August 14, 2025 • 34 mins
When reality wasn’t enough, J.F. Monroe built her own universe. In her Legacy of the Four trilogy, ancient powers walk among us, destinies shift, and courage rewrites fate.
Drawing inspiration from The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and even Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending plots, Monroe blends epic adventure with deeply personal journeys.
At the core of her stories is one truth: the greatest magic comes from human connection.
Website https://www.jfmonroebookshelf.com/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jf.monroe/
TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@jf.monroe?_t=ZP-8sbcQQzxU5u&_r=1
You can follow Billy Dees on X https://x.com/BillyDees
Drawing inspiration from The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and even Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending plots, Monroe blends epic adventure with deeply personal journeys.
At the core of her stories is one truth: the greatest magic comes from human connection.
Website https://www.jfmonroebookshelf.com/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jf.monroe/
TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@jf.monroe?_t=ZP-8sbcQQzxU5u&_r=1
You can follow Billy Dees on X https://x.com/BillyDees
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You are listening to the Billy d'es podcast. All right, well,
hello everyone, and welcome to the program. As always, I
am absolutely thrilled that you are here. If you've never
checked us out before, we are primarily an interview and
(00:24):
a commentary based podcast. Today I have an interview on
the line. Is JF Monroe. JF. It's so great to
have you.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor
to be here. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, I don't know about an honor, but it's cool.
What does the JF stand for?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
So it's actually JF. Monroe is a pen name that
I use when I write, and it pays homage to
I used to write blogs under a pen name that
I just took the two initials from it. Oh so
it's just kind of like honor that when I used
to write blogs and things like that of that nature.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Oh well, that's awesome though. Let me tell you a
little bit about j. F. Unroe. She is a very
passionate advocate for the magic of storytelling. Her philosophy centers
around the belief that the most powerful tales arise from
the complexities of human relationships. Each character she creates is
not only extraordinary in their abilities, but also relatable in
(01:28):
their struggles, growth and capacity for love and sacrifice. As
a fantasy genre, let me ask you this, because I
hear that term all the time. What does that mean?
When we know fantasy? What? What? What does that genre
in compass is? You know, it's not like Star Wars,
(01:48):
that's more science fiction? Is it?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Like?
Speaker 1 (01:52):
You know? What do you? I'll let you tell me
what what? What exactly is that genre?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Bo sure? So this is a great question, and the
way that I always answer it is that when it's
going to sound a little bleak, but stick with me,
it works. So when you think about fantasy and sci fi,
So when I was first deciding to publish the book,
I actually wasn't sure which genre I fell into. And
so the way that it was described to me and
(02:19):
I will never forget it, is that sci fi is
based more in like science. So when you think about aliens, right,
we think that aliens exist out there, some do, some don't. However,
it is plausible, it is a possibility. Yes, when you
think about fantasy genre that is unicorns, dragons, that is
(02:44):
stuff that though you might believe in the magic of fantasy,
it is not necessarily plausible. It's not something that is
going to happen or that has been potential to happen.
And so that was the distinction that was made for me,
and I love it and I kept it with me
all this time.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Now, when you were like growing up, you were like
an avid reader, and it was that it was that
a category that you gravitated to.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yes, So when I was growing up, I was introduced
to you know, the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,
Lord of the Rings. As I aged, you know, further,
it was Harry Potter, and so, yes, I was deeply
immersed in fantasy literature. And of course I dabbled just
(03:31):
being a reader, you dabble in everything, but that was
my main focus. That was kind of like what I
was drawn to.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Awesome. Now where are you from? Now? At stay do
you originate from? We always asked that, of course.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, I'm in New York. I am in actually Westchester,
New York.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Oh okay, well, you're you're in a in a good
spot for writers. There's that that's a very fertile area
for writers.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
It's so lovely up here. I lived in the Bronx
for most of my life in the city, you know,
like they were buildings everywhere and people everywhere, and I
kind of trade it up for a lot of wild
animals in my backyard. And I have not looked back.
It is very glorious to me. So I like it.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
You don't strike me as the Bronx type. I mean,
you seem so pleasant, nothing against the people in the
bloc in the Bronx.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
That's not the first time that somebody said that to me,
so it's a common thing.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Very good. Okay. Now you basically have three books, all right,
So what are their titles and what did they center around?
Let's start easy.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
That's okay, Yeah, absolutely, So I have two books out
right now. The third one is still to be released.
I'm hoping my early January Thinkers Crossed, so that one's
still kind of in the editing process. But the first
one of the trilogy is called The Legendary Guardians Reunions.
It is a fantasy romance novel. It is set in
(04:56):
a world basically where humans and angels and demons exist
under this very fragile He's treaty held together by the
Four Horsemen, which when you think four horsemen, you think
like apocalypse, but here they are actually these legendary guardians
tasked with protecting humanity from destruction. So like if angels
(05:17):
decided to rebel, if demons decided to rebel, humans really
don't have a leg up in that world, and so
these four guardians are tasked to protect them. However, these
four Guardians require human vessels, and so one of my
main characters, Shade, is forced back into this world that
she tried to leave behind when her childhood best friend, Theo,
(05:39):
who was selected as one of the vessel's, returns after
a very long time, about like ten years. He's the
vessel for the Horsemen of Death. He's carrying a ridiculous
amount of power, and the whole entirety of book one
is him taking her on a journey to reunite the
four Horsemen the other three Horsemen to stop this you know,
(06:03):
overarching looming threat. And Shad's dog had so long for
his name is Mac because who doesn't really like a
dog and a story. The second book is called Descent
into the Void Heart, which doesn't necessarily make sense if
you haven't read the first book, but it is basically
the land of demons. It is called the Void Heart
(06:24):
that is their territory, and so it is their continuation
after they've all reunited, their journey into these different lands
to start forging alliances to battle what they now knows
this great looming threat. So it's just a continuation from there.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Okay, Well, that would be gonna be one of my questions.
It sounds to me like they don't stand independently that
you really should read the first one first and then
go on to the second.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Absolutely, I would definitely encourage that you definitely need the
context of the first book to roll right into the
second one, and then when the third one is released,
roll right into the third one.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Okay. I get a lot of people when we have
authors on who are really interested in the process. Maybe
they're trying to be authors of their own, they're trying
to write or what have you. And one of the
quotes that I always remember, there's a good friend of
mine who's been on a number of different times and
she actually writes a humor column. She's syndicated not on
how many papers, And I asked her about writer's block
(07:24):
one time, and her answer was that's a convenience for amateurs.
When you're a pro, you can't have writer's block. You
have to meet the deadline. And I think that's a
common thing that I get from a lot of people,
is you write, let's say, from ten in the morning
until two in the afternoon, every single day, whether you
(07:45):
are inspired or not. You've got to keep that discipline.
