Indie Author Interview with JeryLyn Harrington - Author of the Science-Fiction Thriller City of the Guardians.
JeryLyn Harrington has written short stories and journals from high school through college. It was during the 1990s that she decided to write a full-length novel based on the ideas from some of these very early journals.
Interview with JeryLyn Harrington
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| JeryLyn Harrington |
JeryLyn Harrington: I started writing in high school for my English classes. I kept journals from that time until now. I took some creative writing classes in college along with, again, my English classes. I wrote primarily for myself with thinking about writing for others. After my retirement, I wrote my first novel.
Who are your favorite writers, your favorite books, and who or what are your writing influences?
J.R.R Tolkien, first, and his books on Middle Earth. I read The Hobbit in the late 1960s and became so enamored, I decided to write some short stories, again, for myself. I loved Janet Dailey and her romance novels. I couldn’t get enough of her books. Nora Roberts was another great influence.
When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?
I believe it was after reading The Hobbit in the late 1960s.
Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?
Oh yes, it was in high school, 5 pages long and I got a B-.
"I base my characters on live people with characteristics from two or more in one character."
Tell us about your writing process. Do you have a writing routine?
I love to do research before starting a book. You know, where the story will take place. Where the story will go and how it will end. I like to have my characters down on paper with their traits and quirks in place. And yes, I base my characters on live people with characteristics from two or more in one character.
My routine is not too good, at present. I try to write something every day, but find myself doing more editing than writing.
Please, describe your desk/workplace.
On word, CLUDDERED! I have all my papers all my research scattered around my desk.
"Finding an ending before starting the book."
What do you find easiest about writing? What the hardest?
Researching for the book. Finding an ending before starting the book.
"[...] the characters are at their best and you have created a world for them."
What is the greatest joy of writing for you?
Personal satisfaction in a project’s completion, knowing, at the end, the characters are at their best and you have created a world for them.
JeryLyn, please tell us a little about your Science-Fiction Thriller City of the Guardians.
City of the Guardians takes place on a South American plantation spanning the countries of Colombia and Venezuela. City of the Guardians is a science-Fiction, Fantasy, Thriller wapped in Drama with Romance Elements.
At an archaeological site on a South American plantation, several strange deaths happen when a mysterious doorway is discovered at the back of the site in a large, mysterious rock wall. With the discovery of the first deaths, at the base of the large rock wall near the doorway, the plantation owner and his foreman agree the deaths seem to be accidents. The plantation owner has all the work stopped until he can check the safety procedures. Everything goes well, until several weeks later, when the foreman reports more of these strange deaths near the doorway. Before these deaths can be investigated, the State Minister decides to send his own people to investigate. The plantation owner decides to pursue a different course of action than the one the lead archaeologist determines should be taken. This creates a hostile, confrontational atmosphere between him and her. His need is to protect the people under his authority while her need is to find the secret of the great city.
The plantation owner needs to hear a legend, knowing it concerns the site. He takes the group to the Star Tribe to hear the ancient lore passed down by the tribe’s old medicine man. After his encounter, the plantation owner suspects the old medicine man has his own agenda concerning the site. The plantation owner, seeing the old medicine man talking with the head archaeologist, knows whatever the old medicine man plans, it will center on her.
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| Click to Read an Excerpt |
Back at the archaeological site, the head archaeologist, and her assistant, take matters into their own hands. Despite the plantation owner’s warnings, their actions create even more problems for him. With the head Archaeologist’s betrayal, he discovers a strange-looking creature that has attack the lead archaeologist and her injured assistant. He has a, head to head, confrontation with her about her disregard for, not only, her life, but the other’s lives. This final encounter, between him and her, creates an alliance between them for the greater good of the group.
The head archaeologist discovers the power station for the great city and its uses of thermal heat throughout the city. The lead archaeologist and the plantation owner decide to dynamite each individual shaft in the power station, but, before dealing with the effects of the explosion, bringing the thermal heat up to the underground city, the warriors begin the systemic destruction of the upper areas of the underground. There are several intense encounters with the warriors.
The group just makes it to the outside of the great pyramid when the explosions begin in the underground city. The explosions almost cost their lives, but, they succeed with the destruction of the underground city and its warriors.
What inspired you to write the book?
It was the first novel I wrote when I retired. I carried the story around in my head for years. I wanted to put words on paper. Once I started the book, the words just spilled out.
Who do you see as your target audience?
Young adult to the adult audience.
"It’s my story out of my ideas."
What makes your book special?
I think it’s the story and characters in the story. Both are strong, even with some misplaced commas. Besides that, simply the fact that I wrote it and put my words on paper. It’s my story out of my ideas.
How would you describe the success of your self-published books so far?
That’s to be seen.
"Write, write, write."
Can you give some advice for other Authors regarding the writing process?
Regardless of what others say about you work. Don’t listen to their criticisms or their take downs. You stay in there and put those words down on paper. Write, write, write. You can always go back and change things. Just stay in there and write.
Are you working on another book project? Can you tell us a little about it?
The title is The Legend of Molly Langtrye, as of now, but the title could change. It is a modern day romance set to the pace from the past.
A woman inherits her five times great grandmother’s antique women’s secretary desk and discovers a diary hidden in a secret compartment in its upper carvings. The diary contains a year from her grandmother’s life with her husband on his ranch outside Amarillo, Texas before the Civil War.
The woman is outraged at the story contained in her grandmother’s diary and she feels compelled to vindicate her grandmother’s name from the story written in the diary. She sets out to see how the husband’s side of the family has dealt with her grandmother’s reputation over the years and her trip of discovery brings her into direct contact with the current owner of the ranch. She finds that the story contained in her grandmother’s diary was incomplete and the ranch owner mother, helps her complete the story from the discovered diary with another story that was contained in another diary that had been left at the ranch by her grandmother.
The woman’s encounter with the current owner of the ranch brings surprise. The woman is almost the physical, mirror image of her grandmother and the owner of the ranch feels compelled to have the real life woman to the cold, oil paint of an old portrait of her grandmother and, at first, has trouble separating the real from the fantasy concerning her. They both find that they have to compromise to sate each other’s needs and to from a real life partnership.
Where do you see the book market in 5 or 10 years? Will there be only eBooks and will book stores disappear like record stores disappeared?
As much as I hate it, probably so. Everything is going digital and books will end up doing the same.
What is your e-reading device of choice?
Kindle
"I write the screenplays for my books."
Do you write full-time or do you have a day job? When you're not writing, how do you spend your time?
I’m retired and I try to write every day at least two hours. I like to read books and watch movies. I write the screenplays for my books.
How can readers connect with you?
They can go to my webpage, www.jerylynsbooks.com or through Goodreads.
Thank you very much for the Interview, JeryLyn.
About the Book City of the Guardians
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| Click to Read an Excerpt |
Unasked for dangers greet a South American plantation owner as he tries to solve some mysterious deaths that have occurred at an archaeological site located on his plantation.
He decides to take a different course of action planned to the one that the lead archaeologist from the State Minister has determined should be taken after her arrival.
Links to the Book
Link to the Paperback City of the Guardians on Amazon
Link to the eBook City of the Guardians on Amazon
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