J. S. Frankel was born in Toronto, Canada and grew up there, receiving his tertiary education from the University of Toronto and graduating with a double major in English Literature and Political Science.

After working at Gray Coach Lines for a grand total of three years, he came to Japan at the age of twenty-six and has been there ever since, teaching English.

In 1997, he married Akiko Koike. He, his wife and his two children, Kai and Ray, currently reside in Osaka. His hobbies include weight training, watching movies when his writing schedule allows, and listening to various kinds of music.

His novels, all for the YA set, include TWISTED, LINDSAY VERSUS THE MARAUDERS and its sequels. He has also written the Catnip series (five novels), MR. TAXI, THE TITANS OF ARDANA and its sequel, FIGHT LIKE A WOMAN, and many more novels.

Visit J. S. Frankel’s blog and Amazon Author Page.
You can also find him on Facebook, Goodreads and Twitter.
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What motivates you to write and how did you get started?

I think everyone is a natural storyteller at heart. In my case, I simply got the urge to write something one day-when I was in my late forties-and took it from there.

What’s most rewarding about writing?

For me, it’s penning what I consider to be a well-written story. It’s all about bringing the characters to life. If you can get your characters to live and breathe and literally walk off the page in the mind of the reader, then you know you’ve done your job.

What’s your favorite genre and why?

I usually write YA Fantasy, as that carries a freshness to it, an immediacy that other genres don’t have (in my mind). For young adults, the choices they make seem very important at that time. In retrospect, maybe they aren’t so important, but at that particular juncture in their life, yes. I want to capture that immediacy, that sense of urgency and need.

Where do your characters come from?

From my imagination, mainly, although I will admit that some negative aspects of my characters have come from individuals in my past. They’ll never know about it, though! :

Who is an author who inspires you and why?

Every author does, really, because they went through the mental and physical labor and heartache (at times) of working to the nth degree on their creation.

What are you writing now?

Editing a YA Fantasy entitled ‘The Smalls’. Not many details to provide, save to say good things come in small packages.

What kind of book would you like to be known for?

Wow, of all of mine, it’s a tossup between The Titans of Ardana, Catnip, and my latest, Fight Like A Woman, a gender switch fantasy. If everyone would be so kind as to look at my author’s page, perhaps they could find something they like!

How has your life experience influenced your writing?

Like everyone else, I’ve had my ups and downs, financially, physically, emotionally…you name it, it’s happened to me. I’ve never been a one-percenter; rather, I’ve always been the outsider looking in. And, considering I live in Japan, my status as an outsider is doubly so. Therefore, I write about those who have less, who are somewhat marginalized due to finances, social status, physical disabilities, orientation, and more. One-percenters seem to have it all-even though I know they don’t-but to me, they don’t make interesting subjects. The common person does.

What encouraging advice can you offer new writers?

Simply, study. When I started writing, I had no one to offer me advice, no clues, and I winged it through, using common sense. I still made mistakes, though, and that’s when I started studying how other writers wrote. I checked to see what they were doing right and what I was doing wrong, and then fixed things. It took time, and I’m still working on perfecting what abilities I have.

Other writers should do the same. They don’t have to copy anyone else’s style and shouldn’t; they should develop their own. However, they should also make note of what weaknesses they have-narrative, dialogue, overusing adverbs, grammar-or all of those points. It takes time, and no one is perfect, not even the big names.

The final thing is that they shouldn’t give up. It’s all too easy to throw in the towel when your book doesn’t become a bestseller right away or even sell ten copies! It’s all too easy to give up if you get a poor review. The best writers, the ones who last, are those who don’t give up. I don’t intend to, now or ever. Other writers shouldn’t, either!

Finally, thank you for having me today. I truly appreciate it!