July Author Spotlight: Jeff Wheeler
Welcome to Scribbler’s newest series — an interview with our subscription box‘s monthly author! Each month, we’ll interview the author of our featured book to help you learn a little more about them and their writing process.
This month’s bonus spotlight is on Jeff Wheeler. His novel The Druid, was our July read. You can find The Druid for sale anywhere books are sold.
Jeff Wheeler took an early retirement from his career at Intel in 2014 to write full-time. He is a husband, father of five, and a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jeff lives in the Rocky Mountains. His books have been on the Wall Street Journal Bestseller list 6 times (for The Thief’s Daughter, The King’s Traitor, The Hollow Crown, The Silent Shield, Prism Cloud, and Knight’s Ransom) and have sold more than 5 million copies. His novels have also been published or will be published in many languages: Italian, Chinese, Hungarian, Turkish, Polish, Spanish, Russian, and German.
He was the founder of Deep Magic: the E-zine of Clean Fantasy and Science Fiction (www.deepmagic.co), a publication that ran from 2002-2006 and 2016-2021. He’s also a founding author at BingeBooks.
You can usually find Jeff at Emerald City Comic Con, New York Comic Con or at writers conferences like Storymakers and Teen Author Boot Camp. Thank you for the interview, Jeff!
1. “Pantser” or “plotter?”
Definitely a plotser – I have to write with a general story arc in mind, but I like having the flexibility to take little detours to keep things interesting.
2. How many hours a day do you write?
My writing happens on a schedule: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 8-10 am or 8-11 am; I typically write a chapter in each session with a goal of three per week.
3. Who’s your favorite fictional character?
It’s soooo hard to pick only one! But since you’re twisting my arm so painfully, I choose Sara Crew from A Little Princess. Why? Her emotional resilience.
4. What’s your favorite part of the writing process?
Writing the emotional crux of the story, the pay-off, the whole reason I wrote the series to begin with. This is typically a single moment in each series where something big and emotional culminates.
5. Do you prefer writing on paper or doing everything digitally?
Digital only. If I hadn’t been raised in Silicon Valley with an Apple computer at home, I wouldn’t have ever started being an author. The idea of writing something by hand and typing it later makes me want to barf.
6. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot?
Sorry, I’m a word geek. Mascot: late 19th century: from French mascotte, from modern Provençal mascotto, feminine diminutive of masco ‘witch’. So yes, I wouldn’t mind having a witch.
7. What was the last thing (song, podcast, etc.) you listened to?
“Only Us” from Dear Evan Hansen, duet by Savanna Shaw & Nathan Moser (BYU Vocal Point). My teens love DEH…
8. If you could time travel (to the past or future), where/when would you go?
I’m a history geek too, so it’s gotta be the past. April 14, 1865 – Ford’s Theater. I’d stop John Wilkes Booth from killing Abraham Lincoln. You didn’t say I couldn’t mess with the space-time continuum.
9. If there’s a spider in your house, do you kill it or set it free?
Kill it first, then flush it down the toilet. Unless her name is Charlotte A Cavatica.
10. What’s something you could eat for a week straight?
My father-in-law’s barbecue. Seriously. It’s that good. Every. Day.
If you’ve read The Druid and loved it like we did, be sure to leave a review for Jeff on Goodreads! And if you’d like to receive the next book before we post the author’s interview on our blog, be sure to subscribe to the Scribbler box today.
Victoria Scott started Scribbler in 2017 after traditionally publishing an impressive number of books with companies like HarperCollins Harlequin Scholastic and Macmillan. Victoria is an Uber-hailing city girl who is passionate about writing and helping other writers find their voice.
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