NOTE: THIS AUTHOR IS NOT AN LV BOOK DESIGN CLIENT AND ALL IMAGES WERE PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR.
First, can you give us some background about yourself?
I was good at English but I was a slacker when it came to it. Because I knew that I could finish my assignments last minute. There really wasn't one "aha" moment for me, it was more like a lot of little moments over time that said this is what I should be doing.
What have you written?
- I've written two short story collections The Cat Outside the Window & Other Tales of Terror and Haunted. I also wrote MINE-198, which is the first book in The Salvager's War series.
Are you currently working on anything?
- I'm currently finishing my novel FLOAT, which, in a nutshell, is Moby Dick meets Jaws.
How much research do you do for your writing?
- It varies on what I'm writing. For FLOAT I did a lot, but most of it was visual. One of the things I did was watch documentaries on sharks so I could describe who they swim and attack. I also watched movies like Jaws, which gave me a better understanding of how to make a shark attack scene scary. For everything else, I went back to books and maps to keep it as realistic as possible.
What is your process like in the midst of writing a book?
- I plot first, I didn't always do this and because of that, I spent many hours staring at a blank page. My actual writing process contains more procrastination than I would like, intermingled with manic spurts of inspiration where I write a chapter or three.
What does your routine look like when you get to the editing process?
- I self-edit so for me I read the whole manuscript once, then fix anything I saw. Next, I run it through Grammarly and Hemingway editor. And once it's gone through all that I send it to beta readers just in case anything's been missed.
Do you have any quirks or rituals that help you achieve your writing goals?
- I found that most things I write before my first cup of coffee tend to be terrible. Music also really helps the process as long as it fits the theme of the story I'm working on.
Tell us about your work space.
- I have a writing desk in my office that is surrounded by my bookshelves, so whenever I hit a snag or get writers block I'll grab a book off the shelf and start reading to get that inspiration back.
Are there any software or apps that help you in your writing process?
- I use Scrivener for writing and formatting, I honestly don't know what I did without it. For editing, I use Hemingway editor and the free version of Grammarly. And I use Jotterpad on my phone for writing down any ideas I have throughout the day.
What do you do when you lose focus? Any tips for getting it back?
- I read, usually a book within the genre I'm writing. I find this helps me to get my mind back on the project. I've also found researching helps I tend to find more stuff that I think would be interesting for the project and that rekindles the passion I had for it.
Tell us about your publishing process.
- I self-publish so the process is pretty straightforward. Right now, I'm just doing Amazon, but I plan on going wide in the future.
Where can people find you and your work?
- They can find it here on my Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Jacob-Peyton/e/B01GP1NV3U/
Or at my website: www.jacobpeyton.com
I'm also on Twitter @jkylepeyton