Welcome back to Indie Journey! Today, we're chatting with Jessi Tayylor. Jessi is currently writing Morning Light: a post-apocalypse novel about a courier trapped on a zombie infested island in the year 3021. Jessi is here to chat about her creative process, inspirations, and what to expect. Let's get cozy and talk stories!
What do you love most about writing?
What I love most about writing it enables me to write ideas, emotion, thoughts--everything-- into a book. I don't have to bottle all of this. I don't have to worry about having no one to talk to because the paper listens. I just get a pen, start writing and vent everything on paper. It helped me get through the lonely days.
Plotter, Pantser, or somewhere in-between?
Somewhere in-between. I'd say I'm a plotter at the beginning but in the end, when I begin the writing process, I end up pantsing it. The only thing plotting helps is that I don't have to google names and such because it's already prepared. But the actual story would depend entirely on my mood and how the scene flows.
What makes a good story?
I believe a good story is when the character resonates with me as a reader. Whether they're in a fantasy world or something grounded with a more realistic setting. There's this reality written about them that makes me want to root for them, follow them throughout their journey as if I'm there too. It doesn't always have to be a happy ending--while that would frustrate me--a well-executed one is definitely worth the feels.
What inspires your work?
I was inspired to write... It all started when I watched Dragon Ball Z and wanted to write this sweet story about Krillin and Android 18. I discovered fanfiction exists and began reading some--or more. When I got the gist of fanfiction, the first I wrote was a fanfiction for Attack on Titan and eventually expanded for more anime until I also started game fanfiction and crossovers. The ideas kept on coming, the hype to write just kept building up. I began to plot ideas of writing my own story. It took dozens of trials and errors, drafts and new projects every month. Looking back at the stories I wrote on my collection of notebooks, I figured since it's already written up to Book 3, I can get started with that and just revise it as I go. The Infection was inspired by my childhood zombie movie Resident Evil.
Where are you at in your novel?
I'm at the final stages-- the editing/polishing stage. Probably one of the hardest to do in this journey but I'm loving the rewritten version. Looking back at my first draft up to present, so much as changed.
Would you and your main character get along?
I guess. Alex is very determined to reach her dreams and goals, determined to achieve something huge while I'm not really the type to reach for the stars. I'm satisfied with what I have and I kind of like to settle on it. For some reason, Alex tends to befriend someone who is opposite of her. Like Shay and Sienna. Maybe since I'm also the opposite of her, we can be friends.
Why did you choose the independent author route?
I wanted to go for trad publishing at first but after a month of querying, I asked around what and why writers go for trad publishing and not indie publishing. I learned that the things they didn't want to do like beta reading, editing, book covers and marketing as samples are offered by the publishing company or the agent. Which is nice because I do want to focus on my writing and not these other things, but as I continue my writing journey with my friends, I realize I didn't mind taking the long route to find my book a home. To be surrounded by writer friends, writing together, doing prompts together, enjoying the process of improving our own craft was exciting on its own. I learned that I needed to find the right agent to represent my story and as I try to find the right person, with my friends already there for me, I made a decision to represent my own story.
When do you hope to publish?
Hoping to publish this year. Either late October 2024 or early November 2024.
You can get updates on Jessi's story, Morning Light, here at Floppi Pages! Connect with her on twitter (X) @jessitayylor.
Image generated on Canva with photo by Yura Batiushyn on Unsplash
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