How do you manage that? Is that true for you
or do you have another process that's really interesting?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
So I respect that opinion, and I wouldn't even call
it writer's block, you do. I am a firm believer
that you do need to give your brain a rest.
I am a firm believer that you can stand up
and walk away from the story a little bit. I
do think, of course, meet your deadlines, you know, especially
(08:17):
with tried publishing. I'm an indie publisher. I've published my
own work, so I do not you know, the the
deadlines don't really affect me too much, though I can
imagine it being slightly different in her situation. Call it
whatever you want. At the end of the day, We're
all human. Our brains need rests, and so I know
(08:39):
when I was writing my books, there were some times
where I'd start writing and it was just not what
I wanted. And I respected that. I understood that and
I gave myself a little grace to walk away from
it for you know, maybe a few hours a day.
And I'm sure it's different for everybody, Sure than when
I would come back to it. I did have to.
(09:01):
I have to say I felt refreshed. I felt like,
all right, I took a small break. I can sit
down now and I can get to it. But I
really want to make it clear from what your your
good friend has said, she has deadlines. She's probably doing
kind of like a track publishing thing. It's very different
from me. I do this. This is a passion, this
(09:24):
is a this is something that I do on the
side of like full time work, of being a mom,
of being a wife, of doing like five hundred other things.
I don't need to do this to survive. It's not
it's not my main source of income, and so my
outlook is very different than others. I just want to
I want to set that context because it's different for everybody.
(09:48):
But I do believe your brain needs a break, and
I will stand by that for everything.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Sure, absolutely, Well that's true of a lot of things,
Like I do a lot of technical work with media
and stuff, and there's the times when I get fun strated,
you know, and it's just time to walk away from it.
And for some reason, after you take that break, you
come back and everything comes together. You know, it's just yeah.
And I don't know why that is, but it is.
You have an interesting uh what's the word, I'm looking for?
(10:16):
A philosophy and how you mold your characters. I found
this interesting flawed heroes, which implies heroes that not always
are great and relatable villains, which means you don't have
like a Norman Bates. You have somebody that's you know,
that's so bad. So how does that work for you? White?
(10:40):
How do you twist those together?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Then? So I love and I do this with a
lot of things, but I love exploring the full spectrum
when I can, and so of heroes and of villains
and in life in general. But for the sake of
my writing, I love exploring that spectrum of heroes and villains.
Character exists somewhere along that range, right along that spectrum,
(11:05):
and so I choose where they fall based on what
best serves the narrative, what best serves the story. In
this series, I leaned into the reluctant heroes who didn't
ask for this responsibility but stepped up anyway. So the vessels, right,
they don't not really given much of a choice. They
got to go through these trials. They either become one
(11:27):
of the four or they don't. They go home, and
then the you know, psycho renews they're flawed. They often
make ridiculous, morally gray decisions or choosing you know, a
path that challenges the conventional definitions of heroism. Like that
fascinates me. And so that's kind of like what I
leaned into for villains. I embrace the full spectrum here
(11:51):
because a lot of what I see are like the
gray villains. Like every fantasy I read now is basically,
you know, the female main character falling for like the
villain versus falling for the hero. And I think that's
cool and I love that, And so I wanted to
have like gray villains who could almost be seen as
like anti heroes, sympathetic you question their actions. They're not
(12:17):
really that you know, cold blooded, they're almost like redeemable. However,
I also do love a good Norman Bait, Like I
like a cold blooded you know, monster who are just
who's just unapologetically evil, and Norman Bates, I'm sure I'm
sure there could be so much dialogue between like is
he truly a monster or is that like a topic
of health and stuff like that. So I'll instead of
(12:40):
Norman Bates, I'll use like a Sauron type right from
Lord of the Rings, completely just ridiculously evil. He did
not need a backstory that was tragic. He just wanted
our power corrupted them, and he just went with it.
And so I felt that by like writing these layered characters,
I'm aiming to highlights these like wonderful, wonderful complexities of
(13:03):
what human nature is, right, Like, I'm not always good,
but I'm not always bad. Sometimes I make decisions that
are poor. Sometimes I make really wonderful decisions. The same
can be said about you. Like it's encouraging readers to
reflect on how good and evil aren't always just as
like clear cut as oh my god, this is a
sauro On type villain that's just evil and you can't
(13:24):
relate versus a do good or like a superman who
just no matter what, he will always do you know
what is right?
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yes, you know? Interesting you said that about Norman Bates.
There was a TV series that was a prequel to
Norman Bates and they actually portrayed that where he was
actually a sympathetic character when he was young. So yeah,
so that's that's an interesting reason to mention that you
(13:52):
often balance fantastical elements with relatable experiences. And I can
tell you as a casual reader, I don't know that
fantasy is at the top of my list. But one
of the things, one of the odd dichotomies to it
is all off and hear people say, well, it wasn't realistic. Well,
it's a fantasy, but there has to be relatability there, right,
(14:15):
So how do you navigate that?
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Yeah, so they're right, Like you know, in abroad, respect
the fantasy is not reality. So it's it's hard when
you're reading about like these worlds that you will never
step foot in. Right. However, how I aimed to make
(14:40):
it as relatable as possible was with the characters. So, like, admittedly,
world building is a challenge for me. So usually that's
always like a tough question to answer, Like even when
I'm describing places like the Void Heart or Arcanadia or
the Ethereal Valley, I focus on trying to anchor these
fantastical settings with deeply real character experiences. So that the
(15:05):
readers can relate in some way to them. So the
surroundings may be magical or otherworldly, but the relationships and
the emotions between the characters that are in that place
remain relatable and grounded. So interestingly enough, like I didn't
approach my first draft with like a deliberate connection between
(15:28):
like world building and human emotions like that. You don't
go into it like that. You just kind of go
in typing, or at least I do. I'm just like,
let me just get the story out. But during the
editing process I did start to notice, like some connections emerge.
For example, like the Ethereal Valley. I describe it as
vibrant and colorful, and it's basically created by these gods
(15:50):
to entertain humans, because that's what gods think of humans,
you know, bright distractions. It reveals the god's inability to
truly understand human death, and so they make these bright, shiny,
outwardly appearing things, similarly to like I describe like the
Sins Mansion as grand and opulent on the surface, but
(16:11):
it feels cold and hollow on the inside, kind of
like the Sins themselves, you know, lacking that warmth and authenticity.
So you find these really cool patterns as you go
and as you write that you don't sometimes even mean
to do. I did not mean to do those things.
