The Soul and Science of Great Writing with Mara Eller

Why Plotting Beats Pantsing: How to Actually Finish Your Novel with Indie Author J.A. Merkel (Ep. 15)

• Mara Eller • Season 1 • Episode 15

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How do you build a successful career as a self-published fiction author?

For our first (but not last) episode on fiction, I’m joined by J.A. Merkel, a sci-fi/fantasy author with two series underway, one with a whopping 27 books planned. 

He shares the strategy that turned a string of rejection letters into a strategic indie launch that actually worked plus the framework that helped him finally finish the novel he’d been working on for 10 years.

We dive into:

  • why plotting is the key to writing complex novels
  • how structure can actually free your creativity
  • his step-by-step process for starting a new novel from scratch
  • writing with ADHD: time blindness, guardrails, and morning routines for the win
  • why the best fiction reveals truth without forcing it
  • the role of curiosity, emotion, and reader connection in great storytelling

From Story Grid to ADHD, this conversation explores what it really takes to finish a novel—and why sometimes the most creative thing you can do is give your brain exactly the structure it's been craving.


Mentioned in this episode:


JA Merkel is the author of The Fourth Portal and The Fall Gauntlet series, known for immersive world building, sustained emotional tension, and the way his stories pull readers into expansive fictional worlds while leaving lasting emotional and thematic impact.

Learn more and connect at www.jamerkel.com.

Send me a text message with your questions or comments!

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Welcome to the Soul and Science of Great Writing, where the mastery of craft meets the mystery of creation. I'm your host, Mara, er, freelance editor, book coach, and writing teacher with over 16 years of experience. I'm obsessed with the transformative power of words and with understanding what makes writing truly exceptional. Not just to help my clients, but to grow my own craft too. So what makes writing truly great? Is it the spark of inspiration, the unique voice, the intangible soul that breathes life into words? Or is it the careful structure, repeatable strategies, and attention to detail that turn an idea into something readers can't put down? In truth, it's both. The soul and science of great writing brings creativity and craft together, exploring the soul and the science with equal parts, awe and analysis. Today we have our first but not last episode on fiction. We're talking with Ja Merkel, a sci-fi fantasy author Who managed to turn a string of rejection letters into a successful career. As an indie author, We talk about the framework that helped him finally finish the novel he'd been working on for 10 years, A DHD, and why the best fiction reveals truth without forcing it. Let's dive in.

Mara

Welcome to the Soul and Science of great writing. Ja, thanks for being here.

JA

Thank you so much for having me, Mara.

Mara

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

JA

my name is Jay Merkel. I write science fiction and fantasy. I have two series out right now. One is a novella collection called the Fall Gauntlet. It has six in it right now. It's planned to be 27 books total.

Mara

27. Have you mapped, okay, I have to interrupt because that is a very big number of books. Have you mapped those all out? do you know where they're going?

JA

Yes, I have. And I do. Yep. So they're novellas, so they're shorter. Uh, the first nine will be part one and I should finish part one, either by this year or summer of next year. Have all those out. And then part two is the next nine, part three. so yeah, very much have planned out each part and very methodical, like with, planning out the animals on the covers

Mara

How many words are in. Your novellas.

JA

Good question. So Bear is. 13,000 words. So it's technically a short story. I just call it a novella collection for continuity'cause that's what most of them are. And then the most recent one I wrote links is about 52,000 words. So technically a novel. book eight, which I've also finished is a whopping 83,000 words right now. So they are getting longer in scope, but I would say yeah, within that like 20 to, I guess maybe 50 now, might be the new norm. 50 K.

Mara

Okay. so that's technically book length. And listeners, if, if if you're not used to thinking about writing in word count versus pages, then this is your chance to level up your professionalism and realize that nobody talks about page count, because of course, who knows how many pages You know, how many words fit on a page. So professionals all talk about length in terms of word count. So 50,000 is kind of a book, the lower end of a book length, but of course it depends on genre. But for fiction, it's usually a bit more than that. 50 is like the short end for nonfiction. How many words would you say is a standard novel from what you know? And I think my impression is that fantasy tends to skew a bit longer because of the world building.

JA

I basically just look it up, like, what is the word count of these different,'cause I, I am, I've always been interested in I short fiction. So I mean, we could go really deep into the weeds with flash fiction and micro and short story novella. Novelette novel. But novel I saw was 40,000 and above. I think of it as like maybe 60,000 is like novel length, but I guess technically it's 40. but. Yeah, for me, I think in that 70 to 80,000, feels like novel length or, enough to be able to tell the story that I want.

