If you like mysteries, manga, or fantasy, you just might like today's interviewee. TJ Perkins is here to discuss her well-rounded career as a writer and publisher.
TJ Perkins is a gifted and well-respected author in the
mystery/suspense fantasy/manga genre. Her
short stories for young readers have
appeared in the Ohio State 6th Grade Proficiency Test Preparation Book, Kid’s
Highway Magazine, and Webzine ‘New Works Review,’ just to name a few. She’s
placed five times in the CNW/FFWA chapter book competition. Her short story of
light horror for tweens, The Midnight Watch, was published Oct 2007 by Demon
Minds Magazine. TJ is available to conduct speaking engagements and workshops.
Finished works of her young reader’s chapter books are
entitled: The Fire and the Falcon (which won two chapter book awards), Wound
Too Tight, Mystery of the Attic, and On Forbidden Ground. Published books in
the Kim & Kelly Mystery Series include: Fantasies Are Murder, The Secret in
Phantom Forest, Trade Secret, Image in the Tapestry (which won a chapter book
award) and In the Grand Scheme of Things (all with GumShoe Press 2006).
Mystery of the Attic was made into a play by the Café
Theater in NJ, Oct. 2005. TJ has developed an all new cross-genre of
fantasy/manga. Silver Leaf Books publisher her 5-book series Shadow Legacy;
book 1 is an award-winner.
Welcome to We Do Write, TJ. How long have you
been writing?
Since
I was 14. I realized I had a knack for
it when I was 12, but started to perfect storytelling in high school. I finally got serious 18 yrs ago. I’ve been published for the past 8 yrs.
Tell us about your
books. What have you published?
I
started off getting published with POD publishers then realized my mistake 3
yrs later. At that time I took all I had, which was my first 8 YA mysteries and
formed my own company GumShoe Press. I
put out the following:
Wound
Too Tight
Mystery
of the Attic and the sequel On Forbidden Ground
5
books in the Kim & Kelly Mystery Series include:
Fantasies
Are Murder
The
Secret in Phantom
Forest
Trade
Secret
Image
in the Tapestry (award-winner)
In
the Grand Scheme of Things
I
was then picked up by Silver Leaf Books and
Art
of the Ninja: Earth
Power
of the Ninja: Fire
Heart
of the Ninja: Water
How did the story
ideas come to you?
Mystery
of the Attic was based on things that really did happen to me when I was 13 yrs
old while living in an old farm house.
So, that one was easy. I grew up
loving Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes and all the greats and
wanted to create a new mystery series for African American girls, thus Kim
& Kelly were born. The idea for
Shadow Legacy was sort of wacky. I fell
in love with Anime because of my kid’s interest, and video games (mainly Final
Fantasy). So, I decided I wanted to
write a story using the only thing that hadn’t been ‘written to death’ and that
was ninjas. I took all that I’ve seen,
all that I knew, all my past experience in martial arts and weapons and created
a story that has become the first cross-genre of its kind – fantasy/manga,
which is fantasy that reads like a good manga.
Fabulous! My daughter loves manga and fantasy. I see an extra visit to Amazon in my future ... Do you have a
critique group/partner or beta readers, or do you self-edit?
I
have no help at all with my books. If I
need an editor for my personal work I have to find someone and pay them. Silver
Leaf Books provides the editor for Shadow Legacy.
Are you a plotter or
a pantser?
I
start off as a plotter, and then as the story progresses I become a pantser
What’s the hardest
part of writing for you?
The
ending of any story
What are you reading
right now?
I’m
just doing research for my newest novel, but I what am really waiting for the
last book by Maria V. Snyder “Taste of Darkness” from her Healer series. Maria and I are good friends and she always
conducts a writing workshop with me at Balticon.
If you could have any
super power, what would it be?
To
communicate with animals and nature
That would be awesome! I have so many questions just for my pets that I'd never leave the house. What's the weirdest
thing you've googled?
Ninja powers
Finish this sentence:
If I'm not writing, I'm probably ... working or at the gym
And finally, where
can people find you and your books online?
Thanks for joining us today!
No comments:
Post a Comment