Guest Author Interview with Jessica Piro
I recently got the chance to interview suspense/thriller writer Jessica Piro, author of The Phoenix Trilogy. I hope you enjoy the Q&A! – AJ
Hi, Jessica. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to interview you today. Can you introduce yourself and your book(s) to our readers?
Thanks for choosing me to interview. My name is Jessica Piro, I live in Mangham, Louisiana (Northeast LA), I have Type 1 Diabetes and in a wheelchair with Friedreich’s Ataxia, and I write suspense/thrillers for adults—right now. The books I have published are The Phoenix Trilogy, their 3 accompanying companion short stories, and one standalone fantasy short story with some horror elements.
Would you like to talk a little about your writing process?
I honestly don’t have a specific type of writing process—I just write whatever and however I feel like that day. (I might skip around chapters one day, write in order the next, etc.)
I would put myself more in the pantser category, but I do somewhat have a plan in my head. Moodboards and art distract me too much, but music is an absolute must when writing—it drowns out the world and puts me in whatever mood the scene requires.
Much of your trilogy focuses on Leila’s (and later Dragunov’s) ongoing struggle with a “dark side.” Their dark sides alienated friends and supporters, until they managed to get them under control. Can you elaborate a little on what inspired this part of your story?
This is kind of tough to explain. Everyone has a darker side of them—an alter-ego; a different side that’s tempted to do something you may not originally do. I wanted to expand further on that by making this dark side take on its own personality and more physical and delve into a person’s psyche as they struggle with it (internally and externally). A type of conflict needed in every story: man vs man, I guess.
Your Phoenix Trilogy has some great action/fight scenes. What is your process for making them feel so realistic?
This is also hard to get across. I’ve heard so many authors say action/fight scenes are hard, but they’re easy for me. (Maybe because I watch a lot of action movies…) Anyway, for The Phoenix Trilogy and all the various martial arts in the fighting tournament I watched a lot of Youtube videos and played the video game Tekken. I studied the movements and acted out the scenes in my head—if it didn’t look or seem realistic, I changed it until it did.
Thank you, though!
The primary antagonist/villain in your series, Brian Foster, is a pretty diabolical character. How did you go about creating him and his backstory?
I’ll let you and the readers in on a secret. Bryan Foster is inspired by the maniacal ‘bad guy’ Bryan Fury on Tekken. I’ve always seen him as an antagonist to everyone in the fighting game franchise and I just let my imagination free on what he would be like. With his backstory, I wanted to give him a tragic childhood to explain the villain he becomes.
Do you have any upcoming releases you’d like to talk about?
It’s not finalized yet, but my next story is a mystery/thriller dark steampunk with thieves. I plan on it being out sometime next year in the Fall. The tentative title is Rookfall (the name of the city).
What project(s) are you currently working on, and can you share anything about them?
Rookfall—the next story coming out—is a dark steampunk mystery/thriller with thieves.
No title yet, but a Headless Horseman-inspired mystery/thriller set in a modern Sleepy Hollow. An urban fantasy series inspired by Yu Yu Hakusho.
I plan on finishing my YA fantasy with elementals, currently on Wattpad, and I’ve always thought about expanding It’s the Small Things That Matter into a novel series.
Besides being a writer, what do you like to do in your spare time?
I’m a big time reader, of course. (You pretty much can’t be a writer unless you read, too.) I like to play video games as well, even though that’s become harder with my declining fine motor skills (hitting buttons quickly).
Do you have any parting thoughts you’d like to share?
Oh gosh. I don’t know. Um, please, PLEASE leave a review for indie books! It could just be a few words like “I loved it!” or “[insert character name] was my favorite because [insert reason]”. It all helps. Also, tell others/spread the word.
A huge thank you to Jessica for taking the time to chat about her books and writing process!
You can learn more about Jessica and her writing at her website, jessicapiro.com.
Direct links to her books can be found here:
- The Phoenix Trilogy
- The Panther’s Pride
- The Crane’s Dance
- The Tiger’s Patience
- It’s the Small Things That Matter