1. What inspired you to write this story?
The debate is still on if the whole thing was a result of something I ate before going to bed one night! Or so say my sisters! At any rate, Time Masters became the result of several different things. I had started a story just for fun back in the 1980’s entitled the ‘Door To Muirara’ but had a rough outline at best, and never did really get it going. When I became a book reviewer in 1993 and started reviewing a lot of mystery and romance, not to mention I had an antique book collection and was dabbling in Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan books at the time, I thought what quite a few avid readers and reviewers think. “Gee, I bet I could do this!” And so you think to yourself, “How hard can it be? I like to write!” So my inspiration for writing was a challenge to myself to go through the process, the WHOLE process of not just writing a book, but finish it and set up a series. (It’s the business/marketing/natural project manager side of me) and then be able to say I did it! And if I was really serious and wanted to take it all further, those notes were done and a rough outline of a twelve book series was in place. “So oh goodie!” I said when it was all done, or at least a decent draft. “I did it!” And with that, I stuck in the infamous trunk. Which I still have! I got it in 1979 before I went off to college! Another element in this whole thing is I absolutely love history, and wanted some part of history to research. Ok, truth be known I love to be a blood hound and research! So the Glencoe massacre of 1692 became the launch pad point, and of course, it gave me plenty to research! I then had to create a character centered around that particular event in history, and … well … the rest now is history! Pun intended!
2. Who is your favorite character and why?
This is always such a tough question to answer, but I guess if I absolutely had to pick just one, it would be Dallan. Probably because I spent so much time with him in research and creating his back ground. I’d find interesting facts and think, “Oh what fun! I can use that! Isn’t that interesting? Ohhhhh look at this piece of information over here …” and so on and so forth it went. For me it wasn’t work because I wasn’t actually writing with a huge publishing contract in mind. I was just plain ol having FUN! I guess at the time it was an outlet.
I started Dallan in the summer of1993 and didn’t get around to actually writing until 1994. But when I did put him in a setting, one with John Eaton, and let the two characters interact for the first time, he sprang to life so fast it was scary. All the rest of the story began to rapidly fall into place on its own. Dallan being the books life blood.
3. How have your personal faith and beliefs influenced your story?
I was raised with traditional values and by a homicide detective father. Let me tell you that makes for interesting conversations at the dinner table! Though he was never really a church going man, he still made sure we grew up with the golden rule so to speak. Our mother died when she was only fifty from pulmonary lung disease, so dad had to tow the line with all of us and has been doing so ever since. For all four kids, he is our best friend, not just our dad. All in all, it came down to doing what is right in life, even if it hurts a little. It was all about integrity growing up. I became a Christian later on and my upbringing coupled with Christian values, carries into the book.
4. What was the hardest part of writing this book?
Hmmm the book was so fun to write, I’m not sure what was hard, other than finding the time to write. My three children were ages three, seven, and thirteen at the time I wrote it. Now they are seventeen, twenty-one and twenty-seven. So most of TM was written between eleven pm and two am on most days when I was writing! There were of course windows during the day I would write when no one was home. There were also times when everyone was home and doing their own thing, so, I would write. I write to music so a head set took care of the household noise!
5. What was easiest?
Well, just letting the characters do their thing. Being there in the moment with them, watching them, listening … and then just writing it down. There’s a technical name for this when it happens, but I can’t recall what it is.
6. What's next for you?
Little did I know that pulling it out of the trunk would cause such a stir! I pulled it out, entered all the editing notes I had on it from umpteen years ago, then decided if I was going to share it, then I wanted to do so on my terms. So I self-published, and spent a lot of time researching this route. I figured, ok, since folks seem to think this should be in book form, fine, I’ll do that. Then they can stop squawking at me! And they could then access it as they like, and I would have creative control. And besides, it would be fun to start writing again as I knew I had other books outlined and if I wanted to, I could write those books!
I researched and found the company I wanted and went with Cold Tree Press. I didn’t want to mess with forming my own little publishing empire and thus utilized a publishing services company. Little did I know they were a lot more than that and have an entire traditional press sister company. I then found out from Peter Honsberger, Cold Tree’s CEO his vision for, and mission for helping author’s get their works out there. Demanding high quality works from authors and letting them know if their manuscript just wasn’t ready for prime time isn’t a problem for these guys. So it’s not like, oh here’s my book and my money, publish the thing! No, you have to submit your manuscript just as you would with a traditional press. They have award winning designers, Peter Honsberger himself is an award winning designer, and spent about thirty years in the advertising industry. I just thought wowzers! I hit the jackpot! Cold Tree strives to bring as personable attention to each book as they can. And they do! I can attest to that! And authors who really want to be serious about writing and marketing their books can have the chance to flip their books to Cold Tree’s sister company and be traditionally published. I thought that to be a really kewl thing. So the thought of doing more than just write for fun hit, and I pulled all those notes out of the trunk about the Time Master series. Book two is already in the works and will be traditionally published. Book three I’ll go right into and get done as well and have it ready to go. The first three books are kind of like a set. At any rate, I am segueing into the writer’s life. Little did I know that what I put in that trunk in 1994 would result in a career change fourteen years later! I won’t be quitting my day job just yet, but will be having a ton of fun again! Oh boy, more research!
Website: www.geralynbeauchamp.com
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