Interview with Jordanna East

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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Can you
give us a brief overview of your latest book? Is it part of a series? </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My upcoming prelude novella, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blood in the Past</i>, introduces my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blood for Blood</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Series</i>.
Jillian Atford falls for an older man, a handsome Philadelphia cop, whose
mystery is that he’s married—a reality Jillian refuses to accept. Lyla Kyle
finds her mother dead on the floor from an apparent suicide. She blames her
philandering father and wastes no time taking her revenge. Detective Jason
Brighthouse Sr. is in the wrong place at the right time to attempt to save a
colleague from his burning home. When neither of them make it out alive, his
teenage son can only harp on their last argument. He shoots himself in the
head… with his father’s gun. Basically, all of these actions have consequences—consequences
that eventually cause their lives to intersect ten years later, which is when
the main series takes place. </span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Have you
ever had a minor character evolve into a major one? Did that change the
direction of the novel at all?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Actually, yes. The original opening scene to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blood in the</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Past</i> involved Jillian’s roommate, Mel, getting mugged. Mel’s only
role was to get mugged so that Jillian could meet one of the cops that arrived
to take her statement. But I thought since she was in the entire opening scene,
and a few others, she deserved a promotion of sorts. So, I changed the opening
to have both girls mugged and I showed the contrast of their personalities and
how they each handled the aftermath. Additionally, I had Jillian turn to Mel
later on, following a crucial event (that I won’t ruin for everyone here).
Jillian was a foster child. She has no family. The mugging brought her and Mel
only slightly closer, but she’s all Jillian has.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What
factors influenced your decision to self-publish your book(s)?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I had every intention of going the traditional route…until I
did some research. I knew what kind of person I am. I knew I wouldn’t be able
to handle sweating and bleeding into a manuscript and then handing it off to
someone else to choose a cover, rearrange the content, and be in charge of the
advertising and distribution. I want to be in charge of all of it, dammit! I’m
a perfectionist, so I know I can do it. And what I can’t do, I’ll hire someone
to do. Like my lovely cover, done by Kit Foster. Because I couldn’t navigate
Photoshop if the air I breathed depended on it.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If you
used a graphic designer/publisher’s designer, how involved were you during the
creative process for your cover?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Extremely involved. Poor Kit Foster. We must have traded a
dozen emails, fine tuning the tiniest of details. But I came to him with a
basic idea and we worked to get the right face and the right font, etc. I’m
very pleased with the result and would highly recommend Kit to anyone, as he
was highly recommended to me.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Do you
belong to a critique group? Have they helped improve your writing?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Not a critique group, per se. But I did find and request the
help of several beta readers, who were invaluable. Mostly I learned that I
assume a lot. I assume that the reader knows things I know, has researched
things I’ve researched, etc. And you know what happens when you assume… Let’s
just say, I had a lot of scenes to add when they were done.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Do you
outline your story or just go where your muse takes you?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m sure if I had outlined the entire story at once, I
wouldn’t have skipped important details! With <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blood in the Past</i> (and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blood
in the Paint</i>, the first full-length novel in the series, due out at the end
of the year), I was clearly a “pantser.” This led me to a lot of heartache when
revisions and subsequent drafts rolled around. Therefore, as exhilarating as it
was to have characters do something unexpected as I was writing, I’m already
outlining the second and third books in the series.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Did you
hire an editor to review your manuscript before publishing?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Oh my god, YES! I don’t think anyone should publish without
an editor, unless maybe they themselves are an editor. I did a lot of research in
this area as well, but in the end I went with someone recommended to me
(obviously word of mouth carries a lot of weight with me), Red Adept
Publishing. They are a small publishing company that offers a la carte services
to self-publishers. </span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Besides
Amazon, are there any other sites where your books are for sale?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Blood in
the Past</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> will be available exclusively through Amazon’s KDP program
for the first 90 days. After that, I’m confident I’ll expand distribution to
all venues. It will, however, remain only in e-book form, as I plan to offer a
special print edition of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blood in the
Paint</i> that includes <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blood in the Past</i>.
Obviously that’s something that won’t happen until next year or so.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Besides
writing, do you have any other passions?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I love sports. Obsessed is probably a more accurate
representation, actually. My husband and I are both sports nuts. We wear
jerseys, watch games, go to games, etc. ESPN is the home page on our computer
for heaven’s sake! In addition to pinstripes (Yankees), pigskin, and playoffs,
I love art, cooking, and, of course, READING. (You can’t be a writer if you
don’t read, right?)</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What’s
next for you?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Well, after <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blood in
the Past</i> is released mid-June, I’m going to start revisions on the first
draft of its follow-up, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blood in the
Paint</i>. I’m also going to split time between that and a serialized novel
I’ve outlined (that’s right, outlined. See how I’ve learned?). It’s about a
spate of murders within one of those fanatical religious cult. No idea when
that will be ready for publication, but when it is, it will be released one
segment at a time, every month or so.</span></div>
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