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Author J.M. Kern

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Exploring Worlds Through Fiction

Portfolio website for fantasy novelist J.M. Kern

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coming-of-age, romantasy, epic fantasy

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j.m.kern

fantasy and sci-fi with lit-fic energy 📚
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co-founder Atlanta Flash Fiction ✨
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this will be fun when we look back on it… right?

this will be fun when we look back on it... right?

right??

go out and live life 🏷️: creativity, nature

go out and live life

🏷️: creativity, nature, writing life, writing community, writing a novel, writergram

literally no one asked for this, but here it is an

literally no one asked for this, but here it is anyway 😄😄

AI content disclosure: that first slide was made with Canva's Magic Layers tool. No generative AI was used.

🏷️: writergram, writing community, writers of instagram

some YA favorites – I tried to pick ones you mig

some YA favorites – I tried to pick ones you might not have read.

let me know in the comments how I did

(x random photos from the month and a half I spent in Romania)

🏷️: booksta, book recs, bookstagram, book recommendations, bookish community

spending time in nature is one of the few things t

spending time in nature is one of the few things that makes it all feel worth it, you know?

not book related, but today is my birthday, so I wanted to share something a lil different ☺️☺️

we hiked so much the last couple days, today calls for a rest day... or a short, more chill hike... we'll see 😏

🏷️: pnw, hiking, trail running, waterfalls

art used in this post: Still Life Tea Set by Jean

art used in this post:

Still Life Tea Set by Jean-Étienne Liotard
Inside the Forest by László Mednyánszky
The Fortune Teller by Georges de La Tour
A fungus (Agaricus cerussatus); three fruiting bodies by Water Wellcome
The Camera Obscura by Charles Amédée Philippe Van Loo
Young Man Reading by Candlelight by Matthias Stom
Aachen Altar by anonymous
Fruit Still Life with a Snail by Willem van Aelst
Il Ridotto (The Foyer) by Francesco Guardi

all available through Wikimedia Commons or National Gallery of Art open access policy

it's cool – I'll just be here, 20 years later, doing the same trends y'all did 20 years ago

🏷️: writergram, writing a novel, bookstagram, bookish content, writers of Instagram, writing community

existential crisis – now with charts!! 🏷️:

existential crisis – now with charts!!

🏷️: writing a novel, epic fantasy novel, queer fantasy novel, upper ya, writing community, writergram, wip

okay, I lied. I was never cool 😄😄 🏷️

okay, I lied.

I was never cool 😄😄

🏷️: bookish humor, writing humor, writergram, bookstagram, booksta, writers of instagram

meet me in fives!! ft. some very old pics of me fr

meet me in fives!! ft. some very old pics of me from the times I lived in Europe and Phoenix, AZ. good times ✨

🏷️: writergram, writing community, bookish recs, booksta, bookstagram, bookish community, writers of instagram, writing a novel

some stuff I like in books 📚✨ this is defini

some stuff I like in books 📚✨

this is definitely the bulk of what I read

both these series are amazing, amazing

(both upper ya but tonally and subgenre very different)

they live rent free in my brain

when I'm feeling fancy

thanks to weird Instagram content filters, I'm not even sure if I can say the name of one of these series 🤦‍♀️

anyway, both of these are so good!!

and you enjoy this genre and you haven't read Becky Chambers' novella, To Be Taught, If Fortunate, please please go find it and read it – it's amazing.

I was thinking to myself that I haven't read many books in this genre lately.

then I remembered I read Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia last month, and it was so good!!

this kind of book will always have a special place in my heart

not always my go-to but I can be persuaded to check out an epic fantasy. never thought I'd be writing one 🫠🫠

I feel like these are criminally underrated (pun not intended 🤪). truly the best of both worlds.

always a good time. I especially like these for the gym because typically the writing is pretty easy to follow along and the guessing who did it is an excellent distraction for the frontal cortex.

both these books are next level good. weird concepts 🤝 gorgeous execution.

follow for more weird SFF and litfic reccos

🏷️: bookish community, booksta, bookstagram, bookish content, reading recommendations, reading recs

actually, I never used to be cool 🫠🫠

🏷️: bookish humor, bookish community, booksta, bookstagram, writergram, writers of Instagram, wip

anybody else working on a long project experience

anybody else working on a long project experience this?

🏷️: writing a novel, fantasy novel, bookish community, writergram, writers of Instagram, writing community, writing progress, writing process, wip

completely delulu to think that this will be the l

completely delulu to think that this will be the last time 😵‍💫

🏷️: writing a novel, writergram, writing community, wip

tough choices 🤔🤔

tough choices 🤔🤔

monday motivation 🏷️: writergram, writing a

monday motivation

🏷️: writergram, writing a novel, writing community, wip

completely delulu to think that this will be the l

completely delulu to think that this will be the last time 😵‍💫

🏷️: writing a novel, writergram, writing community, wip

everything I learned about beta readers (and did

everything I learned about beta readers

(and did wrong the first time 🤦‍♀️)

˙✧˖° ✫ ⋆｡˚

hi, I'm J.M. Kern and I write upper YA fantasy. I
Also, I love subtext (so my beta readers tell me) and am apparently allergic to clarity (something I'm working on).

I'm currently in my second round of soliciting feedback on my epic fantasy novel.

and this is everything that I wish I had done the first time I asked for beta reader assistance.

✫ ⋆｡˚˙✧˖°

do you have any tips for finding and working with beta readers?

AI content disclosure: use of Canvas magic features to expand the image on the last page and edit out my Garmin watch. No AI generated content was used in this post. It was all laboriously hand crafted lol.

🏷️: writing a novel, writing community, writergram, wip, how to find beta readers

book 💌 thanks so much @kimclevenger.author!! C

book 💌

thanks so much @kimclevenger.author!! Can't wait to read Assistant to the Villain (or stare lovingly at its pretty sprayed edges).

folks should go check out her page and join her 💌 list

🏷️: bookmail, writergram, fantasy novels, writing community, booksta, bookstagram

why is it so hard to stay away 😂😂 🏷️:

why is it so hard to stay away 😂😂

🏷️: writing a novel, writergram, writing humor, bookish humor, booksta, bookstagram, writers of instagram, wip

this post came about because @charlottewriteaway a

this post came about because @charlottewriteaway actually picked up a book because I had talked about it in one of my posts 😱 (and because that book happened to have an absolutely gorgeous cover)

so that got me thinking... can I actually influence you to read the books that I adore??

📚 The Wayfarers by Becky Chambers – not your average space opera!! Cozy scifi!

📚 Cemeteries of Amalo by Katherine Addison – if you loved /The Goblin Emperor/, I suspect you'll love these even more.

📚 The Divine Cities Trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett – this deserves to be in the category of books read by people who read one book a year.

📚 The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater – the real reason to read this is the found family. Or maybe because you love really good writing. But probably not because you need a fully coherent fantasy adventure – Maggie is the queen of vibes-based magic.

📚 His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman – a modern classic. If you like twisty books full of conspiracy, action adventure, and philosophy, don't write this off as a kids' story.

📚 The Magicians by Lev Grossman – with the caveat that this is my most unhinged pick on the list.

📚 The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir – just read it.

🏷️: book recommendations, book recs, fantasy novels, sci-fi novels, queer books, writergram, bookstagram, booksta, bookish community, writing community

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