1. How did you come up with the name John Fitch V?

 

John Fitch V is a name that I had been using since high school, but only a few people really knew about it. I had read Robert Cormier in high school, and at the time I was writing sports for my local newspaper as a freelance journalist. One of the paper's employees had told me that Robert Cormier had written columns for the paper under the pseudonym John Fitch IV. I came up with the name as a tribute to the author, and said that if I were ever a published author, that's the name I would use.

 

2. Where can we buy your books?

 

My titles can all be ordered. The best place to get them is through my aStore as well as the Bookstore link on the main menu.

 

3. Why do you write about fantasy?

 

It's an easy answer: because I like to tell fantasy stories. Why does an author write romance? Because they like to. Why does an author write a mystery novel? Because they like to. I write fantasy stories because when I read one, my mind goes to the world I'm reading and I wander around with the characters and partake in their adventures. When I write them, my mind does the same thing. I hope that when you read my books, your mind goes with the characters on their adventures.

 

4. How did you get your start in writing?

 

I started writing at the age of 16. I had become friends with one of the newspaper writers at my local paper and told him I was interested in writing for them. He put me in touch with my first ever editor, a gentleman by the name of Ken Carty, and he taught me -- in a 10 minute lesson -- how to write sports. To be frank, I took to it like a duck. A few years later, I was working at my local WaldenBooks store (now out of my mall ) when R.A. Salvatore, a local resident and one of the best fantasy authors in the world, entered the store and signed all of his titles (I think we ruined his hand for a month with all the books he signed). I asked him how he got involved with Star Wars (since I am a huge fan), and I told him I was interested in writing a Star Wars novel. He told me to create my own characters and storylines first, then try to get in with Star Wars. A year later, I started writing the manuscript that eventually became Obloeron: The Quest For The Chalice.

 

5. How long does it take you to write a manuscript?

 

There are several factors that go into that. Time constraint is one of them, depth of story is another. Since all starting authors have other ways to bring home the bacon, you need time to do it. If you take your protagonist on a long journey, obviously you will need time to describe his actions, his thoughts, and the general premise of the story. The first novel took me two years to write, but that was a different beast altogether. I had no idea where I wanted to take the story after the first four chapters, so it was put on the shelf for nearly a year. Overall, I'd say Quest took me five months of actual writing time to get the first draft out. Another manuscript that I wrote took me five weeks, and that is the longest one that I've written. So it varies with the story.