Today, I would like to introduce a fellow Echelon author, Sean Hayden, who will tell us about writing and reading and his move from the Chicagoland area, to the arctic, frigid state of Florida. Tough move, Sean.
Please wlcome Sean to Margot's Muse.
Born in the suburbs of Chicago, Sean moved to the frigid arctic climes of south east Florida as a small child. The son of a fireman and a proofreader (that’s what they had before spellcheck) he fell in love with reading at a young age. When he hit the age of 35 he wrote his first novel, an urban fantasy about vampires entitled Origins. It will be available from Echelon Press soon, and he has almost finished writing the sequel Deceptions.
As an Urban Fantasy writer, the entire genre of mysteries was often, for lack of a better word, a MYSTERY to me. Every time I picked one up and read it I often found myself trying to guess “who dunnit” rather than enjoying the landscapes, plots, and character that the talented authors were trying to paint in my head. This childish, on my part, game I would play with the books left only two possible outcomes at the end of the story. I would go “PAH! That was too easy,” or “They made that person the villain to throw everyone off!” In my defense, it’s really not my fault. Being twelve years younger than the next youngest of five boys, I often used competition to prove my worth not only to myself, but to my brothers as well. I’d like to say I grew up, but what we learn as children often molds our adult selves. Sad but true.
Reading is without a doubt my favorite pass time. I never found myself playing or even interested in sports. The more I read, the happier I was. Now an adult with two children of my own, nothing could make me happier to say that my children inherited my love of not only reading, but telling and writing stories as well. It was my ten year old son who changed my outlook on the genre of mysteries and made me fall in love with the concept. I still guess at “who dunnit”, but that definitely takes a back seat to the plot, storyline, and characters.
It started with, and I’m ashamed to say it, Harry Potter. I know what you’re thinking, “HARRY POTTER IS A FANTASY NOT A MYSTERY!” You’re absolutely right. It was that very realization that made me rethink the mystery of mysteries. Human beings have an insatiable thirst for not only knowledge, but answers. It is that insatiable thirst that makes mysteries like candy bars.
1. You can’t put them down once you start.
2. Not easily digested, but they always leave you satisfied.
3. They’re often full of nuts.
4. When you finally finish you want another.
1. You can’t put them down once you start.
2. Not easily digested, but they always leave you satisfied.
3. They’re often full of nuts.
4. When you finally finish you want another.
Back to the point of this blog, Harry Potter taught me one thing. Anybody who says they don’t enjoy a good mystery is an outright fibber. Mysteries are EVERYWHERE. Even bound between the pages of innocuous children’s literature! Sure harry potter is a work of the purest fantasy, but every book has Harry and his friends bound on adventure to solve a mystery.
In my eyes, mysteries are the universal genre and the element of it is essential to any plot in any story, book, movie, etc. Without that insatiable quest for answers to questions, how good would anything be? You can write science fiction, and include elements of romance, but it wouldn’t wither away and die without it. Write science fiction without an element of mystery and see what happens!
Thank you, Sean.
Till next time,
Margot Justes
A Hotel in Paris
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