Check out this author spotlight for Jennifer Tempest!
You can find all her links furthest down the page, and don’t forget to check out her books!
1. Hi! Welcome to my humble blog of all things bookish! I would like for us to start by getting to know you. Give us a short bio, please!
Hello! My name is Jennifer Tempest and while I have published only 1 book at this time I have been writing since I was 8 (I am currently 29 turning 30 in a month!). I live in Alberta, Canada with my boyfriend and large cat and we love to collect board games, currently up to 200 games. I also love to do escape rooms, currently at 72, and of course love to read and write.
2. To get to know you just a little bit better, I’d like to ask you some this or that questions. Answer 5 of these and explain why you chose this or that, or maybe an entirely different alternative!
Winter, spring, summer or autumn?
Autumn – I am not a heat person so I find the temperature of Autumn to be my preference. The colors are a wonderful bonus as well.
Cat or dog?
Cat – I do love all animals, but I grew up with two cats, Tigger and Whiskers, and I have my ginger cat now, Jerry.
Tea or coffee?
Neither actually – I really find I get overheated easily so I don’t enjoy hot drinks or even soup really. I tend to mostly drink water and milk with the occasional pop
Library or museums?
Library – Again I love both as I love to learn!!!! But if I had to pick I would go with library as I do love to read and choose the next thing I want to learn. I also feel I can spend more time with one book rather than moving from exhibit to exhibit.
Plotter or pantser?
Plotter – Easy one for me, I am a BIG organizer/planner in all aspects of my life so it carries over to writing as well. I have been known to over plan which ruined one book experience for me but overall I always have a general plot and at least a few sentences of what I want to happen in each chapter. I am flexible with this, if new ideas come up, but at least the general flow is there for me.
3. When you look for books to read, what trope or type of story will always catch your attention?
Fantasy is my go to genre, but add dragons in the mix and you have me for sure regardless of what the story is about haha.
4. What do you write? Tell us about your current projects and the latest happenings!
I love to write fiction/fantasy. Even if its not high fantasy, I like to include fantasy elements in some way. For example, my current published book, The Cardinal War, as well as my next project, both have all the people in the book having wings with some of them able to fly. I do touch on why they can fly more in my second book and why others cannot but otherwise I just like writing about characters and stories that interest me.
5. What is your most recent release? Give us a short presentation, cover, and a link for where to buy it!
September 23, 2021 I released The Cardinal War, which links to buy it can be found at www.jennifertempestbooks.com (as well as blogs!) The Cardinal War is about 4 manors of Mordale fighting for their sons and daughters to be placed on a now vacant throne as the Emperor of Frythiel has passed away with no known heirs. The story is from the perspective of one of the Emperors messengers, Daithi, as well as a young thief, Eileen. The Cardinal War covers their experiences through this political turmoil as well as their growing friendship with each other.
6. What real-life inspiration do you draw from, and what are your primary fictional sources of inspiration (books, authors, films, music, etc.)? Name a few!
My main real life inspiration I draw from is books. For example, with The Cardinal War, I had read a book where the characters had wings, and I knew right away I wanted to write a story where my characters did as well. Otherwise I often take inspiration from my friends and put them into my stories in some way, even if its just 1 character trait or an appearance aspect.
7. What is your writing routine? If you have one, give us the run-down!
I don’t really have a set writing routine in terms of when I write or how much I write. I tend to write when I am inspired and write till I run out of that inspiration. When starting a story, I do create an outline as well as determine the main conflict of the story. I create the main characters and give them meaningful names and descriptions. For the outline of my story I will write 1 or 2 sentences for what I want each chapter to cover. Once I am ready to start writing, I tend to write the last chapter first or the climax of the story depending when it takes place in the overall plot. After that I tend to jump around between chapters depending if I want to write more action or more dialogue that day.
8. If you could go back and give yourself one piece of advice as you started out on the path to becoming an author, what would it be?
Just go for it! I have been writing stories since I was eight and actually sat on The Cardinal War for a number of years before actually publishing it. It was just during COVID that I decided the only reason I had not looked into publishing it was because I was scared if people would like it. But really I should have just done it! I have loved the experience and I am less worried now about peoples opinions. I am excited to keep writing!
9. Last but not least: where can we find you? Drop those links!
www.jennifertempestbooks.com – Blogs, links to purchase, etc.
https://www.facebook.com/Jennifer-Tempest-Author-101794968874169/ – Pictures posted here, updates, etc.
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/125086116-jennifer-tempest – See what other books I read as well as learn about The Cardinal War!
https://www.instagram.com/tempestjennifer/ – Learn more about me as well as my book
