Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Authors Not-So-Anonymous Week #25

Welcome everyone to the twenty-fifth Authors Not-So-Anonymous weekly meeting!! This weekly series is about authors from Twitter and Facebook!  This week, I would like to introduce Jason Scott (JScott or JS) Sharp into Authors Not-So-Anonymous!

Jason Scott Sharp is a college adviser and author of contemporary horror, suspense, mystery or adult contemporary.  He has a degree in psychology, and is currently working on a Bachelor's degree in English.  Jason is married with two dogs, incredibly shy, and he's an amateur card magician (The Ambitious Card is his favorite trick).  Jason is an incredible person and author.  I have had the pleasure of becoming friends with him via Twitter over the last few months.  He's a blast to talk to and always up for creating a story on the spot (ask him about The Hole, it's hilarious).  I highly recommend reading any of his short stories as well.  After reading "Not Even There", I was hooked on his writing style and characters.

He has self-published three short stories all of which have dark themes.  "I have been writing since I was about 3 or 4. I used to write stories about something scary, on lined paper, then try to sell them to my parents.  They were my first readers.  I distinctly remember a story about a headless biker lopping folks heads off."  I wonder how much his parents would buy his stories for?  A cookie or maybe just to get him to brush his teeth? heh.

"I have been writing off and on for many years, but I never did anything with it.  I sent much of my work to Ellery Queen and Twilight Zone magazine (way back in the day) but never had any success.  I did write a couple of non-fiction books about some life experiences that I had and I still give one of those books away to people who need it."  Jason's writing inspiration comes from many different places, but the most influential person in his life is his wife.  "My drive to write comes from thinking about my wife.  She has always been supportive.  She is always ready to give me some positive thoughts about my ability to achieve.  I love her so much."  D'awwww!! So cute, and sweet, and makes you want to watch rom-coms all day.
 
"For some reason, the darker aspects of life are a major inspiration for my writing.  Someone said, “you should write about water” and I wrote “Not Even There."  I was walking through the store one day, during Halloween, and I saw those little fake blackbird decorations.  Suddenly two ideas came together and I had the story “Three Blackbirds."  My mind always goes that way.  I have always hated being truly scared (by actual life events), so it is a truly great source of story-telling power for me."  Some of Jason's favorite authors are Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Edgar Allen Poe, and Anton Chekhov, but he loves to explore books and read anything that he can.

Not Even There
My rating: 5 stars
Roger met Libby for the first time and would do anything to be with her. She's beautiful and popular. He and his best friend are not. Quite the opposite. But then his friend tells him a secret and Roger's whole life goes into a tailspin that he may never get out of.

It could be a matter of life and death. (end)

(mini review)
This short story will keep you on edge.  The characters, plot and tone are well written and make you wish it was a full length novel.  Jason did an incredible job with this short story, especially in only 5,000 words!

Follow JS Sharp on Twitter.  Have an author to nominate?  Send me a message via Twitter, Facebook or leave a comment with the author(s) name and contact information.  I'd love to add new members!  Happy Reading!

3 comments:

Christie Rich said...

I've awarded you the Liebster Blog Award! Go here to find out more:

http://christierich.blogspot.com/2012/06/liebster-blog-award.html

Julie Frayn said...

Nice interview, Jason. I didn't know about your psychology degree. I bet that goes a long way to helping with the inner workings of your characters brains. Keep writing! You've got a gift for storytelling.

Unknown said...

Hi Julie
Thank you so much for the nice comments. Yep. I have a psychology degree. It doesn't qualify me for anything but pretending, but it does help me to think out some character motivations...that and my editor get those pesky motivations figured out...mostly my editor. hehehe. Thank you for the compliments! :)