Interview with the Author: Jasmine Kuliasha
Note: Content was edited for brevity and clarity.
Deidre: Hello everyone, today we are here with Jasmine Kuliasha, the fabulous author behind the romantic urban fantasy book series, Jericho James. Jasmine spent much of her childhood traveling, so books were her constant companions. Her writing is informed by her adventures abroad, as well as her love of happy endings. She writes from Colorado, where she's living her own happily ever after with her children and husband. When she's not writing, she's training for her next marathon or trying to get her personal assistants (two cats) to do anything at all. Thank you so much for joining us today, Jasmine!
Jasmine: Thank you for such a lovely introduction. It's so great to be here!
Why did you want to write a book?
Deidre: You launched your first published book, The Midnight Pack, last year with Orbit Books, and the sequel Bigfoot Confidential is coming out September 15th this year. As a rising author in the romantic urban fantasy genre, I'm sure a lot of readers are wondering what that journey looked like for you and how all of your inspirations culminated in landing a contract with one of the biggest publishers in the world. I want to start from the very beginning. Why did you want to write a book?
Jasmine: I've always had stories on my mind. I loved telling stories, but I didn't really think that being an author was a career that just anybody could do. It seemed like this kind of lofty “out there” thing, so I pursued other careers. I had a career in robotics, but on my days off, I would still go home and write stories even though I never actually completed any. Life gets in the way unless you're really making a concentrated effort. Finally, one day I was like, gosh, this has always been on my mind. This is what lights my fire. This is what brings me joy. I'm going to do it! So, I set out to write a story from start to finish, and I did! That story was The Midnight Pack.
How long did it take you to publish your first book?
Deidre: A lot of people see the success of others online and get this impression that this just happens overnight. Can you give us a timeline of events from when you first decided to write The Midnight Pack until it publicly launched?
Jasmine: Yes, and what a good question this is too, because social media is a highlight reel. It really does look like stuff is just happening overnight, but the reality is that it's not. Behind the scenes is often years and years of rejections and work. So for me, I started writing The Midnight Pack in 2021. It's a story that I wanted to tell, it was a story that I wanted to read, and I finished it in 2022. In the fall of 2022, I had a professional editor work on the first chapter. Before that, I'd had some friends beta read it, and they told me that I should pursue publishing, so ultimately, this is thanks to them!
I had the professional editor look at it in the fall of 2022 and in the winter of 2022 I sent my first query. Then I queried for all of 2023 and I got a lot of no's. Moving into the very beginning of 2024, I was ready to quit. I was ready to give up because that was a lot of rejection. I happened to come across a post from another author on Instagram and she said that if anyone's feeling down, reach out to her and let her know. We're all in this together. Querying is hard, so I reached out to her and she was like, no, don't stop. Keep going, keep going! You never know. It only takes one yes. So I said, well, ok, I'll keep going for you.
I sent out one more round of queries and I did get my yes! I got my yes from Orbit Books, which was my dream publisher in the summer of 2024. Then in the summer of 2025, my first book came out—that book that I wrote in 2021 all those years ago. So, it is absolutely a journey. It does not happen overnight at all.
What is querying?
Deidre: I want to take a step back for just a second. You mentioned you started querying in winter of ‘22. For those new authors out there who might not know what this process is, what exactly is querying?
Jasmine: Querying is how you get your book traditionally published—you have to query it. Usually the path goes something like: you submit it to agents and an agent who loves it will then take it and become your agent. Then they do a round of querying themselves, which is called going on submission; they submit it to editors. Then an editor would pick it up from there.
It is very time consuming to write a query. It's kind of like you're applying for a job. Essentially, your query letter is like a cover letter for your book. It's going to be a little bit about you and a little bit about your book. The bulk of the query letter is basically the blurb that you're going to read on the back of a book. If you look at the back of The Midnight Pack, that is actually what my query letter said. So think of it that way when you're writing it—what would it say on the back of my book—then you include that in your query letter.
