This month - Jennifer Brozek
Interviewer: Aigner Loren Wilson (she/her) is a 2023 double Ignyte Finalist for best novelette and best critic. She is a senior fiction editor for Strange Horizons, and her writing has appeared in F&SF, Lightspeed Magazine, Monstrous Futures, and more. You can follow her on her website, newsletter, or on Facebook.
Horror Author: Jennifer Brozek is an award-winning author, editor, and tie-in writer. A Secret Guide to Fighting Elder Gods, Never Let Me Sleep, and The Last Days of Salton Academy were finalists for the Bram Stoker Award. She was awarded the Scribe Award for best tie-in Young Adult novel for BattleTech: The Nellus Academy Incident. Grants Pass won an Australian Shadows Award for best edited publication. A Hugo finalist for Short Form Editor and a finalist for the British Fantasy Award, Jennifer is an active member of SFWA, HWA, and IAMTW. She keeps a tight writing and editing schedule and credits her husband Jeff with being the best sounding board ever. Visit Jennifer’s worlds at jenniferbrozek.com.
This interview is a part of the HWA Seattle Member Blog Interview Series. HWA Seattle members who would like to be interviewed for the blog, reach out here.
Aigner Loren Wilson: You’ve been recognized by awards like the Bram Stoker, Hugo, and British Fantasy Award. What advice can you give writers who want to get noticed by award committees, judges, or readers?
Jennifer Brozek: This is a hard question to answer. I say, “You must advocate for yourself.” At the same time, writers (mostly female/non-binary/BIPOC writers) get lambasted on social media for “advertising.” I still say it. Be your own cheer squad/street team. You must let your audiences know what you have available and what awards it qualifies for. If it is a juried award, you must make certain that your work is put before that jury—whether it be by your own hand (if allowed) or by your fans (who you have informed).
I try to do this each awards season. Though, I have to say, in the case of the BFA, I was shocked. I didn’t even know I could be nominated for that award. It was a magical moment.
ALW: You mention in your bios that you keep a tight schedule. What does a day in your life as a writer and editor look like?
JB: I try to work about 7 hours a day, 5 days a week. I don’t always succeed in taking off those 2 days, but I always try. I’m extremely organized. I know what I am scheduled to do daily for 1-2 weeks out, and I have a calendar of due dates, classes, and travel for 6-9 months out. Then I have an event/interrupt schedule. These are appointments or plans that involve leaving the house or having someone over.
I do my best writing in the morning. If I have a work in progress, it gets my first attention. If I’m not on deadline, I’ll glance at email first to make sure nothing is on fire. Then, I’ll write. Casual days will be ~1000 words. Deadline days will be at least 2000 words. Then, as I almost always have multiple projects going on at once, I take a physical break—leave my desk, get food, go for a walk, play with the cats, something—then come back and start the next thing. It’s usually an editing project or interviews or proofing. If it is a second writing project, I will often join one of the many online co-working groups I’m part of to keep me writing. Mirror neurons FTW!
In general, I prefer not to have more than 2 projects each day with miscellaneous tasks in-between. That doesn’t always happen. Some days I have multiple calls, multiple editing/proofing projects or I have an “interrupt” like the sudden need to write back cover copy or to critique cover art.
ALW: How did you get into the world of media-tie in writing? Is there any advice you can give authors who would like to work in that industry?
JB: It started back in 2004 because I was a gamer and gamed with someone who worked in publishing and eventually worked for an RPG company. They knew I wrote and could tell stories. They hired me for two (Dragonlance) projects to see how I’d do, and I haven’t looked back since.
The media tie-in market is very different than it once was. There are IP magazines with periodically open calls (e.g.: Shrapnel magazine for Battletech, Star Trek magazine for Star Trek). If you are good at editing and proofing, you can start by doing that for a company then get into one of the IP anthologies. You can “know a guy” and get a shot that way. For the bigger IPs, agented authors can have their agents query editors. Sometimes there are contests (though, be very careful with this one).
In general, if an author wants to become a tie-in writer, I recommend they love the IP they want to write for and know it inside-out. Keep on top of news coming from the company that makes it and to never be afraid to say, “I would like to write for this IP. Do you have any openings?” Once you get into this world, it is easy to stay in it and branch out.
ALW: Is there a particular element of horror writing that especially pulls you in?
JB: I really like writing supernatural horror. Mostly because I don’t want to write anything too realistic. Supernatural horror has rules and makes sense (most of the time), and real-world horror doesn’t. There’s a reason for the horror that the supernatural perpetrates and there are definite ways to defeat it. There can be shades of grey, but by-and-large, supernatural fiction has clear lines in the sand on who is good, who is bad, why people/creatures do what they are doing. I like the ability to tell stories where, while it may hurt, the heroes can win. Often these supernatural elements are metaphor or placeholders for real-world horror that I really don’t want to get too close to.
ALW: If a reader was unfamiliar with your work, what’s the story you’d suggest they start with?
JB: It really depends on what people like to read. Most of what I write has a dark element to it. I tend to kill a lot of fictional people.
If you like young adult thrillers, Never Let Me omnibus that includes my Bram Stoker nominated novel, Never Let Me Sleep.
If you like zombies, my Bram Stoker nominated novel, Last Days of Salton Academy.
If you like big stompy ’Mechs in space with teenagers at war, start with Battletech: The Nellus Academy Incident.
If you like a mixture of cyberpunk and magic in a dystopian world, start with Shadowrun: Makeda Red.
If you like dark urban fantasy with hidden worlds and story that could happen around you when you walk out your front door, start with The Karen Wilson Chronicles.
If you love flash fiction, start with Five Minute Stories.
A bunch of these were podcasted.
ALW: Do you have any upcoming releases or projects you’re working on that you’d like to talk about?
JB: My fifth Shadowrun young adult novella, Shadowrun: The Kilimanjaro Run got a spectacular blurb from Wole Talabi. He called it “The Transporter meets E.T. set in the fascinating world of Shadowrun served with a healthy portion of its own special sauce.”
And my flash fiction collection, The Many Deaths of Jennifer Brozek was released in late September 2023. “An author can live a thousand lives through her work. She can die a thousand deaths, too.”
To stay up to date on Jennifer Brozek, you can follow or find them here:
Thanks for reading. I hope you’ve found a new author or a deeper love for an author you already know.
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