B. Fox
What made you decide to become a writer?
I’ve always loved stories, ever since I was a kid. I used to memorize entire parts of a book or dialogues of a film. I never thought of making a career in writing, though. It’s something that happened later on. I studied economics and started working in that area in my 20s. I took an office job, which I soon discovered I hated. During that time, I started writing a lot of fanfiction —yes, you can laugh! Readers loved my stories, and they asked for more and more. And while I was sitting in that office with not a lot to do—I had way too much spare time there—I started writing more stories to pass the time. Writing made me feel motivated, competent, and passionate—all things I didn’t feel when doing my job. I started wondering if there was a way of getting paid for writing these stories. Of course, that wasn’t possible for fanfiction, but that’s how I discovered KDP. I didn’t know of it before. Then, I started thinking of an original story idea I could publish. And I quickly found one. That story was Paper Castles, my debut book. Long story short, I quit that job and started writing. The rest is history…
How do you decide your plots? Are they taken from events that have happened to you? Do you base your characters on real people – or do you prefer to be fully creative and make them up?
I don’t really plot the stories. They usually come from something I see happening around me. Things that get to me are like a splinter inside my brain. They demand to be written about, and that’s where I take the seed from to craft a story. Some inspiration can eventually come from real people, but it’s very loosely tied to them. No character I’ve written so far is based on a real person I know.
What comes first for you – the plot or the characters?
Characters. Always. I think the character is what drives the plot – any plot! If a character is well crafted, they have an inner conflict of some nature. They’re either hurting in some way, or there’s something they want but can’t have. The external plot will come from that inner conflict. I see the plot as a sub-product of the character’s inner struggles, and that’s the reason I always focus on the character first. The rest follows.
How many books have you written and/or published and which is your favourite?
I’ve published two books so far. I’m working on a third, and I have a fourth in mind already. I wouldn’t say I have a favorite. They are very different; I love them both. Right now, however, I’m focusing a bit more on promoting the second one, since I published it recently.
Tell me more about your favourite book – the plot, characters, setting, POV, tense…
“The Way Out” is the story of Morris Jackson, a man who is serving a life sentence in prison for a crime he did in fact, commit. His daily life is suddenly turned upside down when a new inmate arrives and becomes his cellmate.
The story is set in a fictional prison in West Virginia called Denmore Penitentiary. It’s told in third person, past tense.
Would you travel to the area where your book is set? Do you already know the area? Have you written about that area because it’s a place you know? Have you used the original name of the area or manipulated place names?
Since Denmore is a fictional prison, I couldn’t go there. But I would have loved to visit a place like it. That wasn’t possible, sadly. Talking about the area, no, I haven’t been to West Virginia. I didn’t choose the location because I knew it; I chose it because I needed a place like it for the story to make sense. I couldn’t have set it in California, for example, or Florida. It had to be a poorer state and one with colder weather. I thought West Virginia checked all the boxes. I usually prefer to set my stories in existing areas (like WV in this case) but make the specific location fictional, like Denmore Penitentiary. I did the same in my first book, Paper Castles. The story is set in a fictional town in Ohio called Westland. I believe that working this way gives you the perfect amount of creative freedom when you’re writing a realistic story (and by realistic, I simply mean no fantasy or sci-fi).
How do you feel about killing off popular characters? Is it something you enjoy doing in your own books? Have you done it?
I wouldn’t say I enjoy it, but I do believe that killing off popular characters is something that often makes great stories because it impacts the reader’s emotions in a brutal way. I love a sad, heart-breaking story more than anything, so I’m not against this. If you ask me if I’ve done it, I’ll say yes, guilty as charged.
Would you write any genre or do you stick to one?
I’ve tried branching out of my genre, but I always came back to it. Realistic, literary fiction is my thing. That’s what I feel compelled to write.
Have you ever interviewed someone in relation to your book, in order to make your story more realistic?
I haven’t done it yet, but it’s something I’ll try to do for one of my coming projects. I absolutely encourage authors doing it if it helps their books.
How many hours a day or week would you say you spend writing? Is it a potential career for you, is it something you do outside your day job?
I spend about 40 hours a week writing and doing writing-related things, like editing and cover design. I rarely take a day off from it. Writing is my day job, and I’m fully dedicated to it.
Is writing therapeutic for you, or does it cause you to stress out?
I wouldn’t call it therapeutic. I don’t see writing as a yoga class, but I wouldn’t say it stresses me out, either. I see it as a job where hard work is demanded every single day. Do I enjoy it? Yes! I love it. But I also commit to it like one commits to a 9 to 5 job. I show up even when I don’t want to.
How do you react to reviews? Would you prefer just good ones or are you okay to receive a bad one occasionally? How does this make you feel?
I respect all reviews I get. I’m aware that writing is art, and everyone has different tastes and expectations. Of course, I love a good review. They make my day! But I try to keep in mind that, even I, as a reader, hate books that others love and love books that others hate. There is no right or wrong in this industry. There’s stuff people like, and there’s stuff they don’t like. There’s stuff that resonates with them and stuff that doesn’t. As long as people react to my stories and as long as they feel compelled to speak their minds about it, I feel like I’ve done my job right. I don’t take bad reviews to heart. That said, I don’t take them too seriously, either. That said, I also try not to take good reviews too seriously. If anything, I try to keep my head cool and my feet on the ground.
