by Emily Amsel
Jeremy:
I’m Jeremy. I like reading and writing and TTRPGs and board games. I don’t have time anymore to do any of those things but I like the idea of them. Once I saved lizard. That’s the best thing I’ve done with my life.
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 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 terribly realistic.
Emily:
How long have you been writing?
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.
Emily:
How did you get into it?
Jeremy:
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 affected my life in that way, it’s what I like to spend my time on.
Emily:
Why do you post on WordPress?
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.
Emily:
What is it you like to post?
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
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