My journey as a writer has been an unusual one. I started writing when I was in junior high. Initially I wrote poems. Afterwards, I delved into short stories. I wanted to write horror but was surprised to learn that wouldn’t be my main focus. Instead, I discovered that I’m a genre-fluid, hybrid author.
As an adult, the urge to write was always there even though my college major was in another discipline. I began writing again while my daughter was still in elementary school after she begged me to make up stories about a stuffed green monkey I had bought her. After a while, I began putting the stories down on paper for her to read. Those stories developed into a limited-
run children’s book series published by a small local press.
Afterwards, I wrote more short stories and one of them, “The Plant Lady,” won first prize in a local contest. Later, I began developing what was to become my first novel. This was a story I had fermenting in my head for several years. Sometimes those stories become trunk stories. I had no idea then, that this would become my debut novel, Gods of the Bay. It was also a finalist in the 2021 CAL awards.
The craziest adventures I have been on come from journeys my characters must embark upon to heal themselves or their worlds, and they are ones that I would never have experienced on my own. Even though I plot my work, the characters usually begin to awaken and then tell me what the story should be. This happened when I created the world of the Bruised Lands which is the setting for my young adult fantasy series. The protagonist and I argued during most of the writing of the books because sometimes even though you want your characters to be better people than you are, they still have flaws. And some of those flaws can be something you’re not comfortable with, but since I was given the advice to write what scares me, in the end, the character won the argument.
Several years ago, I had to learn another language for my other profession. It was so important for me to be able to learn it or my performance would be woefully inadequate, that I finished an associate degree. In order not to regress too much, I’ve begun working on several bilingual projects. I’m grateful to have the ability to combine my skills with my passion to create
interesting stories.
Please visit www.jofontana.com for more information.