Usually they want the first chapter, the first 5 pages, and a synopsis. You put this query packet together. Most queries are done on QueryTracker.net. I think pretty much everyone is using it these days and that's what I used. You can also search for agents or by genre. You can search by what agents are looking for and try to match your book to what the agents want. You submit it on QueryTracker, and then you hope that an agent really likes your writing or your story.
In my case, I had submitted to all these agents, and then right at the end when I was ready to quit and I did my last round of submissions. Orbit Books, who I'm now published with, had a call for open submissions. That means an author can submit directly to the publisher without going through an agent. Sometimes publishers will do this, they usually don't though. I just happened to catch them at the right time. It was the right moment in time in the universe to get this book in there. I submitted in this open submission and that's what worked out for me.
How did you overcome rejection?
Deidre: You mentioned several times that you faced a lot of rejection throughout this whole process. That must have been extremely hard for a first-time author. For other aspiring authors out there, how did you find the motivation to keep pushing through all that rejection? You mentioned an Instagram writer as well. Can you talk a little bit about that and the turning point that happened to keep pushing you through those hard times?
Jasmine: Absolutely. I had heard that there would be rejection, but I didn't grasp what that really meant. Also part of me was like, yeah, but maybe I'm the one that will be different. Maybe I'm the one that's gonna get a yes right away. So I was playing this game where I would just sit there and refresh my inbox just waiting for an email to materialize that was saying yes to my book. That's not what the querying process is like. The fact of the matter is, no matter who you are, you're still going to get a majority of no's, even if you have the best book that was ever written, you're still going to get these no's as you query. That's just the nature of the beast. It's not necessarily about you, it's not necessarily about your writing, it just really has to click with the agent for them to be able to sell it. It also has to hit at the right point of time in the market. There are so many reasons for them to say no and you just have to know that the no’s are coming. It doesn't matter who you are, they're coming.
This author on Instagram had talked about her own rejection journey where she had gotten almost 500 rejections, but she ended up as a New York Times bestselling author. She said, if you're feeling down, reach out to me. I commented on her post and she wrote back to me directly and said, think of querying as a game—this is not like the no's aren't against you, it's just a game, don't worry about it. It's how many nos does it take before you get to a yes? Like, don't worry about the no's, just keep going and you will get your yes. All it takes is one yes, just keep going. That author was Brianne Randall. She is so nice and so kind, and I was like, gosh, well if she wants me to do it, I'll do it for Brianne. Then in my last round of queries I was like, OK, I'll do one more, and if it's my last one I guess I'll go ahead and submit to Orbit. I thought that that was kind of like a long shot, but then Orbit was my yes. So it really worked out.
How do you find time to write?
Deidre: I know from our personal relationship that you have a crazy busy life. What strategies have you created to help you find time to write?
Jasmine: Oh, this is such a good question because I am very busy. I have 2 kids and there's a lot going on in my household. Of course the ideal scenario is to have a solid block of time where I can just soak into the story, but that doesn't always happen. In fact, that rarely happens.
So, what I've found that works for me is doing writing sprints. A sprint is where you write for just 10 minutes. I don't set out to write the entire book or even an entire chapter. A sprint is 10 minutes, maybe 15 minutes. I can write for 10 minutes, I can do anything for 10 minutes, and so can you! It doesn't really matter how good or bad it is, it just matters that the words are on the page—because you can't edit a blank page.
I do these little writing sprints when I have 10 minutes here or there. It's really fun to do these in a group. I'm actually part of a writing sprint group that I try to join whenever I can, and they meet weekly. I also sprint with some of my writer friends individually, whenever we have time, and then we connect at the end and maybe share a sentence that we particularly like. It makes it really fun. I'm a runner myself, so the idea of sprinting connects with me. I can't go out and run 10 miles right now, but you know what, I can go out and do a little sprint and come back. I can't write a chapter right now, I don't have the time, but I can write for 10 minutes and see what comes out. So, that's been really helpful.
How did you come up with the idea for Jericho James?
