Name:
J Edward Neill
The Title of Your Work or Group:
I've published tons, but my primary books are tied to two series': Tyrants of the Dead and Coffee Table Philosophy. I also blog extensively for Tessera Guild.
Where are you from? Does not have to be the name of the place exactly. You can say Hick-ville Florida, for example if you are more comfortable with that.
Chicago, IL. Lakeside. Frosty.
In what genre do you write?
Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror, Literary Fiction, and non-fiction philosophy.
In your own words, what is your book about? If you were not the author and trying to explain this awesome book you just read to a friend, what would you say about it?
The Tyrants of the Dead series is about a girl who thinks she's just running away from home, but who wanders into an apocalyptic war in which she'll play an (accidentally) huge role. Meanwhile, the enemy of mankind (The demonic Ur) plot to use her as the key to their resurrection.
What is your writing style? Do you follow all guides and rules? Synopsis, outline etc. or do you just sit down at the computer and type to see what happens.
For all my fiction works, I outline heavily. And then, after a few glasses of whiskey, I abandon all pretense of organized thought and I just write until sleep overtakes me.
Have you ever written anything and thought; " The world has got to see this!" ?
Maybe. When I finished my Coffee Table Philosophy series, I thought, "Every human being needs one of these in their house." If only to challenge their minds.
Do you have an editor and Cover Designer or do you do this yourself?
I've hired the lovely Amanda Makepeace and Eileen Herron to handle my art. I outsource my editing to friends and professionals.
Who is your favorite author. Not just someone that you read allot. I wanna know whose book you read that made you suddenly know that if you didn't do this for the rest of your life then you would never be happy.
JRR Tolkien & Dan Simmons. Dark. Adult. Poetic. The three themes I look for in every book.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Nah. I love to do it. Writer's block doesn't plague me. Editing, on the other hand...
Do you write your characters or do they write themselves through you?
I write them. I'm not half as interesting as anyone I've ever put to page. Even the bit-characters are cooler than I am.
Do you ever write yourself into the characters?
Just the one bad guy in Down the Dark Path (Book 1 in the Tyrants series). Archmyr Degiliac. He's a cocky SOB. He's me if I were allowed to be a villain.
Is writing your full time job or are you "Keeping your day job"? So to speak.
Both! I have a day job, but I write/market/publish/edit for far longer than 40 hours per week, so...
If you could go back in time and meet one famous person or legend in history, who would it be?
Shakespeare. No doubt. I want to discuss tragedy with him over three bottles of wine.
There are millions of new books released every year. What in your mind makes yours stand out from all those millions in your genre?
I write non-Harry Potter, anti-Twilight, non-elves/dwarves/dragons, not-at-all-like-Game of Thrones fantasy. The dark themes I embrace aren't for kids, and that's not because of anything sexual in my books. I try to embrace an Old World, poetic style. There's no sexy in the Tyrants of the Dead series. Just hard, humanistic, tragic themes. There's not much of my style out there. I try to be a splash of Shakespeare in a world that has largely forgotten the subtleties of truly vivid prose.
In the world of Indie, marketing is very difficult, especially if you don't have the funds to pay for it. Have you found a great free way to market your work that you think other Indies will benefit from?
There's no secret. There's just hard work. Promote like a mofo, maintain your voice even while marketing, and spread the word every single day. I guess if I had two pieces of advice that I see Indies largely ignore, they'd be: A. Most of your social media posts should NOT be about selling your books. And B. Crappy grammar is author suicide.
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