Author Spotlight: J. Bridger

Today I'm pleased to welcome author J. Bridger to the blog to talk a little bit about her debut novel and life as a writer. Check out the excerpt below the interview! 

What was the plot of your very first piece of unpublished fiction you ever wrote? 



I would have to say, actually, some completely embarrassing, utterly dreadful Big Wolf on Campus fanfiction back when I was still in high school. I will never divulge where to find it!

♥ ♥

Writers tend to have a pretty active imagination for obvious reasons, if you had to describe what the inside of your head was like what would you tell us? 

Noisy. I’m always thinking up new ideas and outlines not just for the Shifted Perspective universe but for other stories that I’d like to write and to work on down the line.

♥ ♥

How did you come up with the idea Shifted Perspective? 

A lot of the idea from Shifted Perspective came from really a mix of two basic thoughts: a) what would dogs really be saying if you could hear them and b) what would you do with what you thought was the lamest super power ever. I’ve seen talking dogs before, especially in comedy films, but I hope the relationship between Caleb and his dog Sampson also resonates as a very paternal vibe between the old dog and the shifter. Also, I have seen and loved a lot of stories about the Chosen One but wanted to try a more “loser” character, myself.

♥ ♥ 

As you were writing Shifted Perspective, was there a particular scene or character that surprised you, like doing something you didn't expect or a scene taking you somewhere you hadn’t planned? 

Penny Spencer, the beagle shifter who ends up dragging Caleb into a murder mystery/rogue werewolf hunt. She wasn’t in the book’s original outline and she wasn’t in any of the character sketches. She was supposed to be a one-off joke as Kalista, Caleb’s cousin, being a cruddy matchmaker, but I liked her so much she stayed.

♥ ♥ 

When you’re not writing, what do you like to do? 

Speak Spanish? Well outside of school work as an interpreter, I like to read, watch TV, take walks with my yorkie, Mellie, nothing too unusual.

♥ ♥ 

Read any good books recently? 

Yes, I read a book by Jody Wallace called “Pack and Coven” that I liked quite a bit and that had a very fresh look at werewolf and witch mythology both.

♥ ♥ 

Who are your five favorite authors and why? 

I really like Stephen King for his depth of writing and ability to do so much with such large casts of characters. I like Anne Rice, especially in her early days of The Vampire Chronicles, for her ability to give the reader deeply researched history. I remember reading The Vampire Lestat and picturing Ancient Egypt so easily. Clive Barker has a visceral horror that just rips into your soul. Flannery O’Connor says so much in so few words and finds horror in everyday life in the South. Finally, I know he’s not a book writer even if he’s done graphic novels, I adore Joss Whedon. He mixes humor with horror better than almost anyone I know, and I wish I was like that.

Novel Cover

Excerpt:

When I woke, I knew something was off. The sun was just rising over the horizon and I had no idea how I'd managed to sleep almost for twenty-four hours. My hearing didn't pound in my head, but that wasn't reassuring. Shaking my head, I shivered with the cold. I'd slept walked again and of all things come to rest on the sofa downstairs.

This was getting ridiculous but at least it didn't involve waking up tangled in drying deer hide. Thank God for small favors.

"Christ this is pathetic," I said to no one in particular. Then I froze, everything muscle in my body taught.

I hadn't heard my voice, not at all.

But I had heard a series of plaintive barks.

What in the world?

Scared, I started just trying something simple, starting into the alphabet, but it was just more barking. I gulped and braced myself. Looking down, all I saw were four modest-sized black paws.

I could only hope I was hallucinating.

♥ ♥ Thanks so much for taking the time to answer our questions J. Bridger! More information on J. Bridger and her novel can be found here:

Her Website
Her Twitter
Her Facebook
Her Tumblr
Her Goodreads Profile

Author Bio:

J. Bridger has had an eclectic life. She’s worked in the psychiatric ward in a hospital in La Paz, Bolivia, been a veterinary intern giving all sorts of better-left-to-the-imagination exams to dogs and cats, and had her own spate in creating and running a television ad campaign. Currently, in her day job, she is getting her certification as a medical Spanish interpreter in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina.

By night, she’s a fledgling author, who has just penned her debut novel, Shifted Perspective; she is currently working on its sequel, the next installment of The Tails of Change Series. J.’s always loved things that go bump (or that howl) in the night and devoured Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Clive Barker starting in middle school. Her favorite shows are no less preternatural and include Big Wolf on Campus, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Teen Wolf. While she’s been writing fiction for eight years and been published in several academic journals for her psychological research, this is her first venture into published original fiction.

J. Bridger lives in Raleigh with two Yorkies, a beagle, and a Schnauzer-Yorkie mix (as well as far too many dust bunnies).