Mara

Okay, so for example, what is your newer novel? what's the length of this one? the fourth, portal.

JA

the fourth portal is 104,000 words not quite epic. I guess that word can have different meanings, but epic in maybe the grand scope. It's gonna be seven books but not like epic, epic fantasy where it's like 140 plus k.

Mara

All right. Well, since I interrupted your introduction, is there anything else you wanted to share with us about who you are and what you do?

JA

sure. Yeah. So, I talked about the fall gauntlet. That's the novella collection. And then my other series is the fourth portal, which I'm holding up, and that is going to be seven books, um, kind of based on the ancient Indian, chakras. So one for each of the chakras and,

Mara

you're starting with the fourth, which, I don't know very much about chakras, but I know there are seven and that, just going by numbers, that is not number one.

JA

Right, No, that is a very good thing to point out. Yeah. So, the fourth portal, or the fourth chakra is located at the heart, and that's kind of the, the premise of this love is forbidden on this planet. So they have to keep the fourth portal closed at all times. Or else they risk infection of this love virus spreading to other people and beasts who can smell this kind of like hormone. yeah. So I did start with the fourth portal.

Mara

Are you gonna go through all seven of them?

JA

Yes. So I will, but probably not in the same way that it's titled. So book one is technically, the Chakra for Earth. So it's the first one and it's the desert itself. So it's more, simple. There's a whole like thought framework that goes along with this. So book two is water and gets more into the oceans on this desert world. You have more complexity because you have earth beside water and the world's kind of like opening up and expanding. So I'm following that framework in terms of the seven chakras,

Mara

Okay. Wow. I don't know how you keep all of these worlds and books in your head at the same time. You're doing two series. the same time, and each one is pretty complex.

JA

Yeah. Yeah. It's, I'm not doing myself any favors.

Mara

You just couldn't stop yourself or,

JA

yeah. I don't think I could stop myself. I released Book four Condor just before I released fourth Portal. And looking back, I would probably do it differently just because the marketing kind of got a little intertwined and I didn't really give it the best, like maybe runway that I could have. so looking back, yeah, I'm gonna try to like, okay, this, these six months I'm gonna go for, the fall gauntlet and then switch back. But yeah, probably just can't stop myself.

Mara

yeah. Okay. I would love to talk for a minute about marketing since you brought that up. And a recent episode that I did was with a sales coach about the importance of embracing your role as an entrepreneur when you're an author because you are marketing your writing, and you have to figure out how to do that in a way that works and you know, that works for you and that reaches readers. So I wonder if you could tell us a little bit more about that, of like how you approach marketing, obviously fiction in particular in your case, and how much of your time and energy as a writer ends up going in that direction. And is that, is that a struggle as it is, I think, for so many writers? Or have you found a way to make it, feel like an authentic part of what you do as a writer?

JA

Yeah, this is a really good question and it's something that a lot of authors talk about, especially indie authors because we are doing the whole gamut of everything, writing, publishing, marketing. that's true in cases for trad as well, but I think,

Mara

Trad meaning traditional publishing, indie meaning self-publishing. But I like the indie'cause it sounds cooler not in a fake way, but just self-publishing has come a long way and can mean a lot of different things. Like it can be just a vanity publishing where it's like you're not necessarily putting in the work to make it a really high quality book. You're just. Wanting to do it for your friends and family or something. And that's fine, but it's kind of needs to be its own category in a way. So anyway, I like that Indie publishing.

JA

Yeah. Yeah. And I think maybe what you're referring to is like the stigma that's been on the word self-publishing in the past.

Mara

Like, oh, well you couldn't hack it. you couldn't be a real author. So you're just paying people to publish it or something. What would you say to writers out there who are like, I really don't wanna self-publish because that will feel like I failed.

JA

I think I would say that conversation is always good dialogue to combat these stigmas. it's happening every day on social media. Every time I sign on, things are showing up in my feed where this is a hot topic of, indie authors maybe not getting the same kind of credibility or visibility as tra authors. And there's a hundred reasons for that, resources, and all the, yeah, marketing that goes into each. But I think it's important to, combat these stigmas and to continue to elevate our writing as indie authors to do the work, to put out really good work. We're, we're selling our books, our products, and we're asking money for it. So we should create something quality. like you said, self-publishing, any publishing has come a long way. We have come from an era where people could publish anything, throw something up on Amazon, and I think in the beginning there was such an ocean of, not quality content. but I think that a lot of those stigmas are fading and people should educate themselves and understand how it is changing. There are indie authors who are getting traditional deals and they're being brought way more into the limelight or they're getting those resources that trad authors are getting. Because the one thing about indie authors is we can have such a more personal, intimate connection with our readers. we are connecting with our audience online. every day people are DMing us, telling us what they loved about our books, and we can really build these intimate communities that I think isn't always present in trad because, they have agents or there's different walls that are up to access these authors. So

Mara

Or I wonder if part of it too is just, traditionally published authors, maybe a lot of times don't think they need to be doing those things, when really that's kind of a myth too.