It comes out because of that human experience that you
and I are so used to living every day. It's
(16:33):
normal to us. When you're incorporating it into fantasy, it's
really wild how it comes out sometimes.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Sure, you also talk about vulnerability, and that come out
a lot of things. For example, you know, a vulnerability
might be, you know, in a love story, somebody might
have a fear of getting hurt. That's one of the
more subtle ones, probably one of the more cliche ones.
Hitchcock was very famous for taking that to an extreme level.
(17:02):
For example, in Vertigo, the hero has not only to
confront the villain, but he has to climb stairs and
he's afraid of heights. What do you give your characters
in terms of vulnerabilities where they is it something where
they not only have to confront the villain, but they
also have to confront a part of themselves. Is that
(17:24):
kind of how you set that up?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Yes, I absolutely did so. Yes, there's a big bad
in my story and it's external. But a lot of
the challenges and trials that my characters face are internal
as well. They're battling some inner demons, And so I
love this question on vulnerability actually because it is such
a core theme of my writing that dabbles in, like
(17:49):
mental health and how people handle it. You find like
these really really intense themes that at one point didn't
mean to put in it, but it just kind of
works out that way when you're writing it. So from
the beginning, I knew I wanted characters who were strong
and powerful but also deeply human. A lot of the
fantasy that I read nowadays you got the you know,
(18:12):
tick butt MC's they're just doing it, they're rocking it
out and they are just powerful to the max. And
I knew that I did not want them. I wanted
the reader to say to look at these characters and say, Okay,
I see myself like I could do that. I would
make that call, I would make that decision, or yes,
(18:32):
I would run, like who would want to face something
like that? I would turn and flee in the other direction.
And so I intentionally like moved away from these overused
tropes like the constant miscommunication trope or the excessive like
dark hero trope, you know. Instead, I created characters who,
like they're not afraid to express their emotions. So whether
(18:55):
it's THEO who's confronting his trauma which is huge, or
Shade grappling with like her own fears or like Wrath
embodying her wrath, or Petny just keeping her severe optimism
because she's the little bright light of the group. These
characters own their feelings and aren't afraid to voice them.
(19:18):
And I think that's a superpower in and of itself.
And that was something that I was immensely like, I'm
going to put this in my story. I don't want
characters that are like closed off. I want them relatable.
I want them vulnerable, being able to say what they
feel and need it. I thought that was like a
really nice, not only twist to the story, but just
(19:40):
a really refreshing perspective on how vulnerability can be handled,
not only between women either, but with men as well,
Like they are just ridiculously open with their feelings. And
that's okay.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yes, you mentioned mental health more than once. Is that
a topic that you champion in any way? Is it
because I, like I said, I've noticed you've mentioned it,
and it's portrayal more than once, so I was just
kind of what am I picking up there?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah? Absolutely, So I actually did a deep dive into
it when I was writing this book, and it happened
because and I always say this, and it sounds so,
you know, cliche, but like when you write a story,
sometimes you get so immersed in it that you just
kind of go where the story tells you to go,
Like you're not in charge anymore, right, Like you're just
(20:33):
going with the flow. You're like, Okay, this took a turn.
Where's it going. Let's see. And so one of the
characters in the story does face like pretty intense emotional trauma,
and I knew that there was no I needed it
in the story. There was no way I was going
to write about it with not without understanding it. I
wanted to be ridiculously sensitive to the topic that I
(20:56):
was touching on, and so I did a a real
deep dive and actually spoke to some people who were
survivors of this particular trauma, and it was really important
to me to get it right. Sounds terrible, but to
make it as respecting and careful as I possibly could
(21:21):
in my approach to it without you know, I don't
want someone to read it and like get triggered. You know,
that wasn't my my main thing. I wanted someone to
read it and say, okay, like I see it, I
see where it's going. So I tried to be pretty
gentle with it. But in doing that deep dive, yes,
I became very well acquainted with like a lot of
the you know, mental health, you know, just the community
(21:44):
in general. Like I spoke to a lot of people
and they're very open about it, which I thought was
a beautiful thing. And then I myself, you know, I
am in therapy, and I think that that is a
very beautiful thing for me, just because I've seen how
much I have grown from doing it, you know, looking
(22:04):
back heres from when I started to where I am
now and so huge advocate of it, and DEMI knowledgeable.
You know, there's so much out there, so I wouldn't
need to say I'm no expert. But I did what
I had to do, and I did it for myself
and for the story, and so I hope I did
it justice.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Well. I can tell that you were very heartfel about it.
I can tell by the way you speak about it,
and I think that's very important. We mentioned Norman Bates. Now,
I like the psycho movies as much as anybody else,
and we all like the you know, the psycho crazed
killer genre, I mean, but by the same token, they
(22:44):
don't do the stigma of mental health any good, especially
when you consider that someone who's suffering from mental health
is far more likely to be a victim of crime
than they are to be a perpetrator. And unfortunately we
only hear about the off the wall events on the news.
I happen to volunteer a lot, very much involved in
(23:05):
the mental health community here in Ohio, and I can
tell you that they get taken advantage of by their families,
by their friends. They're often victims of crime because they
can't defend themselves that well. So it's nice to see
another dimension and to hear about a mental health condition
portrayed in a heartfelt manner. So I think that's really
really good. So Okay, sure, I noticed that you speak
(23:30):
about and we kind of touched on this a little bit,
the heigh stakes. Fantasy can sometimes feel distant, and I
think that the term that I've heard when it comes
to you know, fantasy movies or even with science fiction
is the suspension of disbelief. I think that's one that
(23:50):
I hear a lot. That's kind of maybe applicable. I've
generally found science fiction movies for me, I'll suspend one thing,
but not a half a dozen things, like, for example, alien,
It's very easy to understand you're on a spaceship. There's
a bad alien there. When you start walking into walls
and falling into different dimensions and meeting yourself and all that. Okay,
now it's starting. It's too far off the mark one
(24:13):
step terminator. You know, you got a good one and
a bad one. It's very easy to understand. That's here. Again,
that's from my Layban's point of view. You don't ask
too much of the audience to disbelief. What's your approach
to that?
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I mean, I completely understand. I would like to counter
that point though, in saying that if you pick up
a fantasy book, fantasy to a lot of people is
considered escapism.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Sure, they're picking up that book because they don't want
to read about, you know, a cut and dry you know,
I'm trying to think of a good example, but like,
they don't want to think about something where they can
go outside and experience it. Right. They want to ride dragons,
they want to fight you know, demons, they want to
fall in love with you know, fairies. They want to
(25:04):
take a moment to take a break from what from
the real world and done, you know, in a in
a way that isn't you know, overwhelming. I believe it
is a wonderful thing. And so when you pick up
that book, Yeah, you're going to read about dragons, You're
going to get on those dragons. You're going to ride
(25:26):
the Phoenix and Harry Potter, you know, the dragons in
Fourth Wing, you're going to fall in love with you know,
seven hundred year old say men and a Gatar, Like,
it's going to happen, and it's not going to happen here.
