The interview posted below was conducted by Emily Amsel, a writer, blogger, and contributor to A Writer’s Shindig. Authors from the collaboration were all interviewed about their work as part of the initial project. This interview is about the short story Corrections. An author interview will be posted after the conclusion of each story in the collection.

You can read Jeremy’s works at https://rocketcat.productions/.

You can read Emily’s works at https://emilyamsel.wordpress.com/.

You can read more about our collaboration at A Writer’s Shindig.

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Emily: What gave you the idea for this story?

Jeremy: The idea came from my girlfriend’s cat. She (the cat not my girlfriend) has a toy mouse that she drops in her water bowl all the time and the internet said one possible reason for that behavior is that she’s trying to drown her prey. I got the notion that she was mad that she kept drowning the same mouse over and over and it wouldn’t die. From there I had the idea of an assassin that keeps killing the same target over and over. Why would that happen? At first I was just going to leave it unexplained but then I decided that wasn’t much of a story. I don’t know if having it be a test for a super-secret society is better but it’s more definitive at least.

Emily: What gave you the idea for the main character?

Jeremy: I can’t really explain why but I almost always write female main characters. Not a ton is revealed about her, but I figure a woman who ends up killing people for a living would probably have a pretty unpleasant history and that’s what I tried to allude to at least.

Emily: Your story is in first person. Is that the tense you prefer to write in? How do you feel about third person?

Jeremy: I almost always write in the first person. I know that it’s something of a crutch for me. I have a hard time writing in the third person. When I’m reading it’s actually what I prefer.

Emily: Is fiction what you prefer to write? How do you feel about non-fiction?

Jeremy: Fiction is the only thing I write, I don’t know enough about anything to write non-fiction. I do enjoy reading non-fiction.

Emily: Where did you get all the background for the story? What research did you do?

Jeremy: I can’t say that I did a ton of research. Another germ of the idea was from my girlfriend. She used to be a public defender and she really does say that the women’s prison here in Mitchelville is really nice compared to men’s facilities. I had previously done some research on women’s prisons for something else I wrote so I had some basics but overall I wouldn’t claim that it’s terrible realistic.

Emily: How long have you been writing? How did you get into it?

Jeremy: Kind of depends what you want to consider writing. I remember writing stories in school all the way back, usually because I got in trouble for them. When I was 10 or 11 my mom got a typewriter and I think part of why I started writing just for myself was because I wanted to play with it. I was really into reading so part of the appeal was to make the stories the way I wanted them to be.

Emily: Some people have a hard time writing description, some dialogue, some basic things like grammar. What difficulties in writing do you have?

Jeremy: Descriptions are my biggest weakness. My grammar probably isn’t great either but that bothers me less. I know some people cringe when they read my stuff because I try to write the way people actually talk, which includes both bad grammar and syntax but I assure you that at least 30% of it is intentional.

Emily: How has your life affected what you write? Does your writing resemble your real life in any way?

Jeremy: Writing is one of my main/favorite hobbies so it’s effected my life in that way, what I like to spend my time on.

Emily: Why do you post on WordPress? What is it you like to post?

Jeremy: There was a wordpress blog that become popular in gaming circles. I had never heard of it before that. The platform I was blogging on was dying so I decided to give it a try.

More About Jeremy: Mostly I post serialized fiction but sometimes I just ramble about whatever. It used to bug me that the latter generally got a lot more attention than the former but I get it. Even if it’s good, which is always questionable, any fiction I write is going to depend on the reader liking whatever weird sci-fi or supernatural thing I’m writing about but if I post something about how I’m losing my mind because a vole got in my house and I can’t catch it that’s something with a broader appeal.