already at a higher reading level when I got into school, so I started making up my own stories. From there it just blossomed until I was devouring every book I could find and writing my own.

2) Why did you go with self publishing your book?

Historical fiction is a very tight niche. It’s not one of those genres that is constantly gaining new fans, but rather one that has the same group of people that read the books. I mean, they get new fans sometimes, sure. But not like paranormal or young adult does. Right when I finished writing Knight’s End, I jumped into writing Nineteen. And when I finished Nineteen, I started to query with it. It’s really hard to be someone with no writing credit trying to publish a book traditionally. It’s nothing on you, really. It all depends on the agents, the publishers. They get to decide whether your story is good enough or not.
After months of trying (and failing) to find and agent for Nineteen, I started working on Knight’s End again, editing it as much as I could, changing some of the story up and just generally making it “read worthy.” Then I found a good self-publishing site and worked with a cover maker (who is also my best friend) to get a cover I could use and voila! Knight’s End was published.

3) Who were/are the people that helped you the most with your writing?

I honestly believe that the people I met and befriended on inkpop helped my writing immensely. They were never afraid to be harsh, but their harsh reviews helped me so much. I grew a lot while on that site. I wrote the beginning of Knight’s End four different times before finding one that really fit my book, and it’s all because of reviews I got on inkpop. And now, the friends I’ve made there keep me writing and don’t let me give up. They encourage me and help me still. I wouldn’t be anyone without them.

4) Which one of your characters did you find the funnest to write? Did you find any of them hard to write?

In Knight’s End, I absolutely love Ernst. He’s not a huge part of the first book, but he’s big later. I just love everything about him. He’s proud but not arrogant, funny (though that’s hard to see in the first book) and just cares about his family more than anything. I feel like he’s one of those characters that you really have to think about to understand, and no one will ever know him as well as I do.
Hard to write? Probably Aston or Richie. Richie plays a huge role in later books too, though he’s a side character in Knight’s End. He’s a young boy working in the palace, and you don’t get to see him much. It’s hard to write from the perspective of someone so young. And Aston because I knew things about him that readers don’t know until the end of the book, and it was hard for me to get him right while thinking about later pieces of the story. But I think he turned out pretty well.

5) What are challenges you faced while writing?

I think my biggest challenge writing Knight’s End was getting the time period right. I mean, the research is the hardest part of historical writing. You have to use the right words to describe things (like breeches instead of pants of jeans, and blouse or tunic instead of shirts) and the dialogue has to be a bit tighter. But that’s what makes it believable in the end, so I can’t really complain.

6) Who would you consider your writing mentor?

My writing mentor would have to be Sherrilyn Kenyon. Her story is so amazing, and she overcame so much to get where she is. She’s a true icon of the “dreams come true” slogan, and I absolutely love her writing. I love that she never gave up and she got where she needed to be, and I love to think that someday I’ll be able to do the same and inspire other people to go for their dreams and not give up.

7) Outlines – they are a thing many authors use, but there are many that don’t use them. Do you use outlines while you write?

I actually don’t use outlines. I always have a clear picture in my head of how the book will end, but from beginning to end I really don’t have any clue what will happen. I let the characters surprise me and see where they take me.

8) Do you experience writer’s block? How do you handle it?

I think every writer experiences writer’s block at some point in their careers. I usually work on something different for a while if my current project isn’t cooperating. I started writing Knight’s End two years ago, got stuck on it, wrote another book, and then came back to KE. The entire storyline changed when I came back to it, and it worked out for the better. While writing Nineteen, I started a lot of side projects. I now have about twenty seven books started on my computer. Whenever I get stuck, I go to one of those for a while.

9) What are you currently working on?

Right now I am writing a ghost story called Otherworldly. It’s about a boy named Robbie who died and ends up in a place called Otherworld and his girlfriend, Johanna, who he leaves behind when he dies. One day, Robbie wakes up and gets pulled out of Otherworld and back to Earth…as a ghost. Something happens that makes him momentarily human, and Johanna sees him. Thus their adventure starts. There’s a secret, deadly organization, murder, ghosts, and lots more in this book, and I am really excited about it. Maybe I’ll post a preview on my author page soon to get some thoughts. It’s really different from anything I’ve written before, so we’ll see how it goes.

10) Which paranormal creature would you least like and most like to become?

I don’t think I would want to be a vampire. They’ve become so clichéd and overdone. And I really don’t like werewolves, so definitely neither of those. Most like to become? Probably one of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunters. I mean, the way they come into being totally sucks, but once you’re there… I think it would be cool.

Find her book on amazon at; http://www.amazon.com/Jami-Montgomery/e/B007SXRKPK/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1