Jen Kirchner

Rejected Interns Titles + Bonus Content Coming Soon!

Thank you for coming out and supporting the Interns of Magic Engineering’s second installment: A Madhouse of Magical Malfunction!

The feedback on the Interns so far has been incredible, and it makes all of the hard work worth it, because I write for you. Really! I want to write the books you want to read. Period. You choose the adventures I write. If you’re loving the Interns and want me to write more, great! But I can’t guess—you’ll have to tell me. If you liked A Madhouse of Magical Malfunction and want me to write more of this series, pop over to Amazon and tell me!

Tell Jen to write more Interns!

The Interns are such a blast to create—and I’m not just talking about the storytelling. As an indie author, I have the responsibility (and privilege) of creating nearly everything that goes into my books. And you may be surprised to hear that the toughest part of making these books was… (drum roll)

The titles. Seriously. They’re a struggle.

I approached the titles for the Interns of Magic Engineering from a much different angle than with the Kari Hunter series. I wanted titles that emphasized comedic adventure and whimsy, and I wanted all of the titles to relate somehow. I started with a simple idea and then kept beating on it with the Metaphorical Sledgehammer of Creativity (+3 STA, +3 CHA—a bard weapon, for sure) until it morphed into something I liked. Since they went through a lot of hilarious iterations, I thought I’d share a few rejected titles for your amusement, in order of their ideation:

Law of Magical Catastrophe
Mage My Day
From Sporky, With Love
The Pitfalls of Platonic Magic
The Menace of Magical Contraptions
The Mayhem of Magical Magnetism
A Misappropriation of Magical Merchandise
A Mobster of Magical Machinery

So, you can see how my thought process evolved as I chased different ideas. Originally, I thought I could riff off of scientific laws or theories, but they weren’t punchy enough (or at all). Then I got the idea to name the first book Mage My Day. I still love that title, but I wanted all of the titles in the series to relate, and I couldn’t figure out iterations on that. I had to move on. As soon as I figured out a “formula” around the word “magical,” it was a matter of flipping through the M sections of a dictionary and a thesaurus until I never wanted to look at another dictionary or thesaurus ever again. The titles went through twelve brutal rounds before they ended up with their final forms! But the hard work paid off, and I love the titles we ended up with.

I’m still pining for Mage My Day, though!

And here’s one more piece of trivia about the titles that you may find fun: Book one was originally called A Minefield of Magical Machinery. But when we saw the title on the cover, it felt really heavy. We mixed the words between the first and third titles, and ended up with titles that actually fit the theme even better. Book one is A Master of Magical Machinery. Book three ended up as A Minefield of Magical Malice… and it will be available for you to read on September 28!

But wait, there’s more!

BONUS CONTENT ALERT!

I won’t keep you waiting until September for some sweet, sweet magical engineering hijinks—I’m also working on some cool bonus content that’ll be available soon: LIORA, Inc. Confidential Files.

LIORA, Inc. is keeping a very, very big secret under their building. Get the backstory on that with the Confidential Files! It’ll be available for all my New Release list subscribers.

Not a subscriber? Just become one. I only need a lock of your hair and a blood sample.

I’M KIDDING! Just sign up here: Jen’s New Release Posse, and get emails from me—yes ME—when I have new stuff for you to read.

Add me to the New Release Posse!

Thanks for being a reader, a friend, and/or a cool person. (Just pick whichever categories you fall into. I’ll accept any and all.)

Until next time,
Jen

It’s time for A Madhouse of Magical Malfunction!

It’s release day for A Madhouse of Magical Malfunction, book 2 in the Interns of Magic Engineering series. This book picks up where the first left off. It’s wall-to-wall action and adventure with a little mystery and romance. All my favorite stuff in one hilarious package.

It’s currently available on Amazon as an ebook and in Kindle Unlimited. When the trilogy is finished, I’ll release the collection as a paperback.

You can go right now and grab a copy here: Gimme A Madhouse of Magical Malfunction!

The job from hell.

After barely surviving the interview, Charlie Temple’s starting her new life as a magic engineering intern at a famous yet secretive magic tech company. But her dreams might be shattered by mysterious magic surges wreaking havoc through the building.

The situation turns deadly when the magic surges target Charlie.

No one knows what’s triggering the surges or how to stop them. With the danger escalating, the entire building might be shut down—and then Charlie will be out of a job, along with everyone else.

Charlie and her team of interns throw themselves headfirst into danger, looking for the source of the surges and whatever—or whoever—is behind them.