JA

Right.

Mara

That it sort of used to be maybe more that if you had a traditional book deal, you could write the book, edit the book, and then kind of sit back and let it be promoted, but less and less, I think is that accurate because of the way that social media is changing publicity and marketing in general. I'm hearing that even if you have a traditional book deal,

JA

Yeah.

Mara

really important for the author to do a lot of outreach, connection, marketing, but it is nicer to use those other words.

JA

yes. No, that's such a good point. Yeah. That is from what I've read and heard and seen on social media and in different discussions. Trad also more or less have to do all those things, but I think that is a misconception that, it's all on the publisher, but it is like a team effort.

Mara

Yeah. How did you decide to go the indie route?

JA

So I had been writing a bunch of short stories and submitting them to science fiction and fantasy magazines. uh, mostly form rejections, which is basically just like a copy and paste that these, publishing houses sent to, 99.9% of people. Um, but some of them started to become personalized and that's how, you know, you're getting close and.

Mara

it they were interested enough to read, enough to take the time to give you a personal rejection instead of a copy and paste rejection.

JA

exactly. Or, change this part of the story. Like, you know, positive encouragement of, yeah, I really like this part, keep submitting change, change this or that. and so the editor that I was working with at the time, her name, is Jean, she's still my editor. she, we had a long email exchange and she basically said, your stories are good enough to be published, whether that's trad or indie. I can help you on the indie route. I've helped many authors this way. I'm al I also double as a book coach. Um, if you're interested, I can help you do that. And back and forth, maybe a month, six weeks of exchanges her basically saying, this is a lot of work, but I think if you follow what I'm telling you and what I know of all my years of experience, you can find some level of success. we developed a plan. I hired her as a book coach. She said, send me your top five favorite short stories that are completed that have series potential. We built out series Bibles and ideal reader profiles. And she said, well, we decided that I would publish three short stories from three different series. Very low stakes. Bayer was one of those three and see which sells the best and whichever does maybe pursue that one. And these were all ideas that I was passionate about and really loved. it wasn't like I was just like completely writing to market. fast forward, bear did, better than I could have imagined in the first week. And so Book Two Rat was basically already written in the pipeline. And yeah, here I am. Like I,

Mara

is history.

JA

yeah, I just kept going, six novellas in and I'm just like, super grateful. To Jean for pushing me. She, it di she didn't have to convince me.'cause in the past 15 years I've been very back and forth on should I go indeed, should I go to trad? And I've been thinking about both. But we did have a long conversation where she kind laid out some of the pros and cons. She's like, yeah, you know, there are a lot of indies who are making X amount and they're doing very well. And, if that's something you're interested in,

Mara

Yeah, because one of the things I have learned is that because of royalty structures

JA

yeah.

Mara

traditional publishing, you might get an advance, but you're not going to earn as much per copy in. Royalties as you can through indie publishing. there's more investment upfront, but then you retain a much larger portion of any proceeds.

JA

Yeah. It's a huge difference. I think it's like 15% for traditional, and then on certain platforms, Amazon, yeah. Pays 70% per copy.

Mara

Well, Okay, so I always like to ask my guests, do you lean more heavily toward the soul side of writing or towards the science side?

JA

I love this question. I love it because it encapsulates, I almost think of it as the intersection of science, fiction and fantasy, and that's. Mainly how I identify as a writer, a science fiction fantasy guy. And so I think I oscillate between the two pretty evenly. So for example, my novella series, the fog not lit, I think is more science, the masks are high tech. When you put it on, it reads your DNA and integrates with your biology and psychology, hoverboards, bullet trains, very dystopian cyberpunk. But then my other series, the fourth portal I think is much more on the soul side. Obviously with the seven chakras, how to align one's personal, emotional, spiritual wellbeing. But for the most part, I just love to weave the two together.

