B. J. Jensen

I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s. I always had an active imagination. I would watch TV. I could put myself into the story of some shows and reimagine it with an altered plot line. I learned storytelling from watching TV. Commercial breaks are the best at teaching open-ended loops at the end of a chapter.

As I entered my teens in the early 70s, I would sit with my little sister’s Brownie troop and tell them ghost stories. I made them up as I went along and would build based on their reactions. Unfortunately, I don’t remember any of them.

Also, during this time, as I was drawn to music and listening to albums, I found that some artists told stories in their albums. Donna Summer’s Once Upon A Time, and Bad Girls were both stories. Also, Styx, both Grand Illusion and Pieces of Eight. The albums had a theme, and the songs were built following a novel setting.

From that, I would tell my own stories by arranging the singles I purchased in an order that told a story of some kind. I didn’t start writing until I was 58.

I’ve always loved history. Ancient history and mythology were my main enthusiasm, but also medieval and renascence onward. This led me to genealogy. I became fascinated with it when I was 11. I started capturing the family stories from my grandparents and relatives. This led to family legends and ghost stories. I have then used this in my writing. The genealogy comes in handy when you need to explain something. Names that are passed down, how are two people related. You can make relationships and plot points believable.

You must ensure you hit all the beats, obligatory scenes, and conventions in all genres you are blending. Since the primary genre in my first series is Romance, I can use the scenes and conventions in the other genres to help with the romantic tension.

I use it for both comic relief and tension. I have a character who doesn’t take security too seriously, which adds comic relief when he asks his significant other, a cybersecurity geek, for help. This same character also causes suspense when it is revealed that his security questions and account may have been compromised and how. Again, it adds believability.

Current themes are romance and adventure, but under that is the theme of being true to oneself.

I have two nonfiction books under one name and six fiction books under this name. My fiction books are currently LGBTQ+ based, and even then, I may break them out further. It is part of branding or setting reader expectations. I know of several authors who have a second pen name on their books that distinguishes the product. They will have one for sweet romance and another for dark and steamy. As I expand, I will consider this.

I belonged to a small website with a blog section. I would write about my coming out and other stories of interest. Most are just scenes that are part of a bigger story I have yet to figure out. As the stories come alive, I will pull these old scenes and stories into a book.

It depends on the story. Is it plot-centered or character-centered? Characters can change even in a plot-centered story; they could learn a new skill or overcome a character flaw in a character-centered story. Either way, I begin with the end in mind and work from there.

I do not currently have any standalone novels. But when writing a series, you need to consider the character growth over the current book and the series and any plot points that need to be foreshadowed from one book to the next.

The first LGBT+ book I read was Gordon Merrick’s The Lord Won’t Mind. It was one of the first books in which a gay man got a happily ever after. It was written in 1971, but I did not read it until the 1980s. I have read his other books as well as those from Mary Renault’s historical novels of Theseus, Alexander the Great, and her WWI romance. I remembered those books and have taken inspiration from them.

I also read widely in my genres, looking at new trends and how the author will handle different plot points in different but similar stories.

Just as in any world-building, you give them the right amount of information at the least possible time they need it. If I were to write a historical romance that revolves around the rivalry between the RMS Queen Mary and the SS Normandy in the 1930s, I could write an entire chapter explaining this before the story, and I would lose the reader. Or I could start the story, introduce the characters, put them on the ships, and slowly show the rivalry of the ships as the romance blossoms.

Ensure you hit all the beats and incorporate all the obligatory scenes and conventions for all the genres you are incorporating.

I make time to write every day. I like the morning when I am the only one up. Rising at 4 am, I make my tea and head to my desk. I also enjoy music playing. I use a service brain.fm. It has several channels for when you are working. Do you want to relax? Focus on light or hard work? It is designed to help your brain focus. I put on my earphones and start.

I am also with selfpublishing.com and participate in their morning writing rooms. I even co-host two of them. We log in at the required time, use ten minutes to state what our goals are for the hour—anything from a word count, or editing goals—then go dark, turn off camera and mic, for the next hour and a half to work. We come back and use the last ten minutes to review our accomplishments. We help hold each other accountable.

I am working on several different series now. I plan on continuing and expanding the current series and plotting a few Romance/Mystery series in the same. But I am also looking into an Urban Romantasy.

At the moment I don’t use AllAuthor to its fullest potential, but I am working on it. I use if mostly for Tier 1 research. I look at new authors and other authors in my genre to find new stories to help with researching new trends. The same with the Cover contests.