About A.J. Norfield:
A.J. Norfield lives with his loving family on land but below sea level. He tries not to worry too much about climate change and the melting of the polar ice caps. His wife and two rascals of children keep him engaged and grounded in life while he pursues goals of publishing a story that has been stuck in his head for years.
As a longtime forest and mountain enthusiast, he often wonders about his flat surroundings and how to escape them. In his free time, if available at all, he enjoys a wide variety of gaming, reading/writing, drawing and socializing. His interest in (dragon-fantasy) novels has followed him throughout his life ever since he was young enough to read. It was this interest–with a number of broken nights thanks to his daughter’s sleeping schedule–that eventually lead to his current undertaking to write his own dragon-fantasy series ‘The Stone War Chronicles’ and put it out into the world.
Inspired by established names like Anne McCaffrey, Terry Goodkind and Naomi Novik–to name only a few of many–he is ready to show the world what he has to offer.
What inspires you to write?
I’ve always loved creating stories. When I was a kid I would draw comics of my own creation, as I let my fantasy run wild. Dragon stories were always my favorite to read/experience, the thought of having a connection with such a marvelous animal was (or rather is) very exciting. When the time came to seriously focus on writing a novel, my genre choice was easily made, still once I complete my intended series of 5 books, I already have a few other ideas that could be fun to write about.
Tell us about your writing process.
Mine is pretty simple. Just sit down and write. I tend to write start to finish, not separate scenes. I do note down events that will take place later in the book in order to not forget them, but as I continue the story might end up somewhere completely different.
Information gathering is all pulled together into one software program and I must say the mountains of information to be organized became a lot easier to manage since I started using scrivener a while back. Before that I just wrote in Word, but it became way too cluttered quickly.
Outlining is in mostly in my head and the characters tend to form as they continue in the story. I will occasionally go back to previously written paragraphs to add details or add completely new part to give more depth to the situation and flush out the characters move during the initial first draft writing. I’m probably a little chaotic in that sense.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Listen mostly. I do not talk to them one on one, it’s more that I eavesdrop on their conversations. I’m like the fly on the wall, or the free roaming camera in a videogame. 🙂
What advice would you give other writers?
Best thing you can do is to start writing. Beginning, middle, end, it doesn’t matter, just get your words down. Some you’ll love others you’ll hate, in the end they will all be the building blocks for your story.
Oh, and if you’re like me, maybe turn off internet…so many distractions out there…
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I find the self-publishing road extremely challenging (in a good way). I love to dive into something and precisely figure out how it works. It’s definitely not the easiest road to take, but the amount of control I have and insight I get allows me to grow in a field I find highly interesting.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think the writer and reader will continue to come closer together. I’ve already seen read-as-we-go setups, kickstarters, multiple different apps all trying to reinvent getting in contact with that new, next best story for readers. I’ll be interested to see which one will conquer the world next.
Also amazon continues to try out different things, some awesome, some less than perfect, but be honest it is a very unique platform they have created and I’m glad to be a part of it.
What do you use?: Professional Editor, Beta Readers
What genres do you write?: fantasy, epic fantasy, dragon fantasy, action and adventure
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
A.J. Norfield Home Page Link
Link To A.J. Norfield Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
