1. Introduce yourself; who are you and what types of books do you write?
My name is Vivian Perez, I am a Dominican-American woman living in the United States.
I grew up in Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic and moved to New York in 2005. I lived several years between New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut.
I write feel-good books. They are light-hearted, but some parts could be a tearjerker, mixed with a little bit of fantasy and spiritualism Caribbean Style. Of course, I add a happy ending and tons of humorous bits, because life for me is like a bittersweet joke.
2. What are your books about?
So far, my books are about a family saga, the Gonzalez - Garcia, who live in Hialeah, Florida. I finished the first one, and I have another two in draft and a fourth, that I have not started yet, but it is already written in my mind.
Other books I wrote, but I have been too disorganized to put them out in the right way, are a collection of children’s stories, poems, and memoirs.
3. What was the inspiration behind writing your first book?
Before writing my first novel, I wrote stories for my nephews and nieces just for fun. I stopped writing for a couple of years, then the pandemic happened.
My mother had been ill for more than 10 years. She lived with relatives in Santo Domingo. In a phone conversation, my sister told me that our mother did not have much time.
At the beginning of the pandemic, I could not travel to the DR, and if I could, they had not invented a vaccine yet. When I finally got one, my mother could not get it, because her body was too weak.
Finally, my two children and I got COVID, which meant I had this period of 90 days, where it would be safe for me and my mother to finally meet.
She never met in person her grandson, and the last time my mother saw my daughter, she was a baby.
My mother died a month later, after we visited her.
While I waited to be able to travel to the DR, my mind kept me awake at night full of anxious thoughts. As a challenge, and to distract myself, I started to write a “romance,” or a “romcom.”
I wrote for hours at night, until I finally felt I could be able to sleep.
My husband read it first, telling me it was a novel, not a romance, also that I tried to fool myself turning my characters into Cubans, when in reality, he noticed, they were inspired by my Dominican relatives.
I think I missed our gatherings terribly during the pandemic. It was like being there with them when I wrote the story.
This book kept me sane during the pandemic, and I want to give it my best effort to take it out there. Who knows? Maybe it would help others to feel-good in stressful times.
4. What did you learn while writing your second book?
That I know nothing, and I have to keep on learning and revising.
5. What is the most rewarding part of being an author?
Writing.
I am not joking.
When I write I feel better. It is like therapy. It helps me with stress.
Some people drink, others exercise, I write to feel better.
6. What elements do you think make for a good story?
In my opinion, it does not matter if it is based on real facts or pure fiction, the author has to put a part of oneself in it, to give it flavor.
7. What is the hardest part of being an author for you?
Not to have time to be fully engaged in it. I am married and I have two children, also a job as a para-educator. Hopefully, I will graduate as a bilingual elementary teacher by June of 2025.
8. What is your current writing project?
My current writing project is like a young adult novel. I have not decided the title yet. Maybe, Jhackie and the Galipotes, or Jhackie and the Defenders of the Neighborhood.
Jhackie is a girl who finds out she is not her father’s daughter. So, she goes on a quest to find out the truth, but she discovers a lot of secrets about her past, including that she is the reincarnation of a Galipote, a shapeshifting creature from the Dominican Republic. Jhackie will need to find a way to save her biological father and her dad’s soul from a past life
9. What is the best writing advice you’ve ever received?
To finish the crappy first draft.
Not to get obsessed in making it perfect, because you will need to revise it, over and over.
10. Where can readers discover more about you and your books?
I am kind of a private person, I used a pen name (Justina Martinez) for a while, but if they are interested in following me on social media.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vivian.plocharczyk
Twitter: @Justina29412755
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justinamartinez143/
Mistaken Identity - By Vivian Perez
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NH8338Y