John Rohman was awarded the Grand Prize in J-Novel Club’s first-ever Original LN Contest, winning US $15,000, a Japanese-translated release of the story by Kadokawa, and the future possibility of a manga adaptation. 

His novel, ATLAS: Her, the Combatant, and Him, the Hero, is the story of Genesis and Calli - two souls on competing sides of a power struggle, but whose spark is undeniable. Central to the magic of the novel is author John’s capacity for character development and world-building. We spoke with him about how he arrived at the idea for ATLAS, what it was like working with and publishing through J-Novel Club, as well as his advice for aspiring authors who might be looking to submit their own work. Check out his advice and story below, and read ATLAS now!

ATLAS: Her, the Combatant, and Him, the Hero is now available across platforms - pick your favorite!

Hi John, thank you so much for chatting with us, and congratulations once more on the ​​Grand Prize Win in the first-ever JNC Original English Light Novel Contest! To begin, can you tell us a little bit about what made you enter the contest in the first place?

 Well, there were two reasons really. The simplest answer is that I’ve always wanted to be an author ever since I was a kid. Writing has been a particular passion of mine for a long time, not so much because I have one specific story to tell and moreso because there’s just a lot of different story and character types I really enjoy, and the best way to see more of them is to make them myself. The chance to take one of those stories out of my head and turn it into a real thing I can share with others was too good to pass up.

At the time, though, I didn’t really expect much to come of it. I found out about the contest pretty late, and didn’t have time to write anything new for it, so I settled for touching up my old manuscript and sent it in. I went in with the fairly modest hope of at least qualifying for the first round of judgment so that I could get some feedback on my story and maybe improve it.

Though I think some part of me was always hoping for the grand prize, it was in a sort of “wouldn’t it be cool” way that sort of assumed that it would never actually happen. I really never expected to actually make it this far. Because of that, I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who helped me along the way: my friends who helped me proofread and edit, my first few fans who encouraged me while I was initially writing it, the judges who recommended it for the prize, and my editor Ms. Salters who worked tirelessly on such a tight schedule to help me perfect it.

Now… tell us what do you think makes ATLAS: Her, the Combatant, and Him, the Hero such a special read?

I’m not sure I can say there’s just one specific thing that makes ATLAS special. After all, I’m a little bit biased on the matter, and a question like that is sort of like asking a parent which kid is their favorite. Even so, I think if I had to pick just one thing that underpins the entire story and really elevates it in my eyes, it would be that no matter how ridiculous the situations I put my characters into, it didn’t feel difficult for me to have them treat those scenarios in a way that felt genuine. They might be having a swordfight on top of a speeding train, and in the back of your mind you’re sort of wondering how we got to this point, but all the steps and decisions along the way made sense to the characters involved at the time. It’s often only after the action is over that they look back, introspect on what they’ve done, and justify their decisions to themselves, or question the unreasonable standards, demands, and expectations foisted upon them.

The world you create in ATLAS is so vivid and at points, terrifying. Can you speak to the characters of Calli and Genesis - what is so unique and compelling about these two and their dynamic?

This is one of the questions I was really hoping to see, because Calli and Genesis are really the reason this whole story exists. In a lot of ways, they work so well together because they’re both halves of a whole. And I don’t actually mean that so much in a romantic sense, but more so in a literal one.

When I come up with a story, it’s almost always because there’s a specific character I wanted to write. And so I ask myself what sort of story that character would be a part of, and then build a world where that story can naturally happen. In the case of ATLAS, though, the original idea that inspired me to start coming up with the story was actually very different from the end result.

The original idea I had was for a story about a down-on-her-luck Esper whose powers get discovered by an evil organization, which blackmails her into working for them under threat of revealing her secret. Partway through, however, I came up with the idea of her venting to one of her heroic nemeses while off the clock, and both of them commiserating over how hard both their jobs were. I loved the idea so much that I pivoted the entire plot then and there, and began fleshing out the hero more and more, splitting elements of my original character concept into two separate leads who I felt could play off each other well.

Genesis got the Esper backstory, while Calli became more cynical and fiercely independent, as I took a lot of her defining traits from her new background of wanting to provide for her family. That also allowed me to flesh out the caste system in NOAH, and give a more concrete conflict for the heroes and villains of the setting to actually be fighting in. But most importantly, it allowed me to more or less tailor both their personalities and circumstances to play off the other.

The guy who was forced to be a hero and the girl who agreed to play the villain shouldn’t go well together, especially not when they come from two completely different worlds. But when you look at them side by side, there’s more similarities than differences. They’re both outsiders in one way or another. It’s a slightly jarring twist on familiar hero and villain tropes, interwoven into an origin story for both of them. That, I think, is what makes it compelling.

