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Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing


Feb 4, 2022

Mark interviews author E.E. Judd about her new novel, TEETH, her writing life, and interacting with her readers.

Prior to the main content, Mark shares a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor.

You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

In their conversation, Mark and Elise talk about:

  • The humor that Elise puts in her biography and how it's indicative of the tongue-in-cheek snark in her fiction as well as in her author newsletter
  • Her new novel TEETH, the first in the series, and the creation of the prequel story "reader magnet"
  • How Elise has always loved the werewolf genre, and the werewolf books by Patricia Briggs and Kelley Armstrong
  • Enjoying blood and guts, and action, and monsters
  • The decision to release her books under the "gender neutral" pseudonym E.E. Judd
  • The main character, Danielle Waters, who is a naive werewolf with no idea of the world of the other supernaturals that exist
  • Why Canada is the perfect setting for werewolf novels
  • The dojo she helps her husband run and their theory of "if it's useful learn it; if it's useful, use it"
  • Realistic and realism in fight scenes that Elise writes
  • Deciding upon what parts of the werewolf mythology and to leverage in her novels
  • How much Elise appreciates Brandon Sanderson's "Laws of Magic"
  • The frequency of communicating with her readers via her author newsletter
  • Wanting to write stories since she was a kid
  • How Elise considers NaNoWriMo a gift from the heavens
  • Elise's perspective on how social media is a great way to interact with existing readers
  • The importance of a supportive community for a writer
  • Writing by plotting line by line or writing by exploring how a scene should feel
  • Advice Elise would give to beginning writers
  • And more...

After the interview, Mark reflects on Elise's use of her newsletter and social media as a way to engage with and entertain her readers, rather than trying to sell to them. He also talks about her advice on the importance of finishing.

Links of Interest:

 

E.E. Judd writes badass fantasy. She’s into reading (shocking!), video games, plants, sarcasm, and stories with blood and guts. Her energetic golden retriever, Akamaru, makes sure she moves enough to keep her soft little writer’s body in shape.

She majored in Computer Programming in university, and then made good use of that education by deciding to write novels. In her spare time, she helps her husband run a dojo from their home, and knows enough jujitsu to get her in trouble (but not enough to get her out of it).

 


The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0