Heather’s Bookshelf: Author Interview with Jennifer deBie
Book Title: Heretic
Released: 03/29/22
Genre: Dark Fantasy
Interview by Heather L. Barksdale
What inspired you to write “Heretic”?
deBie: There are lots of things feeding into why I wrote Heretic and how the characters, scenes, and story all came together, but the inescapable fact is that this was my lockdown baby. In 2020, when the earth stood still and this great terrible, unsolvable thing was destroying lives, and my world was reduced to the four walls of my flat in Ireland, I needed to get out or go mad.
I couldn’t physically leave, but I could write characters who were clever and witty and unafraid to touch each other, no matter the consequences. I could give them this giant, world spanning mystery, and the tools to solve it. I could have them trot blithely across continents and oceans in pursuit of their answers, grapple with incomprehensible foes, against incredible odds, and still do it with panache.
I couldn’t solve my own problems, or the world’s, but I could escape for a few hours a day while I wrote, and now I can only hope that Heretic gives my audience a few hours of their own escape as they read it.
How did you come up with the names of your main characters?
deBie: Babynames.com is a great resource for writers. You can search for names that mean certain things, names that originate in certain places, and names that were popular in certain decades. Take Sira, for instance. His power is literally sunlight, and as simplistic as it is, I wanted his name to reflect that. I did some digging and found Siraj, from the Arabic for “light of the night”, and I love that. Because Sira isn’t just a light, he’s also a twin to Jana’s darkness.
Jana’s name is a lot more bastardized. The name Jana itself means “god is gracious”, which doesn’t exactly fit her. I actually got it by shortening the masculine name Janardan, which is Indian, and translates to something like “outside the cycle of life and death”, which as you read Heretic, you’ll realize is pretty fitting.
Is there anything that you want readers to know about you, your writing process or your book?
deBie: In a time when the world was scary and dark, I channelled that into this book to get outside myself and away from the daily death tolls we were all watching. The imprint of that darkness can be seen in Heretic’s pages, but there is also black humour and light and heat and characters that I had a blast creating. This novel kept me sane and safe in a time when the world felt neither, and I can only hope it brings a little joy to readers too.
If "Heretic" was adapted into a movie, who would you like to see cast to play your lead characters?
deBie: Riz Ahmed for Sira
Abbey Lee for Jana
Mark Ruffalo with his Hulk voice changer/gravel inserter for Leviathan, and someone very classy and British for Ylva. Emma Thompson, maybe? If you can get her to put the right of menace in.
When you encounter writer’s block, what do you do to break yourself out of it?
deBie: I do something else. Eat a snack, go for a walk, read a book or watch a movie, meet friends for a drink. Anything to get away for a bit and let the problem percolate in the back of my mind until I’m ready to come back and see it with fresh eyes.
Are there any tips that you would like to share with other aspiring authors?
deBie: Always be learning new things. Yes, obviously, write and push and meet other writers, but also read new things. Watch new documentaries. Listen to offbeat bands you’ve never heard of. The more you learn, the richer your writing will be. So go out and learn something.
What is your favorite genre, book, and/or author?
deBie: You mean today, or ever? Today I’m reading Kyro Dean and Laya V. Smith’s Fires of Qaf series and being astounded with every page. So they’ll be my favourites for a while, though maybe not forever. I love “genre” fiction – fantasy, sci-fi, horror, etc, but really all I’m looking for in a book is that it will take me out of myself. I know my world and my experiences, now send me out to other times and other worlds through the pages of your book. Make me think, feel, and believe new things. That’s my favourite genre.
What are you working on next?
deBie: I’ve got Heretic’s sequel on the go right now. It’s kind of trickling out, but I’m hopeful to have a draft done in the next few months. I’ve also got a little poetry collection that I’m shopping around right now, and a doctoral thesis on the international cultural contexts of Frankenstein that I’m trying to muscle into a publishable book, so there are a few different irons in the fire right now.
Learn More About the Author and Heretic here:
Instagram: @jennidebie
Twitter: @deBieJennifer
Interested in checking out the book for yourself?
Find it for purchase here or Kindle Unlimited
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