Indie Author Interviews: JAMIE RIVERA

  

Hi everyone! Comin' at ya today with another indie author interview! Last Friday, I had a wonderful chat with Jamie Rivera, author of genre-bending SFF. Read on for my conversation with Jamie!

 

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Talli: My first question is just a simple introduction: What do you write? What’re your other hobbies? And where’s your favorite place to write?

Jamie: Mostly I write sci-fi and fantasy, but I am a sucker for combining tropes and types of story arcs for other genres. I also love romance! My ideal sort of book is a chimaera that blends all these things together, and also creates its own internal logic. Also, goes without saying but I pretty much will have an all-gay and/or trans cast in every book, and lots of characters of color, that's really important to me. Aside from writing, I play electric guitar and violin, perform in a Shakespeare troupe, read (a lot) and I study Russian lit/History at school! My favorite place to write is the cat cafe in my town, it's got such a chill atmosphere.

Talli: Yesss we love that diversity in books!! I'm the same way; it's basically the default for my books to have queer casts. That's so many different hobbies! Do the Shakespeare plays ever inspire stories for you? I feel like all I'd be doing is writing Shakespeare retellings if I did that!

So when did you start writing for fun? Was there anything or anyone in particular that made you realize you wanted to be a writer?

Jamie: Absolutely lol, I completely relate!! They so do inspire me, and basically formed a lot of my impetus for writing my recently finished MS, EX NIHILO--the premise of that was "what if in a distant future, people thought Shakespeare was a religion, not just stories?" and it only grew from there. I wound up designing a whole juridical system of religious law based on the Shakespeare texts as "judicial precedent" and this whole culture wrapped around it. It's not a retelling per-se, but I did dump A LOT of Shakespeare themes and elements in there, I think you could spend hours just trying to make all the references. Not to toot my own horn or anything hah, I'm not sure it's a "good" book yet to be honest.

I started writing these silly little stories about my family dog when I was in first grade, like "what if the dog was a superhero" or "what if the dog was in a band." I think I've always been all about telling stories and running my mouth, I just needed to figure out how to harness that. When I was 14 I wrote my first (bad) full-length novel and put it on Wattpad, and seeing people respond to it and give feedback encouraged me so much that I just couldn't stop after that, and here I am, 12 or so full manuscripts later.

Talli: Okay whoa, holy crap, that book sounds AMAZING. Shakespeare as a religion!! That is AWESOME and truly unlike anything I've ever heard.

Also, omg I love that! I used to write stories about our dogs too!! I did the same thing, making up wild scenarios for the dog that then evolved into imaginary friends/made-up characters. Those of us with wild imaginations are pretty much destined to be writers, haha. But honestly yes, feedback and validation from strangers on the internet is a huge motivating force!!

So are you pursuing traditional publishing with your fabulous Shakespeare book, or do you have other plans for it? What's the goal?

Jamie: For sure, I pretty much thrive on little comments that pick out something funny or cool that the reader liked! And yes I am going for trad with this one hopefully, I would love if as many people as possible were able to read it, because as much as I doubt that it's "good" I still think it's important, if that makes sense? And maybe this will feel shallow, but I really want to get paid. I have a self-published book, but I barely made more money off it than I paid for the cover art and everything like that. Maybe vapid, but I thrive off three things-- fear of mortality, spite, and a desire for money. I'm gonna do everything I possibly can to get my work into the world profitably, while I'm still alive and I have the chance, and also to step on everyone who ever thought I wouldn't.

 

Talli: I, too, thrive on validation lol and I don't think that's shallow at all! We put so much of our hearts into these books we write; of course we want to hear how people feel about them. It means so much coming from friends, but somehow hits different coming from complete strangers. Like, knowing that person went out of their way to say something nice when they don't even know you? There's nothing like it tbh.

Anyway, I think your trad pub goals are totally valid! Self publishing is HARD and yeah trad pub is a mess too, but at least you're not like 100% alone through the process. Plus, wanting to get paid for the freakin hard work that goes into writing a book is absolutely valid. I love how motivated you are to get this book out in the world!! I'm cheering for you!!

As far as doubting whether your book is good, first of all I feel that, the doubt is so real. But also, out of curiosity, what do you think makes a "good" book? What aspect of a book makes you set it down when you're done and say, "god damn that was a great book"?

Jamie: Ahh thank you!!! Yes, if there's one thing I've got in spades it's spiteful motivation to keep clinging on. And that is an interesting question, I feel like it's highly subjective, but I have some semblance of an answer! There's this perfect alignment of Prose/Style, World, Logic and Emotional Impact that needs to happen for me. I love compelling characters, especially ones that I'm going to think about in the context of their world and outside of it long after the book is closed. None of this will ever hit home without a clear and vivid style though, I want to see language that engages me and challenges me and paints me a word-picture. World and Logic factor in the same way, but I love to see Worlds (even if that world is just our own) that are multi-faceted, that breathe and feel true, even if we don't see all of that world through the characters. I'm looking for books that are gonna roll around in my brain like spiky sea urchins and trouble me and absorb me, and basically make me obsessed with them. 

 

Talli: Yesss I agree with all of the above!! Getting totally absorbed in everything about a book, from its characters to its world to its plot, is honestly one of my favorite feelings. Well on that note, is there anything you've read recently that hit all those marks for you?

Jamie: I have a love-hate relationship with this author, because while I admire his skills I think I'd hate him as a person, and his books certainly aren't perfect, but for whatever reason, I get all these things and more from Neal Stephenson's books. Particularly Anathem and The Baroque Cycle, and Snow Crash too! There's something incredible about the way he works through plots, bringing disparate threads together while also focusing on the singular and particular. I also adore the Machineries of Empire series by Yoon Ha Lee, and not to get pretentious but I think about The Secret History at least once a day. 

 

Talli: "I think I'd hate him as a person" lmaaaoo I feel that! I've actually never heard of any of these (aside from The Secret History, which I've been meaning to read), so I'll have to give them a look!! Yay free book recs! Okay! Well! That was all the questions I had for you, so thanks so much for chatting!!! 

 

Jamie: Thank you so much! ^w^ 

 

 

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You can find Jamie's self-published book, BROKEN STONE, right here! I haven't had a chance to start it yet, but I snagged a copy and I can't wait to dive in; it sounds fantastic! And you can find Jamie on Twitter @rivera_jameson. 

Thanks for reading, and I'll see y'all next week!

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