J.F.Penn

Thrillers, Dark Fantasy, Crime, Horror

Interviews with Thriller Authors

Interview With Joanna Penn About Thriller Novel Prophecy By Natalie Wright

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Interview with Joanna PennAs part of the launch for my latest thriller Crypt of Bone [at the time of this interview, the book was published as Prophecy], YA author Natalie Wright interviewed me about the book and my inspirations for ideas as well as my writing processes. The video is 15:37 mins long and there's an audio below if you would rather listen.

You can also download the audio here => JoannaPennInterview.mp3

In the video, we discuss:

  • Tell us about Prophecy, an action-adventure romp
  • How did you come up with your protagonist, Morgan Sierra, who is a kick-ass, smart, sexy woman who can fight? I talk about how Morgan is my fantasy alter-ego. We also talk about who would play the roles of Morgan and Jake in the movie version of the novel.
  • Where did the evil organization Thanatos come from?
  • On art history, religious symbolism and historic places. How much time does it take me to research and why am I obsessed by these things? How I found the Devil's Bible and synchronicity.
  • On the God Helmet and some of the aspects that are real-life but have been twisted for the story
  • Have I been to all the places I write about? How I use Flickr for research. The symbolism of place.
  • My writing process is more set now I am working on the 3rd novel, Exodus. I explain how I work.
  • Where is the ARKANE series going?

Prophecy is available on Amazon Kindle for $2.99

Thanks to Natalie Wright, author of Emily's House, for the interview.

Writing Religion, Scene Setting In Amazing Locations And More

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For the launch of Prophecy, I did an interview on GhostWriterDad, a great blog for writers. Here are 2 of the 8 questions. Click here to read the full interview.

Writing Religion, Scene Setting

1. Your books use aspects of religion as the basis for their stories. How have readers reacted to that?

I am personally fascinated by religion and actually have a Masters degree in Theology so I have studied in depth. It’s been a continued interest of mine and I’ve read and travelled widely to learn more. I find that religious story and myth are already deeply rooted in our society and that resonates with people even if they don’t believe in a specific faith.

From a commercial perspective I think Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code was so popular because it connected with something people already knew about. So I wanted to tap a similar theme, taking religious ideas and using them as the basis for action-adventure thrillers.

This is the Empire of the Dead. Paris Catacombs
Generally, people have taken the religious aspects as entertainment and also some education as I try to use real places and existing objects. Prophecy features the Devil’s Bible which is actually a real medieval book, and Pentecost involves a search for the bones of the Apostles, again based on truth.

I have the greatest respect for believers but at heart, I am writing fiction. Some people think the books aren’t Christian enough but I want to entertain and make you think. No preaching, more action!

3. Your books race through amazing global locations including famous churches and creepy ossuaries. Have you been to all these places and what’s your obsession with scene setting?

Travel is one of my obsessions and I have been to a lot of the places I write about over the last 20 years. Jerusalem in particular is a muse for me and I’ve been there 11 times. It’s woven into both thrillers and will return again. Certainly I’ll be needing another research trip there soon!

In writing my books, I actually start with the idea and then look at places that resonate with the theme. When I was gathering ideas for Prophecy, I went to the Paris catacombs and I knew that bones and ossuaries would be a great atmospheric thread. It turned out that the Devil’s Bible had been kept at the bone church of Sedlec in the middle ages and then I found the mummy crypt of Palermo in Sicily, both awesome locations.

As a reader, I love to learn about new places and descriptions of setting make a difference to the atmosphere of the book. In the writing process, I often plot the book by location rather than by plot on the first pass. One of the important elements for action-adventure is the movement and pacing so fantastic scene locations are critical, and amazingly fun to write!

Thriller Novel Prophecy: Author Joanna Penn Interviewed

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Thriller Novel Author Joanna Penn InterviewedIn this short interview, I talk to Trevor Lund from RevTrev.com about my ideas for Prophecy [Ed. note: this book is now called Crypt of Bone], how some of the scenes came about as well as my own writing process as a plotter.

Plus, some hints about the 3rd in the series, Exodus.

You can also get the audio here => ProphecyInterview.mp3

From Affirmation To Reality.

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This is a little bit about my personal journey for the last few years.

Back in 2007, I was very unhappy in my day job.

In fact, I've never been happy in my day job but it paid the bills, enabled me to travel and I met a lot of great people. It was a mixed blessing. I fell into it to repay my student loan and just never escaped. I worked for big companies on computer systems and the work killed any creativity I had in me.

yes, that's really me! Great fun adventures…

In 2000, I resigned, left London for the Australian outback and swore never to do it again. My adventures were fantastic but eventually I ran out of money and went back. This cycle repeated itself a number of times… then in 2007, I was really, seriously over it. So I began investigating what else I could do with my life that would be helpful to other people and also enable me to escape the day job.

At the time, I read two books that made a huge impact on me. The Success Principles by Jack Canfield and The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. They talked about following your dreams and also using affirmations to set your intentions. The problem with changing your life is often knowing what you want instead of the status quo. When I looked at what I had always wanted, it was only ever to be a writer.

So I came up with my affirmation “I am creative. I am an author”.

At the time, I was not creative and I was not an author. Sure, I wrote diaries and letters but I couldn't ever associate the word creative with me. I couldn't even say this phrase out loud at first. I wrote it down and then started whispering it on the commute home (when no one was around!) I also moved to four days a week at the day job to give myself head-space to write my first book.

In April 2008, I self-published How To Enjoy Your Job…Or Find A New One. I was so happy and proud of myself. I thought I was going to change the world and free millions of IT consultants from their miserable lives. I spent money on printing physical books and did some old-style PR with press releases, radio and even national TV.

But I only sold a few books. Literally, a few. Even with national TV. I was devastated, but wasn't intending to give up (as the affirmations were really kicking in now!) I also discovered that the book you write will change your life. It really did change mine as I understood what writing a book was like and I had found my purpose.

But I realized that I didn't actually have a clue about marketing online. I had focused on traditional PR but what about the internet? So I started researching and buying online programs to learn about blogging and podcasting and other things.

After a couple of other attempts at blogging, I started The Creative Penn in December 2008 in order to share what I had learned with the failure of my first book. For example, I had spent thousands of dollars on printing books and then discovered print on demand and selling on Amazon. I was determined that no one else would pay the price I did and I wanted to save people time, money and emotional energy on their own journey. I had also started feeling and becoming creative and the name ‘The Creative Penn' came to me on the commute one day. I claimed the word for myself and have grown into it over time!

Since then I have personally grown as a writer. I have also continued to invest in my education as an online marketer and I absolutely love our online author community. In February this year, I published Pentecost, my first novel, which has now sold over 11,000 copies and remains an Amazon bestseller. The sequel, Prophecy is on its way.

So in August 2011, I decided that my affirmation has been fulfilled. I am creative and I am an author. I wanted to share this with you as encouragement as I know the fears that come with writing and the doubts that plague us. I'm an introvert too and have been crushed and hurt along the way. But I am also truly excited about the years to come as we are part of an incredible change in the industry.

So, all this background is to prepare you for my big news.

I have resigned my day job as an IT consultant in order to focus on my fiction writing and also on The Creative Penn community of writers and authors.

This is not a decision taken lightly (and yes, I have been saving for a while so there is a cushion). This has been coming since that day in 2007 when I just couldn't take any more but it has taken this long to make a change that my risk-averse nature can bear. I can see the way forward as an indie author and also as someone who can contribute to the creative community. I'm ready to make the leap!

I'm looking forward to the next step (which is just slightly outside my comfort zone!).