It's going to happen in there, and that's where it's
going to stay. And so I'm a big proponent of
as long as you give them something that they can say,
(25:49):
oh okay, like whether it's choosing your characters and kind
of having their point of view be kind of like
your point of view, like, oh, I understand why they
did that. As long as you have some way to
ground them in that fantasy world where they can't only
enter unless they open that book, but they can take
out with them and they close the book and they
have those feelings still. I mean, I think that's a
(26:12):
really beautiful thing.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Sure, you have you mentioned a cinematic approach. Do you
ever when you construct these I'll have you explain that.
But what I hear when I hear that is you
envision these stories often as a screenplay. And would you
(26:34):
be of course, every writer I guess would want something
made into a movie. But do you when you're writing it,
do you kind of feel this would play out a
certain way on a screen.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Yes, So cinematic vision has pros and cons to it.
And so when I write, I have to see in
my head how it's going to play out. First. I
can't just write something and not have it, you know,
living and breathing in my brain. And so I'll kind
of do the scene in my head. I'm like, all right,
(27:04):
and it plays out kind of like a movie, and
I'm like, this is cool. I'm going to try to
do this. And then now my challenge is getting what
I just saw on paper. And like I said, it
has pros and cons. When it's a pro it's really great.
Like I'm able to kind of dive into the details.
I've seen the pattern. I'm like, yes, I have the dialogue.
Everything is flowing. I can almost it's almost like I
(27:26):
see the writing and I can just type it out now.
Cons to that, our screenplays and novels are very different.
In a novel, you show more than you tell. In
a screenplay, you tell a little bit more than you
show because you've got to give directions and things like that.
And so, and I love this question because I love
(27:46):
being completely honest. With my first book, it was a
learning process. And so you are going to see you're
going to read scenes that do a little bit more
of that telling versus showing. Like even I go back
sometimes and I'm like, you know, because you're just like
I could have probably done that a little better. However,
as you continue reading through the book and you get
(28:08):
to book two, you learn, like you see where my
growth path is and how I develop on it in
book two, and so like a lot of showing happened
in book two instead of telling. The dialogue flows better.
And again I'm not saying I'm not trying to say
Book one is lesser than Book one is my my baby,
Like I that's where I started everything. You know, it
(28:30):
was my learning process and it's a really beautiful book,
but it's set the foundation for me to kind of
learn and carry into book two and hopefully book three
what I've wanted it to officially be. And then in
terms of do I ever want to see it on
the big screen, I mean, of course, absol, that'd be awesome.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yes, Well, let's hope, uh, you know, Hollywood adopt some
new stories because you know, getting back to the psycause
there's only so many superheroes and super villain as you
can make in so many car crash movies. Sooner or
later they got to come up with something like what
you're doing. So let's hope they do. By all means,
I'll wrap this up with something you call creative doubt
(29:12):
when it comes to being an author. And here again,
a lot of people from the reader aspect are interested
in this, but a lot of people that are interested
in writing of any kind I'm sure experiences. Another term
that is relatable to like what I do is called
imposter syndrome, where you might be talking about something and
you're an authority on it, but in the back of
(29:33):
your mind you're saying why these people listening to me
I don't know anything. How do you overcome that as
a writer?
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Yes, so that's a really important question that should be
like if I can, if I can just give any
piece of advice, it would be to like in how
I'm going to answer this question. Creative doubt is going
to always happen, even to like the best of us,
right in the most confident of us. Intrusive thought are
always trying to creep their way into this person right here.
(30:03):
So I combat it with having a solid support system.
I'm lucky enough to have one. My niece in particular,
she was the first person that because you know, publishing
a book and getting it out into the world is
quite vulnerable, and so she was the first person that
I kind of said, like, here, I'm going to give
it to you. I want you to read it, and
don't make me look like a fool, like you tell
(30:25):
me your feedback. I need you to tell me. I
need you to be honest. Don't let me put it
out into the world if you think that I could
do better, or if it needs some type of revisions
and things like that. So I was lucky enough to
have a support system. I can say not everybody has that,
and so what I want to do is also say
that give yourself some credit when you're going through this process.
(30:48):
Be gentle with yourself, you know, give yourself some grace.
I am usually my own harshest critic anyway, with this trilogy,
I allowed myself to be very proud of what I accomplished,
and I sat there for a while. Writing a book
for me has been like this like lifelong dream of mine.
(31:09):
You know, you think about it like what you want
to be when you grow up and things like that.
And I've always loved writing, and who thought like you
could write a book right? But I didn't just write one.
I wrote three of them. And so that's something that
I try to keep reminding myself of. Whenever doubt creeps in,
remember why you started. And it doesn't have to just
be like creative doubt doesn't just happen with authors, you know,
(31:32):
it happens just throughout with everybody, throughout all of anybody's
passions and hobbies. And so just be gentle, give yourself
some grace, and be proud of like the milestones you hit.
The only advice I would leave them with is like,
just do it right. Like, just start it, because if
you don't start it, then you have no milestones to
(31:52):
hit and you can't say that you at least try
to do it. So you owe it to yourself that
if this is a passion, if this is something you
want to person to, even through the intrusive thoughts, even
through the imposter syndrome, even through the creative doubt, even
if you don't have a support system, you've got to
do it. Like even just for yourself, you have to
do it and see it done.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Great advice. We have been speaking to JF. Monroe. Where
can people find you? What are the names of the books? Again?
And social media? Where can people find you?
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Yes? So the name of the books. There are two
out now. The first one is The Legendary Guardians Reunions
and the second one is Dissent into the Void Heart.
You can find me on Instagram and TikTok under the
same name. It is JF dot Monroe. I also have
a website it is JF. Monroe bookshelf dot com. There's
(32:46):
a blog up there. I tend to update it monthly,
and then you can of course find the books on.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Amazon, Yes, Amazon. The author again at JF. Monroe Thank
you so much. You're very pleasant to talk to, very
engaging and full of helpful information. Thank you so much.
It's been a delight having you.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
I appreciate it absolutely anytime, Welcome back anytime. My name
is Billy D's. You can find me on the platform
formerly known as Twitter, which is now x That's kind
of like my social media home. We're on other places too,
Facebook and all that. And The Billy D's Podcast is
over ten years old now in its current form, and
(33:33):
we've been on all the major platforms. You can find
us anywhere. So if you can't find us, you need
to find one of the other internets because we are
on all of them. So thank you so much for
listening to our program today, and we will talk to
you again very very soon. I'm Billy D's and host
(33:56):
of the self titled podcast, The Billy D's Podcast. We
are primarily an interview and a commentary based podcast featuring
authors and creators talking about their craft, advocates for community issues,
and myself in an array of co host discussing current events.
