J.X. Fu: <\/strong>Greatly appreciated! And thanks for having this interview with me. Happy to dive more into the book and my journey into getting published. I really want to help promote the idea that anyone can start writing a book to completion just like me, no matter what their background or occupancy is.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> At the onset of these interviews, I enjoy trying to get to the heart of what helped an author take their first steps in their writing journey.\u00a0 Often that begins as a fan to a specific storyteller or style of stories.\u00a0 When was it that you decided you wanted to write your own tales, and who or what was it that really pushed you forward?\u00a0 Did you have a favorite author or a show or movie that inspired you?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>I\u2019ll be honest, I don\u2019t think I have a favorite author like many others will say right away. I follow a ton of different forms of production, ranging from novels to manga to movies. To me, what pushed me forward was the plethora of online communities nowadays who are all writing despite a lack of any relevant background. You see loads of creators out there working away on their writing, art, or other content, chasing their passions without hesitation. It made writing a book easier to digest.<\/p>\n What I like to do nowadays is explore other indie authors and their works, some of their writing pieces are just as amazing as the more famous books we all know, and those are what inspire me these days.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> We\u2019re here to talk about you and your projects, primarily, but I am curious now.\u00a0 What are some of the gems you\u2019ve happened upon when it comes to other indie storytellers?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>A wide range I can think of. An author I know by the name of Flora Amezcua who wrote an amazing poetry collection named Everlasting: Poetry for Whimsical Souls & Wounded Hearts<\/em>. Another title would be by my former development editor: Crescent Earth<\/em> by Ilia Epifanov. TakuNeri <\/em>by Fei Nerine and A beautiful woman of science and other absurdities<\/em> by David O. are also recent reads from the English light novel space which I thought were original!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> You\u2019ve mentioned before about having an affinity for Japanese and American pop culture.\u00a0 How has the knowledge and love of those helped you to craft your own stories and experiences?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>I\u2019m one of the biggest geeks you\u2019ll ever meet. It helped blend my imagination from both cultures into a large pot consisting of my own fiction \u201cwriting style.\u201d American culture is vast \u2013 you have Hollywood, Disney, and many other classic 80s movies that have since shaped the type of media we consume today. I grew up on all things Marvel, Disney, and living an American lifestyle. For Japanese pop culture, it\u2019s mainly the consumption of anime, manga, light novels, and video games. There are so many tropes, literary themes, genres, plot points, and even character types that have been derived and rewritten in Japanese culture, that some have stuck with me and may even be reflected in my own work.<\/p>\n Overall, I think it\u2019s about taking the bits and pieces you like from both to blend together a craft I was comfortable with.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> The book that I was first introduced to from your catalog is an emotionally charged one.\u00a0 Darkness Me, Colorful You<\/em> has origins that will be familiar to some people, but everyone experienced those dark days in their own ways.\u00a0 How did the pandemic affect your creative output, and the story that you ended up creating?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>For sure, the pandemic was a scary experience for many; I was fortunate enough to have a home to return to when it started. Since my work was all remote, a lot of time freed up indoors, so it was an opportunity for me to step back and explore my creative side as much as I could.<\/p>\n I can say that in a counter-intuitive way, my creative output was better during this time, because of all the time I had to really explore what I wanted to write and to world-build. Unfortunately, it still took me some time to finally become consistent with writing \u2013 that\u2019s always the biggest challenge I faced, no matter how many cool story ideas grew in my mind.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> What are some tricks that you\u2019ve learned to help you write more consistently?\u00a0 Do you have a certain time that you try to write?\u00a0 Do you aim for a certain word count each day?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>For me, it\u2019s building a good habit and setting calendar blocks dedicated to \u201cdeep thinking\/work\u201d mode. Bored? Let\u2019s write. Undisciplined? Schedule a time block in your calendar to get some writing or brainstorming done. I don\u2019t go for certain word counts (I do understand how powerful this goal-setting technique is though), but what I do try to do is establish a habit of writing every day. Going on a streak of at least adding new words to my stories ends up snowballing into certain days where I\u2019ll get a couple thousand words written \u2013 it\u2019s a trickledown effect.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> Thank you for the tips!\u00a0 I hope that some of the writers that are reading this are able to get some insight from that.\u00a0 And I guess, on the flip side of things, what are some traps that you would warn people to avoid when it comes to writing?\u00a0 What kind of things get in the way and cause a bit of a drop in productivity?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>The most prominent trap for me was getting stuck in a loop of chapter (or even plot) revisions \u2013 causing me to restart chapters over and over until the deadline crunch prevents me from revising any more. Despite thinking to myself that my ideas are creative, there\u2019s always a part of me that doubts what I\u2019m writing makes any sense. I keep revising chapters or even whole plot lines\/sections when I\u2019m doubtful of my storytelling, and thus I stay in an endless \u201cloop\u201d until the deadline obviously prevents me from making any more changes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> We talked earlier about how your writing is a blend of pop culture across a few different regions, and certainly you capture some of that in Darkness Me, Colorful You<\/em>.