Hello Voidfriends and Voidfolk!
Welcome to the Aftereffect Virtual Book Tour. I hope everyone is doing well!
A bit about this interview:
My name is Marlena Marie. This here is one of the stops for T. John and Jon Siniecki on their virtual book tour for their upcoming release Aftereffect. What is a virtual book tour? It’s the same as a real book tour, but instead of going onto TV or to speak at book stores, it’s all online. Their publishing house reached out to me to ask if they could get a spot featured on my blog. Of course I said yes! I may no longer be doing book reviews, but I do plan to continue to do book tours for smaller authors or self published authors. I’d love to continue promoting their books like I have in the past.
I have asked the authors some questions and you will find their answers below. Some are answered together, and others are individual answers. Congrats to T. John and Jon Siniecki for their upcoming release!
About Aftereffect
Authors: T. John and Jon Siniecki
Publisher: Mecha Panda Publishing
Synopsis: After global nuclear warfare, humans have moved underground to survive – though their safety comes with a time limit. Radiation, nuclear winter, and even extraterrestrials all push the countdown closer to its end. Meanwhile, a small group from another planet work to complete their collection of earthly artifacts and get home before being discovered. Over time both stories will crossover as each group looks out for their best interests to not only survive the present, but also make way for the future.
Release Date: November 30, 2023
Platform Hyperlinks: Goodreads, Amazon
About the Authors
T. John
T. John is a speculative fiction author who draws, writes and creates under several different pen names depending on how she is feeling at any given time. Her work is themed, personal, and often begins with an attempt to make the mundane interesting. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing and spends most of her time thriving in the lower mainland.
Jon Siniecki
Jon was born in Richmond BC but moved around a lot growing up. Living in both large cities and small communities Jon has experienced many ways in which people live their day to day lives. As a result, Jon has found a passion for writing characters that have to respond and adapt to a number of situations they encounter while trying to remain true to themselves. Jon also has a love of animals that comes from growing up in a home with seven dogs, four cats, various birds, rodents, and even a few horses. Jon studied creative writing at Douglas College and Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
A Few Questions about the Authors
If I’m correct this is the first fiction novel for either of you. Are you excited? Nervous?
JS: This is my first piece to be published, ever, T. John does have other books published, but this is our first one together. So, I’m 100% nervous. I don’t know about her though.
TJ: This is my first collaborative fiction novel, and as such I am excited to see reader reactions. Can they tell who wrote which parts? Who’s characters belong to whom? Would they like to see another story in this world? It’s all a welcome field of curiosity.
Can you tell me a little about your writing career?
TJ: Writing became a creative outlet for me in high school where I often sat with an empty notebook and a desire to fill the pages with something interesting. Each chapter I finished that time felt like a huge accomplishment and I’ve been chasing that high ever since. I have been writing–in various forms and via several different pen names–professionally since 2013. Whether the medium is fiction, personal narrative, poetry or even webcomics, I am always fascinated by the weight of stories and the effects they can have on readers. My first published works were two shirt stories which won a contest sponsored by a Canadian TV Network and have since transitioned to Poetry, Novellas, and Personal Narratives.
How would you describe your writing style? Do you plot heavily? Do you “pants” and go wherever the words take you? Did your writing styles conflict?
JS: I am very much a pantser. T. John has more structure than I do. However, I will say this project has taught me the importance of planning and for the project I’m working on now there is definitely more of a frame work than there was for this one.
TJ: It’s safe to say I am a semi-planner. In essence as long as I know how the story starts and how it is going to end then the rest is dependent on the characters. My writing style is very character-driven and in the moment. First person POV in present tense is my go to and is what I find helps the reader stay in the action. At some points our writing styles did conflict as while I am completely aware of my writing process, Jon had yet to settle on his. This is nothing that some conversations couldn’t solve though–open communication is key when co-writing a project with someone.
What is your perfect writing set up? (Time of Day, location, ambiance, etc.)
JS: I find I’m the most productive in the morning. I’m usually home alone, and the animals are still lounging around, so I find there are the least distractions.
TJ: Morning, while still in bed with my Alphasmart Neo 2. I am the most productive first thing when I have yet to get immersed in the busyness of life.
A Few Questions About the Process
How was it to work as a team? Did you have any difficulties writing together?