I’d love to know, in what ways has working with J-Novel Club throughout this process helped your work shine even brighter?

The obvious answer would be that it’s only thanks to JNC that I was able to share this story with so many people in the first place. Both the promo during the contest period and the prepublication streaming have brought ATLAS to the attention of a huge number of people I never could have reached, and, in the case of the former, the forum and discord discussions of the preview section were a vital source of audience feedback.

My editor, Ms. Salters, was also an invaluable help to me in polishing the story up to get it ready for publication. She pointed out not only where I had overlooked mistakes, but also let me know which passages she thought were particularly good and helped me bring more attention to those, expanding on grey areas and culling redundancies until what remained was, and is, in my opinion, the greatest version of ATLAS I could share with my readers.

As an author, it’s very easy to forget once you’ve got something that sounds good in your head that there are other ways to convey that information. The phrasing always makes sense when you’re the one who wrote it, and once it’s written it’s sort of set in stone. Having someone as passionate as you are about the story look it over and offer alternatives or express when something isn’t clear is an enormous aid to clarity, readability, and overall quality, and I really can’t express my gratitude enough to her for her help.

J-Novel Club was able to nab the incredibly talented Japanese illustrator ttl for the ATLAS imagery. What was it like seeing your vision come to life in their art?

Ttl-sensei’s artwork honestly blew me away. When I got the initial concept sketches for the characters, I almost couldn’t believe my eyes. The amount of attention to detail they put into every single character was astounding, but in different ways each time.

For Calli, it really felt like they had climbed into my head and pulled out exactly the image I had of her in my mind. It almost didn’t feel like seeing something new, but rather like recognizing someone I had seen before when I saw her drawing for the first time. “It’s Calli!” was really all I could think. Her personality and attitude shine through so well in the way she’s drawn, how her expressions look, and how she carries herself.

For Genesis, a lot of the same applies, but I was also impressed not just by the details ttl-sensei adapted from my descriptions, but also by the traits they added. His braided hairstyle wasn’t something I specifically requested, but the moment I saw it in the concept art I was struck by how well it suited him.

And the details they added to the hero suits are just incredible. I especially loved their take on Genesis’ hero costume, as well as the way they worked ancient Greek armor designs into the aesthetic of the ATLAS armors. Panoptes especially was a complete shock to me. I remember doing a double-take the moment I saw him, thinking, “Eh? No way! I only gave you a really simple description of him! How is he this cool?”

This is another topic I could just go on and on about, so I’ll stop myself before I get too carried away, but suffice to say, ttl-sensei’s artwork absolutely floored me, and I don’t think JNC could have found anyone better to bring this world to life.

J-Novel Club just announced Round 3 of the JNC Original Light Novel Contest at Anime Expo 2025 (with more information to come!). Do you have any useful advice you could give to other aspiring authors who might be looking to submit their work?

It still feels a little strange to try and style myself as an expert on this sort of thing, but I’ll do my best. There are three key points that I’d like to stress, based on my own experience with the contest.

I think the most important advice I can give would be that just because you’re writing a light novel doesn’t mean you should try to make it read like a translated light novel from Japan. Translating any language to another language often results in a slightly stilted feel in both prose and dialogue, no matter how well it’s done, and trying to emulate that will only serve to hinder you. Bear in mind that you’re writing a novel in English for an English-speaking audience first and foremost, so do it structurally and grammatically in a way that feels natural to you rather than trying to emulate a different style.

Secondly, don’t fret too much over trying to follow the leader or copy successful light novel formulas. Things like isekai are popular for a reason, but because of that there’s also hundreds of other people trying to write them. Rather than trying to stand out amongst a sea of similar works, my philosophy has always been to just write what I personally enjoy, and try to share what makes it enjoyable through my work. It might sound trite, but some of the best writing happens when you’re your own work’s biggest fan. That doesn’t mean being blind to its faults or uncompromising even with its flaws, mind you – just that it’s harder to make other people enjoy the story you’re telling if you’re not enjoying telling it.

Finally, bear in mind that your story’s opening is perhaps the single most important part. Whether it’s being picked up by a judge for the first time, previewed for the final round, or sold as an e-book after winning the prize, at every single step along the way you’re going to have to convince a prospective reader within the first few pages that it’s worth their time to stick with you and see the story you’re telling them through to the end. In order to succeed, your story has to begin at an interesting point. Whether that’s a gripping mystery, an exciting fast-paced action prologue, or even just a hilarious joke is up to you, but above all else – before you even get into explaining your setting or fully establishing your characters – you’ve got to hook your readers.

I know a lot of this advice is fairly trite, but I hope it helps, and I look forward to seeing what all of you bring forward for next year’s contest!