Mara

Okay. This is a fun answer because it's so different from the way we've generally talked about those terms, which I actually love. That's part of the reason I leave the question kind of vague.'cause I think it's interesting to see how people define soul and science for themselves in regards to writing. And so because of your genre science fiction, fantasy, the science. Science fiction has its own little twist to it as far as the topics that you're exploring within your fictional worlds. We usually talk about it in terms of your approach to writing. Like that science is more about, structure and formula and, genre expectations and doing the things that have been established as good things to do versus following your intuition and writing what the creative spirit gives to you to write and those kinds of things. Do you have any thoughts about, that aspect of the soul and science question?

JA

Yes, I do. I love it. this question has layers to it. Okay. So in that case, to me, when you say that, what I hear is okay, we're getting into the plotting pantsing, debate and,

Mara

I just define that for anyone who's like pants. What are you talking about? Everyone should wear pants.

JA

right, right. So plotting versus pantsing, plotting is a more methodical, structured way to write a novel. So you're outlining it. however that makes sense to you. Story grid, save the cat. There are tons of different methodologies out there, and then pantsing is like pantsing your way through it. So by the seat of your pants, you have less structure. You are going off of divine inspiration or you're just so excited or overtaken with the plot that you, Cast aside your plot and just pants your way through it.

Mara

Yeah. So which way do you tend to approach your writing?

JA

Yeah. So these days definitely more of a plotter and that's pretty solidified for me at this point in my journey because what I've found is when I'm pantsing, it's just way more rewriting. Like I think every writer, I don't know where you fall on this spectrum, but I feel like everyone is a combo of the two. And this might be controversial, but I think everyone is maybe more. Balance than they think, like the pants. I think they're plotting subconsciously.

Mara

Hmm.

JA

I don't think anyone's fully a hundred percent, one or the other. I think it's a balance. but yeah. what do you think?

Mara

Yeah, I mean, that makes sense. I think the whole premise of the show is that it takes both, and focusing on one at the complete expense of the other is always going to be. Uh, less than optimal choice and that the magic sort of come, which is itself a solely kind of term. But you know, the magic comes when you bring those two together and you use the tools of the science stuff to provide a structure or like, I called it like an infrastructure in which the soul can roam free.

JA

Yeah. I love that.

Mara

So before we move on, you mentioned a couple of plotting frameworks, save the Cat and story grid, which I've mentioned Story Grid before, and I can link to those in the show notes. But do you use one of those or do you use a different approach? What do you recommend or what have you found to be best for you?

JA

I have definitely found the story grid to be the ultimate for me. it is definitely a huge learning curve. So for listeners who don't know, it's like you eventually are creating an Excel spreadsheet with

Mara

extremely sciencey,

JA

Extremely. Yeah. It's almost like mathematical in it. you have onscreen characters, offscreen characters, all like the proper nouns mentioned the polarity shift.

Mara

which we've mentioned that before in a memoir episode. That's just in each scene and each chapter in each, act. You need to have an emotional shift and a circumstantial shift for the main character that something's either getting better or getting worse.

JA

right. Yeah. So just to put a final point on it, The fourth portal was a ten year project, and I think part of that was because, yeah, floundering, pantsing, my pacing was really off. And then when I found the story grid, being able to have a character end like in a negative polarity shift in one chapter and then starting, positive or vice versa or like mixing it up, that really helped me clean up the pacing and get to a place that I was very happy with. So 10 outta 10 recommends story grid. It completely changed the game for me in my writing.

Mara

Yeah. And they have. They have a book, but they also have a ton of free content online with videos about nearly every aspect of the process. I did a fiction writing scene, writing intensive with them last summer, which was very intense. I struggled with the level of precision sort of that they demanded. And I'm the person who's always like, but what about this? And what about that? And what about this nuanced thing? And they're like, you just need to get the basics down first. And that was surprisingly challenging. cause I have some fiction projects myself, ironically since I am a coach for nonfiction. But that's part of why I love memoirs. It blends the two. but one thing I One other thing I wanted to touch on here that kind of relates to the question you asked about do I think it's always a mixture of both plotting and pantsing is I think ultimately yes, it absolutely needs to be both, but I think different writers have different ways of getting into of like entering a project. And that's something that I'm thinking a lot about right now with my book coaching clients. And it's just, it's not the same for every writer and it's not the same for every project,

JA

Mm.

Mara

even for the same writer. And so sometimes the way in might be, let's make a detailed spreadsheet with every single scene. And for other people they might a really struggle to do that, or B, do it and then struggle to execute it. And they might just need to like. Write stuff for a while and then figure out, like, look at what they've written and be like, all right, what, what's happening here? And then sort of maybe do more of the plotting. So have you, have you found that to be true? Do you have like a way in to your stories?

