Check out this spotlight for author J. R. Konkol!
You can find all his links furthest down the page, and don’t forget to check out his 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!
A classical pianist and marginal triathlete, J.R. Konkol is permitted to live in the sprawling home of four very large cats. He published his first table top RPG, Of gods and Men, in the early 90s, and has been running games within that setting ever since. He recently returned to writing with the hope of sharing those stories with a wider audience.
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!
autumn– I love the shift of the colors, and the cool crispness in the air.
Cat– I’ve grown up with cats all my life. They are my constant companions, and when I’m home, there is always a cat next to me, or on me.
Morning– I’m most productive in the morning. It’s when I practice the piano, when I used to train for my triathlons, back when I had time for that, and it’s when I find myself most creative.
Ninjas– There is so much depth here, well beyond martial artists wearing black costumes. Feudal Japan is absolutely fascinating.
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Plotter– I’m writing a massive series, told from multiple points of view. I think the only way to that well, is to plot it out.
3. What do you write? Tell us about your current projects and the latest happenings!
I’m dedicating my writing time, currently, to my Rebirth of the Fallen series. The first book, Citadel of the Fallen, released in October of 2020. The fifth book in the series will be releasing in October of 2023.
4. What is your most recent release? Give us a short presentation, cover, and a link for where to buy it!
The fourth book in my Rebirth of the Fallen series is coming out on 12-29-22.
5. 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!
I drew a lot of inspiration for my series from a role playing campaign I ran for a group of my more experienced players. I told them, at the start, that the story they were building with me would become a series, and it did.
6. What is your writing routine? If you have one, give us the run-down!
I do a broad outline of the full book prior to writing anything, and then an in-depth, chapter by chapter outline of perhaps the first fifteen chapters. Once I have the outline in place, I start writing. Every few chapters, I’ll pause and update the outline. Invariably it changes, as my rule is to never let my characters by constrained by the outline… it is merely there to guide them on their paths.
Once I complete a chapter, I print it, and edit the print out. After every 10-20 chapters, I do a full printout, and edit that. I find that I need to spend a few weeks or months away from my chapters before I can get out of my head enough to do that second, stronger edit pass.
7. 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?
Go back and rewrite those first three chapters of book one. It turns out, that agents really only read the first three chapters of what you send them. Interestingly enough, the first three chapters of my first book were the first three chapters I ever professionally wrote.
Not surprisingly, they weren’t my best work.
8. Last but not least: where can we find you? Drop those links!
