Interview: Connor Jackson, Author of The Bindings of Woe

Today I’m proud to bring you an interview with Connor Jackson, author of The Bindings of Woe. This interview is part of my stop on the blog tour organized by Escapist Book Co. Thank you for allowing me to participate, and thank you to Joseph John Lee for answering my questions.

Do you read reviews of your books? If so, how do you handle bad or good reviews?

I do read reviews whenever I can. It’s one of the best parts of being an author, finally getting to see what people think about your book that you’ve worked for so long on. With all kinds of reviews I just try to read without getting too excited or bummed out and see what people do and don’t like so I can think about what I want to do with that information. Criticism is just as important as praise in my opinion, as both help you steer your work towards what people want or see what your book needs to get better or stay great.

What is the best way you’ve found to market your books?

I am still struggling with this aspect of being a self-published author. For now I just try to post about my book through twitter and interact with other authors there. I have a website and Goodreads that I work on but overall I just try to use social media whenever I can, which isn’t a whole lot. Word of mouth is great and I’ve had a few people, including authors, recommend my book to people around them, so I just need to keep working on social media and word of mouth until things get better.

What is your favorite thing to listen to while you write?

I don’t listen to music often while writing because I find it distracting, but when I am doing notes for my writing, or working on the world map (pretty much anything but actually writing the book itself) I do like to have background music running. Stuff like fantasy beats or historical music from medieval or ancient times.

Do you think it helps authors to have a big ego or hurts them?

I think you need an ego, but not a fragile one. An author is putting a sensitive part of themselves out there to the public, so one needs a healthy ego to have the confidence and drive to know your work is worth reading. You also need your ego to not be fragile so criticism or negative feedback does not set you off or ruin your future efforts. I think an ego helps more than it hurts, but it’s a fine line and depends on the kind of person with the ego.

Do you ever have reader’s block or reading slumps? How do you get yourself out of them?

I get stuck being unable to write all the time. Whether it’s because life is getting too busy or I’m just stuck or not enjoying the writing, I get periods of getting nothing done plenty of the time. I try to get around this by working on other avenues of the author process, like storyboarding new scenes or drawing more of the world map. Doing other tasks that help the book but are not actually writing it can help get me back into it. I also try to just force myself to write a page on bad days, that way even if it’s not great I slowly get some rough draft of what is to come later.

Do you read the genre of books you write? Do you read your own books after they’re finished?

Yes. I read mostly fantasy. I don’t read as often as I’d like but I’m trying to get into it more. Recently I’ve been reading history books to help inspire my writing. I have not read my own book since it was published, mainly because I read it over 7 times during the writing and publishing process. After every round of editing I read the whole book, and I did 4 drafts before editing. I think I’ve read it enough.

The world of Gaia is in turmoil. Humans, goblins, and dwarves try to live their lives as best they can under the rule of the sovereigns—the strange and powerful race whose empire stretches to all corners of the known world—but order and stability seem to be fading. The quality of life has lessened, the strength and control of the Sovereign Empire has weakened, and a large movement of rebels, though many would call them terrorists, known as the Lost Seekers, are causing waves throughout the lands.

Nowhere are these changes felt more than the Isles, a small human province of islands, where sixteen-year-old Carver lives with his family and best friend, Helena, in the remote village of Verrel. During a routine trip to the provincial capital of Caswen, Carver and Helena suddenly find themselves in the middle of a violent conflict between the powers of the world, and soon after find themselves being hunted for reasons they do not understand.

Now pulled into events they never dreamed of experiencing, Carver and Helena, along with some close companions, are forced to fight for their lives during a journey of hardships. Monstrous beasts, hostile factions, and even nature itself plague their quest to find safety and seek answers, and nothing is gained without a struggle. However, their continued survival may be out of their control as the powers of the world vie for dominance against one another . . . by any means necessary.

Content Warning: moments of harsh violence, animal violence (horses in battle), vomiting (minor), sexual assault (minimal), rape (minimal)

About Connor Jackson

​Connor A. Jackson is an avid fan of video games and fantasy/sci-fi stories. Inspired by such tales, and tired of encountering stories that import real-world politics and agendas into their narratives and development, he finally decided to write a fantasy story of his own in the hopes of telling a captivating tale that anyone, from any group or walk of life, can enjoy. Connor lives in British Columbia, Canada, with his wife.

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