Do you use a pseudonym? Why or why not? 
Yes, I absolutely use a pseudonym to help preserve my anonymity. E.J. LeRoy is the name I use to keep my fiction separate from my day-to-day life. It’s not that I’m ashamed of my creations, but there can still be a stigma associated with writing. Being somewhat closeted protects me (and other writers) from unwanted family and community embarrassment, scrutiny, judgment, unsolicited advice, and other various attempts to interfere with projects.

For those of you who are curious about the origin of my pen name, I chose the surname “LeRoy” because it sounded cool. As for the preceding initials, I knew from the start that I wanted a gender-neutral combination so readers would focus solely on my writing instead of my identity. After all, a writer should be invisible over the course of the story. Originally, I thought “D.J.,” would work, but “D.J. LeRoy” didn’t sound quite right to me. Then, when watching an excerpt of the celebrity interview show Ring My Bell on YouTube, I had an epiphany. Guest celebrity Coco Peru picked up the phone on set and said to the caller, “E.J.? Well, I spoke to A.J. before. We’re moving right up through the alphabet.” For whatever reason, that’s when I knew “E.J. LeRoy” would be my pen name. For the record, I had no knowledge of the JT LeRoy scandal until long after I started publishing under the name E.J. LeRoy.

What first motivated you to write/create art?
Author-illustrator Jan Brett’s beautiful picture books inspired me to become a writer when I was four years old. Something about her storytelling and illustration style made me want to be an author too when I grew up.

If you could have any writer/artist, living or dead, as a mentor, who would you choose? 
I’m actually a very introverted and fussy person, especially when it comes to my writing, and wouldn’t like the idea of a mentor critiquing my work or otherwise breathing down my neck. For me, the only two people whose opinions about my writing matter are 1) yours truly and 2) the editor who is going to pay me. Writing workshops are so not for me. (If you find them helpful or enjoyable, more power to you!) Having said that, I love Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing and have also found great value in The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White as well as The Elephants of Style by Bill Walsh.

Is there a specific period of history whose art or writing you admire? Why? 
I often describe my taste in art and literature as being both eclectic and picky. Rather than admiring a particular epoch, movement, genre, or style, I tend to look at work on a case-by-case basis. Just as a random example, I find Alphonse Mucha’s commercial art and decorative panels appealing. I am also partial to French Impressionism, Japanese woodblock prints, and realism from any time period, including 21st century work. As for writers, I enjoy Elmore Leonard’s fast-paced style with his well-drawn characters and realistic dialogue. Other favorite writers include James Clavell, James Michner, Margaret Mitchell, and Anne Rice.

Why do I admire these artists and writers? Because they produced good art and literature. While this is admittedly subjective, I largely define quality art and writing the way United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart defined pornography: “I know it when I see it.”

Is there one part of your creation process that’s harder for you?
I tend to find the process of doing research to be difficult, time consuming, and irritating. Many writers, particularly of historical fiction, describe research as being a fascinating rabbit hole. Although I enjoy nonfiction exploration, including learning random facts, I find it frustrating when research gets in the way of the flow of my current work-in-progress. It is especially difficult when I can’t easily find what I’m looking for, sometimes making my writing grind to a halt. The internet is great, as are the public library’s online resources, but information related to specific states or countries is still often tucked away in historical societies or out-of-district library systems. Most writers don’t have the time and budget to fly to other states and countries if they want to deep dive into research for their Regency romance novel or thriller about fictional outlaws in the Old West.

So, authors who do a lot of research, please, PLEASE consider including in your author notes where the heck you found all the cool stuff that made it into your book. And I don’t mean merely crediting your staff of researchers, which most writers aren’t fortunate enough to have. Let’s see some book titles. It might be a turn-off to some readers, but I would be totally down for an extensive bibliography at the end of a novel.

Do you have a piece that you created early in your career that makes you cringe? Will you ever go back and fix it so it can be submitted somewhere?
The first published short story under my pen name was an unsolved mystery fantasy titled “The DeVore Incident.” It concerns the murder of an investigative journalist, Matthew DeVore, who may be the world’s first human victim of merfolk, which, if true, would cause a diplomatic crisis. While I glowed with satisfaction when the story was accepted by the now-defunct Transmundane Press for their anthology, In the AIR, I became disheartened and embarrassed upon receiving the first round of edits. It had a major plot hole and stylistic problems that made me think, “They actually accepted this dumpster fire?” Thankfully, the editors helped me perform major surgery on the work prior to publication. They also gave me some editorial advice that I use to this day, including using active instead of passive tense and showing characters’ emotions through actions rather than relying on clichéd expressions. It is a shame that Transmundane Press is out of business because their editors really helped me polish my first two speculative fiction stories, laying a foundation for my future work.

Now that In the AIR is out of print, I have been attempting to get “The DeVore Incident” published elsewhere. At 6,188 words, it is often too long for short story markets and too short for novelette markets. Moreover, I have received mixed reviews from editors. It’s not a bad story, and I’m glad Transmundane Press believed in it, but it’s time to move on to new projects.

You’re stranded on a desert island — what three creative tools do you want with you?
I need 1) a computer with free, unlimited, high-speed internet access, 2) a way to keep it charged (are there solar powered computers?), and 3) free access to my public library’s online resources even though I am no longer an in-district taxpayer.