JA

I do. Yeah. And it's pretty much the same across the board now. And it's basically the story grid, like every single fall gauntlet book, uh, follows. What are they called? there's there's genre and then there's the inner and outer. but yeah, it's basically like a revolution plot, rebellion, overthrowing tyrants is the core idea and the obligatory scenes have been really helpful with writing those. So following that genre, seeing what those eight obligatory scenes, and just to mention what that is. It's the writers of this book studied so many books in every single genre and found that of them, or like all the,

Mara

all of the books. in any, yeah, any like very successful, um, story grid, I think it's worth mentioning is particularly designed like their number one priority is that your reader wants to keep turning the pages, which is. Certainly a very important goal, regardless of whether you think it's the most important, but like if your reader doesn't keep reading, then none of the rest of it is gonna matter. So they do skew a little bit more like popular versus literary. they talk a little bit about literary genre, but they're looking at what are the books and stories that people can't put down and are constantly telling other people to read. So I think they're picking examples that would fit those qualifications. And then looking at what are the things that they're all doing.

JA

That's a very good distinction, Mara. Yeah. And so yeah, finding out what those eight obligatory scenes were and then structuring my novel, either every scene or every chapter, hitting those scenes like bears, eight or seven chapters. But yeah, each chapter basically is like one of those scenes,

Mara

Nice. maybe this is preparing you well for my next question, which is what do you consider to be the most important qualities of great writing? Could be in general or specifically for sci-fi fantasy?

JA

This is such a good question. Such a tough question I've been thinking about it and it's. I'm like scratching my head. I'm like, what is good writing? There's so many different factors and

Mara

Yeah, it seems like it should be a simple question, but I've done. Two episodes about that from different angles already, and I'm sure we'll have, who knows how many more.

JA

Yeah. So I think the qualities of great writing come down to, so you want to connect with the reader or as the reader, feel like you can relate to what's on the page. So I think relatability, connection, and I've always been into evolutionary biology and so I, I like to think of things in terms of, okay. Maybe now we're reading paperbacks and eBooks, but what is the common thread of storytelling from the dawn of time? Because when I think about that, I think I can extract more of what does make like great writing or great storytelling. if actors are on a stage or a adjuster in front of a king, like what has made, this art like stand the test of time yeah, so going back to relatability, something that people can connect to and feel emotion. And I think that can be such a spectrum depending on the genre. each genre kind of delivers a different emotion. So I think as long as you're, like being relatable. So the reader, I know that doesn't get

Mara

Yeah, so what does that mean? How do you, what have you learned about how to be relatable in fiction or what is not relatable? Sometimes it's helpful to think about what not to do.

JA

Right. so for me, and you asked about fantasy for me, what makes me feel something or is relatable in scifi or fantasy is like coming upon a really cool concept or new idea. maybe the way that technology is used or the way that a planet is set up. and I guess that gets down to like, I feel like I'm learning something or there's some kind of revelation. That is in great writing. Like, it changes me. It changes my mind. And, yeah, this is more like broader stuff than like the pros itself. I'm trying to like figure it out,

Mara

Yeah. And of course it, it's hard to identify these things, but then it's even harder to articulate them But it sounds like you're, part of what you're saying at least is that you like fiction that makes you think that is thought provoking. And I don't read a lot of fantasy or science fiction, but I've read some over the years and. I remember when I was actually teaching a sci-fi unit to, was it seventh graders, I think. But I liked telling them about how it's, you can kind of group both of those under a larger category of philosophical fiction or, um, no, what do they call it? Speculative fiction. Speculative fiction, which I really like because it's like hypotheticals, like what if there was a world like this? Or what if this happened? And then playing out like this scenario, and of course as a intuitive on the Myers-Briggs scale, like I'm an INFJ, so if you're familiar with that,

JA

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Mara

intuitive is the n versus sensing, but I love all the hypothetical ideas and I think they can give you a lot of. Interesting perspective about the real world. segueing into a slightly different topic, but it sounds like this might be part of your answer, is like talking about the role of truth in fiction and how even fantasy or sci-fi, which is like sort of on the surface, more divorced from reality than, you know, realistic fiction. How even that, or maybe even more that it can tell us true things, it can reveal truth about our reality, about ourselves, about human nature.

JA

Mm-hmm.

Mara

What do you think is sort of the role of truth in fiction?

JA

Sorry, I just wanna ask, did you say you were an INFJ?

Mara

Yes.

JA

Wow. So am I.

