Author Interview: Jenn Gott — Reads Rainbow

Today we give you a chance to learn more about Jenn Gott! Jenn chatted with us about how discovering new authors helps you to learn to be a better one yourself, and plans of writing & drawing a graphic novel. And you can follow Jenn on mastodon! Have you always known you wanted to be a writer? How old were you when you wrote your first story? Yeah, I was one of those kids who was always writing and telling stories, even before I could technically write down my words on the page. My first “serious” attempt at a novel, I was maybe 11 or 12. It was the story of a woman whose father had died in a war just before she was born, and 24 years later she’s visiting a memorial and learns that he isn’t dead, but rather living another man’s life. Yes, it was every bit as melodramatic as it sounds. At the time, I thought I’d gotten pretty far, but looking at it years later it turns out I’d only written about 20 pages. What are your favourite genres to read and write, and are there any genres or tropes you wouldn’t write? My favorite genres to read are anything under the sci-fi/fantasy umbrella, rom coms, and literary fiction. Unsurprisingly, I also enjoy writing them, though so far I’ve only published within the speculative fiction realm. As for things I won’t write, there are two that spring to mind: I don’t really like dark academia, so I can’t see myself writing that, despite how popular it is; and I don’t ever want to write real historical fiction, because the research would drive me crazy (though I will, and do, write second-world fantasies set in “the past”). Beyond that, I try to live by “never say never,” so. We’ll see! When you close your eyes and imagine an apple, what do you see? An actual apple, a sketch of one, a blackness? Do you think that impacts your writing process? I definitely “see” an apple, though never in great detail. I think the fuzziness actually helps my writing, though. I’m a very cinematic writer, and ironically one of the ways I achieve such a strong visual effect for readers is by respecting that they cannot see a picture-perfect copy of what I describe. This lets me zero in on the parts of a description that I can convey with some degree of accuracy, but still allows their own imagination to fill in the specific details. I like to think this makes the reading experience personalized, and therefore carries more impact. It seems to work! If you wanted to learn about craft, which three authors would you suggest reading? For prose and weaving in extensive, nuanced character backstory: Celeste Ng. For balancing heavy topics with sweetness and joy: TJ Klune. For really beautiful and startlingly unexpected yet accurate metaphors: Heather O’Neill. That said, the best teacher is just to keep finding new authors. Read widely, until you find someone whose writing takes your breath away, and then write until you can do the thing that dazzled you. Then find another one. And then another. If you only ever read one narrow niche, yes, you can quickly learn how to write that niche. But you’ll never stand out in it, unless you bring in elements from other genres and styles. I don’t really recommend craft books, except Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses, which explains what I don’t like about craft books. When you’re building your world, what do you focus on? How do you try to make it come to life? Okay, here’s my confession: Although I write fantasy, I actually don’t world build ahead of time! My worlds are always written as I go, creating the details in service to the characters and situations I put them in. My focus, then, is on crafting cultures and places that will have the right impact on my story. Do I need someone to live in a culture that doesn’t allow them to be themselves? I’ll build up a world that works against a core part of them. Do I need a location that will be harsh enough to test a character’s abilities? I’ll write something designed to be as unfriendly to their specific talents as possible. That sort of thing. In terms of making it come to life, I have two main tips: Steal from the real world, and don’t worry about describing every nuance. Stealing from cultures can obviously get problematic, but for geography, weather, animal life, etc., there’s nothing weirder and wilder than reality! And when presenting the world, don’t over-share. In reality, we rarely get an infodump when we’re seeing a custom or culture for the first time—instead, we learn about things in bits and pieces, each detail adding to our understanding, but we know there’s still so much more depth that we’ll never learn. I try to give my fantasy worlds that same feel, of being too large to give you the whole thing even if I wanted to. So long as your details fit together, readers will know there’s a larger cultural context driving them. What projects are you currently working on? Can you share any details yet? This year, my big focus is on wrapping up my fantasy series, The Beacon Campaigns. The series as a whole is about an arrogant female wizard going up against some truly nefarious adversaries, saving the world a lot, grappling with her past and her self-loathing, and falling in love. There are four books out, so I am working on books 5 and 6, where Shit Gets Very Real, and feature war and resistance units and meeting what may or may not be a god. So that’s fun. Three images that capture the aesthetic of your book? Three songs you would put in your book’s soundtrack? Vigilante Shit by Taylor Swift. Forever For Now by Alice Strange. Madame X by Allie X. What would be your dream project? There are actually two projects are on my Ultimate Writing Bucket list! I would love to one day write and illustrate a graphic novel, and I would love to collaborate with my partner to make an indie game. Which of your characters would you most want to fight a zombie apocalypse with? Oh, Praxis Fellows from The Beacon Campaigns, for sure. She’s a powerful wizard who’s already gone up against both ghosts and the god-like being responsible for maintaining the balance of life and death. If anyone can keep my weak, defenseless self alive, it’s gonna be her. You’re stuck on a desert island and you’re allowed only three (LGBT) books. What are you taking? The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill. You can collaborate on anything with anyone in the LGBT community: who would it be and why? Fran Meneses (@frannerd on socials), an absolutely amazing Chilean illustrator! Although I said earlier that I wanted to eventually write and draw my own graphic novel, I would also be honored if she illustrated something I wrote. She also just seems like she’d be really nice to hang out with! ABOUT THE AUTHOR My name is Jenn Gott, and I write queer books. Welcome to my universe. Specifically, I’m the author of a six-part epic fantasy series called The Beacon Campaigns, and an open-ended superhero series called Hopefuls. If I had to sum up my writing style, I’d say my books are about magic, kissing, and girl heroes (and girl heroes kissing other girl heroes). I like stories that are rompy and grand and funny and heroic. I don’t like unhappy endings, and I don’t like it when central characters get killed off and stay dead. My favorite story elements include time travel, parallel worlds, assassins, and one-true-love romance. I like historical costume dramas and splashy summer blockbusters with equal abandon. Follow on Goodreads | Order Jenn’s books