Hello readers, another interview with a guest. This month’s guest we will meet the fantasy writer and author of the Sentinal series. Before we began, she and I met online and she interviewed me while back in spring. If you like to check out that interview she did, you can. Click this link Author-Interview-Havelah McLat and it will take you straight to that site. This is a nice way to return the kindness to let others know about her site and what she does for other authors and writers. Now, it’s my turn to do the same, let’s welcome Helen Garraway.
Can you tell us about yourself?
Helen: “My name is Helen Garraway and I am an Epic Fantasy author of the award winning Sentinal series. I currently have three books and one novella published in the series, with a second novella due to release on December 2nd, 2021. I am a self-published author, having released my first book a year ago now. It feels quite amazing that it is approaching its first anniversary.
I live in the south of England with Alfie, my cat, and between us we create magical worlds to immerse ourselves in. When not writing, I work full time and enjoy papercrafting, making cards or scrapbooking.”
Exciting on your upcoming novella. Papercrafting or making cards sounds like a fun thing to do. Cool name on your cat’s name. I like it.
Why do you like to write?
Helen: “I just love writing. I wish I began writing years ago, but I suppose there is a time for everything. Being an avid reader of most genres (Except horror! -I have too vivid an imagination!), I have always enjoyed immersing myself in different worlds or situations and so the idea of building my own world wasn’t such a big step. Once I began, I couldn’t stop. Ideas bubbled up and seven books poured out. They had obviously been brewing for a while. I am now working my way through editing them, and I am enjoying the process of tightening up the plot, polishing off the sentences and making sure the reader is going to experience every moment. Of course I have rewritten sections, changed names, written out characters, which means there are lots of changes in the downstream books, but that’s the fun of writing.”
I understand. Writing is fun and a wonderful thing to explore. You aren't the only one that doesn’t read horror books. They tend to be too tense and eerie. It sounds like you kept yourself busy writing multiple stories, which is good. Understandable. Stories do change as we go. It is the only way to improve our craft and skills.
What inspired you to become a writer?
Helen: “I’m not sure that there was anything specific that inspired me to write. I had time, I love books and I began writing. I was writing the type of book I liked to read. When I had finished, I realised I really liked it, but I didn’t want to read it on my laptop, I wanted to read it as a book. I considered publishing it and began researching traditional publishing versus self-publishing.”
Yeah, you write you like to read. Smart move on researching two paths of self-publishing and traditional publishing.
What was your first story in the series?
Helen: “Sentinals Awaken was the first book in the Sentinal Series, and I was overjoyed to receive the 2021 Readers’ Favorite Epic Fantasy finalist Award.
Sentinals Awaken introduces us to Jerrol Haven, a King’s Ranger, who discovers treason at the highest level. He accidentally awakens a Sentinal, a Lady’s Guard, who has been sleeping for three thousand years, not that he believes he has awoken anyone to begin with, after all who expects a live person to step out of a tree?
Jerrol begins a journey of discovery and adventure. Being accused of treason himself, Jerrol flees for his life. He is rescued by a vision of the enigmatic Lady Leylandii, a goddess who, according to legend, once saved the land of Remargaren from malevolent wild magic users known as the Ascendants by raising a veil to nullify their power and exiling them. Now, with signs that her veil is weakening and the Ascendants are creeping back into power, she has returned and is in dire need of Jerrol’s help. For though he doesn’t know it, Jerrol possesses a rare gift: By chance, he touches a revered Sentinal tree and awakens Birlerion, one of the Lady’s personal guards who have been sleeping in the strange, tall trees since they were last called to battle. Aided by Birlerion and an old friend, Jennery, Jerrol begins his journey to help Lady Leyandrii save Remargaren once more. But time is running out: As it was with the king, the old guard lords are everywhere being usurped, attacked, and assassinated, while their heirs behave strangely and refuse to honour the Lady as Remargarens have done for millennia. Jerrol must unravel the mystery of the Ascendants’ return, stop the sinister force that is dividing good families through bloodshed and betrayal, and rescue the king—and his troubles are only just beginning.”
