Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

We have A.J. Calvin with us, to talk about her fantasy adventures. A.J., take us away!

A.J.: The Relics of War is an epic fantasy trilogy, Hunted is a standalone urban fantasy, and my upcoming fantasy series is called The Caein Legacy. My books are meant for an adult audience.

The Relics of War is a multi-POV series, whereas the others feature single POVs. They all feature magic or paranormal in some form, as well as fantastic/supernatural beings. And a lot of my books feature dragons. I have a thing for dragons.

Sabitha: Relatable. Dragons are extremely great. We have a lot of writers in our community. What’s your writing process?

A.J.: I’m a plotter. I’ll come up with an idea, think about it for a while (sometimes years), make notes, define the cast, and then finally make an outline. It’s not the fastest process, but my worldbuilding takes time. Once the outline is complete, I’m ready to start the drafting process.

It used to take me a long time to write a book. Hunted took me the better part of 4 years. But as I’ve continued to write and create worlds, the writing itself has become easier. I’ve been averaging about 10 weeks from start to finish on my later books (not including revisions/editing, I’m just talking about the draft phase.) I usually let a draft sit for a while before I come back to it for revisions. Sometimes it’s a few months, sometimes longer, depending on what else I have going on. While it rests, I write new things, send earlier pieces off for editing/proofreading, and/or plan publication for finished works. 

It leaves me with a fairly substantial backlog when it comes to publishing. I’m about to publish book #5 overall, but I’m currently writing #14, so I’ll have plenty more to come in the future.

Sabitha: That’s amazingly fast! Do you still have time to read? And what book do you tell all your friends to read? Besides yours of course!

A.J.: I read a lot, and I’m not terribly picky about content, but I do love science fiction and fantasy the most. That being said, I read some books I wouldn’t necessarily recommend to some of my friends, because I know they wouldn’t enjoy them.

A few I’ve recommended frequently include Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons, Aestus by SZ Attwell, The Deverry Cycle by Katherine Kerr, and Dyrwolf by Kat Kinney.

Sabitha:  Which character do you relate to the most and why?

A.J.: From my own books, it’s Andrew from The Caein Legacy. He’s the eldest sibling in his family (so am I), and is very protective of one of his younger brothers. When I started writing Exile, the first book in the series, I was 36, which is the same age he is at the start of the series. It was a fun experiment to write a character of the same age. According to a couple of my beta readers, Andrew also shares a couple of my personality quirks too. He was one of my favorite characters to write so far.

Sabitha: Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?

A.J.: You can find me on Twitter or on Facebook. You can find my books on my website, my Amazon author page, or on Goodreads (though I’m not active on Goodreads)