Deidre: I don't know about anybody else, but I think that Jericho James has to be one of the most badass and unique characters that I've read about in a while. How did you come up with the idea for her and her cryptid detective adventures?
Jasmine: She came from so many places throughout my life. It's just lots of bits and pieces I've been carrying around in my heart that have finally been able to come out in the form of this character. As a kid, I loved watching action movies. I was all about James Bond and Mission Impossible. I grew up watching a man go through all these episodic adventures in these different movies, get different girlfriends, and always have these fun experiences. But I always wanted to see a woman doing that. Then, when we finally get women like that in the 90’s, like Laura Croft Tomb Raider and Resident Evil, the idea starts to form in my head. It was starting to percolate by this little combination.
As far as books go, I love the Dresden Files series—the idea of this wizard that lives in the real world, working with real world people, but he's also doing magical things. But again, it was a guy, right? I also love the Sookie Stackhouse books from the True Blood series. She's just an ordinary woman in the real world, but she gets dropped into these situations where she handles things with humor and perseverance. Jericho is kind of an amalgamation of all of these ideas. She can go out on these adventures, solve all these weird crimes, and find love along the way, all while handling it with humor and finesse.
Did you put any of yourself into Jericho’s character?
Deidre: Do you feel like you put any of yourself into the character of Jericho?
Jasmine: I am a runner so I made Jericho be a runner too. That kind of becomes one of her superpowers, which comes in handy in a lot of her situations. And then, something that readers have told me really stands out to them in my books, and I love to hear this anytime someone says it, is that they love Jericho’s inner monologue. That is very much from me. I have a very active inner monologue. I'm always kind of talking to myself in the back of my mind. I have a lot of ongoing narration of what's happening in my mind, so I gave that piece of me to Jericho.
Funnily enough, after hearing these comments and people reading my books, I've learned that not everybody has this inner monologue. That was kind of a shock to me because it's a big part of how I think about things and how I like to interact. I have this very rich inner monologue going on just like Jericho, but I learned that not everybody has that. So if you read my books, you'll get a little taste of what it's like.
How do you write your scenes?
Deidre: I feel like your chapters are really well paced and they always leave us with the most epic cliffhangers. I'm curious, how do you go about writing out your scenes?
Jasmine: When I'm thinking about my storyline, I'll often just have these really detailed, vivid scenes in my mind. I don't necessarily write linearly. I might write a scene that I have first because it's like an anchor scene for the story, like the story is congealing around this one scene. It's always something that's just come to me very vividly. But then as far as when I'm writing it, I don't necessarily think of it as like, oh, this scene is a chapter, it could span multiple chapters or just be part of a chapter.
I love movies. I'm a really big movie person, so I kind of think of it like if I was watching this scene that's in my mind on a screen, where would the cut be? Where would it fade to black? Where would the camera pan over and be on this other person because we need to see what their emotions are like right now. How will I describe that? So, I have that in my mind. I'm a very visual person. Writing isn't visual, so I have to visualize it in the form of a movie as I'm going. I'm really glad to hear that it comes across when you're reading it.
Do you have any martial arts experience?
Deidre: Your books also have a lot of action scenes with Jericho pulling off some really impressive moves. Do you personally have any martial arts experience or how do you go about thinking through combat choreography?
Jasmine: I watch a lot of action movies, so I feel like this has trained my mind very well. I also took a self-defense class and tried to incorporate some real-world movement that you can do into the books and things that Jericho does.
There's a scene in Bigfoot Confidential where someone grabs her by the wrist and she tries to pull out of it. If you are grabbed by the wrist, you can't pull out (horizontally)—the hand is really locked in. What you're supposed to do instead is pull down. There is a weak point where your fingers meet up. So, if someone grabs you by the wrist, you pull down, and then you run away. Jericho explains what she's doing as she's doing it, and she talks about why she's doing it that way. It is actually a real-world self-defense technique. There's another scene in Bigfoot Confidential where someone comes up behind her and she flips them over her shoulder. The description I used there is also the way that you would flip someone if you're going about flipping someone in real life. So, there are a few real-world techniques that I do actually know how to do that I incorporated in.