Oh that’s wonderful. Congratulations on the award. You work hard and deserve it. I would have to put these books on my TBR list.
Where did you get inspiration from?
Helen: “I live near an area of ancient woodland, with trees that are centuries old, gnarled and twisted. I was walking through the woods and I thought, what tales these trees could tell. And then I thought, what if there was a world where a person slept in the tree, and what would happen if they awoke, and the seed was planted for the Sentinal series.”
Oo, that’s one intriguing idea. I noticed all of your books are fantasy. Why write one genre?
Helen: “Unfortunately, I can’t write full time as I have a full-time job, and I can only write in the evening and on weekends. I don’t physically have the time to write more than one genre. If I ever have the opportunity to write full time, then I would consider other genres, other ideas. I have about four other WIP’s on the back burner, half written. They are there ready for me to pick back up, once I finish editing book four of the Sentinal series, and complete my first book in the SoulMist series, which I am writing for the Realm of Darkness anthology.”
Ah, that’s understandable. Well, there is nothing wrong with sticking to one genre you enjoyed the most. What hobbies do you like to do when you are bored?
Helen: “I don’t have time to be bored. I spend all my time writing and editing, reading other indie author books and leaving reviews (Always leave a review!) but I love paper crafting when I get the chance. My house is a craft stash, as most crafters will know! I must get on and make some Christmas cards!”
That’s good. I understand every writer has their opinion on both sides of the publishing industry. Why do you choose self-publishing over traditional publishing?
Helen: “When I first looked into publishing, I did query a few agents, but I had a lot to learn. I invested in a developmental editor, and boy was that eye-opening and worth every penny. I learnt a lot about the structure of a book, and grammar that I didn’t realise I didn’t know.
From there I dived into learning as much as I could about the writing process, the editing process, and then the publishing process. I decided I wasn’t prepared to let go of the control of my books, nor the characters. After all, I originally wrote them for myself, so I decided to self-publish. So began a very steep learning curve on how to edit, formatting the interior, proofreading, commissioning a cover, and how to publish my book.”
That sounds like a similar situation to mine. The past year I sent queries to get an agent or get accepted by a couple independent publishers and each one rejected. I revised my manuscript (I had beta readers help out) and then decided to set the book back and work on something else. And then decide to go on self-publishing route for now with an upcoming novella planned to publish in summer 2022. Forgive me if I went far on my part, but I want to share with you that you're not alone. We are both learning new things.
What advice would you like to share with new writers on series?
Helen: “When I started to write my first book, I had no intention of writing a series, but as my world grew and became more complex, it soon became obvious that I couldn’t fit everything I wanted to write in one book. If you are going to write a series, I will say, make sure you learn your craft. Take the time to learn about the structure of a book and how that translates into a series. A useful resource is Jessica Brody’s Save the Cat! Writes a novel.
Build out your world carefully, keeping track of every detail. It has to be consistent from one book to the next. You must ensure your characters’ appearance and behaviours are consistent, or you have a very good reason for changing it from what the reader has come to expect. One of the elements I had most difficulty with was being consistent about the time it takes to travel from one place to another, whether on foot, horse or cart. I began creating maps, so I would know where a town was located in relation to where my character was at that point in time and how long it took to get there. Was he going north or south? Where would the sun be? When would the moon be full versus waning? There are a lot of details to think about, and although there are many world-building tools out there I use trusty old excel and have tabs for each book. I did invest in one application, but I could have spent all my time world building instead of writing. And that is key, remember why you are writing and have fun!”
Thank you Helen for sharing your writing and publishing journey with us. We can alway learn something from each other.
If you like to get a copy of the Sentinal series, they are Amazon. You can find her on social media Instagram @helengarrawayauthor, or visit her site to see more of her works www.helengarraway.com
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