James Edgar Skye is a fiction writer in his current dystopian fantasy novel Rise of the Nephilim, which explores themes of good versus evil, the future, pre-apocalyptic worlds, and the hero’s journey. He was diagnosed with Bipolar 1 and PTSD. His self-published memoir The Bipolar Writer: A Memoir was released in 2020.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed here are my own, and the ideas I explore are passionate to me as a writer. Any political opinions that come up are also my own. I do not exclude your point of view on anything I share. If you want to support my writing, consider my Buy Me a Coffee page.

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The interview here was conducted in one of my MFA classes recently, and I wanted to share it here. It is five simple questions. I want to be able to do interviews on the blog soon, so if you’re interested, please get in touch with me here. I am also creating a podcast soon where I will interview writers mainly in the speculative realm, but definitely, writers because I have no genre bias. I just write in speculative.

1.     What is your story “I am Aurora Legend of the Myths of Old” about?

My story is based on a dystopian society called Mantichora, where the people believe that humans were created by mythological creatures (their religion). Inequality exists between the rich living in the dome cities and those poor working long hours inside the domes and the factory cities. Aurora is destined to manifest the powers of Zand, the last dragon, and is a member of The Dark Dragon Resistance. We come into Aurora’s life at twenty-two as she enters New Haven, the home of The Elites, Commander Noah Hester, and their leader Secretary-General Grayson Hester as a double agent.

2.     What inspired you to write dystopian fantasy?

I have always loved fantasy novels, manga, and role-playing games, so it felt natural to gravitate toward writing fantasy. I read George Orwell’s 1984 and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale in high school and knew then that I wanted to write dystopian fiction. It came together perfectly to write novels that are dystopian fantasy.

3.     What’s your typical writing process? Bring me through a day in the writing life of James Edgar Skye.

I like to work on multiple projects at once, it keeps me fresh, and I write at least 1000 words minimum a day for most days. Of course, if I write more, that is always a great day. I am a perfectionist planner, so I typically flesh out a chapter based on my extensive outline in Scrivener (where I write first drafts) and then write the chapter. If I have time, I will edit a different project on the same day. My writing process is to finish the first draft (no matter how bad) and then improve in editing until it is ready for publication.

4.     What drives you to keep writing?

         The love of storytelling is a passion of mine, and I have so many ideas in my head to write. I want to share these stories with the world. That keeps me highly motivated to write every day.

5.     As a fantasy writer, does writing about different worlds affect how you see the real world around you? Or vice versa, do things you see in the real world frequently impact your written worlds?

In the worldbuilding aspect of my work, I explore what could happen if income inequality takes on a very different meaning. Dystopian worlds allow me to explore what I see around me in the world. Fantasy worlds let us get away from the real world, but at the same time, we get to put real-world themes and ideas into these fantasy world builds. Both are true, the real world frequently impacts my written worlds, but I always see the real world in my stories through my characters in those worlds.