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J.B. Moonstar moved to Florida in her early teens and has lived there ever since, enjoying the mild weather and abundance of wildlife.  She even spent several seasons raising orphan squirrels.   She graduated from the University of Central Florida and has spent her working career in the legal profession.  Her novels are inspired by her family and nature, as well as her need to escape from the real world once in a while.

How much do you write in day? Week? Month? Year?

At this point, I work full time at my “day job”, so writing is something I do either at night or in the morning. I find myself getting up at 3:30 or 4:00 in the morning to spend a few hours writing before work.

Where do you get your best ideas? In the shower, driving, dreams, etc.

The main plot is many times based on nature/conservation magazines that discuss the plight of animals who are being pushed to the brink of extinction because of human greed or ignorance of what their actions do to wildlife. Since the purpose of Ituria’s Islands on the moon is to rescue endangered animals, I get ideas from these types of magazines for the plot or theme.

However, a lot of my stories are based on one thing, or one memory, and I build a story around it; and some even have a hidden agenda.  The Russ book was an adventure to show how Jenna’s grandpa met Ituria many years ago as a teen, and it was also to rescue a “hidden voice” that I found trapped in the outdoor bathroom. I felt so sad that the small frog had somehow gotten into the bathroom and had not been able to get out, that I wanted to make sure that he finally got back into the sun again. I found him on a windowsill behind the blinds just as I started working on the Russ and the Hidden Voice, and Granger is still with me on a shelf. I have him in a glass box, just like in the book, and he is out in the light all the time, just like he asked.  In the first Taylor book, Red Wolf Rescue, I had just lost my dog to cancer, and I wanted to get her to the moon to be safe – that is why Kali is in the book. In the Jan books, I used as inspiration some small figurines, and they were used as the driving point to connect the various stories together.

I will say that Michelle came to me in a dream, inspired by the beautiful artwork of my cover designer and illustrator, Jenn Kotick, who had created a wonderful mermaid and manatee portrait; I liked it so much she has agreed to let me use it for the cover of the book. Michelle was persistent, and I wrote her first book in a few weeks also (early mornings and weekends), and I am getting that finalized and to the publisher now.  You will most likely be seeing Michelle again.

Which are you: Plotter, Pantser, or Plantser? Why?

I’m not sure. I try and plan the facts out, but facts don’t tell the story. Sometimes you just don’t know what is going to happen. When writing the Jenna and the Eyes of Fire, I remember getting about three quarters of the way through and everything was stacked against Jenna. I thought to myself – how is she going to get out of this, and I just stared at the computer screen for a few minutes. My character (in my head) realized she had to do something now – time was running out.  She couldn’t wait for me to figure it out, so Jenna wrote the rest herself, letting me know how she would handle things and how the book would end.  Now that Megan is in Ituria’s world, she loves adventure, so I just put her in a situation, and she takes it from there.  As I was telling my publisher, Taylor and Megan really wanted to be in a book together, so they basically wrote Taylor and the Final Nine themselves in just a few weeks.  I learned early on that I should listen to what my characters want to do, because if I try to force them to do something they don’t want to do, whole chapters fall apart, and I have to start over. They are in control, and if they don’t get what they want, the story doesn’t work.

Do you work well under pressure? How do you handle deadlines?

Working in the legal profession for many years, I have learned how to handle pressure and to meet deadlines. Sometimes deadlines even help, so you don’t think – well, I’ll get to it later, no rush.

Favorite video game. Why?

I like playing Pokemon, I know it’s a kid’s game, but I like running around and not having to kill anyone like most video games. I also like to raise my Pokemon through their different forms, sometimes until they are so powerful that no one can defeat them.  When your Pokemon reaches level 100 or more, you can beat most anything that comes your way. Then you go to your box and get some smaller level Pokemon and start again.

How much research do you do for your writing? Is it for character, world, or plot? What are you researching now?

I did a lot of research for the first book in The Ituria Chronicles – several months of reading about the moon, and how I could create islands under the surface of the moon. Learning about the volcano flows, caverns, the moon’s relationship with the earth, all were taken into account to make a place that could actually exist.  In my research, I learned people are now talking about making human habitats in the moon’s caverns. It would keep humans safe from the 500-degree difference in temperatures and meteor impacts on the surface. However, should they attempt this, I do need to tell them that Ituria got there first!