Mara

Okay. I think there's a, probably a disproportionate number of writers who are,

JA

that makes sense.

Mara

Maybe we'll do like a Myers-Briggs and writers episode at one point. I am working on, an Enneagram and writer episode.

JA

Oh, cool. So, okay, so back to your question. Um,

Mara

yeah, like, so I guess it was just let me try to put it more concisely. A lot of people think, oh, fantasy, science fiction, that's all just like imagination. I wanna read something that's like real, I'm concerned with things that are true.

JA

Right, right.

Mara

So what would you say to that?

JA

I would say, in my experience, like I think some of the greatest truths are delivered through fiction, science, fiction, and fantasy, because. if we think of books as technology, which they are, we can deliver stories and messages to people who may be de predisposed to not wanting to hear it or listen to it. So we can wrap it in this sci-fi fiction envelope. And to touch on like the truth aspect, I think the role of truth in fiction, this might sound counterintuitive, but I think it should be subjective. if there's something that's way too heavy handed in a book, and I know exactly how the author feels about something. I'm gonna be less likely to, want to hear it because I feel like there's like bias in it and I want to like, come to the truth for myself. And I think that's such a powerful part of writing and fiction and some of the authors that I love the most, Frank Herbert Dune and Dan Simmons, Hyperion, they really get me thinking about, parallels to our world and, how I feel about, just things happening to our economy environment. all those things. So I think the author should tell a story where we can decide the truth for ourselves.

Mara

More. The role is to prompt the reader to ask questions

JA

Yes. Yes.

Mara

consider perspectives they perhaps have not considered before. Rather than saying, and this is the one that.

JA

Mm-hmm.

Mara

You should believe.

JA

Yes. I love that. perhaps a love letter to our readers, to whoever is reading it, to, be curious and to think differently.

Mara

Yeah, and I think my experience with fiction, or part of what I love about it is that it can communicate emotional truths so powerfully.

JA

Yes.

Mara

And I think part of it is that invitation and requirement of reader participation rather than saying, this is how emotions work and this is how you should do that. It's like you know, some of my favorite books now, as a more mature reader who's learned to read closely, there's something that happens on the surface, but then there's this whole other layer going on beneath the surface that you could at least partially miss if you're not. actively engaging with the text, which then allows it, I think, to work more deeply.

JA

Yeah. Kind of building empathy in certain characters. You could have good characters do bad things whatever bad means in that context, or vice versa,

Mara

So on the topic of how your brain works, we're talking about INFJ, interestingly I've learned that INFJs tend to struggle with executive function, which is like the ability to make plans and stick to them and juggle a lot of logistics at the same time. and. I think we might also have something else in common, which is A DHD.

JA

Yes.

Mara

So I'm very curious if you're up for talking about that. how you see that impacting you as a writer. I don't wanna frame it as an entirely negative thing because I love that there's a lot of content coming out about the gifts of A DHD brains, and rather than seeing it as a pathology, seeing it as just a difference, but the experience is often that it is something to be overcome most of the time. So I wonder if there's anything that you've learned that's been particularly helpful to you as a writer?

JA

yeah. In the context of A DHD.

Mara

Yeah. Or I mean, anything in regards to like time management or like your. Fairly prolific. So like how do you manage to do what you do?

JA

Yeah. Such a good question. So yeah, definitely an A DHD thing going on. executive function is something I definitely struggle with, and this is really. Interesting because I feel like it relates to the last thing we were talking about, revealing truths. So one thing I love about reading is I learn things about myself. Like I, I find something in a character and I'm like, wait, I do that? Am I, did I just learn something about myself? And so one thing that has changed my life and helped me, I actually found a book. I was seeking it out to help a loved one, understand what they were going through and how their brain was working. And lo and behold, I actually just discovered one of the most life-changing things about myself. And it was a DHD, The book is called Change Your Brain, change Your Life by Dr. Daniel Amen. And it talks about the five different, structures of the brain and if it's underactive, overactive, and what that means. And so I think learning this truth about myself, like I'm one of nine children, I have eight siblings who grew up on a farm. a lot of chaos, a lot of, moving parts. And you just develop coping mechanisms and things and you assume roles. One of the things very like need and if I left something, out of place, like it would disappear'cause there were just so many of us. So I became very organized and until I read that book. I just thought I was OCD and then I was like, no, you're actually very, you have an A DHD brain. I was 32 at the time, and

Mara

That's around when I self-diagnosed as well.

JA

I hear a lot of people do around that age, which again was like another mind blowing thing.

