Author Interview of "Harmony Run Series" by Sarah Elle
Author’s Bio:
Sarah Elle Emm is the
author of the HARMONY RUN SERIES, a young-adult fantasy and dystopian series,
released in May 2012 by Winter Goose Publishing. (PRISMATIC, May 2012,
OPALESCENT, February 2013, CHATOYANT, September 2014, NACREOUS, August 2015)
Her debut fiction novel, MARRYING MISSY, was published by Bird Brain Publishing
in October 2011. Sarah is a graduate of The University of Evansville, she has
lived and worked in Mexico, Germany, England, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and has
traveled extensively beyond. Sarah lives in Naples, Florida with her family.
When she’s not walking the plank of her daughters’ imaginary pirate ship or
snapping photos of Southwest Florida scenery, she is writing.
1. What inspired you to write the book?
I think the seed was planted when I was twelve-years-old and touring Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany. Seeing the replica bunk beds where the prisoners slept, the replica gas chambers, crematorium, and the real video footage and photographs right there, in the spot where so many innocent people were murdered, it shook me to the core. I never forgot that trip or the next two I took there. I couldn’t stop asking myself how the kids my age coped with being sent there. Later, I visited Check Point Charlie and learned a lot about the post war oppression of East Germany and was intrigued by the stories I heard about people escaping. Years later, I had a dream about the characters, the setting, and the plot for the Harmony Run Series, and it felt linked to that long ago experiecne I had in Germany. So, I went with it and used some history as parallels in the dystopian socitey I created.
2. When did you realise that you want to write a book?
I was seven-years-old. I saw my mom typing at her typewriter, working on short fiction stories, and I wanted to do that. I wanted to write…anything. I just knew I wanted to write a book eventually, and the feeling never left me.
3. Who helped you in writing the book and please say about their contributions?
Well, I write each book by myself, but sometimes I run ideas by my mother, to see if I’m onto something. After I revise and edit my book the first time, I usually have my mother read it to give me her editing tips. Then, I tune it up more, based on her suggestions, and I pass it to the “real” editing team. They work for the publisher, Winter Goose Publishing, who publishes my series.
4. How is your book going to inspire the readers?
I hope it inspires them to have hope, even when things aren’t going very well in their own lives. And I hope it inspires them to accept that regardless of our differences or where we come from in the world, we’re all just humans and should live in harmony.
5. If you are given the chance to change one thing in your book what would it be?
I don’t think I’d change anything with Nacreous, but if I could change anything in the entire series, I’d probably make Prismatic, the first book, just a little bit longer.
6. How do you find time to write and which part of the day is best for writing for you?
When I first started writing seriously, I would write when my first child was taking naps. Since then, I’ve had to adapt to writing in between my kids’ busy schedules. Mornings are the best for me. I feel more together at that time of day and can really write.
7. Which books have inspired you the most, in the journey of writing this book?
I think looking back at true stories from the Holocaust I found inspiration. I’ve have books my entire life, like The Upstairs Room, to name one, that are still on my book shelf.
8. What is the best advice, you would give for writers who are trying to write a book?
I would tell them to follow it through all the way until they reach the end, before they start trying to edit and revise. Just finish the first draft, and then you can go back and clean it up.
9. What are your hobbies?
I love going for walks to the beach. I do it for exercise, but I have fun on those walks, too. I typically see a variety of birds near the sea shore and often dolphins, too. I also love to read, garden, and make healthy food. Mostly, when I have a spare moment to do anything I want, I write. I might just write a poem or take notes on story ideas, but I always gravitate to writing in some sort of form. I enjoy it more than anything else.
10. What can we expect from you in the future?
I am plotting a new YA dystopian series as we speak. So, stay tuned…
About the Books:
Rare glimpses of birds are the only reminder of the freedoms Rain Hawkins once
had. Now segregated into a mixed-race zone within the United Zones of the
Authority, under tyrannical rule of President Nicks, Rain is forced to endure the
bleak conditions set upon her. The possibility of a way out arises when Rain
discovers an organized resistance called The Freedom Front, and learns that
she, along with many other multi-racial people, has special abilities.
Determined to overcome her situation, Rain sets out on a mission with the
resistance that will fill her life with wonder, romance, and the undying hope
for a better world.
Goodreads I Amazon
Still enslaved in a mixed-race zone
within the United Zones of the Authority, Rain Hawkins is part of a secret
resistance preparing to take on the tyrannical President Nicks before plans to
kill the mixed zones across UZTA are executed. When unsettling dreams and a
mysterious voice begin to haunt the dark nights, Rain fears someone more
powerful than she has discovered the resistance and their secret abilities.
With a known Authority spy on her heels, and her boyfriend, Jabari, suddenly
acting strange, Rain doesn't know who to trust and if the voices calling to her
are friend or foe. As conditions across all of the zones get worse and the
stakes rise, Rain embarks on a quest for answers that will put the people she
cares about most in more danger or take them one step closer to the truth and
their eventual freedom.
In the wake of an interrogation led
by the UZTA's dictator, President Nicks, Rain Hawkins and her friends must deal
with the consequences of their defiance as the countdown continues towards the
execution of the mixed-zone citizens across the United Zones of The Authority.
The Freedom Front faces new challenges as Rain's cousin, Calista, prepares for
her impending relocation to the pure zone, and Rain sets out to solve the
mystery surrounding her mother's torment while being followed by an officer of
the Elizabeth Guard. As she uses her abilities to dodge The Authority and
follows the strange clues from her dreams, Rain is determined to persevere, to
secure the future she and Jabari have been fighting for, and to earn The
Freedom Front's ultimate goal of liberation.
After two members of The Freedom
Front are arrested and interrogated by the UZTA’s tyrannical President Nicks,
Rain Hawkins and her friends face the alarming reality that their plans to
liberate the mixed zones across the United Zones of The Authority might not
come to fruition. While the resistance movement is growing outside the walls of
the zones, the president’s forces are strengthening and putting citizens
everywhere in more peril than ever. When Rain receives warnings that her
cousin, Calista, has agreed to support plans to kill the mixed zones, and that
her life could be on the line at the upcoming pure zone initiation ceremony,
she must decide where her loyalties lie and if all of her allies can be
trusted. As The Freedom Front use their abilities to unravel the mystery of the
ceremony, The Authority captures some of their friends, forcing TFF to either
go into hiding, or plan a rescue mission that could jeopardize everything
they’ve been fighting for.
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