J.A. Peter

Writing has been a passion of mine since I was in third grade, when I wrote my first short story about an apocalyptic event forcing people to live in massive submarines. Since then, I have written several short stories and even more backstories for characters I created. I was introduced to fantasy at a young age by my father, who showed me the 1978 animated Lord of the Rings, collected ceramic statues of wizards and dragons, and brought home a game called Asheron's Call. In 2010, I began roleplaying in World of WarCraft and I have loved high fantasy ever since.

“Welcome, dear readers. Another indie author interview for you. Let's start by asking, what is your favourite genre to write and why?”

Thank you for having me! I prefer to write high/dark fantasy, as that has been a part of my life since I was really little. My love for races that are non-human spurred my interest when I first discovered orcs in the Lord of the Rings. When I started playing Asheron’s Call, I always wanted to play as a Lugian and then, when the race became available, I was in bliss. World of WarCraft piqued my interest in this genre when I started playing an orc hunter. For the next 20 years, I got heavily into roleplaying and thus my writing of fantasy began by writing backstories for characters on roleplaying servers. Eventually, people started paying me to do it with WOW tokens. That was $20 per 1k word story. Fun fact, that’s much, much more than I make off my book.

“That's fascinating! It's amazing how personal experiences can shape our writing preferences. Now, does writing energize or exhaust you?”

Writing has the opposite effect on me — it truly energizes me. I have learned that rejecting this reality and substituting it with my own has quite the escaping feeling that I have craved for so long.

“That's wonderful to hear. Moving on, how do you handle writer's block?”

Surprisingly, in my many years of writing, I have never encountered writer's block. I have been writing since I was 9 years old. I am now 36 and to this day, have never had the displeasure of experiencing such devastating feelings as writer’s block.

“That's quite impressive! We're the same age and I feel like it’s a daily occurrence sometimes. Now, what advice would you give to aspiring writers?”

My advice would be to believe in the worth of your story. Your story is worth it! Just do your best. You will be someone’s favorite author some day.

“Wise words indeed. Now, let's talk about self-publishing. What have been the most rewarding and challenging aspects of this journey for you, and how have you navigated these challenges?”

I have wanted to do two things in my life. My goal since the third grade was to be a history teacher, or a published author. I have achieved 1/2 of my life goals. The most challenging aspect is marketing. I have seen some really terrible books sell tens of thousands of copies and some excellent books sell only a few copies. I have a marketing plan but the cost of it is too much right now. I need to publish Queen's Reprisal and the third book before taking on the marketing challenge any more than I have done.

“Marketing, the bane of my existence. Thank you for sharing. If you’d like to check out Mr. Peter's work, simply click on the books displayed below. And if you want to stay updated on his journey, you can follow him through the social media links provided.”

Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure. Happy reading to all!