Author Spotlight: DJ LeJeune

• a father and a geek striving to be the best author he can be

Readers, thanks for checking out another Author Spotlight Interview. Let’s give a good, hearty welcome to this week’s guest!

DJ LeJeune sends his readers on near and far future Science Fiction adventures, blended with a dash of thriller and a lot of character. Grand Prize winner for the Summer 2020 Writing Contest at Short Fiction Break, he minored in Creative Writing in college and is finally using that forgotten degree.

He enjoys gaming, tech, and Donatello, because he’s the MVP of the Ninja Turtles.

DJ, thanks for agreeing to be here today. Most author spotlight interviews start off with the boring stuff, but I know what readers REALLY want to know.

If you could have any pet (real/fantasy/no-allergies/no worries about feeding it) what would it be?

I mean, Gizmo was pretty cute. If I didn’t have to worry about the whole “no feeding after midnight” thing, he’d be fun.

Someone like to live on the dangerous side! But he was pretty durn cute.

What do you write? And how did you get started?

I write science fiction. More specifically, my first novel Path of Relics is in the Gamelit / LitRPG Lite genre.

My dreams of becoming an author started as early as grade school, where my stories were often the most anticipated of the class. I minored in creative writing in college, then did little writing for years afterwards.

But about 3 years ago, I decided to give it a go and dove in wholeheartedly.

So glad you found your way back to your writing.

What do you like to read?

I gravitate toward science fiction stories with some element of mystery in them. Give me a mysterious object out in deep space, or strange occurrences caused by some new technology, and I’m in. Some of my favorite authors are Blake Crouch, Issac Asimov, and Adrian Tchaikovsky. Although my all-time favorite novel is a fantasy classic, The Silmarillion.

Those are some of my favorites, as well!

Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice that doesn’t work for you

Use character questionaires.

Filling out character questionnaires and likes and dislikes and profiles and all that. When I
begin a story, how the heck am I supposed to know all that? I might be able to fill that
information out after one or two novels with a character. In the beginning, I focus on the
basics like their backstory, flaws, fears, and goals. Then as I write and revise, the characters
take more shape and define themselves to me.

I see that advice pretty often, especially in the Lit RPG world. But, I agree! When I’m writing characters, I’m discovering who they are and how they interact with their world. I’m not dictating who they will be, because then you end up with either stock characters or they end up completely disjointed.

Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice they can pry out of your cold, dead hands

Revise, revise, revise!

I HATE first drafts, and people who can write one draft then simply tweak a few things and be done… I just don’t understand that. My stories go through multiple revision passes. Knowing that helps me get through the first draft to begin with, since that stage involves a lot of “anguish” for me.

I think it might work better for heavy planners, but I definitely like to revise my manuscripts more than once before sending them out.

---

Shameless Self-Promotion time!

Path of Relics

He entered the contest to win cash… Now millions could die.

Random gigs and ramen noodles… that’s how out-of-shape gamer Terry survives the job-starved future of 2044. Until he’s accepted into the Path of Relics tournament—the most anticipated virtual reality RPG event of the decade—where he has the chance to win some real loot.

But does he have a fighting chance against the world’s top Active-VR athletes?

Not to mention the ancient dungeons, puzzles, scorpion-wolves, and all-too-realistic NPCs the game world throws at him. And just how advanced is this “Portal Rig” that lets him physically experience the fantasy world as if he were transported there?

Worse, could his suspicions be true?

Are the strange and deadly malfunctions plaguing Manhattan somehow triggered by Path of Relics?

Now, outmatched and exhausted, can Terry’s mysterious ability to level-up quickly and his meager martial arts skills help him avert catastrophe in the real world?

---

Check out DJ LeJeune across the web!

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon