Interview with Jean Lowe Carlson
Today, I am excited to share an exclusive interview with another indie author who is close to my heart, Jean Lowe Carlson. Jean and I have been friends since we were kids, and in many ways, she is like a sister to me. So when she first started writing, I immediately became a number one fan. When she published her first book, something clicked in me that said
hey, I can do this too. By following her dreams, Jean also paved the way for me to follow mine. And for that, I am forever grateful. So without further ado, here is a fun look at this up and coming author!
Jean Lowe Carlson
What made you decide
to become an author?
I kinda slipped into it, actually! Being an author was one
of many creative things I wanted to be as a kid, but I never really got into
it. I’ve always read a ton of fantasy, horror, sci-fi, but for some reason
never felt the bug to write it. But then, I started writing down my dreams back
in 2012 (which have always been fantastically epic and strange) and suddenly
found I had nearly 100 pages! Before long, I was working full-time, and coming
home to write for hours every night. In two years, I had over ten novels fleshed
out, and a number of them finished. It was about that time that I thought to
myself, “Hey, maybe I should really give this a try.” Boom! Authoring bug
acquired. ;)
Where do you find
your inspiration for your stories?
Many places, but mostly my dreams, meditations, Gaia TV, and
the news site Futurism. My dreams have always been out there (think Salvador
Dali meets Lord of the Rings), and a number of elements in my books come from those. I also
do yoga and deep trance meditation, and the imagery and interactions I have
with entities during meditation shape a lot of my characters as they move into
the light by facing and embracing their darkness, then transmuting it. And I am
constantly fascinated by the content coming out on Gaia TV and Futurism,
definitely media for an enlightened generation.
Have you encountered
any major obstacles since you started writing?
How have you overcome them?
Yes, marketing myself has been a big obstacle for me. When I
first started, I really thought I could do this authoring thing by myself, you
know, “the author in their cave” thing. But the more I get into it, I find it
takes a village. Successful indie authors not only write great product, but
they follow a code of altruism that is amazing, sharing and joining up to
promote each other to their followers. I didn’t know that for the first two
years of my publishing career, and it made me think my books were no good
because I wasn’t finding readers! Now I know, that sharing is caring, and
teaming up to do joint promotions and cross-promotions benefits everyone.
Readers read everything in their genre they enjoy, not one person’s books. So
share the love!
What is the most
helpful technique you have discovered as a writer?
Write ideas down RIGHT AWAY. Can’t stress this enough. There
have been so many times I got up in the middle of the night and jotted down a
dream or idea, then came to find out later it turned into a full book, fast.
The worst thing you can do is stop that creativity stream before it starts.
Don’t even bother to flesh out something you’ve seen in your head in full
sentences, just write down the imagery, the feel of the people, their emotions.
That gives a great start, and can lead to amazing places. You can always revise
it later, and you will.
If you could go back
and give advice to yourself when you were first starting out, what would it be?
Don’t be afraid to grow. If you keep going as a writer, it’s
inevitable. And when you grow, don’t be afraid to leave the past behind and
move forward. Don’t get stuck criticizing something you wrote a year ago,
saying, “Man, I can write so much better now!” or “No wonder that idea didn’t
sell!” Just move forward. Take good ideas and morph them. I look back on the
first series I published, The Three Days of Oblenite dark fantasy novels, and
it was tough at first wondering why they didn’t sell as well as I hoped. Then I
took a good look at them, and though they’re fabulous stories with great
characters, they don’t fit any particular niche. I had to let that go, and just
learn from it. Don’t be afraid to face failures and say, “Well, that
didn’t work. Ok, let’s change it up and do this instead!”
What is the best
advice you've received as an author?
Oh, man. Best advice I probably ever received was from J.
Thorn, a fantastic horror writer and friend (you can hear me narrating his
American Demon Hunters audiobooks, coming soon to Audible!). He got real with
me about indie publishing. It’s slow at first, and you gotta get connected and
hone your niche. He told me about his first year, where he sold like 11 copies
total, of three books! His admission of first-year failure inspired me to stop
hiding my demons and start looking at them, because my first year in indie
publishing wasn’t much better than his! But now he’s regularly a top-ten horror
author on Amazon, and my books are starting to steamroll with the Kingsmen
Chronicles series. I appreciate that he shared his failures with me, because it
made mine ok. I embraced them, worked through them, and then moved forward.
Like Luke Cage says, “Forward, always.”
What is the most
rewarding part of writing for you?
Feedback. I love when people come to me and say, “This
changed my life.” Not necessarily because my ego loves it (and it does), but
because I love to hear how the journey of a character can inspire people to
live a fuller life. I once met a man who had read Tears from my Oblenite series, which features a very tender M/M
love story. He was 65, his wife had recently passed, and after he read that
book, he said, “Jean, I think I’ve been gay my entire life and not really known
it until I read your book.” He started dating men and loved it, really
blossoming as a person before he also passed away just a few months ago. That’s
what I’m talking about. Real people, letting their hearts open because of a
piece of fiction that calls to them. That’s the magic.
What are you working
on now?
Lots! The second novel of my Kingsmen Chronicles epic
fantasy adventure series, Bloodmark,
is coming out March 20th. The first novel was Blackmark, published in 2016, and is getting rave reviews, and I’m
hoping to also get the third novel, Goldenmark,
out this year. I’m also working on narrating and producing audiobooks for
authors J. Thorn and Marsha A. Moore (definitely check out their books – they
are fantastic!). I am also hoping to put out another novel in the next year, a
post-apocalyptic sci-fi about a damaged world where people live underground,
and the brilliant recluse of an engineer racing against an evil corporation to
restore the surface to habitation. Title TBA!
What are your goals
for the next 5 years?
Get big, get known, get connected! I’d like to be fully
self-sufficient in 5 years, able to pay for my life and writing costs entirely
from writing and audiobook proceeds. I also want to build a big network of
great indie fantasy and sci-fi authors (any of you reading this – contact me!),
who promote each other’s work, join together for co-promotions, and help each
other with book launches. Ultimately, I want to get in the top ten on Amazon,
and with a little help from my friends (as the Beatles once put it), I believe
it’s possible!
Where can readers
find your work?
My website:
http://jeanlowecarlson.com/ - If readers go there, they can get
Blackmark, the first book of The
Kingsmen Chronicles, free! Think Game of Thrones meets Lord of the Rings, meets
The Wheel of Time meets Outlander. My books are also on Amazon, Audible, and
iTunes, and I use Smashwords to distribute to Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iBooks,
and a number of other retailers. If readers join my mailing list from my
website, I send out regular updates on new releases, announce giveaways, send
freebies and cut scenes, and a whole lot more!
Thank
you to Jean for coming over to my blog for this interview! It has been
fantastic to learn more about your writing process and share your story
with my readers.
