Author Interview with Jamie Krakover

Hi Jamie, tell us a bit about yourself and what inspired you to write?

I’m an aerospace engineer by day and a writer by night. I’ve always loved Sci Fi and space, but I didn’t always love writing. When I was a kid I used to sit at the kitchen table and cry whenever they sent home story starters. But when I was in High School I took a Sci Fi English class and fell in love with the genre as a reader and couldn’t get enough. As I dove into more and more and explored YA and more specifically YA Sci Fi and Fantasy in my 20s, I found a series called the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel. The research that went into that series intrigued me and after reading it I started playing with ideas and characters and thus my writing journey began.

What appeals to you most about the sci-fi genre?

I love the ‘what if’ and the art of possible. Looking at possible futures or alternate realities and how humans (or aliens, creatures etc.) handle situations around those questions is really interesting to me. Most of my writing starts with a ‘what if’ question and I love exploring it in the context of new and different worlds.

Tell us a little bit about your latest project and the challenges you’ve faced putting it all together?

My latest published work is a YA Sci Fi TRACKER220 about a futuristic world where everyone has brain-interfacing tracking chips and the girl who is the glitch that could bring the whole network down. It released in October of 2020 and is available now.

TRACKER220 was my first published novel and it had a unique path to self publication. I had a rocky road querying and revising and querying again and revising again and finally after a revise and resubmit from an agent I received two offers of representation. I was about 6 months in revising my manuscript with my agent when she left agenting for another role in publishing which ripped the rug out from underneath me. I quit writing for a while but ultimately decided that this book needed to be out in the world, so I decide to self publish through a cooperative publishing group Snowy Wings Publishing.

At that point I knew very little about self publishing and had a huge learning curve to overcome but being in a cooperative publishing group helped me learn a lot about self publishing and the choices and figure out what was best for me. And now the book is out in the wild which is really cool.

In terms of future projects, I’m about ready to query a MG sci fi STEM manuscript and I’m drafting another YA Sci Fi but no release dates yet.

What type of characters do you like to write the most and how much of yourself do you put into them? 

I’m super passionate about STEM, and women in STEM so I really enjoy weaving those aspects into my stories. I’m also Jewish and look for clever ways to weave my Jewish faith into the stories that I write.

For TRACKER220 the main character Kaya is Jewish like me and part of her journey is finding her Jewish identity and how that can sometimes conflict with the technology she’s gown up with her entire life. It is things that I struggle with growing up, what does it mean to be Jewish and how has it evolved as technology has.

One of the other characters in the book has my love of tech and there’s also a couple of characters who get their emotional ranges from me (but I won’t say which ones ;) )

But I like to put pieces of me in a lot of my characters. There is never one that is fully me though. And my MG Sci Fi STEM has a science loving young woman that is an inventor and I’m super excited for the world to meet her.

For any wannabe writers out there what’s the most useful thing you’ve learned?

As a writer you need to be a reader first. I find I do my best writing when I’m also reading. From there just put the words on the page and worry about how it looks and sounds later. (I should tell myself this more often too). And don’t forget to have fun of course. Enjoy the ride.

What writing tricks do you utilise to hit your deadlines and keep your stories on track?

I’m very goal oriented, so having monthly or weekly goals helps. Getting together with other writers forces me to put my butt in the chair and write(peer pressure right?) and I also like using the discord bot to track word counts and words per minute.

Are you a plotter or a pantser (make it up as you go)?

I’m a plotster… I like to outline on a chapter level but the details for each chapter are a few sentences of this is what happens. Then when I sit down to write I let the characters do their thing and make it up within the box I give them. Sometimes they step outside the box (or run from the box completely) and I have to figure it out or adjust the outline. But my logical engineering brain likes to have some guidelines to attempt to work within.

What plans do you have for the future? A new series or perhaps a dip into other genres? 

My first novel was a YA Sci Fi, and I have ideas for more content in that world so maybe one day… But I also find myself writing a lot of MG as well, and dabbling in fantasy and occasionally paranormal within YA and MG. I’ve also published short stories in the Brave New Girls Anthologies and nonfiction in Putting the Science in Fiction. And I won’t rule out other genres. It’s likely I’ll write and adult sci fi at some point.

With the world the way it is at the moment what sort of tales do you prefer? Ones with heroes where good triumphs over evil or ones that take a darker approach?

I tend to do a little of both, things always get on the darker side, but I’m a big fan of the happy ending or happy for now. But I have no problem making things rough on my characters along the way.

What’s better, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings or Star Wars? 

I love them all, but if you had a lightsaber to my throat and told me to pick it’d be Star Wars.

Blog – http://jamiekrakover.blogspot.com/ 

Twitter – https://twitter.com/Rockets2Writing 

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/jamiekrakover/ 

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16483406.Jamie_Krakover?from_search=true 

Bookbub - https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jamie-krakover?list=about

Thanks for taking part!

Thanks for having me!