Interview with John J. Horn

Hello I am very proud to present an interview with John J. Horn!

His website: http://www.johnjhornbooks.com/

Hello and welcome to Future Homeschool Authors!

Thanks! I’m very glad to be here.

First could you tell us a bit about yourself? 

My name is John J. Horn and I’m a young Christian fellow passionate about telling excellently-crafted stories that glorify God and delight readers. I was born and partly raised in New Jersey and now live in sunny San Antonio, Texas. I have two married siblings and a super-fun nephew and niece with more on the way.

What’s your favorite book? 

I wonder if anyone has exactly one favorite book. Precluding the Bible, top favorites for me are The Coral Island by R.M. Ballantyne, The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne, and The Leatherstocking Talesby James Fenimore Cooper.

Who's your favorite Author?

For fiction, I’ll say R.M. Ballantyne. For nonfiction, I’ll say David McCullough (with Stephen Ambrose as a close second).

If you could meet one person who would it be? 

That’s a very interesting question. I’ve never thought about that before. I try to be a realistic thinker, so I’ll limit my choices to someone still alive. I’ll say David McCullough. He has an absorbing writing style and has chosen a fascinating variety of historical subjects to write about (John Adams, the Johnstown Flood, the Brooklyn Bridge, and Americans in Paris to name a few).

Can you tell us anything about the book you're working on right now?

I wish I could. Sadly I’m not currently working on a book, as I’m devoting my energies to a nearly full-time job and a degree which I’m pursuing online. Hopefully I’ll be able to begin my next project in Summer 2015.

What was the best part of writing The Men of Grit series?

Getting to spend time with my characters. I don’t endorse letting your characters take your story wherever they want, as you’ll probably end up with a poorly structured story, but giving your characters the leeway to express themselves within defined parameters is a lot of fun.

How did you begin writing? 

Books are in my DNA. My whole family loves reading, and I actually can’t remember what it’s like to not be able to read. I think the actual impetus to my writing was a friend who began writing a mystery series. I became enamored with the idea of writing and began my own mystery series.

I never completed any books in that mystery series, but it was the first time I tried a long writing project. I didn’t complete my second novel-length project either. I did finish my third project, but it wasn’t good enough to be published. My fourth project was The Boy Colonel, which is the first book in my Men of Grit series.

What inspired you to begin writing? 

Reading. I wanted to emulate the authors I loved. Now, I want to delight readers, glorify God, and let others share in the stories in my brain.

What is your favorite genre?

Historical fiction.

Do you do any research for you books? If you do what are your main sources? 

I definitely research my books. The internet is my primary source, with select books as a secondary source.

What do you like most about writing? 

Finishing. Seriously. Writing can be incredibly hard and annoying, but finishing, whether it’s at the end of a profitable day of writing or at the very end of a project, brings an amazing sense of accomplishment. Other than finishing, my favorite part is probably the conversations I get to create between my characters.

Any final thoughts? 

I have plenty of thoughts, but I hope they’re not my final ones.

If you want to be an author, you need to discipline yourself. To finish a book you’re going to have to sit down at your computer many times when you’d rather do almost anything else in the world. If you do finish a book, you’ll have to fight to get it published. If you get published, you’ll have to begin the fight all over again. And you probably won’t make enough money to survive. But if writing is in you DNA, you’ll do it any way for the love of crafting good stories.

Thank you so much for all your time! 

Absolutely. Thanks for having me!

-Mikayla-