Millennial Team: Welcome to our clubhouse, JRShepherd,

JRShepherd: I'm very pleased to meet you all!

Millennial Team: Please make yourself comfortable on our comfy couch while we have this nice chat! 

JR: Thank You.

(After author sits down)

MT: Congratulations again on winning in the Millennial Awards last year. We'd like to ask you a few questions about you and your story ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴀᴛʜᴇʀɪɴɢ😀
So let us start, shall we?
Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

JR: A little about myself: well, I'm married to my best friend and the love of my life. We have a thirteen-year-old son. I've worked in retail since I was seventeen, and I won't say how long that's been. :) In elementary school, I discovered fantasy novels like ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴏʙʙɪᴛ, ʟᴏʀᴅ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ʀɪɴɢs, and the ᴅʀᴀɢᴏɴʟᴀɴᴄᴇ sᴇʀɪᴇs.

As you can imagine, I played a lot of ᴅ&ᴅ, which further expanded my imagination. As a result, I felt the need to tell my own story to the world.

MT: Does ᴅ&ᴅ would stand for ᴅᴜɴɢᴇᴏɴs ᴀɴᴅ ᴅʀᴀɢᴏɴs?

JR: Oh, yes and loved that movie! 😀

MT: What do you do when you aren't writing? 

JR: Working or spending time with the family. I enjoy watching movies like the one above, listening to music, reading, and writing. Ideally, I would like to be on a beach somewhere, listening to the waves as they brush my feet.

MT: In a setup like this?

JR: Exactly! That would be so relaxing. 🍹

MT: What is the inspiration behind the title of your book? 

JR: That's a good question, and we are talking about my book, ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴀᴛʜᴇʀɪɴɢ: ʙʟᴏᴏᴍᴏᴜʀᴇ ᴄʜʀᴏɴɪᴄʟᴇs. About fifteen years ago, we tried to get a group together to play ᴅ&ᴅ  again. Still, unfortunately, we were only able to get a couple of sessions in before everyone's lives pulled them in different directions. I was asked to DM the group, so I pulled from an idea I had years earlier. After the gatherings fell through, I was left wanting to continue, so I began writing about my world, the characters, and the creatures inhabiting the realm. I aspired to do three books, so that's where the ᴄʜʀᴏɴɪᴄʟᴇs part came into play. It didn't take me long to come up with the title. The first book dealt with the protagonists coming together, you might say, gathering. In retrospect, I think the title might also refer to the gathering of my friends that never happened.

MT: We find that cool that you were able to do that - continue playing (writing) about the game, so you can end it the way you wanted it to.
Do the protagonists in your book reflect upon you to some extent, or are they the protagonists you would like to be? 

JR: I have multiple protagonists in the book. To some extent, there is a little of me in each of them and a little I'd like to be. 

 MT: Is there any particular book or author that influenced you in any way, either as a child or an adult? 

JR: For sure!!! I loved C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien, but I feel like the books that sealed the deal for me were written by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis. When I first read the ᴅʀᴀɢᴏɴʟᴀɴᴄᴇ sᴇʀɪᴇs, I understood character development's complexity and fell in love with fantasy. 

MT: What has been the harshest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment? 

JR: When I started writing, I had difficulty with tense. I was told that writing might not be my thing. The best compliment I ever got was a few years later, earlier this year, in fact. I had several readers that finished reading my book. They relayed to me that my book would make an incredible movie or tv series. As you can imagine, I beamed with pride for the rest of the day!!Do you have any advice for aspiring writers/authors? Don't stop writing. No matter how bad you think it is, don't stop!!! Listen to what others tell you. Get all the constructive feedback that you can. Sometimes it won't be good but listen. Take away something positive from everything negative.

MT: Is there anything that you'd like to say to your readers and fans? 

JR: Thank you for all the kind words of encouragement and constructive feedback. I couldn't be where I am now without the support of the Wattpad community.

MT: And thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!

C: It was my pleasure!

That was the marvelous interview with @JRShepherd . We wish him the best in his future writing endeavors!