There's no partisan renting and raving going on here, just
great content. You can find the Billy D's podcast on
(34:19):
your favorite platform and on Twitter at billy D's thank
you and I hope you listen in
You are listening to the Billy d'es podcast. All right, well,
hello everyone, and welcome to the program. As always, I
am absolutely thrilled that you are here. If you've never
checked us out before, we are primarily an interview and
(00:24):
a commentary based podcast. Today I have an interview on
the line. Is JF Monroe. JF. It's so great to
have you.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor
to be here. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, I don't know about an honor, but it's cool.
What does the JF stand for?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
So it's actually JF. Monroe is a pen name that
I use when I write, and it pays homage to
I used to write blogs under a pen name that
I just took the two initials from it. Oh so
it's just kind of like honor that when I used
to write blogs and things like that of that nature.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Oh well, that's awesome though. Let me tell you a
little bit about j. F. Unroe. She is a very
passionate advocate for the magic of storytelling. Her philosophy centers
around the belief that the most powerful tales arise from
the complexities of human relationships. Each character she creates is
not only extraordinary in their abilities, but also relatable in
(01:28):
their struggles, growth and capacity for love and sacrifice. As
a fantasy genre, let me ask you this, because I
hear that term all the time. What does that mean?
When we know fantasy? What? What? What does that genre
in compass is? You know, it's not like Star Wars,
(01:48):
that's more science fiction? Is it?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Like?
Speaker 1 (01:52):
You know? What do you? I'll let you tell me
what what? What exactly is that genre?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Bo sure? So this is a great question, and the
way that I always answer it is that when it's
going to sound a little bleak, but stick with me,
it works. So when you think about fantasy and sci fi,
So when I was first deciding to publish the book,
I actually wasn't sure which genre I fell into. And
so the way that it was described to me and
(02:19):
I will never forget it, is that sci fi is
based more in like science. So when you think about aliens, right,
we think that aliens exist out there, some do, some don't. However,
it is plausible, it is a possibility. Yes, when you
think about fantasy genre that is unicorns, dragons, that is
(02:44):
stuff that though you might believe in the magic of fantasy,
it is not necessarily plausible. It's not something that is
going to happen or that has been potential to happen.
And so that was the distinction that was made for me,
and I love it and I kept it with me
all this time.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Now, when you were like growing up, you were like
an avid reader, and it was that it was that
a category that you gravitated to.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yes, So when I was growing up, I was introduced
to you know, the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,
Lord of the Rings. As I aged, you know, further,
it was Harry Potter, and so, yes, I was deeply
immersed in fantasy literature. And of course I dabbled just
(03:31):
being a reader, you dabble in everything, but that was
my main focus. That was kind of like what I
was drawn to.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Awesome. Now where are you from? Now? At stay do
you originate from? We always asked that, of course.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, I'm in New York. I am in actually Westchester,
New York.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Oh okay, well, you're you're in a in a good
spot for writers. There's that that's a very fertile area
for writers.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
It's so lovely up here. I lived in the Bronx
for most of my life in the city, you know,
like they were buildings everywhere and people everywhere, and I
kind of trade it up for a lot of wild
animals in my backyard. And I have not looked back.
It is very glorious to me. So I like it.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
You don't strike me as the Bronx type. I mean,
you seem so pleasant, nothing against the people in the
bloc in the Bronx.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
That's not the first time that somebody said that to me,
so it's a common thing.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Very good. Okay. Now you basically have three books, all right,
So what are their titles and what did they center around?
Let's start easy.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
That's okay, Yeah, absolutely, So I have two books out
right now. The third one is still to be released.
I'm hoping my early January Thinkers Crossed, so that one's
still kind of in the editing process. But the first
one of the trilogy is called The Legendary Guardians Reunions.
It is a fantasy romance novel. It is set in
(04:56):
a world basically where humans and angels and demons exist
under this very fragile He's treaty held together by the
Four Horsemen, which when you think four horsemen, you think
like apocalypse, but here they are actually these legendary guardians
tasked with protecting humanity from destruction. So like if angels
(05:17):
decided to rebel, if demons decided to rebel, humans really
don't have a leg up in that world, and so
these four guardians are tasked to protect them. However, these
four Guardians require human vessels, and so one of my
main characters, Shade, is forced back into this world that
she tried to leave behind when her childhood best friend, Theo,
(05:39):
who was selected as one of the vessel's, returns after
a very long time, about like ten years. He's the
vessel for the Horsemen of Death. He's carrying a ridiculous
amount of power, and the whole entirety of book one
is him taking her on a journey to reunite the
four Horsemen the other three Horsemen to stop this you know,
(06:03):
overarching looming threat. And Shad's dog had so long for
his name is Mac because who doesn't really like a
dog and a story. The second book is called Descent
into the Void Heart, which doesn't necessarily make sense if
you haven't read the first book, but it is basically
the land of demons. It is called the Void Heart
(06:24):
that is their territory, and so it is their continuation
after they've all reunited, their journey into these different lands
to start forging alliances to battle what they now knows
this great looming threat. So it's just a continuation from there.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Okay, Well, that would be gonna be one of my questions.
It sounds to me like they don't stand independently that
you really should read the first one first and then
go on to the second.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Absolutely, I would definitely encourage that you definitely need the
context of the first book to roll right into the
second one, and then when the third one is released,
roll right into the third one.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Okay. I get a lot of people when we have
authors on who are really interested in the process. Maybe
they're trying to be authors of their own, they're trying
to write or what have you. And one of the
quotes that I always remember, there's a good friend of
mine who's been on a number of different times and
she actually writes a humor column. She's syndicated not on
how many papers, And I asked her about writer's block
(07:24):
one time, and her answer was that's a convenience for amateurs.
When you're a pro, you can't have writer's block. You
have to meet the deadline. And I think that's a
common thing that I get from a lot of people,
is you write, let's say, from ten in the morning
until two in the afternoon, every single day, whether you
(07:45):
are inspired or not. You've got to keep that discipline.
How do you manage that? Is that true for you
or do you have another process that's really interesting?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
So I respect that opinion, and I wouldn't even call
it writer's block, you do. I am a firm believer
that you do need to give your brain a rest.
