Author Interview: Kerat Kaur Jhaj
At Scribbles we love to highlight both exciting new and established authors, offering a platform for writers to introduce their work, talk about our mutual love of writing and share valuable industry knowledge.
Today we are talking to Kerat Kaur Jhaj, author of superb new paranormal romance novel, Higamus.
Please tell us a bit about yourself?
Hello, I'm Kerat a 16 year old high school student with great passion for singing, reading and of course writing! I love reading fantasy, horror and fiction humour and when it comes to music I love pop.
When did you realise you wanted to be a writer?
I always came up with stories but never truly got a chance to dedicate my time to one. That changed when I wrote a short story and as I read it for my English class their response was super encouraging and I decided to continue it.
Who are your favourite authors and why?
I love R.L.Stine's, I grew up on his work. "Rotten School" and "Fear Street" were my childhood. And props to Leah Bardugo for her amazing world building. My most recent favourite, mainly because of Jace and Simon is none other than Cassandra Clare.
How long does it take you to write a book and what does your writing process look like?
It depends. For every manuscript the process is different for "Himagus" I started working on it in ninth grade and as it's being published I'm moving on to my senior year. Basically I set a deadline; for instance the WIP I'm currently working on should be finished by October and edited and everything by January.
When I'm writing, I let the story swim in my head and my fingers type it on to the screen my main motto being "Just write!".
Can you tell us about this book?
When she had woke up to a world consisting only of butchered human bodies, Kylie Lauder had been lost and not sure of what to do, that was when William and David showed up, promising to fix her world.
But how much was their word worth?
As she stays hidden, from other Himagusians who had now taken over Earth, she discovered secrets, even they didn't know.
The magical locket that the Emperor wears, can grant three wishes.
But has he used all three of them? Will the three of them be enough to fight off the emperor's men as Kylie tries to snatch away the locket? Will it grant her wish of bringing humans back? What if this is only a myth and she should avenge her people instead? Or perhaps she truly does love William enough to not care about her dead family or the human realm, and this can be her happily ever after..
Who are your main characters? Can you tell us a bit more about them?
My main characters are William, Kylie and David.
William - The Good guy among an evil race. Doing his duty and regretting his actions.
David- A good friend we all need in life.
Kylie- Her world has turned upside down, actually, for her, it's all over. Nevertheless, she still carries the responsibility to set things right.
What is your favourite scene or chapter from the book?
I really loved Deber and Scarlet's scenes and I have a good feeling the readers will too!
What inspired you to write this book?
Honestly, all the fantasy novels I had been reading.
What do you hope readers will take away from this story?
Well, the story isn't over yet. After all, this is a trilogy which means there's so much more readers can take away from this story, yay!
But for now, "never give up" and that it's "never too late" to do the right thing.
What do you think happens to your characters after the book ends?
Well, after this book ends, they wait and hold on to their seatbelts tight and move onto the next chapter (which happens to be book two)
Do you find you miss your characters once you finish writing their story?
Yeah, it's definitely weird. It's always "okay, I finish this chapter, then five more to go and after that editing, formatting.. blah..blah" So, for it to be done feels unnatural. I'm still supposed to be working on it and it will be done tomorrow, except that tomorrow is here.
Do you have any more projects lined up?
Oh my gosh, so many.
Where can our readers find your book?
https://www.goodreads.com/book/54209703-himagus/get_a_copy?stores=1
https://books.apple.com/us/book/himagus/id1519631834?uo=4&mt=11&ls=1&at=11lvdC
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