PJ Braley Interview Published on: 22, Jun 2021

I am the oldest of six children and my dad traveled a lot for work and he would bring the entire family with him. So most of my childhood was spent moving from one end of Florida to the other. Books were my only constant at that time in my life; all the school libraries had the same books, so whenever I found "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" or the "Dr. Dolittle" series I felt at home.

As mentioned earlier, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" was one of my favorite books - not only for Betty Smith's great story, but because there was something in Francie Nolan's rootlessness that resonated with me and her resilience inspired me to keep reading and her natural instinct to pour her heart out in her writing made me realize that not all writers were grownups. Girls could be writers, too.

We each have a story to tell. One of my favorite quotations (and the attribution fails me at the moment) is that story tells as much, or more, about the author than the characters. So while we may read to know that others have the same thoughts, feelings, and situations as we do, I believe that is because the authors themselves could not keep their thoughts, feelings, situations as well as cultural identities to themselves. It is breathed into their characters or the stories and shared with their readers.

The first real story I wrote (beginning, middle, end) was in 8th grade. We were studying the Salem Witch Trials and were supposed to write a short essay. However, I wrote a story from the point of view of a young girl who was about to be hanged as a witch, why she was there, and how she felt while waiting for her turn to die (resulting in an immediate parent-teacher conference). As I got older I wrote it out as a full-fledged story, but somehow couldn't quite recapture the voice of the original in the short story...so no, it hasn't been published.

I had always written, off and on, but I knew if I started writing seriously it would take over my life. When my father died in late 2007 I had an "If not now, when?" moment and decided to write. I started off with a blog in 2008 because there were things I wanted to write about - primarily how cultural mores were evolving. It was not until 2011, after ten years of mentally prewriting the story of a society of aliens who lived in the earth, that I began writing "The Fire Slayers."

Listen to your beta readers and editors and accept that revision is inevitable. I always say write for yourself, make it as horrific, as romantic, or as erotic, etc., as you want, but remember you are most likely going to have to revise/rewrite/edit it for your audience.

I find this a difficult question because it is always hard to predict. I can write almost anywhere but I think my favorite place is a quiet room. My computer faces a window and I find that it helps my imagination if I am not looking at any one thing. The green outside just blurs together allowing me to inward rather than outward. On the other hand, I was sitting in a doctor's waiting room last week when I was suddenly inspired to write a chapter for my current work-in-progress and just started scribbling it down, so I think inspiration can strike any time anywhere, you just have to be open to it.

As I mentioned, I thought about the book for a long time and when I started writing a lot of the things I had read, seen, or heard came together with the question of "what if," ie., a documentary on reports of underground caves sparked the "what if they were aliens?" and then it followed if they were aliens, then "what if they were still here?" which, of course, inspires even more questions that eventually became "The Fire Slayers."

Venzel is one of the few characters with a distinct maturation arc: first, he is young and wants to help the Lyostians; then the reader sees how those responsibilities slowly changed him to the man we meet at the beginning of the book; then heartbreak leads to disillusionment when he realizes how the only family he has ever known has betrayed him, and finally the inevitability of no escape. I am not sure who inspired him, I can only say that, whether vulnerable, intense, or ruthless, whenever I saw Venzel in my mind, he always looked like Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Covid-19 made everything a bit difficult and until earlier this year it was confusing trying to work and write at the same computer, so I bought a small laptop and moved it into a different room for writing. Now, however, I am not working and while I would like to say that I am writing full time, I am still balancing family responsibilities with my writing time. The bonus is I still have my get-away laptop when I need a change of scene or a bit of privacy.

For editing I always use my computer so I can save different versions, however, for draft writing, I will use anything near at hand; paper and pencil, laptop, PC, or even the recorder on my phone if I cannot find anything else.

Exhilarating...like a roller coaster ride. There is the slow anticipation, the breathlessly fast moments, the scary dips and dives, and the coils where you don't know what is going to happen next. The exhilaration comes from seeing the characters in your mind come alive in front of your eyes and watch how words can build a world for them to live, work, love, and die in. The best part, to me, is the writing - that always goes too fast. The slow parts, editing, querying, and wondering what to do to get the attention of an agent or publisher seem to last forever. The scary times are when someone asks for a partial, or the manuscript, and you check your email every five minutes or you decide to self-publish and you aren't sure what to do. The curves where you cannot see too far ahead can be a mixture of all three: you get published (goes by too fast) ... marketing (slow learning curve) ... attracting readers and reviews (scary) and then, just when you think it's time to disembark, you start a new manuscript and it happens all over again.

I'm not sure if I've ever had real writer's block. If I get stuck in a WIP then I start editing until I get back into the story and start writing to see what happens next. The only time I cannot write is when I have difficulty clearing my mind for one reason or another, so I read non-fiction (usually biographies) or play the guitar or take my sweet rescue corgi, Nymeria, for a walk. Sometimes I just sit down with a pad and paper and just free write - stream of consciousness style - and see what happens. These activities help clear my mind, but I think the writing process is different for every writer.

Between the Lines Publishing is publishing "Finding Persephone" in the Spring of 2022. It is a continuation of "The Fire Slayers" but with a more contemporary setting and focuses on how a Lyostian negotiates the unexpected challenges of falling in love. As for the future, I will be writing. There is always another story to tell.

I honestly cannot remember how I was first introduced to AllAuthor, all I know it that they really came to my rescue when I was looking for ways to get "The Fire Slayers" in front of readers. I was a marketing newbie and AllAuthor has so many marketing options, including advice and very creative ways to present my book on social media. I honestly feel I have a marketing partner and a designer in one as well as a family of authors who are just as excited as I am to be taking this exhilarating journey. C. S. Lewis said "we read to know we are not alone" - I think that is also why we write.