The company’s equipment is trying to kill them. A certain vice president is out to stop them. The only tools available are what they can scavenge from the defective product racks. Employees are starting to act strangely…

And Charlie thinks the vending machine is watching them.

For action, comedy, hijinks, magical gadgets, and deranged vending machine robots, join Charlie Temple on her next wild adventure.

Read Now!

When you’re done, I’d love to hear your thoughts about the story. I read all my emails and every review. Your feedback is always appreciated.

Happy reading!

Jen

Get Ready for a Madhouse of Magical Malfunction

I hope you’re ready, because book 2 in the Interns of Magic Engineering series, A Madhouse of Magical Malfunction, is coming soon! Charlie and the gang are back for their first day as magic engineering interns, and everything at LIORA, Inc. is in absolute chaos.

Mondays, am I right?

The job from hell.

After barely surviving the interview, Charlie Temple’s starting her new life as a magic engineering intern at a famous yet secretive magic tech company. But her dreams might be shattered by mysterious magic surges wreaking havoc through the building.

The situation turns deadly when the magic surges target Charlie.

No one knows what’s triggering the surges or how to stop them. With the danger escalating, the entire building might be shut down—and then Charlie will be out of a job, along with everyone else.

Charlie and her team of interns throw themselves headfirst into danger, looking for the source of the surges and whatever—or whoever—is behind them.

The company’s equipment is trying to kill them. A certain vice president is out to stop them. The only tools available are what they can scavenge from the defective product racks. Employees are starting to act strangely…

And Charlie thinks the vending machine is watching them.

For action, comedy, hijinks, magical gadgets, and deranged vending machine robots, join Charlie Temple on her next wild adventure.

The book is out on March 14. You can preorder your copy here: Gimme a Madhouse of Magical Malfunction!

If you haven’t already, sign up for my new release list to receive email (from me!) when the book is available, and get exclusive bonus content, too!

Sign me up!

Inspirations for the Interns of Magic Engineering Series

Hi everyone! I’m so glad you’re all enjoying the new Interns of Magic Engineering series! I’m wrapping up book 2 and thought it would be fun to share the inspiration behind the series.

Sometimes I worry about showing people what’s under the hood. I don’t know if you’ll find it interesting or think of me as a hack. But there’s only one way to find out, so let’s do it!

I actually didn’t come up with the Interns world on my own. The high-level concept was co-created with a friend. Originally, we were going to write the books together. The characters and general idea were developed a couple of years ago through a series of hilarious chats. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to align schedules and commitments, and we couldn’t write them together, so I made the world my own.

The World, AKA our Quirky Corporate Environment

The overall world was inspired by an incredibly funny TV show called Better Off Ted. If you aren’t familiar with the show, then I recommend you make yourself familiar, because it’s hilarious! The show takes place inside the office building of a company with questionable morals. The company makes products for various customers, including the government. The team is managed by the titular character, Ted, and there are scientists on the team who make questionable products for said questionable company. I especially loved the wacky scientists on the team.

Our Leading Lady, AKA Charlie

Protagonists are a little tricky for me because I largely write comedic fantasy. That means the main character can’t be a skilled badass. (Side note: Some people say the definition of humorous fantasy is “too stupid to live,” often shortened to “TSTL”, but I personally believe TSTL is a subgenre of humorous fantasy. Not all comedic fantasy protagonists are like that.) Anyway, I wanted someone funny, but not in the TSTL category. During one of the humorous chats with my friend, the idea of the office interns was tossed out. I liked the potential. Interns aren’t total idiots, but they lack practical knowledge—someday they might be badasses, but at this point in time they aren’t. We had a good laugh about the many possibilities of the office interns. And the rest is history.

The Plot for Book 1, A Master of Magical Machinery

For the books themselves, I didn’t want to languish over the plots like I did with Kari Hunter books, which are more organically developed. (You’d be surprised at how much time I spend developing the Kari Hunter plots.) For the interns, I was admittedly stressed about having to write them with another person, and didn’t want to make my friend suffer through a longer process. So, I suggested we just list all of our favorite books and movie plots, pick a few, and use them as the main inspirations for each book.

You’re probably thinking that this sounds like a total “hack” thing to do. While a part of me is ashamed to admit I used this method, I’m sure I didn’t come up with the idea on my own. Other writers probably do this. I’m sure I heard it somewhere and my brain pulled it from the depths of my memory. I’m actually really happy with how the first book turned out. For book 1, the plot that spoke to me the loudest was…

DIE HARD!

You see the resemblance now, don’t you? A group of mercenaries who raid an office building and break into the vault. Only in the Interns of Magic Engineering, there’s no capable, gun-toting New York cop. The interns are the only ones who can save the day.

