SPFBO Author Interview: JE Cabrera

What inspired you to write your SPFBO entry? Is there a particular story, personal experience, or idea that sparked this book?

So I started this project shortly after a deployment to Iraq in 2019. I was an US Army Infantry Officer for well over six years and I think I needed a way to compartmentalize everything I saw and learned during my time doing all that.

Additionally, I am a lifetime fantasy lore addict. Wherever I can get it. Books. Comic Books. Movies. Shows. Video games. I love a good story based in mysticism and wonder.

How would you describe your writing process? How did it evolve during the creation of this book?

Believe it or not, I actually began this novel on my Iphone 10. I wrote around 60k words over the first two years before I actually started taking writing seriously. This began as sort of a therapeutic thing, I didn’t tell a soul about it for the first few years. It really was elevated when I gave the first part of the book to my mother for Christmas of 2021. She has always been a harsh book critic and had a lot of kind things to say about the book (yes I know she’s my mom and she has to say that, but let me have this one). From there I decided to take this writing thing seriously, downloaded scrivener, assembled an alpha reader team etc, etc.

What challenges did you face during the writing or publishing process, and how did you overcome them?

I wouldn’t define this as challenges as much as they were fun problems to solve. I mean I’m writing a fantasy book, it's supposed to be fun! I think one of my biggest challenges was relearning how to write. I was a history major in college so I picked up a ton of writing habits good and bad from that. I have always thought that my narrative voice was the strongest part of my writing, but making it grammatically sexy was difficult. Thank the gods for editors (shout out Susan Russell).

Who are your biggest literary influences and how have they impacted your writing style?

I’m going to spare you the standard John Gywnne and Joe Abecrombie answer you probably get a ton of. To be honest I am a huge comic book reader. I actually got a lot of inspiration for the pacing of the book from reading them. I hope that when you read you can appreciate that I took a lot of time and effort to make the stories intertwine in a satisfying way!

I would also credit The Witcher series, those books really opened my eyes to a different way to tell fantastical stories.

How do you approach world-building in your fantasy novel? What elements do you think are essential for a compelling fantasy setting?

You see it all the time in reviews and commentary on high fantasy, you gotta chill with the exposition. As a person that pulled an entire world out of his head, I get it. We want to share! But it’s like that first boyfriend or girlfriend, you have to let the relationship simmer! No one likes an over-sharer. I think feeding your reader small but yummy morsels of the incredible world you created is the best way to keep them engaged. Allow them to wonder!

If you could give a piece of advice to the main character in your book at the start of their journey, what would it be?

Live in the now Gareth! Life is going to come to you quicker than you expect, appreciate the present!

As a self-published author, how do you navigate marketing and promoting your work?

Honestly that’s something I’m still figuring out day to day. I’m on kindle unlimited so Amazon Ads were a natural thing to do. I’m on Tik Tok (shameless plug for jecabreraauthor) and getting some traction there. The marketing piece has been a blast to learn, but man it can be tough to get the eyeballs, you know?

I subscribe to the belief that the #1 way to grow your audience is to write more books! So writing more has been a huge priority!

What made you decide to participate in the SPFBO competition? How do you think this experience will benefit you as an author?

At the end of the day, I’m a human being and I want people to read what I wrote! This seemed to be the easiest way to get that done! I don’t have a ton of expectations, but I look forward to all the feedback. I loved writing this book and I think it’s fantastic of course, but I desire for many many outside opinions so I can grow as an author and write better stories!

If you were to win SPFBO, what impact do you think this would have on your writing career?

Winning SPFBO is obviously highly unlikely, there are some absolute masterpieces in the running this year. I have been trying to read as many of them as I can just to learn more! But yeah if I win I think it would just be incredibly validating and it would be great to know that I brightened some reader’s day with words that I wrote!

What's next for you after SPFBO? Are there any upcoming projects you can share with us?

Book Two of Children of the Lunar Gods! I am about a quarter of the way through the draft. Hoping to be complete with that by the end of the summer! Book Two is definitely going to elevate the series. In Book One we got our bases down, now it's time to expand and really show the readers what this story is capable of (spoiler: it’s going to be awesome).