\u00a0 But there is also a focus on growth in the book.\u00a0 It is character development at its core, but it\u2019s also a message to readers.\u00a0 How important would you say it was to get that message out, and how did you go about creating it in a way that retained your artistry?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>It\u2019s a theme I\u2019m deeply passionate about personally. I think growth as a character or for oneself is deeply gray and full of blur \u2013 it\u2019s subjective in nature and can be expressed in millions of ways. I wanted to tackle it from an angle dedicated to a \u201cgrowth mindset\u201d instead: the desire to always become a better human being every day, to avoid stubbornness or refusal to admit mistakes, and instead to learn from them. I did this in Darkness Me, Colorful You<\/em> by ensuring that Koka starts off at the worst possible place; the lowest of the low. How will he climb up? Will he divert the blame or embrace it, and simply work on being a better human? It\u2019s a parallel comparison to that mindset.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> You also use it as a bit of a lesson to readers as well.\u00a0 It\u2019s not preachy by any means, but it\u2019s certainly a message that you try to instill.\u00a0 What are some ways that you have utilized a \u201cgrowth mindset\u201d in your own life, and what kind of strategies work best for you in order to succeed?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>Probably interacting with different people and learning from their ways of productivity\/writing. Sometimes it\u2019s hard for me to put myself forward and engage with online or in-person communities (especially when it comes to writing), but when I do, I realize that there\u2019s endless things to learn just from interacting with others and asking how they manage to write the incredible content they\u2019ve produced.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> Darkness<\/em> is not your only released story, as you\u2019ve also published Corruptions Are Best Exposed in the Autumn<\/em>, a romantic comedy that is wildly different than your fantasy.\u00a0 They also both released within just a few weeks of each other.\u00a0 What was it like balancing the two styles, and the subject matter of each of them?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>Holy hell I love talking about this! One thing I actually do try to suggest, is don\u2019t be afraid to write different pieces within the same timeframe.<\/p>\n If you feel the need to start something new while you\u2019re fresh out of ideas or running on low gas for a current story, don\u2019t hesitate. Take that next step! For me, it actually helped me churn out the proper writing and ideas I needed for both stories<\/em>. I took a break from writing Darkness Me, Colorful You<\/em> this past spring of 2022 so I could tackle Corruptions<\/em>, and then after a while, I went back to Darkness Me, Colorful You <\/em>with a fresh mind full of new ideas and writing agility.\u00a0 I then went back-and-forth between the two, and I\u2019m happy to say I greatly benefited from hopping between novels, since my mind loves change.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n T:<\/strong> These two books are different enough that it almost seems as though there would be a bit of whiplash emotionally.\u00a0 Darkness<\/em> is a bit more introspective, and perhaps melancholy, while Corruptions<\/em> has more of a quirky, even jovial feel to it here and there.\u00a0 Was that a challenge, to ensure you retained the heart of each as you zigzagged between projects?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>I can understand why to some it\u2019d be a challenge, since it requires stepping out of your characters\u2019 minds and into new ones to really understand how to write it on paper. For me, it wasn\u2019t too difficult. Zigzagging between different tropes, themes, genres and even feelings for characters allowed me to refresh my creative spirit somewhat if I ever hit a writer\u2019s block. It was challenging to remind myself of what was going on in each story every time I returned to it after a large period of time, but after that initial warmup, I\u2019m back to speed.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n T:<\/strong> Your books are classified as light novels, a genre in Japan that are commonly illustrated in a Japanese manga art style and adapted as such.\u00a0 Do you see a future in which your story is tailored to fit that style as well?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>I definitely tried to classify Corruptions Are Best Exposed in the Autumn<\/em> as such, but not Darkness Me, Colorful You.<\/em> Wherever it mentioned the latter as a light novel, I\u2019ll have to fix. But this is a good question \u2013 I do see a future, but that\u2019s not the only option I\u2019m okay with. Since I\u2019ve already established my own writing style, wherever my style takes me is the future I\u2019ll accept. Western novels, manga style, or anything in-between. However, none of my future novels will probably be classified as a light novel \u2013 I\u2019m comfortable with them just being classified as regular Western-style books.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n T:<\/strong> Since you\u2019re definitely in the exploratory phase of your writing journey, what other types of projects have you considered jumping into?\u00a0 Have you dabbled in things like Wattpad or Kindle Vella, where the story grows alongside the interactions you receive from readers and fans?\u00a0 What about something more visual, like a graphic novel?