Family Affairs-J.C. Williams
đź’€ About the Story
Family Affairs opens with Steve grappling with the loss of his parents and his sister’s disappearance. What first sparked the idea for this story?
It started off as a completely different story all together and I was watching a television series an a idea just twigged in me and I thought “that’s an interesting idea”, so just went with the flow on it.
The story has such a strong emotional thread — grief, loneliness, and family secrets. What inspired you to explore those themes?
I feel we have all had some kind of grief in our lives, be it the loss of a loved one, a relationship break up, and this has caused at times, I would imagine , some sort of loneliness, I thought incorporating those into the story would resonate with readers, and the family secrets, i figured that would just add a twist to make it interesting to read.
What’s one message or feeling you hope readers take away after finishing Family Affairs?
That life is full of mystery, twists and turns, but as long as you know who you are, you can deal with anything.
Without giving away spoilers, what’s one moment or twist you think will truly surprise readers?
What his sister reveals.
🧩 Characters & Relationships
Steve is such a complex character — broken but determined. How did you go about shaping him?
I took some aspects from my own life as well as used my imagination to add some other aspects to make him more interesting.
Alice plays a mysterious and pivotal role in the story. What drew you to create her character the way you did?
I wanted to have someone that was related to Steve, so a tie was there, but also have that mysterious tendency about her, so to keep the reader guessing about her, and also adding something that is important to me that is revealed towards the end of the story.
The book explores how love, family, and truth can intertwine — sometimes painfully. Which of these themes do you think defines Family Affairs most, and why?
I think it’s a combination of Family and truth, family are always going to be your family, no matter what and we’d all like to think they will tell you the truth, no matter the circumstance or how painful it could possibly be.
✍️ The Writing Process
This is your first published short e-book — how did it feel to see it finally come to life?
It’s an awesome feeling, not only because it’s great as a writer to finally have a piece of work available for purchasing, but also after the countless hours that I’ve put into creating a story that I hope the reading public will pick up and enjoy.
At under 10,000 words, Family Affairs packs a lot of emotion and tension into a short read. What were the biggest challenges of writing a story with that kind of intensity in a shorter format?
Family Affairs started out as around 20,000 words, but a lot of that was just filling in the word count, when I started refining it, I found it easier to keep the intensity up as my mind was racing ahead of how fast I could type, so my racing thoughts helped keep the emotion high.
Did you always plan for Family Affairs to be a short story, or did it start as something bigger?
My original plan was for it to be double the length it finished off being, but the refining cut that down.
Was there a particular scene or moment that was emotionally difficult to write — or that stuck with you after finishing?
Nothing was particularly difficult to write, but how it ended stuck with me, but I won’t give that away.
đź”® Behind the Scenes
The title Family Affairs fits perfectly — how did you choose it, and what does it mean to you personally?
It was one of those light bulb moments, it just came to me, to me personally, it wraps different family dramas and aspects into an ever-changing bubble.
The story feels cinematic — if it were turned into a movie, what kind of tone or aesthetic would you imagine (dark thriller, mystery drama, etc.)?
It would be awesome if it was turned into a movie, I think it would have the right elements to be a great movie, I would love the tone to be mostly mystery that’s a little dark, but not too much and adding drama into different areas of the movie so viewers were kept guessing and drawn into the experience.
Were there any books, films, or real-life experiences that influenced the tone or direction of this story?
None really at all, this one came from my imagination.
What was your favorite part about creating this world and these characters?
That I can shape them and send them off in so many different directions.
🚀 Looking Ahead
You mentioned working on another book — does it share any themes or moods with Family Affairs, or will it take readers in a completely new direction?
The new book I’m working on will take readers in a completely different direction, the new book will be more fantasy based.
Do you see yourself expanding Family Affairs into a longer story or series one day?
Funny you should ask that, I wasn’t intending it to be anything more, just one of those stories, but then I met someone a few weeks ago who purchased the book and loved it, and wanted to find out what happened next, then that got me thinking about a follow up, so I’ve pinned some ideas which hopefully will flow into something once I’ve finished this current one.
How do you hope your writing evolves with your next projects?
I have the hope that I can develop scenes more that will branch off into different scenarios that will interest and excite the readers more, and hopefully make them think and surprise them at times.
🎵 Just for Fun
If Family Affairs had a theme song, what would it be?
Funny you should ask that, as I write lyrics for songs and looking at releasing an E.P very soon, maybe the title could be “I can’t believe you do that” something that feels ghostly.
If you could spend one day with one of your characters, who would it be — and why?
It would be Alice, to find out how she puts it all together and the drive she has for her purpose.
What drink or snack kept you fueled while writing this story?
Cappuccino’s and something sweet to eat, haha.
One word to describe Family Affairs.
Mysterious.
One word to describe your writing style.
One for my writing style, I’d like to think, “edgy” keep people guessing what might happen next.