Pastime With Books: BE Jewell – 8 Things I Wish I Knew

What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general? Time is the biggest problem I have. I work full-time, volunteer around the community and help my wife with her after school band activities. I often find myself writing whenever and wherever I can. If this means eleven o’clock at night then that is what I do. I think I would have three or four novels out right now if I had nothing to do but write.

Did writing this book teach you anything and what was it? I learned that I really can accomplish things if I just stick with them. There were times I felt like I would never get the final product finished, but sticking with it and finishing it felt really good. It makes me excited to finish the next one.

Do you intend to make writing a career? I would love this. If I could make money doing nothing but writing, I would do so as fast as possible. That is still a possibility for me, but it is going to take a lot of hard work.

Have you ever had writer’s block? If so, what do you do about it? I have and I learned not to push it. If that meant not writing one day to clear my head or meant I only got a few hundred words down, then that was okay. It is easy to become stressed when you stare at a blank screen, but I learned to just go with the flow and not force things. I did not, however, go on to different chapters further ahead in the book. I was always fearful that I would cause myself a major rewrite by doing so.

Can you share a little of your current work with us? I am writing a sequel to my debut novel, The Hunter’s Son. The second book in the series, The Hunter’s Vengeance, picks up where the first left off. I also have some short stories working right now, but those will not be in the young adult genre. The things I am closest to completing are horror or crime/mystery.

Can you tell us about your main character? JC Mather is the name of my main character. At the beginning of The Hunter’s Son, he is a loner and an outcast because of moving around the country so much. As the book progresses, JC grows and has to make some very adult decisions about the rest of his life. Does he want to be a hunter like his father? Can he trust everyone around him? Is teenage love more important than family and history? I think it is easy to relate to JC and the positions he finds himself in, even if a few of those are more of the supernatural variety.