JS: The metaphor I liked to use was: Imagine you’re in a room, and you organize it exactly the way you like. Then you’re ushered out and at that exact moment someone else enters, then they are told to set up the room the way they want it. Only after they’re finished do the parties switch back to see nothing is where you left it.
TJ: I have had some unfortunately doomed collaborations in the past so my approach with this project started with a promise of commitment. As such we followed each other’s lead, kept communication open, and ended up with a project that both of us were happy to see through to the end. We didn’t have any difficulties writing together, especially after opening the communication channels further about halfway through the book. The first half of Aftereffect is written mostly in a call and response format.
What did you like most about writing as a team?
JS: Honestly, I needed the accountability partner. Having T. John helped me push through the parts of uncertainty and kept me on schedule to have this piece done pretty well on time.
TJ: Opening the discussions for how we wanted it to end. Endings themselves can be tricky, but this time it was less about creating finality and more about creating opportunity–both for us as well as the characters.
What was the hardest part about writing Aftereffect?
JS: While having a partner did make some things easier, it also created challenges. For the first half of the book T. John and I didn’t/couldn’t talk to each other about what our plans were with the story. And once we did start talking, it was about wrapping up loose ends.
TJ: The timeline for writing this was a one chapter a week schedule. As such there were some moments where continuity needed to be reviewed–especially when respecting the chapters of a writing partner. Keeping everything in line was both a challenge and an accomplishment.
What was your favorite part?
JS: My favorite part of writing this had to be seeing what we did after the other one finished a chapter. It goes back to the metaphor of the room. There was a level of anxiousness and excitement when I’d get that text, “Next chapter is up.” It was an interesting feeling.
TJ: I can’t speak for Jon, but mine certainly was creating the characters. A lot of what shaped them were random prompts, but the heart of who they are is all author driven.
Do you have plans to write more books together in the future?
JS: We have a piece in the works. It started similar as it was also an alternating chapter story but it’s grown beyond that scope, so we’ll see what it looks like in the future.
TJ: We have a standalone steampunk duology forthcoming, but otherwise we have both taken to resuming our individual projects.
A Few Questions About the Book
Can you tell me a bit about the inspiration for writing Aftereffect?
TJ: At the beginning there was no inspiration–it started as a writing exercise with no plans and a “roll with the punches” rule set. As the writing progressed, however, it became clear that the scope of the work was expanding and needed more time and attention on the page.
JS: This book started out as a writing exercise. After the pandemic I had fallen off the writing wagon and was looking to get back on. I pitched the idea to T.John and our other podcast host at the time and we came up with a whole write and pass system with prompts and stuff. I honestly never expected it to get to the publishing stage.
When did you make the decision to do split POV for this book? What were the challenges of doing that?
JS: As I mentioned, we didn’t speak to each other about our chapters for the first half of the book. It was a rule we set up, and we followed it as long as we could. I picked my third person, when I started my first chapter, cause I knew I’d have a number of characters and I assumed T. John would do first person. But it in truth, I had no idea what she’d do.
TJ: Right from the start. We wanted a way to differentiate the chapters and keep the arcs of each character engaging. The challenges stood with keeping track of where each character ends up by a chapters end. There are a lot of them and they all had their own journeys in the book.
This book ends with a rather uncertain outcome for all of the many groups (although with a note of hopefulness), what made you decide to do this?
JS: In my mind, endings are rarely tied nicely with a bow in real life. So, it felt disingenuous to give these characters a fairy tale ending. It also captured the idea that each group is looking out for themselves, other groups be damned.
What is your favorite scene?
TJ: For me it is probably the scene where Lex finally leaves the Oshi and the reader gets to see her interact with humans for the first time. It was fun to write and was definitely an opportunity for everyone to see who Lex really is and how her presence would affect the story.
Finally, if you could say one thing to your future readers, what would it be?
TJ: Thank you for choosing this book on a shelf of many. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did writing it.
Voidfriends and folk are you excited for the book? Let’s hope so. I’ll update this page as soon as I have the Amazon link available. Be sure to check out this release, if you are interested! Don’t forget to leave reviews on Storygraph, Goodreads, and Amazon if you are inclined. Best of luck to T. John and Jon Siniecki!
Aftereffect releases on November 30, 2023.
Until Next Time,
MM
Marlena Marie 