Ask the Author: J.D. Toepfer
Answered Questions (7)
J.D. Toepfer
Many of the questions that drive my fiction come from trying to understand why suffering seems to settle unevenly, why some families endure far more than their share. I’m interested less in easy answers than in how people live with that imbalance, and what it reveals about faith, resilience, and choice.
J.D. Toepfer
Evil Reigns grew out of a long fascination with how places accumulate history. Lake Ronkonkoma, in particular, became a focal point, not just as a setting, but as something that remembers, influences, and waits. The story emerged from asking what happens when a place itself becomes an active force.
J.D. Toepfer
Inspiration usually starts with a single unsettling idea, a place, a moment, or a question that won’t let go. From there, consistency matters more than motivation. Most of the work happens quietly, in the evenings, showing up even when the momentum isn’t obvious.
J.D. Toepfer
I’m continuing work on the Highway to Hell series, building toward the next stage of the story while refining the mythology that’s unfolded across the earlier books.
J.D. Toepfer
Learn the craft, do the research, and then write. Perfection can become its own form of avoidance. At some point, you have to sit down and begin.
J.D. Toepfer
The ability to take a small, unsettling idea and follow it far enough to understand what it’s really about.
J.D. Toepfer
I found when writing my first novel that going for a long walk or working in my garden often served as a way to get my mind off of what was getting in the way of my writing. I got some of my best ideas this way
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