That Special Something…

While I was really excited about book 1’s plot, while writing the first draft, I still felt like something was missing. An important element of some kind—like a crazy side-plot character. After thinking about it for a long, long time, I remembered an old John Cusack movie from the ‘80s (I’m dating myself here). In the movie, John Cusack’s character is pursued by a very eccentric and determined paper boy who wants his money for the paper delivery. He’s hilarious and relentless, and he shows up in the most unexpected places, always shouting his catchphrase, “I want my two dollars!”

Unfortunately, I knew I couldn’t have an extra human in the story because everyone (except the interns and Aiken) was a hostage. So, I thought, what do big office buildings have? I work in one of those, after all, so I should know. I listed a few options and landed on… vending machines. A crazy talking vending machine.

And Sporky was born. I went back and rewrote book 1 with Sporky in the mix.

Coming Soon: Book 2

So, you’re probably wondering, what about book 2? Did I follow the same plotting method and choose a story as my primary inspiration? I sure did, and I’m not sorry. For book 2, my loose inspiration is… Ghostbusters.

WHO YA GONNA CALL?

A Madhouse of Magical Malfunction is out March 13! Pre-order your copy right now!

Hope you enjoyed Interns inspirations! For more more book extras and fun stuff, subscribe to my blog here:

The 2023 Book Bucket List

Happy New Year, everyone! It’s the time of year when I like to look ahead, make plans, and dream big about the future. It’s also my favorite time to review the list of all the books I want to write someday—my book bucket list, so to speak. I first wrote about this way back in 2015. At the time, I only had three books on the list. Did I knock any of them off the list and get them written? No. In fact, I’m adding to it!

No, I’m not crazy to add more. Hear me out on this.

2022 was transformative for me as a writer. I learned just how much I struggle when facing a blank page. It sounds insane, but apparently having problems with the blank page is a normal thing for a lot of writers. I had no idea until recently. (If only someone had told me this years ago!) Now that I know, it’s allowed me to embrace other forms of writing like dictation—that’s right, I’m a dictator now!—and kick a lot of useless writing practices to the curb. Now I’m writing better, faster, more—and it’s time to dust off the ol’ book bucket list and see what I want to write in my lifetime.

So here we go, the updated list in no particular order:

I want to write in a shared universe.

You know those enormous worlds belonging to movies, video games, and comics? I would love to contribute to one of those universes. I wrote my first novel as video game fan fiction for my friends. It was thrilling to find weird corners of the video game’s lore and build a whole story around it. It’s like going to a garage sale or a thrift store and finding obscure treasure that no one else wanted. I like that I can make something really special out of that. To be among other creatives and support the shared world would be a dream come true.

P.S. No, you can’t read my first video game fan fiction story. I never finished it, anyway!

[spouseditor here: send me cookies and maybe you can read it]

I want to write a long mystery adventure series.

I love a good mystery. Growing up, they were all I read—and yes, I would stay up all night to read them. When I wrote the Mikelis books, I focused a bit more on the mystery and I absolutely loved it. I want to write more! Plus, I like that mysteries can wind up being really long series. Writing a really, really, really long series of mysteries is on the bucket list.

A Kari Hunter spin-off series.

This is another one that’s been on the bucket list since the beginning. Over the years, I’ve had a lot of ideas about what this series could be and I’m excited about the possibilities. The Kari Hunter world is complex and there’s a lot more to explore. The choices seem endless, but I want to be very careful about where I go next—Kari’s stories explore deep magical mysteries, and we’re working toward a tangle of evil that’s only been hinted at. Avoiding all of that and exploring a completely different facet of the world is the challenge. But I might have found it. I just need to figure out when I have time to write it. Priorities.

A video game novel.

I probably could have lumped this in with “writing in a shared universe,” but I chose to keep it separate because it’s much more specific. If the two items happened to combine one day, and allowed me to hit two birds with one stone, I wouldn’t complain. Writing comedic adventure video game fiction is where I started, and it would feel like coming home.

Although, given how many other items are on the bucket list, I might not be able to get to this one for a long time. So, in the meantime, I’ll just read a lot of LitRPG.

More Kari Hunter books.

This one probably goes without saying, but I’ll throw it on here in case you were getting nervous. There are a lot of things I enjoy about writing Kari. But what keep me writing her story are the themes in the books—they’re always personal. I like that I’m always finding new themes to explore with her. It’s also helpful that there’s a broader story here that I hope to tell.

There you have it! My 2023 bucket list. Did I miss anything? Did I surprise you? What do you think I should write next? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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