How did you chose your book setting locations?
Deidre: Both of your books have taken place in real-world locations in the US. Why did you choose these areas and how did you go about researching the locations so that they felt authentic?
Jasmine: First of all, I want to talk a little bit about my genre, which is urban fantasy, and why I just love that genre. Urban fantasy stories take place in a real world location, but something fantastical is happening in it. I just love the idea that you can look outside your window and it's your normal life, but there's more to it than that. There's more to just going to work and coming home and going to sleep and doing it all over again. Maybe there are werewolves, maybe there's a Bigfoot, maybe there's a batsquatch hiding in the woods. You don't know that there's some underlying mystery.
I knew that it had to be a real world location when I went to write these books. For Midnight Pack, I had this idea that Jericho is stuck in a mysterious house, kind of like in Beauty and the Beast, where Belle is trapped in Beast's castle. I wanted it to all be kind of contained in this home, but it had to be a hidden home in the woods. Maine is a state that is 90% forest, so I knew I wanted it to be in the depths of Maine's woods. I did a lot of research online, a lot of Google Maps satellite views, zooming in and looking at where things are, and how deep the trees are. That's why the first book takes place in Maine.
Then for Bigfoot Confidential, the state that has the most Bigfoot sightings is Washington state. I knew it had to take place in Washington and I've been there before. I love it. I tried to take my own real-world experiences and apply them there. The story in Bigfoot Confidential deals with a real-life unsolved mystery that took place in Washington and Oregon, so it all tied together really nicely.
How do you handle writing scary scenes?
Deidre: A little birdie told me that you don't actually like scary stories. So, how do you handle writing scary scenes?
Jasmine: Oh, this is a great question because it's true. I get scared so easily just by everyday things. I try to take that and put it into my books and pepper in these scenes that are maybe not classically scary, like the monster is not going to be the scariest thing. It's just a monster, right? But there's a scene in Bigfoot Confidential where Jericho is inside a house and the light is on inside the house, but it's nighttime outside, so she can't see out the window. She can only see her own reflection. You know from real-world experience that if someone is inside a house at night and their light is on, whoever's outside can see right in. You can see everything that's going on. That is one of these everyday moments in real life that just scares me. I can't see who's looking in at me, but maybe there are people looking in at me, right? I don't know! So I incorporated that, for example, into Bigfoot.
I do a lot of hiking, and sometimes the trees can be scary. The wind blows and they're creaking, and maybe there's shadows between the trees moving around. That could be scary. I'm like Snow White in the woods in that scene where she's running away. So these are some of the everyday things that kind of scare me cause I'm such a scaredy cat. I just try to pull in my actual fear and kind of put it into these just everyday scenes to make them a little bit scary, a little bit creepy.
It's funny you ask how do I write them when I know that the scary scene is coming up. I have these vivid ideas in my mind of what I want to say and I know I have to write it during the day because I will scare myself if I write a scary scene at night.
What would you say to aspiring authors?
Deidre: Before we wrap up, I know there's at least one viewer out there right now who desperately wants to be a successful author like you. If they were with us right now, what would you want to say to them?
Jasmine: I will say don't give up. Keep going. All it takes is one yes. I was this close to giving up and I wouldn't be here talking to you right now if I had. I wouldn't have this series deal with one of the biggest publishers in the world. Just keep going. You never know, your yes could be tomorrow or it could be 3 years from now. It took years for me to get one. But keep going. You have someone in Colorado cheering you on, it's me!
Deidre: Jasmine, thank you so much for giving us a peek into your world. Where can readers buy your books and keep in touch with you online?
Jasmine: Thank you so much for having me. This has been such a joy. You can buy The Midnight Pack and Bigfoot Confidential anywhere that books are sold. Bigfoot is available for pre-order right now. You can do it through any bookstore, you can do it through your favorite book buying website. I would love to connect on Instagram! My handle is @kuliashawrites. If you want to ask me more questions there, I will respond to them, so I will see you there.
