J.W. Jarvis lives in sunny California but is originally from the suburbs of the Windy City. After working in the IT and AI fields, he turned his hand to writing young adult action novels, including the First Responder series. When he’s not thinking of ways to create inspiring characters and nonstop action stories, you can find him reading, golfing, traveling, or just sipping a hot vanilla latte.
Jarvis's latest novel is the adult technothriller, Artificial Age. Determined to escape a wheelchair-bound existence, paralyzed Navy SEAL Michael Cooling undergoes surgery to integrate an untested hi-tech endoskeleton into his ravaged human flesh. And as he trains tirelessly to adapt to his new synthetic body, he develops an unprecedented strength and speed he hopes will help him crush those who would see the USA fall. But while technology gives him new life, it may also prove to be the world's undoing. Inspired by The Six Million Dollar Man, J.W. Jarvis imagines a thrilling next chapter in which a highly decorated Navy SEAL is given a second chance to serve his country through technology.
J.W. Jarvis stops by In Reference to Murder to talk about researching and writing the book:
Researching: Readers want to be taken away, not taken for granted.
When I plotted my technothriller, I knew my main character was going to be a worldly man. He has years of military experience and has received many decorations. He commands an elite navy unit, and his missions have no borders or barriers to entry. The problem—I’ve only visited countries in three of the seven continents. To be fair, I have no desire to visit Antarctica in my lifetime. That still leaves three. How can I write about a well-traveled super-agent? One word, research.
For example, my research helped when one of my book characters visited an Eastern Europe restaurant. Every country has certain dishes that are part of the local cuisine. The reader wants to feel like they are right there enjoying it, too. I knew I hit the mark when my editor told me his mouth started watering. Readers crave facts despite reading fiction. Using accurate information to describe a location helps take the reader there. That place may just end up on their bucket list someday. If they’ve already visited, nostalgia is an incredible page-turner.
My new thriller book’s plot is part fan fiction. Fan fiction is creative writing that builds on popular works from the past. In my case, it was a TV series from 50 years ago. At the time of its airing, the bionic man dazzled viewers with its unprecedented technology. Even today, people use the iconic sounds of the bionic man in video clips. Fast forward five decades and humans are now receiving bionic arms to aid with their disabilities. I wanted to break the technology barriers with a new story. My advanced prosthetics would not only be believable, but also achievable. The good news about fiction is you just need an eccentric billionaire character to make the money problem go away. And so, I investigated superior technology. Derived from natural resources that are not only efficient but sustainable.
I wrote Artificial Agent with a rigorous mindset. Everything I wrote must be possible. It didn’t matter if I was writing about the latest military technology, material science advancements, or the location of a train yard. For example, in today’s world, carbon fiber materials are very popular. Compared to steel, carbon fiber weighs much less and is significantly stronger. These benefits make the material an excellent candidate for aerospace, automotive and sports applications. I could have used those materials in my book but dug even deeper. Carbon fibers are 3-D crystalline materials. The future, however, is 2-D allotropes. Essentially, allotropes highlight how a single element can have its atoms restructured for unique applications. Such is the case with the element boron. The nanotechnology mentioned in my book enhanced my protagonist’s weaponry.
The pace of thriller books is unmatched by other genres. To guide the reader to the next suspenseful scene, the writer must elaborate efficiently. That means more research than the typical book. Plot scenes change frequently. This keeps readers on the edge of their seats. Alternate book genres don’t require as many locations or physical references from the real world. Consider romance novels. They can have an entire chapter devoted to a sensual encounter. Fantasy novels have world building that is more imaginative than researched. Thriller readers need to believe that ordinary characters are thrust into extraordinary situations. Thrillers prey on readers’ fears that could happen in everyday life.
Book research can also be extremely rewarding. Authors can identify plot variants they may have never imagined. It can expose weaknesses in areas such as government, technology, and medicine. Evil characters can capitalize on those deficits. Good characters can protect them. In Artificial Agent, I investigated the military might of many of the Eastern European countries. I also determined if a country would act as my antagonist’s friend or foe. Last, I found some countries lacked key weaponry to put up a proper fight. This made it all too easy for my bad guy.
In closing, try approaching a person born between 1997 and 2012, otherwise known as Generation Z. Ask them what an encyclopedia is? We have it easy today compared to the past. Methods of research are literally at our fingertips. The days of opening a thick encyclopedia labeled (Aa - Al) or heading to the library to scroll through microfilm readers are gone. Those research venues are hard to maintain. The information is as old as the paper it’s printed on. The internet, search engines, and now GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) architecture gives people easy access to massive amounts of information. Updating technology is relatively easy. The only downside to so many ways to get information is the onset of mass misinformation. The research may have gotten easier, but the validation of that research has gotten harder. Perhaps that’s a good thing, so book readers get what they paid for. An economical way to go somewhere new or experience things they may never see in the real world.
You can learn more about J.W. Jarvis via his website and follow him on Facebook, Instagram, and Bookbub. The Artificial Agent is now available via all major booksellers.
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