Sandra J. Jackson Interview Published on: 21, Jan 2020

I was 16 when my family and I moved to Ontario

That’s a tough question, but I quite enjoy YA especially if it’s postapocalyptic or fantasy/urban fantasy or any other genres with touches of supernatural, metaphysical, time travel etc.

Outlander Series, Harry Potter, Hunger Games and many others.

It’s a membership organization for authors in all stages of their writing careers.

The smallest thing, a song, a part of a conversation, something I heard about, anything really can spark the beginnings of a book.

Promised Soul was actually the 9 th story idea I had but the first one I decided to finish. I have always believed in the concept of soulmates and find the idea of past lives fascinating. No, I did not expect to win a silver award. There are so many great books out there so competition for book awards is tough.

This will be my third year as a member.

The Escape Series was originally just one book – Playing in the Rain. It was not post- apocalyptic or sci-fi and was a darker story about two sisters being kidnapped by a pedophile. While the original story never went into any great detail about that it was hinted at. I then decided it was too dark a subject matter and changed it by adding twelve chapters to the beginning ahead of where the original began. The story took off from there. When I finished re- writing it, I realized it was going to be a trilogy.

First, Promised Soul is more a metaphysical romance as it doesn’t quite fit within the parameters of paranormal. At one time I did refer to it as paranormal, and still choose that option when not given the metaphysical genre. As far as the hardest thing, I would have to say the research aspect.

The main challenge I had was the research. The past-life character of the main character was someone who actually existed and I used her real first name and the fact that she perished aboard a ship that disappeared shortly after leaving London. I tried to find out as much about this person’s life before boarding the ship but unfortunately, could not. So, everything about this character is fictional apart from her name, age, and the name of the ship she perished on.

No one, really. So far all of my books have started with the ending. I come up with the last line (which is ultimately the title of the book) and build the story from there. The characters are bits and pieces of everyone I know, I guess, including myself.

I think I am a little more consistent. It took me two years to write my first book and a year to edit. I am a little faster now, although it still takes me some time to edit. It’s not my favourite thing.

I work full-time, so my writing happens whenever I can – evenings, weekends, holidays.

I am hoping early this year. I just finished the final read through the first few days of January. The manuscript has been sent to a beta reader, and I will soon be sending it to my editor who will be ready for it around the 20 th of the month.

So far, the experience has been great. AllAuthor has many tools for authors to use to help with marketing and gain readership.