I am a firm believer that you can stand up
and walk away from the story a little bit. I
do think, of course, meet your deadlines, you know, especially
(08:17):
with tried publishing. I'm an indie publisher. I've published my
own work, so I do not you know, the the
deadlines don't really affect me too much, though I can
imagine it being slightly different in her situation. Call it
whatever you want. At the end of the day, We're
all human. Our brains need rests, and so I know
(08:39):
when I was writing my books, there were some times
where I'd start writing and it was just not what
I wanted. And I respected that. I understood that and
I gave myself a little grace to walk away from
it for you know, maybe a few hours a day.
And I'm sure it's different for everybody, Sure than when
I would come back to it. I did have to.
(09:01):
I have to say I felt refreshed. I felt like,
all right, I took a small break. I can sit
down now and I can get to it. But I
really want to make it clear from what your your
good friend has said, she has deadlines. She's probably doing
kind of like a track publishing thing. It's very different
from me. I do this. This is a passion, this
(09:24):
is a this is something that I do on the
side of like full time work, of being a mom,
of being a wife, of doing like five hundred other things.
I don't need to do this to survive. It's not
it's not my main source of income, and so my
outlook is very different than others. I just want to
I want to set that context because it's different for everybody.
(09:48):
But I do believe your brain needs a break, and
I will stand by that for everything.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Sure, absolutely, Well that's true of a lot of things,
Like I do a lot of technical work with media
and stuff, and there's the times when I get fun strated,
you know, and it's just time to walk away from it.
And for some reason, after you take that break, you
come back and everything comes together. You know, it's just yeah.
And I don't know why that is, but it is.
You have an interesting uh what's the word, I'm looking for?
(10:16):
A philosophy and how you mold your characters. I found
this interesting flawed heroes, which implies heroes that not always
are great and relatable villains, which means you don't have
like a Norman Bates. You have somebody that's you know,
that's so bad. So how does that work for you? White?
(10:40):
How do you twist those together?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Then? So I love and I do this with a
lot of things, but I love exploring the full spectrum
when I can, and so of heroes and of villains
and in life in general. But for the sake of
my writing, I love exploring that spectrum of heroes and villains.
Character exists somewhere along that range, right along that spectrum,
(11:05):
and so I choose where they fall based on what
best serves the narrative, what best serves the story. In
this series, I leaned into the reluctant heroes who didn't
ask for this responsibility but stepped up anyway. So the vessels, right,
they don't not really given much of a choice. They
got to go through these trials. They either become one
(11:27):
of the four or they don't. They go home, and
then the you know, psycho renews they're flawed. They often
make ridiculous, morally gray decisions or choosing you know, a
path that challenges the conventional definitions of heroism. Like that
fascinates me. And so that's kind of like what I
leaned into for villains. I embrace the full spectrum here
(11:51):
because a lot of what I see are like the
gray villains. Like every fantasy I read now is basically,
you know, the female main character falling for like the
villain versus falling for the hero. And I think that's
cool and I love that, And so I wanted to
have like gray villains who could almost be seen as
like anti heroes, sympathetic you question their actions. They're not
(12:17):
really that you know, cold blooded, they're almost like redeemable. However,
I also do love a good Norman Bait, Like I
like a cold blooded you know, monster who are just
who's just unapologetically evil, and Norman Bates, I'm sure I'm
sure there could be so much dialogue between like is
he truly a monster or is that like a topic
of health and stuff like that. So I'll instead of
(12:40):
Norman Bates, I'll use like a Sauron type right from
Lord of the Rings, completely just ridiculously evil. He did
not need a backstory that was tragic. He just wanted
our power corrupted them, and he just went with it.
And so I felt that by like writing these layered characters,
I'm aiming to highlights these like wonderful, wonderful complexities of
(13:03):
what human nature is, right, Like, I'm not always good,
but I'm not always bad. Sometimes I make decisions that
are poor. Sometimes I make really wonderful decisions. The same
can be said about you. Like it's encouraging readers to
reflect on how good and evil aren't always just as
like clear cut as oh my god, this is a
sauro On type villain that's just evil and you can't
(13:24):
relate versus a do good or like a superman who
just no matter what, he will always do you know
what is right?
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yes, you know? Interesting you said that about Norman Bates.
There was a TV series that was a prequel to
Norman Bates and they actually portrayed that where he was
actually a sympathetic character when he was young. So yeah,
so that's that's an interesting reason to mention that you
(13:52):
often balance fantastical elements with relatable experiences. And I can
tell you as a casual reader, I don't know that
fantasy is at the top of my list. But one
of the things, one of the odd dichotomies to it
is all off and hear people say, well, it wasn't realistic. Well,
it's a fantasy, but there has to be relatability there, right,
(14:15):
So how do you navigate that?
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Yeah, so they're right, Like you know, in abroad, respect
the fantasy is not reality. So it's it's hard when
you're reading about like these worlds that you will never
step foot in. Right. However, how I aimed to make
(14:40):
it as relatable as possible was with the characters. So, like, admittedly,
world building is a challenge for me. So usually that's
always like a tough question to answer, Like even when
I'm describing places like the Void Heart or Arcanadia or
the Ethereal Valley, I focus on trying to anchor these
fantastical settings with deeply real character experiences. So that the
(15:05):
readers can relate in some way to them. So the
surroundings may be magical or otherworldly, but the relationships and
the emotions between the characters that are in that place
remain relatable and grounded. So interestingly enough, like I didn't
approach my first draft with like a deliberate connection between
(15:28):
like world building and human emotions like that. You don't
go into it like that. You just kind of go
in typing, or at least I do. I'm just like,
let me just get the story out. But during the
editing process I did start to notice, like some connections emerge.
For example, like the Ethereal Valley. I describe it as
vibrant and colorful, and it's basically created by these gods
(15:50):
to entertain humans, because that's what gods think of humans,
you know, bright distractions. It reveals the god's inability to
truly understand human death, and so they make these bright, shiny,
outwardly appearing things, similarly to like I describe like the
Sins Mansion as grand and opulent on the surface, but
(16:11):
it feels cold and hollow on the inside, kind of
like the Sins themselves, you know, lacking that warmth and authenticity.
So you find these really cool patterns as you go
and as you write that you don't sometimes even mean
to do. I did not mean to do those things.
It comes out because of that human experience that you
and I are so used to living every day. It's
(16:33):
normal to us. When you're incorporating it into fantasy, it's
really wild how it comes out sometimes.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Sure, you also talk about vulnerability, and that come out
a lot of things. For example, you know, a vulnerability
might be, you know, in a love story, somebody might
have a fear of getting hurt. That's one of the
more subtle ones, probably one of the more cliche ones.
Hitchcock was very famous for taking that to an extreme level.
