INTERVIEW WITH LOUISE JAMES

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Louise James is a creative, loquacious Southern artist who has always liked to tell a good story. After retiring as a public and collegiate art educator, she started painting and sculpting with a new medium—words. Thanks to friends and family, and God’s amazing grace, she found a new passion to include writing fantasy and paranormal stories. I have always been a mental traveler, reading books and physically traveling across much of the USA and Canada. I have been actively writing for three years, publishing late in 2017. It is my hope that my novels reach across generations, entertaining multiple audiences. I want my readers to escape through fantasy to mentally travel to other worlds and to find a smile, friend or foe written between the pages of the stories I write. It is my sincere hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writingLouise James is a creative, loquacious Southern artist who has always liked to tell a good story. After retiring as a public and collegiate art educator, she started painting and sculpting with a new medium—words. Thanks to friends and family, and God’s amazing grace, she found a new passion to include writing fantasy and paranormal stories. I have always been a mental traveler, reading books and physically traveling across much of the USA and Canada. I have been actively writing for three years, publishing late in 2017. It is my hope that my novels reach across generations, entertaining multiple audiences. I want my readers to escape through fantasy to mentally travel to other worlds and to find a smile, friend or foe written between the pages of the stories I write. It is my sincere hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing

JDBOOKS has the privilege of an interview with author Louise James

Where do you live and is that the setting for

your book?

I live in the beautiful Sunshine State of

Florida, USA. No, the setting for The Ent

Chronicles is multiple realms along an imaginary Time

Continuum. Metaphysically speaking, the Time

Continuum is a layered, multi-dimensional view of the

Cosmos where my characters live.

How did you come up with the premise of The Watcher?

Was it something that you experienced?

I fell in love with the High Fantasy legendarium of

J.R.R. Tolkien as a young girl. I would spend hours in a

small library in my hometown, Talladega, Alabama,

reading about The Ents from Middle Earth, elves from

Rivendell and the vicious orcs from a scary place called

Mordor. If you don’t know about the books of Hobbits,

Orcs, Wizards and Elves, you are really depriving

yourself of wonderful magical reading. Tolkien’s, Hobbit

along with J.K. Rowling’s, Harry Potter books and L.

Frank Baum’s, Wizard of Oz, were books that impacted

my imagination as a young girl beyond my capability to

express their impact here in words. I’ll say the ignited

my fantasy world.

How did you come up with an amazing title?

The term “watcher” is a very overused term in

fantasy and paranormal genres. However, the term was

perfect for Ewallea. She was a watcher for most of her

early years, very complacent about the evil that

consumed her to eventually take a stand for good in her

world. Peer pressure is like that as many young adult

readers will profess, if ask. Ewallea’s young years were

spent being pulled along the way of evil; her older years

were spent making amends for her earlier years, serving

the “light or good” in her world as The Cursed Watcher.

The Watcher was the working title for the cover

designer. It was fate that our paths crossed and with a

few changes here and there, Amellea and Ewallea

became visually real for me. The cover designer for The

Watcher is the official designer for all The Ent

Chronicles covers.

Your book is a Fantasy and paranormal. What drew you to

the genre?

Like I stated earlier . . . I fell in love with the High

Fantasy legendarium of J.R.R. Tolkien as a young girl.

I would spend hours in a small library in my

hometown, Talladega, Alabama, reading about The

Ents from Middle Earth, elves from Rivendell and the

vicious orcs from a scary place called Mordor. The

Ents in the legendarium were gigantic trees; I fell in

love with Greybeard. I had a “thing” for trees since I

was a very young girl—still do! Tolkien creates these

ancient trees that speak and sing to each other in a

magical forest. They can even walk in later books.magical forest. They can even walk in later books.

magical forest. They can even walk in later books.

Tolkien was a man before his time because trees are a

dwindling natural resource vital to our world . . . our

Earth. I see trees with personalities. I see them as

ghuardians, homes for animals and life-giving

organisms in our world. We can learn lessons from

trees.

Do you think writers need to feel strong emotions in order

to write a Fantasy and paranormal?

