Ask the Author: Jan Stryvant
Answered Questions (3)
Jan Stryvant
Roxy is shown in her human form on the cover of Vegas Rules, as well as the cover of Stand On It. Peg is usually shown in her human form, same for Estrella.
No Regrets (the new book) has them all in Human form.
Firestarter's Cover, the Red Head is Peg
Trying Times - the woman with the black hair is Estrella
Simple Things - Also Estrella
When it Falls - the Red Head is Peg
I don't have any other artwork that shows Peg and Roxy in Human Form. Hadn't given much thought to commissioning it. Maybe that was a mistake?
No Regrets (the new book) has them all in Human form.
Firestarter's Cover, the Red Head is Peg
Trying Times - the woman with the black hair is Estrella
Simple Things - Also Estrella
When it Falls - the Red Head is Peg
I don't have any other artwork that shows Peg and Roxy in Human Form. Hadn't given much thought to commissioning it. Maybe that was a mistake?
Jan Stryvant
I had been trying to write a book for ages. It was something that I literally tried to do for several years and kept failing at. Mind you I never showed it to anyone else, because I knew it was bad.
Then I bought 'How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy' by Orson Scott Card. I had my 'a-ha' moment and I started my first novel. Which took me about a year to write. That one I showed to people and everyone liked it, though I did rewrite it a few times to make it better. I couldn't get it published (long story) and I never tried all that hard, because I had a good job and it took up a lot of my time. I did keep writing and eventually in 2011 I published that book on Amazon, then the others. I was surprised to find out that people liked them.
Between the time I wrote that and put it up on Amazon I wrote a lot of stuff, and some of it (short stories) I had put up in a 'fan fiction' 'zine. I learned a fair deal from doing that, as it was a pretty high level 'zine and they had editors.
So, after I put my stuff up on Amazon I continued to write (on the side) and learn from doing it what people liked. The Valens Legacy series is just the latest in a long series of novels and other stories I've written, some of which I'll never publish because they're not good enough.
The best advice I can give is to keep writing. The more you write, the better you get at it. If you can find people to read it and give you advice, that's great, but avoid people who do nothing but tear you down. My biggest problem was finding people to read my stuff before putting it out there. Now I have beta readers, but for many years I had no idea if people would like it or not until I put it up for sale. I did a lot of 'trial by fire' when I was starting out.
Good luck!
Then I bought 'How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy' by Orson Scott Card. I had my 'a-ha' moment and I started my first novel. Which took me about a year to write. That one I showed to people and everyone liked it, though I did rewrite it a few times to make it better. I couldn't get it published (long story) and I never tried all that hard, because I had a good job and it took up a lot of my time. I did keep writing and eventually in 2011 I published that book on Amazon, then the others. I was surprised to find out that people liked them.
Between the time I wrote that and put it up on Amazon I wrote a lot of stuff, and some of it (short stories) I had put up in a 'fan fiction' 'zine. I learned a fair deal from doing that, as it was a pretty high level 'zine and they had editors.
So, after I put my stuff up on Amazon I continued to write (on the side) and learn from doing it what people liked. The Valens Legacy series is just the latest in a long series of novels and other stories I've written, some of which I'll never publish because they're not good enough.
The best advice I can give is to keep writing. The more you write, the better you get at it. If you can find people to read it and give you advice, that's great, but avoid people who do nothing but tear you down. My biggest problem was finding people to read my stuff before putting it out there. Now I have beta readers, but for many years I had no idea if people would like it or not until I put it up for sale. I did a lot of 'trial by fire' when I was starting out.
Good luck!
Jan Stryvant
It should be before Christmas, with any luck hopefully sooner than that. I need to finish the current Valens book (#17) See about the Veil Verse book I was asked to do, then I'll be writing the next Portals of Infinity.
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