(17:02):
For example, in Vertigo, the hero has not only to
confront the villain, but he has to climb stairs and
he's afraid of heights. What do you give your characters
in terms of vulnerabilities where they is it something where
they not only have to confront the villain, but they
also have to confront a part of themselves. Is that
(17:24):
kind of how you set that up?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Yes, I absolutely did so. Yes, there's a big bad
in my story and it's external. But a lot of
the challenges and trials that my characters face are internal
as well. They're battling some inner demons, And so I
love this question on vulnerability actually because it is such
a core theme of my writing that dabbles in, like
(17:49):
mental health and how people handle it. You find like
these really really intense themes that at one point didn't
mean to put in it, but it just kind of
works out that way when you're writing it. So from
the beginning, I knew I wanted characters who were strong
and powerful but also deeply human. A lot of the
fantasy that I read nowadays you got the you know,
(18:12):
tick butt MC's they're just doing it, they're rocking it
out and they are just powerful to the max. And
I knew that I did not want them. I wanted
the reader to say to look at these characters and say, Okay,
I see myself like I could do that. I would
make that call, I would make that decision, or yes,
(18:32):
I would run, like who would want to face something
like that? I would turn and flee in the other direction.
And so I intentionally like moved away from these overused
tropes like the constant miscommunication trope or the excessive like
dark hero trope, you know. Instead, I created characters who,
like they're not afraid to express their emotions. So whether
(18:55):
it's THEO who's confronting his trauma which is huge, or
Shade grappling with like her own fears or like Wrath
embodying her wrath, or Petny just keeping her severe optimism
because she's the little bright light of the group. These
characters own their feelings and aren't afraid to voice them.
(19:18):
And I think that's a superpower in and of itself.
And that was something that I was immensely like, I'm
going to put this in my story. I don't want
characters that are like closed off. I want them relatable.
I want them vulnerable, being able to say what they
feel and need it. I thought that was like a
really nice, not only twist to the story, but just
(19:40):
a really refreshing perspective on how vulnerability can be handled,
not only between women either, but with men as well,
Like they are just ridiculously open with their feelings. And
that's okay.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yes, you mentioned mental health more than once. Is that
a topic that you champion in any way? Is it
because I, like I said, I've noticed you've mentioned it,
and it's portrayal more than once, so I was just
kind of what am I picking up there?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah? Absolutely, So I actually did a deep dive into
it when I was writing this book, and it happened
because and I always say this, and it sounds so,
you know, cliche, but like when you write a story,
sometimes you get so immersed in it that you just
kind of go where the story tells you to go,
Like you're not in charge anymore, right, Like you're just
(20:33):
going with the flow. You're like, Okay, this took a turn.
Where's it going. Let's see. And so one of the
characters in the story does face like pretty intense emotional trauma,
and I knew that there was no I needed it
in the story. There was no way I was going
to write about it with not without understanding it. I
wanted to be ridiculously sensitive to the topic that I
(20:56):
was touching on, and so I did a a real
deep dive and actually spoke to some people who were
survivors of this particular trauma, and it was really important
to me to get it right. Sounds terrible, but to
make it as respecting and careful as I possibly could
(21:21):
in my approach to it without you know, I don't
want someone to read it and like get triggered. You know,
that wasn't my my main thing. I wanted someone to
read it and say, okay, like I see it, I
see where it's going. So I tried to be pretty
gentle with it. But in doing that deep dive, yes,
I became very well acquainted with like a lot of
the you know, mental health, you know, just the community
(21:44):
in general. Like I spoke to a lot of people
and they're very open about it, which I thought was
a beautiful thing. And then I myself, you know, I
am in therapy, and I think that that is a
very beautiful thing for me, just because I've seen how
much I have grown from doing it, you know, looking
(22:04):
back heres from when I started to where I am
now and so huge advocate of it, and DEMI knowledgeable.
You know, there's so much out there, so I wouldn't
need to say I'm no expert. But I did what
I had to do, and I did it for myself
and for the story, and so I hope I did
it justice.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Well. I can tell that you were very heartfel about it.
I can tell by the way you speak about it,
and I think that's very important. We mentioned Norman Bates. Now,
I like the psycho movies as much as anybody else,
and we all like the you know, the psycho crazed
killer genre, I mean, but by the same token, they
(22:44):
don't do the stigma of mental health any good, especially
when you consider that someone who's suffering from mental health
is far more likely to be a victim of crime
than they are to be a perpetrator. And unfortunately we
only hear about the off the wall events on the news.
I happen to volunteer a lot, very much involved in
(23:05):
the mental health community here in Ohio, and I can
tell you that they get taken advantage of by their families,
by their friends. They're often victims of crime because they
can't defend themselves that well. So it's nice to see
another dimension and to hear about a mental health condition
portrayed in a heartfelt manner. So I think that's really
really good. So Okay, sure, I noticed that you speak
(23:30):
about and we kind of touched on this a little bit,
the heigh stakes. Fantasy can sometimes feel distant, and I
think that the term that I've heard when it comes
to you know, fantasy movies or even with science fiction
is the suspension of disbelief. I think that's one that
(23:50):
I hear a lot. That's kind of maybe applicable. I've
generally found science fiction movies for me, I'll suspend one thing,
but not a half a dozen things, like, for example, alien,
It's very easy to understand you're on a spaceship. There's
a bad alien there. When you start walking into walls
and falling into different dimensions and meeting yourself and all that. Okay,
now it's starting. It's too far off the mark one
(24:13):
step terminator. You know, you got a good one and
a bad one. It's very easy to understand. That's here. Again,
that's from my Layban's point of view. You don't ask
too much of the audience to disbelief. What's your approach
to that?
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I mean, I completely understand. I would like to counter
that point though, in saying that if you pick up
a fantasy book, fantasy to a lot of people is
considered escapism.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Sure, they're picking up that book because they don't want
to read about, you know, a cut and dry you know,
I'm trying to think of a good example, but like,
they don't want to think about something where they can
go outside and experience it. Right. They want to ride dragons,
they want to fight you know, demons, they want to
fall in love with you know, fairies. They want to
(25:04):
take a moment to take a break from what from
the real world and done, you know, in a in
a way that isn't you know, overwhelming. I believe it
is a wonderful thing. And so when you pick up
that book, Yeah, you're going to read about dragons, You're
going to get on those dragons. You're going to ride
(25:26):
the Phoenix and Harry Potter, you know, the dragons in
Fourth Wing, you're going to fall in love with you know,
seven hundred year old say men and a Gatar, Like,
it's going to happen, and it's not going to happen here.
