The 2K International Writers’ Blog Tour: Jonas Lee

Hello, my name is Jonas Lee, I’ve been writing since I was in elementary school, but published my writing just since summer of 2014. I am a dreaded Indie, circling the waters in hopes of getting caught by a traditional publisher one day. I have one title currently available, A Time to Reap, with its sequel, A Time to Live, releasing this month. Something quirky about myself, hmm, well I have a tendency to count to three between mile markers on car trips (no clue why). Beyond that, I have a love for M&M’s (peanut) and tattoo art. I have a hefty amount of tattoos myself and hoping to get more as time rolls on. I’d really like to incorporate my writing into a few designs.

What is the first piece you remember writing (from childhood or young adulthood)?
My first childhood piece was something extra awesome (at least as I remember it). I wasn’t much for original thought and started elaborating or recalling movies I watched. The first was Die Hard. So, my first story was all about this action hero taking out bad guys one at a time. My best friend was the main villain. He tells me he found a copy of the story and holding onto it for when I become famous.

What is your favorite aspect of being a writer? Your least favourite?
My favorite part of writing is just being able to play God with ink and paper. I can create whatever I want in whatever means I choose. Putting together dialog and analogies, description with metaphor, it makes a little fire of excitement burn in my belly.

Least favorite part of writing would have to be the editing. Seeing all of the mistakes and confusion left on paper when it was so clean in my head gets to be quite an annoyance. But I think the editing becomes fun again once I’ve turned out something far better than I expected. Although on the tenth or fifteenth time of reading through my story, I want to kill it.

Do you believe in writer’s block? If so, what is your best tip for beating it? If not, why not?
Oh, writer’s block is a thing, I’ve experienced it. Not more than a couple of times, but it’s a crippling feeling. All my thoughts are locked behind a door, pounding on it to be free and I can’t seem to find the keys let alone the door knob. My best method of curing it is to actually read. Reading always triggers my own thoughts and eventually that locked door opens on its own.

What is your current writing project? What is the most challenging aspect of your current writing project?
Currently, I am taking on another series that should begin in the next month. I have one more book in my trilogy, but Carter needs to learn patience and get a strong fan base before the release of the last one. The current project is going to be a supernatural fantasy taking place in a futuristic society. Citizens are classified through tattoos and magic is ever present, mixed into the science of the day.

It’s fun just constructing all of the parameters and rules of the society. With it though, I have to do lots of research, getting ideas of how certain materials can be forged. As much as I’d love to rely on the haunches of sci-fi and just make it a sweeping belief, I’d like there to be some basis for the majority of why the people act and do the things they do and the environment is the support structure for that.

What supports you in your writing?
Beyond family, friends and fans, my biggest support comes from a deep-seeded belief that this is my true calling in this world. I have a day job, yes, but when it comes to stripping away an education and a need for income, writing just feels like the moon orbiting my earthly soul. That feeling supports me in continuing to write and never stop.

What are you currently reading?
I’m trying to read more, so I have a rotation of books going around: