We recently connected with JMD Reid and have shared our conversation below.
JMD, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
I was in the seventh or eighth grade and reading some great fantasy books. Robert Jordan, Tolkien, David Eddings, and others. I found myself wanting to tell imaginative stories, too. To create fantastical worlds, especially like the worlds I read about in Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman’s books. So I started writing my own. They never went anywhere, but it was my passion all through school.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I write epic and dark fantasy focused on the emotional and moral journey of the characters. I want to have imaginative worlds with creatures and magics impossible to find on our own world and use those as vehicles to explore how humans react to the darker aspects of life. My focus is always on finding the light in the darkness and to tell stories to inspire even in the grimmest of circumstances. Though my books might venture into “grimdark” territory, they are not nihilistic works but ones about redemption and the triumphant of the human spirit. I empathize with my characters, good and bad, so I infuse them with humanity and pathos.
First and foremost, I want to write stories that entertain and engage the reader.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
I write because there are stories in my head demanding to be told. It’s a very rewarding and cathartic experience to type out my tales and share them with the world. All humans are storytellers to one extant (even if it’s just complaining about the guy who cut us off in traffic or the rude customer you had to deal with that day).
For me, my mind is always sparking with ideas. Most fade away, never to be considered, but some stick in the back of my head. Little seeds waiting for the day for me to plant them. Sadly there just is never enough time. Some stories have been waiting a decade for their chance to grow.
But that is what drives me to write. I don’t crave fame or fortune, just enough to live off. I really just want to know I took someone to a new and exciting world.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
The first time I ever had a negative review. Not a CRITICAL review, but negative. One that was just hateful and vile. One that was there to hurt me because I dared to share my creative work on a free website. This was… elven maybe twelve years ago, but sharing my work with others had been my greatest fear for so long.
It was what actually held me back from writing. (Well, that and being distracted by video games). So putting out that first story on the internet and then reading the very first comment that was, well, pretty nasty. It involved sticking a cactus in a place that a cactus should not go. Anyways, I read it and realized I could do this.
I could share my work. It’s still sort of terrifying because writing is so personal, but being afraid of someone disliking my story or hating it or hating me wasn’t going to hold me back.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://JMD-Reid.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jmdreid_author/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JMDReid
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/JMDReid
- Other: Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/J.M.D.-Reid/e/B00P44PBQK/
Image Credits
Covers by Steam Power Studios & Caitrin Russel
Maps by Autumn M. Brit