Temeraire Interviews

Action/Adventure Award Winner: PlutachRogers

Congratulations to PlutachRogers for coming in first place in the Action/Adventure category of the Temeraire Awards with Jaybird's Flight! As one of your prizes, you were entitled to a free interview. Thank you for sending in your responses :) 

Basics

Username: PlutachRogers

Book title: Jaybird's Flight

Genre: Action/Adventure/ Fantasy

Short synopsis:

Without warning, he grabs my shoulder and shouts, "This isn't a game Ridley!" I see the true terror in his eyes. The kind I have only seen once before when we got lost in the swamps decades ago. I swallow most of the saliva in my mouth out of sheer fear, not of him, but what is causing him to act out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The world is a living hell, ruled by dictators and various gang factions. Surrounded by dangerous swamps, Rotunda is the only safe and peaceful place left. Ridley Jay, along with the rest of Rotunda, is training to take back the world and establish peace.

However, not everyone agrees with Rotunda's mission. Suspicious things start happening within the safe bounds of Rotunda. Ridley must choose where her loyalties lie. Will Rotunda remain a safe haven, or will it join the rest of the world in chaos?

General questions

When did you start writing?

I've always created stories, even when I was in elementary school. So, there isn't really a specific time I started writing more complex things. My writing just gradually got better.

What is your favorite and least favorite thing about writing?

I love writing dialogue. I love to make the characters feel like real people and each of them has their own vocabulary that they use. My least favorite thing about writing is just getting everything written down. I have it all in my head like a movie, but I find it difficult to translate it into words and my own writing style.

That is such a mood I can relate to haha. Who is your inspiration in writing? Do you have a favorite author or book?

Pretty basic, but Rick Riordan has been a huge part of my life. Percy Jackson is my comfort series. I would always go to it when I was having a rough time. (Can't wait for the TV show!) Victoria Aveyard, the author of Red Queen, is also awesome. I absolutely love her series.

Would you consider yourself a planner or a pantser – do you like to have a detailed plan for your story, or would you rather dive straight into it and see where it takes you?

Honestly, it depends on the story. Some stuff I have been planning and world-building for years and it just keeps growing. For Jaybird's Flight, it's the opposite. I have a direction that I want to go, but I feel like characters are just doing their own things. I'm just the medium between their world and ours.

Which genres do you prefer to write?

I really like action, adventure, fantasy. I do like sci-fi as well, but I'm open to reading anything.

Regardless of genre, what do you feel makes a good story?

Characters. I feel like your plot can be pretty basic and not that thought out, but if you have relational, flawed characters that pull a reader in, the story just kind of writes itself.