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>I\u2019ve actually uploaded Corruptions Are Best Exposed In The Autumn <\/em>on Wattpad! For me personally, I\u2019d love to have one of my pieces repurposed into a visual work like a web comic, but that\u2019s for the future. Right now it\u2019s probably still sensible to continue the novel route, since there\u2019s still so much to learn and soak up. I do think uploading to certain reading platforms like Wattpad or Tapas enables me to get faster engagement with readers, so I\u2019ll continue doing so for some of my works where it\u2019s feasible!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n T:<\/strong> When it comes to something like Wattpad or Kindle Vella, your audience isn\u2019t just along for the ride, but they\u2019re potentially co-pilots.\u00a0 How do you interact with your audience in a way that allows you to be an effective storyteller?\u00a0 Does a reader\u2019s idea ever sway the direction that a story might be going?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>Usually it doesn\u2019t to be quite honest, which perhaps makes me appear stubborn in a way; to me it limits my creativity by relying on others. But what I do love to consider is what readers generally like and dislike about my stories \u2013 that feedback plays an immense role for my upcoming chapters or books. If they didn\u2019t like an idea I fleshed out, then I most likely won\u2019t tackle that idea again.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> In Darkness Me, Colorful You<\/em>, one of the characters is, in a way, a reflection of yourself.\u00a0 What kind of challenges did you have in trying to infuse your experiences into the story while giving the character their own truth?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>I love redemption stories, specifically because they showcase a realistic trait that we either see or don\u2019t see in our society today: a growth mindset.<\/em> I have a long ways to go before I can self-claim to have one, but I do love learning and being challenged. I may not have had to go through the difficulties of being shunned by everyone like Koka, but I feel like an accurate reflection in my true life would be how difficult it was for me to succeed in anything I did growing up and even into my days in high school and college. I was never a good student, my grades were average at best, and I had zero talents. My parents probably didn\u2019t have a lot of faith in me back then before I landed my first internship in college. I got into many conflicts with those I was close to, my health and fitness was poor, and my money-spending habits were unsustainable.<\/p>\n Eventually and gradually, I turned things around and worked harder to achieve goals I set for myself in the long-term. I\u2019m proud to say that I feel much more successful today than I did about four or five years ago, but it was a long<\/em> uphill battle of resilience, patience, and keeping my head down and working hard. That\u2019s why redemption stories resonate with me so deeply. People must scrunch the bottom of the lows to one day reach the peak of the highs.<\/p>\n My favorite quote of all time by my favorite soccer player (Messi) is a simple yet applicable one for me: \u201cIt took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> What do you think was one of the more defining parts of your life that helped you to make some upward momentum?\u00a0 Was there a particular low you feel comfortable talking about, or was there a mantra that you adopted to help you improve?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>For me, I think there wasn\u2019t a particular event that turned my life catastrophic as a whole, but a series of things around my time in college which piled up to cause that peak of anxiety and depression I mentioned earlier. My grades were poor compared to my peers, I was jobless when it came to part time work and internships, my tuition was being thrown into a black hole, and my health was obviously sucky sucky. When this all happened, I really felt like I had no future to offer back to my family for investing so much into me. In terms of mantra, it all came down to the little things I worked on: returning to the gym on a regular basis, improving my grades slowly but surely, changing tactics on job search, and eventually cutting ties with folks which I felt were adding negative value to my life.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n T:<\/strong> Has it kind of opened up the floodgates of optimism for you?\u00a0 And when it comes to feelings of positivity, do you find that your writing style changes, somewhat, to reflect that?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>My writing style definitely changes and reflects the mental state I\u2019m in at the time. You can say it definitely opened up the floodgates. If my mental mindset isn\u2019t backing my writing prowess, I\u2019d say both my technical ability as well as my idea generation process is poorly affected.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n T:<\/strong> As a recently debuted storyteller, what would you tell people about what you have coming up next?\u00a0 Are you going to tackle a sequel to Darkness<\/em>, another light novel, or something altogether different?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>I\u2019ll eventually release a sequel! I\u2019ve committed myself to it by indicating that my book was \u201cVolume 1\u201d \u2013 so there\u2019s your piece of commitment by yours truly 😊<\/p>\n However, that\u2019s not going to be the next piece I write. The next one coming up will be a Sci-Fi featuring many deep and controversial literary themes: the role luck plays in our lives, discrimination, racism, corporate politics, and more. Its temporary title is: \u201cSnake-Bitten,\u201d and I\u2019m aiming for an early-2023 release if I keep working at the pace I am now!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n T:<\/strong> You mentioned earlier that you would bounce back and forth between your stories.\u00a0 As someone who writes \u201chorizontal\u201d with multiple books at the same time, instead of \u201cvertical\u201d releasing the entirety of a series before moving on to the next one, what sort of benefits do you see besides refreshing your mind?\u00a0 What about challenges to that style of creation?