Mara

especially for the inattentive type, because you're not, uh, exhibiting those hyperactive behaviors that were still are, but particularly were stereotypical as what they're looking for in a diagnosis, but it's more of an internal, like a mental.

JA

Yeah.

Mara

and, and they don't even like to call it deficit anymore, even though that's the technical name. It's like an attention regulation challenge.

JA

Oh, that just gave me chills, like, I don't know. It. Yeah, so getting on medication and I think just understanding, what a DHD is and things like time blindness, which is like something I just learned last year.

Mara

So time blindness. How would you define that just for listeners who haven't

JA

blindness, like basically just losing yourself in large, tasks and not really knowing what time. There's probably a much more scientific, but,

Mara

And it happens to me the most when I'm in flow, like when I'm really enjoying what I'm doing and then it's like, oh, three hours have passed, or I'll sort of even notice and be like, oh look, it's lunchtime. Well, I don't wanna stop and eat. You know, it's not

JA

right.

Mara

eat for five hours because the task isn't done. I.

JA

You just get hyper fixated and you lose yourself. Yeah. yeah, it's crazy like getting on medication at 32. Adderall, I'm taking it for the first time and like I feel like I went into hyperspace of, wow, I can get so much done on this. And I know that's just how that all works in general.

Mara

so same here. I've, it's been 10 plus years at this point, but I remember being like, oh, is this how normal people feel like you can actually have a hope of like, doing the things that are on your list for a day?

JA

Yeah. That's exactly the thought I had of wait, this is what normal people like. I have been trying so hard to connect the dots of my life and yeah, so I think just understanding yourself and how your brain works and that was just so life changing for me.

Mara

So, I mean, medication being one strategy an important part for you as it is for me, not necessarily for everybody, but, are there any other like practical techniques? Like I, I would find myself thinking, I wonder if part of why you like the super detailed story grid approach is that you really need that structure and you've found, hey, that's not maybe my instinct, but it's so helpful to keep me on track rather than. Going off in any of the 7,000 directions that your brain wants to take you on.

JA

Yeah, that's a good insight. I think I do need the guardrails and in terms of practical stuff, yeah. What I've gravitated to, like, I had some health problems in my twenties. and it was so interesting, like a lot of it related to like, okay not using my voice and not like being truthful about who I am. And I had frequent, you know, like tonsillitis or infections of the throat and all these things that just led me to the chakras and like balancing myself. But that came out to be like, More meditation, more, yoga, like sticking to a routine, waking up, getting into the sunlight, journaling, like simplifying things, you know, a, DH, D brains. in general, like any sort of vice, like drinking alcohol or not vice, just whatever you wanna call it. Like you having fun or blowing some steam off. these things really affect my brain. So being conscious of that and being intentional about it, and then making sure I have balance. writing itself is just so therapeutic that when I'm not writing, my mental health just goes down. And so I need to remember that too. Like, writing makes you happy.

Mara

I guess I'm wondering, do you. Do you write at the same time every day? Do you write a certain number of words, like maybe just give us if you have anything like that as far as simple rhythms or routines that have helped you.

JA

Yeah, so when I am writing a work, I'm not currently, but I just finished book eight of the fall gauntlet. and I was waking up in the morning. I'm a morning writer these days, trying to write anywhere from a thousand to 4,000 words, which was like a half of a chapter or a full chapter, following my story grid, like breaking out all the beats, inciting incident, complicate, like all of those things. And being able to follow that just gets my butt in the chair. And just like writing stories that like, I try to shock myself or. Things that are really exciting that I can come back to the next day and it's oh my God, I can't wait to finish this scene.

Mara

Hmm. I've heard the strategy of stopping mid-sentence and rather than, it can seem like a good idea to get to the end of a scene or something and be like, oh, okay, that's a good stopping place. But actually it can work better to stop in the middle of things so that you know exactly where to pick back up. But I hadn't heard it phrased that way as far as giving yourself something exciting to come back to. That's an extra twist on it that seems really good for us. A DHD folks.

JA

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Mara

Cool. Is there a certain part, like a certain moment when you're plotting. Maybe the inciting incident or the climax, or like what do you figure out first? Do you tend to figure out a certain thing first and then go from there? Or is it always different?

JA

Are you speaking about within a single scene or like the whole book?

Mara

Either one. I,

JA

Either one. I figure out the entire flow of the story, so I use note cards and I write out the obligatory scenes, all eight of'em. now there's. they're being split up into maybe one or two or three chapters. Like I'm giving myself space to like, make the books longer, obviously.

