About Joanna White:
Joanna White is a Christian Author and fangirl. Hunter and Shifter are the first two books in her debut series, called the Valiant Series, published by Christian publisher Ambassador International and there are more to come. In December 2019, one of her short stories was featured in Once Upon A Yuletide, a Christmas fairy tale anthology by Divination Publishing. Dark Magi, Book One of the Republic Chronicles came out in November 2019. Glimpses of Time and Magic, a historical fantasy anthology, also featured one of her stories. The Crystal Heist was her most recent release, in August 2020.
She graduated from Full Sail University with a BFA in Creative Writing For Entertainment. Ever since she was ten years old, she's been writing stories and has a deep passion for writing and creating stories, worlds, characters, and plots that readers can immerse themselves in. In 2020, she reached her personal goal of writing a million words in a year. Most of all, Joanna loves God, her family, staying at home, and being a total nerd.
What inspires you to write?
First and foremost, God. I wouldn't have this gift or passion, let alone any inspiration without Him. But I am a massive nerd and I love many different TV shows and movies. Anytime I watch something, my mind is constantly weaving together my own versions of those stories and then, tweaking or combining them together to make a book. Pinterest is another huge inspiration; looking at fantasy art of landscapes or characters also inspires stories. Not to mention writing prompts!
What authors do you read when you aren’t writing?
I used to LOVE Cassandra Clare, but not so much these days. I really love my friend Ariel Paiement who is also a self published author.
With me, I'm a picky reader. I'm a Christian, so I hate when a really good book ruins it because of stuff that goes against my beliefs. But the problem is, I LOVE fantasy books that get really dramatic and are willing to kill off characters and do twists like George R.R. Martin. But without all the bad stuff in it. It's virtually IMPOSSIBLE to find authors like that, that still do the darker, dramatic stuff while sticking to Christian beliefs. I write that way, but Ariel writes very similar to me and she does a lot of the same ideas and she's still a Christian, so her books are always clean. Which is why I love her books so much.
Tell us about your writing process.
I spend the day with my family but at 7 pm central, it's my time. I'll use this time to do my work – either editing, making covers for clients, or writing articles for clients. But from 7 pm until my husband gets home from work at 11:30 pm is my time. I'll usually try to get some writing done during this time. I have a little writing nook in my area and need to be alone with absolute silence. I used to be able to write with instrumental music on which would inspire the scenes as I wrote them, but now, I get distracted because I listen too much. So, silence it is. I was a writer who improvised everything I did until I completed the million word challenge this year – writing a million words in a year. To finish all 15 of my novels from January 2020 to July of 2020, I had to outline all of them ahead of time, so now, I kind of need an outline to work off of.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
As I'm writing on a page, I "get feelings" from my characters. It isn't so much conversations with them as it is, I'm just writing them and they're doing stuff and I just… get this gut feeling that they're gonna do something else instead, so that's the way that I write. My villains surprise me and sometimes get me off outline, but that's okay because it makes the story better!
What advice would you give other writers?
Never stop writing. It's a hard career choice – I would say one of the hardest because we put in so much work and effort that people don't understand for very little to show for it. As writers, you will get rejected by publishers a lot and if you self-published, there will be times when your books won't sell. It's hard to earn money and have a living as an author these days, but write because you're passionate. Write for yourself, not for anyone else and never give up.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I can't make decisions easily, so I ended up doing both. It was God-led though, when Hunter and Shifter got accepted by Ambassador International. I went through the traditional publishing process with them first, which inspired me to self-publish my other books, since The Valiant Series is already written with 17 books in it, but they're going as fast as they can in releasing them. But since I'm currently working on many other stories, I realized I needed to do both.
I always pray and consult God because His plans are so much better than mine and I want to follow where He needs me so He can use me for His Glory.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I'm not sure. I feel like people these days don't read enough and the ones who do want everything for free. So, not to be negative, but I think publishing is just going to get harder and harder for authors as time goes on. People will start expecting more and more for less and less.
What genres do you write?: Fantasy, Christian, Romance, Contemporary, Historical
What formats are your books in?: eBook, Print, Both eBook and Print, Audiobook
Website(s)
Joanna White Home Page Link
Link To Joanna White Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on BookBub
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
YouTube
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.