What’s your editing process? Describe it for us.

When I am writing a story, I always start by reading it from the beginning, or at least the past three to four chapters, so I usually catch many mistakes in spelling or punctuation as I reread them. If something doesn’t fit in the beginning because of what happens near the end, I can change it. As far as final editing, I try and focus on each word to make sure it is spelled correctly and fits. A printer once told me that to avoid typos, he would read the entire page backwards so he would only see words and wouldn’t be “reading”, since when you are reading your mind completes a sentence or adds a word that isn’t there.  I don’t read it backwards, but I do still try to focus word-to-word rather than reading for context when checking for spelling and punctuation. Then I read it again at least two or three times to make sure there isn’t something missing or a loose end that needs to be resolved.

Share your favorite character from your stories. What made them your favorite to write?

All my characters are my favorites, each in their own way.

I do admit I love working with Knocker, he has such a confident air about him, and being a very large fire-breathing dragon allows him to control any situation, even when he is in human form. He has had many years of experience dealing with humans and doesn’t get upset when confronting them anymore, he knows he has the upper hand even though the humans may think they are in control.

I like the girls – Jenna, Jan, Megan and Michelle; because they are ready and willing to stand up for themselves and not take orders from anyone; they are the ones in charge – even if they are only about 12 years old. I guess it is how I wish I would have been at 12 – when I was 12, I was told that I could either be a nurse or a secretary – that was the only thing girls could do.

Russ and Taylor also have their own backgrounds, and I have enjoyed seeing Taylor grow in confidence as he realizes that while he may have what some consider a handicap, he also has many strengths that outweigh this perceived weakness.  All my characters are compassionate and really care for their families and the animals that live around them.

How did you choose the genre you write? Was it by choice or encouragement from friends or fate aligning the stars?

My daughter was an avid reader in grade school, always one of the top readers in the class. When she was in 4^th grade, she was reading at a much higher level. However, as a 4^th grader, I didn’t want her to be reading some of the books that are out there for high school students. So that is how the first book was written, I wanted to write a story with lots of adventure but still okay for grade school students to read. My first attempt at writing was to write a story with dragons and unicorns and magic and adventure, but still safe for a 4^th grader to read.

Tell us a little bit about your life growing up. Did any of those experiences make it into your writing?

I grew up in a military family – moving every summer. So, I was kind of a loner, even though I had 2 brothers and 2 sisters. No long-time childhood friends when you move every summer. Most of my characters are loners, although Jenna’s sister does cover for her when she goes out on adventures.

What’s your background and how did that influence your work?

I work in the legal profession, which by nature requires accuracy and ability to meet deadlines, as well as the ability to be organized, at least in your head, to know the status of numerous matters at all times. Writing fantasy fiction is fun and allows me to get out of the fact-filled legal world, but each of the characters, even a dragon, must work within the facts surrounding them.  In the first Jan book, once Megan was freed from her chains, she still couldn’t leave the cave because she was a giant dragon and couldn’t fit out the small stairway to get to the top!

How does where you live inspire your writing?

I live in Florida, where it is summer most of the year. Even in winter it doesn’t get too cold, and I don’t even own a heavy coat. I raised orphan squirrels for several years and started because in 2004 we had three hurricanes within a six-week period and numerous squirrel nests were blown from the trees. I rescued two of them and contacted a local wildlife group on how to raise them.  While I don’t raise the babies anymore, I have “my squirrels” now whom I feed and provide water out in the back yard. One is a character in my books (Sedric from the Jenna series). I also have two red-winged hawks that perch on my fence and screen on a regular basis, we can hear them calling to each other all the time. (Taylor’s hawk from first Taylor book) We call the two hawks Mr. and Mrs. Taylor.

Have invisibility or flying?

I have always wanted to fly, ever since I was a child. That’s funny though because I hate being in airplanes – I avoid flying in an airplane at all costs, would much rather go by car. I want to be able to just take off into the air and fly somewhere, but I want to be in control. Maybe I got this from my dad – he was a pilot in the Marines for many years, yet he would not get into a commercial plane – he would drive across the country rather than take a commercial flight. He had to be in control of the airplane, or he wouldn’t get in. Sounds like a trust issue that I inherited from him.