Mara

okay. Wait, so let me back you up because I feel like you already have gone. Pass several first steps, like before you can pick your, before you can map your obligatory scenes, you have to decide what kind of story it is, and you have to have a general idea of the narrative arc. Like so take me from the moment that's like, poof, maybe this would be a cool story.

JA

Mm-hmm.

Mara

And then what do you do next?

JA

Okay. Yeah. I start with just writing everything down that I, that is coming to my brain. I don't try to control it. I just open a Word doc and just write and write. And that's kinda like a series bible. it starts to get more specific, okay, here's the character arc of this character, and then maybe each paragraph will be like the next character. And I am just mapping everything. maybe a little bit of going on Pinterest and seeing what characters might look like. but then yeah, from there I go to probably the story grid and, yeah, finding the genre and then finding those scenes and mapping'em out one by one.

Mara

we have to wrap up. you've already mentioned a couple of authors I think, that have shaped you as a science fiction fantasy writer. What's something that you've read recently that you thought was particularly well written, and what did you like about it?

JA

It's called Gideon, the ninth of the locked tomb series, and I have just never read anything like this. it's about necromancy, you know, raising people from the dead. But I love complexity and I think this balanced thing so well and There's this cool layering of like soul and mind and body, and honestly, I can't even put it into words. The whole series was so mind blowing. I can't say enough good things about it, but that is like what pulled me in.

Mara

Is that the ninth one in the series

JA

no. Yeah, the first one.

Mara

Okay. Why is it the ninth? I didn't know

JA

Yeah. This is the first one. They're supposed to be four.

Mara

So that sounds. Pretty creepy, dark, does that veer into the horror category or I think there are topics and then there is like tone or intent. And I don't think that a quote unquote dark topic has to have a dark intent or tone. And you can have not dark topics that do have a dark tone. So for readers who are considering what are like, ugh, I don't really know if I wanna read about dead people coming back to life.

JA

right, I think it, I think there is some horror elements. What I love is it just blends so many different genre. I don't even know what to call it, sci-fi fantasy for sure. I wouldn't say the tone. There's a lot of like triumph. Like Gideon is a cavalier, so there's a cavalier and then there's a necromancer and they always pair Together. And the Cavalier is like the, hand to hand combat. And then the necromancer is like fighting from behind or more of the puppeteer. and it's kind of Gideon's story of being orphaned on the ninth planet. And her just not really caring too much about anything. She's just whatever. All she wants to do is escape from the planet. She hates the girl that she grew up with, harrow, who's book two and they end up having to be paired together as cavalier and necromancer to go to this ancient mansion for a necromancer tournament kind of thing, where they need to like figure things out and go serve like the supreme, like being of the galaxy. But he's supposed to bene benevolent. It's very complex in the best way. Yeah,

Mara

Would you say that. the main character has some, that she's portrayed as like a good person? is there a sense of like good overcoming evil within that world?

JA

definitely. Yeah, definitely portrayed as good. I mean, I think what I love about it is like. of course Gideon does, bad things, but there's so many twists of okay, Harrow is, supposed to be this like, she just did such horrible things as a kid and vice versa. But it's, I think there's a lot of love that comes from, like these two women overcoming their trauma together and, they both do like amazing, things. too many.

Mara

I love a complex female character and I love that it's two female main characters and, overcoming trauma is also another theme I like, so maybe I will even have to check that out.

JA

The writing is great. The prose is really beautiful.

Mara

Okay. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for sharing that book and your experience and your insights. I know that the fourth portal is out now and available, I'm assuming wherever books are sold, but tell listeners where to find you and your writing.

JA

Yeah, so people can find me on my website, which is ja merkel.com. I also have a shop, which is just store dot ja merkel.com. You can find it on my regular website. I am wide, which means my books are basically distributed everywhere. Barnes and Noble, Amazon Cobo. You can pretty much find the ebook and paperback version of all of my books, both the fourth portal and my fall gauntlet series. I'm also on TikTok shop where I sell signed personalized copies with swag.

Mara

Awesome. All right, well thanks again and best of luck to you with all of your writing pursuits.

JA

Thank you so much for having me, Mara. I had a great time and chat with you and good luck to you as well. I'll definitely be listening in on more of your show. I.

Mara

Oh, thank you.

And that's it for today's episode. If you've been enjoying the podcast, you can show your support by leaving a review by sharing it with a friend. I will be back next Wednesday to take you deeper into the transformative power of writing. Until then, remember, words are more than ink on a page. They are a path to wholeness.