Yes, but I can only speak for me; I write strong

emotions therefore, I must know those emotions

experientially if I expect to write believable characters.

It’s all about the characters! A creative imagination is

a high risk-taking adventure that takes courage and

belief in what you are doing. It’s a form of exploration

to push your limits as far as your ethics will allow you

to go. Let me be frank. An author writing in the

fantasy and paranormal genres asks potential readers

to trust and accept concepts that they may not be

comfortable accepting until they fall in love with the

characters or love to hate the characters within the

story. It is a sticky wicket, but if an author delivers

fully developed characters readers will accept the

characters.

In one of my blog pieces, I discuss how to approach

writing a fantasy novels. What advice would you give

someone on how to approach writing fantasy and

paranormal books?

I think the most important beginnings are the

dreams we dream and books we read. My mind

creates stories during my sleep all the time. They

include all types of worlds: dystopian, apocalyptic,

futuristic, paranormal tropes, like shifters, vampires,

mages, wizards and witches. I have always believed in

“all possibilities” and yes, I believe in magic. The

works of authors are a great resource for me too.

Typically I will use a trope and give it an entirely

different personality that what is stereotypically

descriptive of the characters nature, i.e., I will make a

character that typically is an “evil” character into a

“good” character. We only know good because evil

exists in our world.

Have any parts in the storyline of The Watcher/Amellea

been influenced by TV or movie figures? If so, which

one(s)?

Yes. One of Tom Cruise’s earlier movies, Legend,

with Mia Sara has a character that helps me visualize

a fairy/nymph; Her name was Una. The director

envisioned this delicate but saucy creature bringing a

mythological character to life beautifully. She had

such a small part in the movie but she was

memorable. I was inspired to create the three Nymph

sisters: Annabelle, Merabelle and Lylahbelle in The

Ent Chronicles from my exposure to Una. And of

course, Greybeard, Tree Ent from the Lord of the

Rings by Tolkien inspired the TreeGhuardians:

SmileySwiftTree and MossBeeTree mentioned

throughout The Ent Chronicles.

If you could give your younger self some advice about the

writing process, what would it be?

Write those dreams down as soon as you wake! I

have lost so many ideas because I was not self

disciplined enough to write down my dreams and they

flee from my memory after a time. I would also have

started seriously writing books sooner. I have wasted

so much time talking myself out of being a writer. I

use to say to myself, “everyone wants to write a book

but not everyone wants to read their books! What

makes them think they are writers?” Just like my art

making—the more you make the more you hone your

craft. Write and draw every day is my motto.

What time do you usually start writing and what do you

find the hardest part of the writing process?

I write on my computer throughout the day but

free from distraction. When I write my first draft I

listen to music to set the mood for just “telling

(writing) the first draft. Then when I refine dialogue

and scenes, I write in quietness most times so I can

hear my characters voices: that’s when the magic

happens. Writing and art making at this stage uses a

part of my brain that requires great thought because

of my learning style: I am a global learner and must

see the whole picture to be able to produce I also hand write in a journal or other

scraps of paper, napkins, even a piece of cereal box

ideas when they hit me out of nowhere! I insert them

in my writing journal. And the hardest part . . . any

author would agree with me on this . . . finishing.

Letting go of the characters you lived with for weeks

is difficult if you want your book to be the best it can

be, but the other voices you hear at this point are

those that create doubt. Is the book good enough?

Will anyone read it? Have courage my friends . . .

push publish. You can’t please everyone, but please

do please yourself!

How has writing changed you?

I used found objects and all manner of water

media to create my artwork in the past but now I

added words as medium too. I paint with words.

Writing gives me peace; painting is the same process

of escape for me as writing and reading. I can escape

into my fantasy worlds, visit with my characters I

create anytime I wish. I did with my favorite authors I

read and escaped into the worlds they created. I read

more now, if that is possible. Read and write always.

What do you like to do when you are not writing?

Oh wow! How many words do I have? Gardening!

Nature and growing things are what I love to do when

I am not writing. It inspires my artwork and writing. I

call it my therapy. So much beauty in flora and fauna.

I love the entire process of growing from seed,

chemical free many of the foods I feed my family.