Name: Deborah Jay
Books: The Prince’s Man (#1 The Five Kingdoms), The Prince’s Son (#2), The Prince’s Protégé (#3), The Prince’s Heir (#4), The Prince’s Legacy (Boxset books 1-4 inclusive), Desprite Measures (The Caledonian Sprite stories #1), Sprite Night (#1.5), The World and the Stars (multi-author anthology), The Building Blocks of Training, and The Successful Dressage Competitor
Genre: Epic and Urban fantasy, plus horse training.
Background: I am a former professional athlete, now coach, trying to retire in my dream home in the Scottish Highlands. My plan is to do more writing as I do less outdoor work, but I find it hard to say ‘no’ and so my planned reduction in coaching isn’t yet happening.
When did you first decide you wanted to be a writer? As a child I was a voracious reader and just assumed I would also write. I started at around 8 years old, and never stopped.
Do you write full-time? If not, do you have an outside job or other responsibilities? I’ve been a professional athlete all my life (riding dressage horses) and I’m so used to being super active that I don’t think I could tolerate being a full-time writer, but it does fit in very nicely when the weather is bad and gives me an excuse to be indoors!
Where do you get your ideas for characters and plots? Ooh, I always dread this question! My entire life I’ve had a busy and demanding imagination, with both plots and characters appearing fully formed from my subconscious—so many that I will never get them all onto the page! Occasionally a news story will prompt a new idea to kick things off, but equally, I’m never short of my own material.
Have you ever written yourself into a story? No, although my values and opinions may sneak in at times.
If you write nonfiction, tell me about your projects. What subjects motivate you? I write non-fiction text books about my specialist area of knowledge: training dressage horses.
What kind of research and preparation do you do before you write? When I began my writing career I was a true pantser—writing ‘by the seat of my pants’ with no idea where the plot was going, but these days I do a vague outline, laying out the start and finish, with a bit of the middle, plus my characters’ motivations and story arcs (how they will change during the story). For me, part of the enjoyment of writing is being surprised by what a character does, and where the story leads, so I don’t like to be too detailed before I begin.
What is your editing process? Do you hire an outside editor? I do all my own editing, although these days I’m pretty good at producing a fairly clean first draft that needs only some minor tweaks. For advice on this I rely on my awesome writers’ group: we’ve been working together for 30 years! Most of us are published in one form or another, so we expect nothing less than professional work from each other, and we are very good at critiquing positively, and discussing how to solve plot and character issues.
Once a story has been though the group and I’ve made any changes they think necessary, I send it to a handful of beta readers for final opinions, which might result in some small changes in emphasis and copyedits but no major adjustments.
How do you decide on your book covers? Do you outsource? Oh yes! I am no artist, and having an awesomely attractive book cover is one of the most important things every author needs. I use Ravven – Book Cover Art and Design
How did you come up with the title of your latest book? The Prince’s Heir is part of a series, so follows the series pattern of relating to more than one character in each book.
What route did you take to get published? Describe your experience. Back when I began, the only route (apart from vanity publishing) was with a traditional publisher. I was fortunate to be taken on by the first U.S. agent I approached, who sent the book to the (then) Big Six publishers. It took 6 months to get all the responses back, and they all loved my writing style, but the book wasn’t a fresh enough concept for them, so they all passed. In the meantime, I had approached a UK publisher directly with a proposal for a non-fiction text (on horse training) which they took. I have published 2 books with them and have a third coming out this year.
When indie publishing became a practical option, I published my first novel myself, and continue happily with that route for my fiction.
What kinds of things do you do to promote your book? I run an annual price promotion over Christmas each year with paid ads, and in between I blog on my own site, and do guest blogs such as this one.
Have you ever had a book-signing event? Tell us about your experience. I have done a few, but I’m not a natural at small talk, or at attracting people to come and talk with me, so I’m not overly successful unless I’m selling to people who are already fans.
Have you taken writing courses? No
Do you belong to a writers’ group? If so, is it in-person or online? Tell us about your experience. Yes, we meet once a month, in person before Covid, and now on Zoom. Doing the meetings online has enabled a few former members who moved away to rejoin.
Are you in a book club? No
Do you ask friends/family to read your WIP? No
Name three unread books on your bookshelf. The Selkie Spell by Sophie Moss, California Demon by Debra Dunbar, The Author Estate Handbook by M.L. Ronn.
What is the last book you read? The Palace of Lost Memories by C.J. Archer
How many pages do you think a book of fiction/nonfiction should be? As long as it needs to be to tell the story!
What is the riskiest or wildest thing you’ve ever done? I took myself and my best horse abroad to compete at an international show in Spain with no idea how we were going to get home again!
What is the hardest thing you’ve ever done? Made the decision to put my best ever wonderful horse partner to sleep when he developed a mystery illness. It proved to be the right choice as a post mortem revealed kidney cancer.
What advice can you give to new writers entering the writing and publishing arena? Read widely, both good and bad, and particularly in the genre you intend writing in, then figure out why some books work well, and others don’t.
Website and social media links:
Website: deborahjayauthor.com
Facebook: @DeborahJay
Twitter: @DeborahJay2
Pinterest: @debbylush
Goodreads: Deborah Jay
Amazon author page: Deborah Jay
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