Jason Palmatier Interview- Life After Winning Writers of the Future

Jason Palmatier- Life After Winning Writers of the Future

By Angelique Fawns

Jason Palmatier won Writer’s of the Future and appeared in volume 39 with his story “Under My Cypresses.”  I met him at World Fantasy Con this October in Niagara Falls and thought I’d ask him where his career has gone after his dream accomplishment. Learn more at his website! https://jasonpalmatier.com/about-me/

If his last name is familiar, his brother Joshua Palmatier runs the Zombies Needs Brain, LLC. (Rumor has it they will probably be opening for subs in the spring!)

AF: Tell us a bit about your writing journey. Do you still have a day job?

JP: Sort of. I have been a stay-at-home dad since 2009 when my first son was born. I attempted to write before that, but found my mind burned out after a full day of software development, which is what I did before kids. That being said, it is hard to be productive at ANYTHING when you have a house full of babies and toddlers, so my writing really didn’t start until the youngest started preschool three mornings a week, which was around 2015.

AF: How did winning Writers of the Future change your career?

JP: Hands down the biggest thing it did was give me confidence. Professionals (the contest judges) had said, “you are a real writer” and I really needed that in order to feel like a writer. Beyond that, I found that saying, “I’m a Writers of the Future winner” serves as a good introduction to agents and editors. They know about the contest and seem to view placing in it as a sign of potentially good writing. Also, and this may just be coincidence, the first query I submitted to an agent where I listed my Writers of the Future win received an ask for the manuscript. That’s the first time that had happened to me for a cold query. Maybe WotF helped?

AF: How did you make the leap to screenplays? Are they profitable?

JP: My friend from high school dragged me into that, and he now does it professionally in Hollywood, but I never made any money off of the spec scripts we worked on. It is VERY profitable compared to writing books, but you have to make it into the industry and be ready for “development hell”, which I was not interested in. I did enjoy working on the few scripts I wrote and do believe it made me a better writer, so it was all worth it in the end. Oh, and I got to write a short film and help shoot it which was extremely educational.

AF: Tell us about your novels. Have you found an agent/publisher? Indie-publishing?

JP: I have written three novels, one of which is self-published under a secret pen name because it is off-brand. The other two are Tunnels of Torment, a completely whacked out fantasy adventure comedy, and War Mind, a near future military thriller about music. I do not have an agent but have had some interest since winning the Writers of the Future. On a side note, I totally suck at the business side of writing. Sending out queries is my kryptonite.

AF: Any advice for new authors?

JP: Don’t suck at the business side of writing. Send out the queries, keep track of them, send out more as the rejections roll in. Keep the business side moving, just as much as the writing side. Also, be open to changing your writing style. One of the WotF contest judges, Dean Wesley Smith, offered a free writing course to the winners which I took and he gave some great, gruff, blunt advice about my writing. It hurt badly when I first read it but improved my writing immensely when I took it to heart and integrated it into my style. Be open to change. The more open you are, the quicker you’ll find success.

AF: You write comics, short stories, screenplays, novels… What is your favorite and why?

JP: My favorites are novels and short stories. Novels because they are this big open space to explore crazy ideas and characters wherever they may take you and short stories because they let you zero in on one interesting concept or character and get it out to readers quickly.

AF: What role do writing conferences play in your career strategy? Any anecdotes from your experiences?

JP: I don’t attend many writing conferences but when I do they really give me three things. First, they give me “Con Energy”, that kick in the pants to submit queries and polish up manuscripts again, which unfortunately doesn’t last that long. Second, I get to hang out with fellow writers and remember that it’s fun to be a writer and drink alcohol with other writers and laugh about our stack of rejections. Third, they let me meet agents and editors, which is a little easier for me because they all seem to know my brother somehow. I will say my WotF win has made meeting agents and editors more productive than before, so this may become a bigger part of my con going from here on out.

AF: If you could look back at the beginning of your writing career, what advice would you give yourself?

JP: Listen to the advice of other, respected writers, especially in regards to improving your writing. If best selling novelists take the time to set a scene, to describe things and characters in big chunks, you should do it too! Don’t worry about “slowing down the pace” or “being lean”, do what you need to do to get the reality in your head into text. If it’s too much it’s easy to strip some away. Also, send queries. Attend cons. Talk to people, just to get to know them. Some of them will turn out to be agents, some editors, some great friends. All are important to keeping writing fun and for persevering in it.

AF: What can we expect in the future from Jason Palmatier?

JP: I’m working on a novel that expands on my Writers of the Future short story about an augmented reality future where AIs are indistinguishable from real people in daily life. The book explores the fallout from the death of the first AI. I’m also freshening a novel I wrote years ago (War Mind) and was being looked at by a major publisher before they were sold to a different house. I hope to get that into the hands of some agents and editors at the beginning of next year. I should also have a short story coming out in a game franchise magazine, but I haven’t signed a contract yet so cannot announce it officially. I am very excited about it, though!