About J. W. Barlament:
I'm a high school student from the United States who has been writing nearly all my life. I am also an avid writer of articles, drummer, explorer and successful burger flipper.

What inspires you to write?
I have an immense pile of thoughts swirling around my head at all times. And, of course, these are not just mundane questionings about future meals. I have, in short, too many good ideas not to write them down.

Tell us about your writing process.
I find that, without an outline, I am utterly lost. No story can flourish without a purpose behind it. And, as I have discovered, expressing a story's true purpose is far easier when I already have the face-level story plotted out. It is difficult work to outline an entire book, but it is undoubtedly worth it. Thus, I collect my notes, make character descriptions and make around a 10-page outline before I write a single word of my story.

For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
That I do not. I can see the benefits of doing such a thing, but I must say that I could never get into it. If it works for some people, I see no harm in it. Personally, though, it seems just a tad bit too "out there".

What advice would you give other writers?
I would tell them to never be afraid to replace old ideas with new ones. I have found, throughout my limited writing career, that I am constantly coming up with new improvements to my stories. Naturally, these improvements come with the need to delete plots I already have fleshed out. However, if I believe a new idea is better than an old one, I never hesitate to put in the extra work to improve my story. There is no worse crime as a writer to not put your best work forward.

How did you decide how to publish your books?
I tried for a couple months after the completion of my first book to get it traditionally published. I then had to suffer a few dozen queries to different agents, none of which ended in success. Thus, I got frustrated with the traditional industry, and I turned to self-publishing. It was a bit of a nightmare trying to figure everything out on my own, but I ended up with a fair bit of success at the end of it all. Determination always transitions into rewards.

What do you think about the future of book publishing?
Obviously, self-publishing will continue to gain more and more popularity over the next few years. However, the current market is being flooded with way too many self-published books, and not all of them meet very high quality standards. In my opinion, this may cause readers to start shifting back towards the traditional publishers and away from indie authors. It is a bleak forecast, but an honest one nonetheless.

What do you use?: Beta Readers

What genres do you write?: Fantasy

What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print

Website(s)
J. W. Barlament Home Page Link
Link To J. W. Barlament Page On Amazon

Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Twitter
Instagram

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.