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>For me, other benefits include tackling a vast array of audiences who only read certain genres and learning different writing styles. I get to put my \u201ceggs in different baskets,\u201d and try my hands in a variety of genres, literary themes, or even just character types, which may draw in different types of readers and feedback. As for challenges, it\u2019s definitely the hurdle of getting caught up to speed with one story after hopping over from another. Often when I switch, I have to re-read the chapters again and to review some of my notes to ensure I\u2019m caught up with everything, and sometimes it takes longer to dive \u201cdeeply\u201d into a story because of that.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n T:<\/strong> Your books are all pretty different, even sitting in different genres.\u00a0 Do you have any sort of secret connective tissue between them all?\u00a0 Or are they all their own, with no references or even Easter eggs to one another?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>I make small references across different books within my writing. For example, in Corruptions<\/em>, I reference the Gardens of Babylon, which was a major topic used in my Darkness Me, Colorful You<\/em> plotline. Since obviously the worlds are different in each one (including the story I\u2019m writing right now, which is a Sci-Fi), there\u2019s no tangible connective tissue. I will continue adding Easter eggs and references however, as it\u2019s a cheeky way for me to have fun with my writing style sometimes.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n T:<\/strong> Releasing two books (now three, as we\u2019ve learned from a previous answer) is no easy feat, but you\u2019re also working for one of the most popular companies in the world, Microsoft.\u00a0 What is it like trying to balance your day job with your writing career, in addition to the hobbies that you enjoy?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>It\u2019s both emotionally and physically draining, to say the least. If I said it wasn\u2019t, I\u2019d be lying. And even if I truly wasn\u2019t lying, then I wouldn\u2019t be human \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n There are so many aspects to deal with when it comes to balancing work with writing and other hobbies: context-switching, commitments, goals, habits, mindset, and so on. I\u2019ve grown accustomed to context-switching between work and writing, and I\u2019ve turned writing into a habit. What I try to do is write at least a couple hundred words per day, even on the busiest days during work. That way, I can proudly stay consistent despite the slow progress on the weekdays, so that during the weekends, I can go all out and pump out more words. It\u2019s turned into a habit by this point \u2013 on a day I don\u2019t write, it just feels off and unfulfilling to me.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> You mentioned earlier that when you run into a block in one of your works, you move on to another book to make progress there and perhaps return when you\u2019re able to.\u00a0 Have you ever run into blocks across multiple books and just decided to start the foundation of an entirely new property?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>Yup. This happened recently, actually. I was beginning my \u201cvolume two\u201d of Darkness Me, Colorful You <\/em>and Corruptions<\/em> but ran into a brick wall. Perhaps writing so much in a smaller period of time is draining, so my mind needed to shift gears entirely and tackle a different genre, with different tropes, literary themes, and plot points. That\u2019s why I started my current project, titled \u201cSnake-Bitten\u201d \u2013 a mystery Sci-Fi that tackles sensitive themes such as racism, discrimination, the role of luck, and other areas.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n T:<\/strong> If someone wanted to know more J.X. Fu, where could they find that information?<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>My personal author website: https:\/\/seykafu.com<\/a> 😊<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T:<\/strong> Thank you so much for spending time with us talking about your books and your process, J.X.!\u00a0 It\u2019s always a breath of fresh air to discover someone who is finding their way in the literary world and using their optimism to forge their way forward.\u00a0 It was wonderful getting to know you and your books, and we\u2019re so excited to see where you go from here!<\/p>\n JXF: <\/strong>Of course! Was a pleasure to do this interview. If anyone would like to see all my books, you check out my goodreads: https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/user\/show\/138455353-jx-fu<\/a> and make sure to leave an honest review!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Once again, I\u2019d like to thank J.X. Fu for sharing their time with us, and for introducing us to their books.\u00a0 Remember, we promoted Darkness Me, Colorful You, Volume 1<\/em> on our site last month<\/a>, and you can get a good grasp of what makes Fu\u2019s story so delightful there.\u00a0 We hope that the author continues to make strides, and are excited for what comes next for them!\u00a0 Check out\u00a0Darkness Me, Colorful You, Volume 1<\/em>\u00a0on Amazon<\/a>\u00a0today!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Greetings travelers!\u00a0 We\u2019re here today talking to J.X. Fu, a hard-working storyteller that found his voice during a time when many people were struggling.\u00a0 It\u2019s because of that unlocked creativity that he now writes much more often, having released two books over the last few months, with more on the way.\u00a0 But writing is only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[463,145,350,462],"tags":[3217,3216,303,3215,379],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Featured-Interview-with-JXF.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1UVey-80H","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30795"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30800,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30795\/revisions\/30800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/JXF-Picture.jpg\")
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