Rochelle L. Sharpe

I am so very excited to have Australian author J.J Fischer on the blog today. She is one of my favourite authors and I am honoured that she agreed to do an interview with me.

J.J (Jasmine) Fischer is the author of many Christian fantasy novels. She is also an editor, and if I decide to self publish, Jasmine would be one of my top picks to edit my book – if I could get her (Her spots fill fast!).

Let’s jump in:

The Fun Five:

Do you have any pets?

J: Well, I don’t think he would think of himself as a pet so much as an overlord, but yes! Simba is our ginger cat—who we rescued as a kitten. He turned two in October, and he enjoys sleeping, watching at the windows for birds, crunching cockroaches while we lie in bed listening to those poor little insect bodies being crushed, and stealing my spot if I get up during the night.

(Here is a picture of Simba pretending to be a stair.)

What is your favourite mythical creature?

J: Probably Pegasus—a beautiful big horse with feathered wings that can fly? Yes, please! Mind you, I also love phoenixes.

Where is your favourite place to write?

J: It’s not so much my favorite place to write as my only place—I pretty much only ever write at my desk, because I always write at my computer and my computer is always there. 😊 But I love my study—it is full of books, maps, my piano, a comfy armchair, and did I mention books?

If you could only take three books with you on a deserted island, what would they be?

J: You’re killing me! Just three? (Can’t I take my Kindle?) But if I had to choose, probably A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers, Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson, and The Princess Bride by William Goldman.

If you could only read one genre for the rest of your life, what would it be?

J: That one’s easy—fantasy, fantasy, fantasy! Followed by historical fiction 😊

Now we have the fun five out of the way, let’s dive a bit deeper:

For those who don’t know you, what types of books do you write?

J: Great question! I mostly write fantasy with romantic, historical, comedic, and spiritual elements. Here’s what you can expect from my books:

• Strong characters that feel like real people (I’m a former psychologist, which definitely helps).
• Lots of witty banter and snappy dialogue.
• Humorous moments alongside more serious scenes (but nothing depressing, I hope).
• Limited violence and no yucky/inappropriate content like sex/nudity or language.
• Worlds that feel like characters in their own right.
• Always a happy ending 😊

Tell us a bit about your writing journey. When did you start writing?

J: I’ve always loved reading and writing, but in 2006 my family went on a caravanning holiday around Australia. We were in Western Australia, near a place called Jurien Bay, when I had a dream of the opening scene of a fantasy novel. I later scrapped that particular idea, but I had already started work on the book, and the story ended up being The Sword in His Hand, my debut novel which was published in 2021. The main villain also became Jurien, after the place where I had the idea. I’m sneaky like that.

While I was at school and later university, I wrote whenever I could, but The Sword in His Hand took 12.5 years to finish. And it only got finished because I became very sick almost overnight, and had to step away from my job as a psychologist. While I recovered, I worked on the novel, then finished the sequel, and both books were picked up by a publisher. Eventually, I decided to stay in the writing game and launched my own freelance editing business a few years ago. I haven’t looked back since!

How did you get your first book published?

J: I spent a bit of time querying before I found a publisher for my debut duology. Working with that publisher wasn’t a great experience, and I’ve now gotten my rights back for that series and republished, but I learned a lot about writing and publishing in those years.

I kept writing, and querying, and eventually signed with my dream publisher, Enclave, for a trilogy (The Nightingale Trilogy). They have been absolutely amazing! I also signed with Mountain Brook Ink and WhiteFire Publishing, which have both been wonderful. I’ve learned so much from working with these publishing houses.

You have published both traditionally and independently. How did you find your independent experience?

J: Independent publishing is a lot of work, but it helped that I’d been through the process of traditional publishing several times before and so I knew what to expect and what needed to happen at each point. Indie publishing is so fun, because you retain creative control and you’re coordinating everything yourself. It was a fantastic experience! All going well, I’ll be releasing two more indie books in 2025.

Can you share a bit about your writing routine?

J: I don’t write every day, but when I’m working on a novel, I write almost constantly until the book is finished. I don’t follow a strict writing schedule, but since I freelance edit as well, I tend to edit in the morning and then write in the afternoons. It works well for me!

What advice would you give to writers wanting to be published?

J: The most valuable piece of advice I’ve been given about writing (and which I frequently give out to other writers) is that if you want to be a published writer, you need to read, read, read. Read inside your favorite genre, read outside your genre, read simple books and challenging books, read fiction and non-fiction. As the saying goes, “Reading is like breathing in; writing is like breathing out” (Pam Allyn). Constant reading will refine your writing and expose you to different influences that will shape your writer voice.

Where can people find you on the internet?

J: You can visit me at my website: www.jjfischer.com, which has links to all my social media presences (FB, Instagram, Twitter, etc). Make sure you sign up for my newsletter for the latest updates, and feel free to send me a message via my contact form—I love hearing from readers!

About J.J Fischer:

Jasmine’s writing dream began with the anthology of zoo animals she painstakingly wrote and illustrated at age five, to rather limited acclaim. Thankfully, her writing (but not her drawing) has improved since then. She is a clinically-trained psychologist but no, she cannot read your mind. When she isn’t killing defenseless house plants, pretending she can play the piano, eating peanut butter out of the jar, or memorizing funny film quotes, she and her husband David are attempting to keep their Aussie backyard free of flesh-eating arachnids and dragon-sized crocodiles. Honestly, it’s a miracle she finds the time to write any books. You can learn more about her at jjfischer.com.

Her latest release is Memoria, book 3 in the Nightingale Trilogy. You can add it to your Goodreads here.

If you are yet to read The Nightingale Trilogy, you can see my review of book 1, Calor, here. And can add it to your Goodreads here. (Spoiler Alert: I loved it and highly recommend it!)

Synopsis for Calor:

What if you could edit memories with a single touch?

The world-that-was is gone, lost to everything except living memory . . . but remembering comes at a terrible price. Sixty-two years after the apocalypse, a new society has emerged from the ashes of the old world where highly valued memories are traded and nostalgia is worth dying—and even killing—for.

Enslaved by a cruel master, Sephone Winter is forced to use her rare ability to manipulate memories to numb the darkest secrets of the ruling aristocracy.

Then Lord Adamo appears, speaking of a powerful relic capable of permanently erasing memories and recovering Sephone’s own lost childhood. But not everything about the young lord is as it seems, and soon Sephone must choose between helping Lord Adamo forget his past or journeying deep into the land of Lethe, where the truth about who she really is might finally be revealed . . . and a long desired future restored.

(I will be reviewing Book 2, Lumen, and book 3, Memoria, in the coming weeks, so look out for those.)