Q1. Hello, can you please introduce yourself? Readers would love to know more about you.
Hello Everyone. My name is Jeff Campos. I’m 63 years old and I have been working on a sci-fi/fantasy book since 1999. I am also a mechanical pencil artist that draws storyboard outlines as well as a first time author.
The idea for the book came about back in 1999 when I was working 3rd shift at a now-defunct electronics company in Salem, New Hampshire as an electronics incoming / in process / final inspector.
A co-worker, who was also a D&D Dungeon Master at the time insisted that I join his online Dungeons and Dragons game once he noticed some of my drawings I had brought into work to work on during break times and lunch times. He then asked me to create two D&D characters with a backstory for each in order to join the game. For the first character, I chose to draw a warrior drow elf named Bathryck who spat at horses most of the time for his persona profile. As for the second character, I chose to draw a priest-like character named Cardinal Rigor Mortis whose bio was as an anthropomorphic half hawk, half human-like avian wearing robes and such coming from a strange kingdom.
My co-worker loved both characters and their personas so much that he wanted both for his online game. But I told him that he could only have the drow elf, Bathryck, for his online game. Disappointed, he then asked why I wouldn’t let him have the other character? That’s when an ‘epiphany’ of sorts came to me that I told him I liked the avian character so much at the time that I was going to write a book about Cardinal Rigor Mortis and where his origins came from.
Q2. What were the key challenges you faced while writing your book “Grythwood Chronicles – Book One”?
Never having been a writer before, I sought out an editor who would help make the necessary changes needed to make the book ‘readable and understandable’ to those who chose to read my work about my characters.
BTW, the 30 something count of characters, human and anthropomorphic, came from the one character I saved from becoming an online D&D game sensation, Cardinal Rigor Mortis. It almost seemed to me that the other characters in the book flowed out of him as well as the lands they lived in. There are also several backstories I have written on each of the 30 plus characters in the book that I am saving for the next book. I will leave it on that note before it becomes a spoiler.
I still face challenges financially and in what direction I want to go with the book(s) in as publishing and the necessary feedback I need, good and bad, to inspire me to keep writing. People inspire me as I go along with whatever my creativity level is at during the day. Not to say what I won’t write at all but my mind wanders with the many ideas that come across during my moments of inspiration.
Q3. What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
Kipling, Dumas, Tolkien and believe it or not, the book Treasure Island. I guess it was because I had to write a book report in junior high school about it because the instructor I had at the time was a major history buff.
Q4. What’s your favourite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?
I guess where I grew up in Massachusetts at times I tend to take road trips across the state to the Berkshires and surrounding places of interest. Car shows and antique shows / swaps meet my interest as well. Hammond Castle in Gloucester, Massachusetts is one place I’ve visited many times since a school trip there back in the 1970’s. It has a mystique when one walks through its corridors and rooms where the inventor John Hammond and his wife lived until he passed on in 1965.
There are other places in the world I would like to visit as well, England and Switzerland are two of them.
Q5. What inspired you to write the book ‘Grythwood Chronicles – Book One’?
See the above answers to the questions Q1 through Q5.
Q6. How long did it take you to write your book ‘Grythwood Chronicles – Book One’?
Since 1999 (see Q1). And I’m still working on it. It was named ‘CandleJack’ at one time ( and I owned the domain for 24 years) but the name actually belongs to a Warner Brothers Freakazoid cartoon character that’s copyrighted.
Q7. On what platforms can readers buy your books?
At the moment, none. But I hope to resolve that as soon as I can.
Q8. Tell us about the process of coming up with the book cover and the title ‘Grythwood Chronicles’?
The person who did the artwork for the cover for the book committed suicide a couple years ago due to his deteriorating health. He came up with the concept art of each of the characters that are described in the book using his own artistic license. His name was Bill Blankenship and he was an amazing 3D and 2D artist as well as a friend. I still miss him.
Grythwood comes from the mountain range on the island of Ornathys in the book. The editor I had at the time mentioned that as a book title to replace the ‘CandleJack’ title of the book.
Q9. When writing a book how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself?
Just reading subjects from certain books that pique my interest such as gothic architecture or medieval history as an example.
Q10. What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing?
Keep reading and writing when you can. Budget your down time during life’s shortcomings to invest in your mind for both. And if a review is a bad review on your book, remember…it’s only just a review. There are positive points within the feedback. You just have to look closer at it to find the positive within.
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