It's going to happen in there, and that's where it's
going to stay. And so I'm a big proponent of
as long as you give them something that they can say,
(25:49):
oh okay, like whether it's choosing your characters and kind
of having their point of view be kind of like
your point of view, like, oh, I understand why they
did that. As long as you have some way to
ground them in that fantasy world where they can't only
enter unless they open that book, but they can take
out with them and they close the book and they
have those feelings still. I mean, I think that's a
(26:12):
really beautiful thing.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Sure, you have you mentioned a cinematic approach. Do you
ever when you construct these I'll have you explain that.
But what I hear when I hear that is you
envision these stories often as a screenplay. And would you
(26:34):
be of course, every writer I guess would want something
made into a movie. But do you when you're writing it,
do you kind of feel this would play out a
certain way on a screen.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Yes, So cinematic vision has pros and cons to it.
And so when I write, I have to see in
my head how it's going to play out. First. I
can't just write something and not have it, you know,
living and breathing in my brain. And so I'll kind
of do the scene in my head. I'm like, all right,
(27:04):
and it plays out kind of like a movie, and
I'm like, this is cool. I'm going to try to
do this. And then now my challenge is getting what
I just saw on paper. And like I said, it
has pros and cons. When it's a pro it's really great.
Like I'm able to kind of dive into the details.
I've seen the pattern. I'm like, yes, I have the dialogue.
Everything is flowing. I can almost it's almost like I
(27:26):
see the writing and I can just type it out now.
Cons to that, our screenplays and novels are very different.
In a novel, you show more than you tell. In
a screenplay, you tell a little bit more than you
show because you've got to give directions and things like that.
And so, and I love this question because I love
(27:46):
being completely honest. With my first book, it was a
learning process. And so you are going to see you're
going to read scenes that do a little bit more
of that telling versus showing. Like even I go back
sometimes and I'm like, you know, because you're just like
I could have probably done that a little better. However,
as you continue reading through the book and you get
(28:08):
to book two, you learn, like you see where my
growth path is and how I develop on it in
book two, and so like a lot of showing happened
in book two instead of telling. The dialogue flows better.
And again I'm not saying I'm not trying to say
Book one is lesser than Book one is my my baby,
Like I that's where I started everything. You know, it
(28:30):
was my learning process and it's a really beautiful book,
but it's set the foundation for me to kind of
learn and carry into book two and hopefully book three
what I've wanted it to officially be. And then in
terms of do I ever want to see it on
the big screen, I mean, of course, absol, that'd be awesome.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yes, Well, let's hope, uh, you know, Hollywood adopt some
new stories because you know, getting back to the psycause
there's only so many superheroes and super villain as you
can make in so many car crash movies. Sooner or
later they got to come up with something like what
you're doing. So let's hope they do. By all means,
I'll wrap this up with something you call creative doubt
(29:12):
when it comes to being an author. And here again,
a lot of people from the reader aspect are interested
in this, but a lot of people that are interested
in writing of any kind I'm sure experiences. Another term
that is relatable to like what I do is called
imposter syndrome, where you might be talking about something and
you're an authority on it, but in the back of
(29:33):
your mind you're saying why these people listening to me
I don't know anything. How do you overcome that as
a writer?
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Yes, so that's a really important question that should be
like if I can, if I can just give any
piece of advice, it would be to like in how
I'm going to answer this question. Creative doubt is going
to always happen, even to like the best of us,
right in the most confident of us. Intrusive thought are
always trying to creep their way into this person right here.
(30:03):
So I combat it with having a solid support system.
I'm lucky enough to have one. My niece in particular,
she was the first person that because you know, publishing
a book and getting it out into the world is
quite vulnerable, and so she was the first person that
I kind of said, like, here, I'm going to give
it to you. I want you to read it, and
don't make me look like a fool, like you tell
(30:25):
me your feedback. I need you to tell me. I
need you to be honest. Don't let me put it
out into the world if you think that I could
do better, or if it needs some type of revisions
and things like that. So I was lucky enough to
have a support system. I can say not everybody has that,
and so what I want to do is also say
that give yourself some credit when you're going through this process.
(30:48):
Be gentle with yourself, you know, give yourself some grace.
I am usually my own harshest critic anyway, with this trilogy,
I allowed myself to be very proud of what I accomplished,
and I sat there for a while. Writing a book
for me has been like this like lifelong dream of mine.
(31:09):
You know, you think about it like what you want
to be when you grow up and things like that.
And I've always loved writing, and who thought like you
could write a book right? But I didn't just write one.
I wrote three of them. And so that's something that
I try to keep reminding myself of. Whenever doubt creeps in,
remember why you started. And it doesn't have to just
be like creative doubt doesn't just happen with authors, you know,
(31:32):
it happens just throughout with everybody, throughout all of anybody's
passions and hobbies. And so just be gentle, give yourself
some grace, and be proud of like the milestones you hit.
The only advice I would leave them with is like,
just do it right. Like, just start it, because if
you don't start it, then you have no milestones to
(31:52):
hit and you can't say that you at least try
to do it. So you owe it to yourself that
if this is a passion, if this is something you
want to person to, even through the intrusive thoughts, even
through the imposter syndrome, even through the creative doubt, even
if you don't have a support system, you've got to
do it. Like even just for yourself, you have to
do it and see it done.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Great advice. We have been speaking to JF. Monroe. Where
can people find you? What are the names of the books? Again?
And social media? Where can people find you?
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Yes? So the name of the books. There are two
out now. The first one is The Legendary Guardians Reunions
and the second one is Dissent into the Void Heart.
You can find me on Instagram and TikTok under the
same name. It is JF dot Monroe. I also have
a website it is JF. Monroe bookshelf dot com. There's
(32:46):
a blog up there. I tend to update it monthly,
and then you can of course find the books on.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Amazon, Yes, Amazon. The author again at JF. Monroe Thank
you so much. You're very pleasant to talk to, very
engaging and full of helpful information. Thank you so much.
It's been a delight having you.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
I appreciate it absolutely anytime, Welcome back anytime. My name
is Billy D's. You can find me on the platform
formerly known as Twitter, which is now x That's kind
of like my social media home. We're on other places too,
Facebook and all that. And The Billy D's Podcast is
over ten years old now in its current form, and
(33:33):
we've been on all the major platforms. You can find
us anywhere. So if you can't find us, you need
to find one of the other internets because we are
on all of them. So thank you so much for
listening to our program today, and we will talk to
you again very very soon. I'm Billy D's and host
(33:56):
of the self titled podcast, The Billy D's Podcast. We
are primarily an interview and a commentary based podcast featuring
authors and creators talking about their craft, advocates for community issues,
and myself in an array of co host discussing current events.
There's no partisan renting and raving going on here, just
great content. You can find the Billy D's podcast on
(34:19):
your favorite platform and on Twitter at billy D's thank
you and I hope you listen in
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