Tagged: the journey
My Interview with John Heldt (2)
John Heldt is the self-published author of The Mine, The Journey, The Show and now The Fire, all books in his Northwest Passage series about time travel. Every single one of his books has a fascinating combination of history, romance and humour. Read on to see John and I discuss writing emotional scenes, researching and a possible continuation of his originally planned five book series.
1. There are some very emotional scenes in The Fire. How do you as a writer strike a balance between touching and melodramatic?
I enlist the help of others, that’s how. What is just right for one person may be too sappy or too dry for others. By getting the perspectives of beta readers representing both genders and a variety of ages, I’m usually able to determine whether an emotional scene needs to be rewritten or left as is. Continue reading
My Interview with John Heldt
John Heldt is the self-published author of The Mine, The Journey and now, The Show, which is the third of five books in his Northwest Passage series dealing with time travel. His books don’t go into detail about how the time travel occurs, but that’s not the point! Read on to see John and I discuss self-publishing, time travel and future projects.
1. Your new book, The Show, is coming out the week of February 17. Is it separate from the previous two books in the Northwest Passage series?
The Show is the sequel to The Mine and will likely be the only true sequel in the five-part series. Each of the Northwest Passage books will have similar themes and settings and have at least one common character – Joel Smith – but only The Show will be directly tied to another book. I decided to write The Show because many readers who enjoyed The Mine wanted a sequel and wanted that sequel to answer specific questions, such as how Grace found Joel, what became of the couple after they reunited, and whether Ginny ever learned that she would become Joel’s grandmother. All three questions are answered. I should also note that The Show is very much Grace’s story. She is the one constant in a
roller-coaster ride that spans three distinct eras.
2. What made you decide to focus on the characters and the history rather than the technical aspects of time travel?
Great question. I decided to focus on the former because it is what I know and what interests me. I cared less about gadgets and the technical considerations of time travel than how ordinary people would react if suddenly thrown back to the past – and specifically the past of ancestors they’ve known. Continue reading
Spotlight: The Journey by John Heldt
Spotlight is my new regular Saturday feature in which I highlight a book I really enjoyed or am eagerly waiting for. This time, it’s The Journey by John Heldt, a book I got very emotional about.
Seattle, 2010. When her entrepreneur husband dies in an accident, Michelle Preston Richardson, 48, finds herself childless and directionless. She yearns for the simpler days of her youth, before she followed her high school sweetheart down a road that led to limitless riches but little fulfillment, and jumps at a chance to reconnect with her past at a class reunion. But when Michelle returns to Unionville, Oregon, and joins three classmates on a spur-of-the-moment tour of an abandoned mansion, she gets more than she asked for. She enters a mysterious room and is thrown back to 1979.
Distraught and destitute, Michelle finds a job as a secretary at Unionville High, where she guides her spirited younger self, Shelly Preston, and childhood friends through their tumultuous senior year. Along the way, she meets widowed teacher Robert Land and finds the love and happiness she had always sought. But that happiness is threatened when history intervenes and Michelle must act quickly to save those she loves from deadly fates. Filled with humor and heartbreak, THE JOURNEY gives new meaning to friendship, courage, and commitment as it follows an unfulfilled soul through her second shot at life.
I love the way John Heldt handled the whole time travel angle of his second book in the Northwest Passage trilogy. In his books, time travel isn’t the important thing and the characters themselves aren’t scientists, so it doesn’t take a prominent position. But, what does take its place is the characters and the incredible writing. John Heldt pays so much attention to all of his characters that they are three dimensional and interesting, even the secondary ones. You will love both Michelle and Shelly (Michelle’s younger self) and the ending will both tear you to pieces and give you some hope.
The Journey has the perfect amount of romance, suspense and heartbreak and I absolutely love how John Heldt solved the time travel paradox. You see, Michelle isn’t some passive time traveller who leaves things be. No, she wants to change her younger self and prevent her best friend’s tragic death. But what happens if Shelly actually changes? Does Michelle disappear into nothing? Does she herself change suddenly? I didn’t think he could pull it off, but John Heldt came up with a great way to solve the paradox. This is a man who can write himself into a tiny corner and get himself out again in fantastic style, so go on and get The Journey! You won’t regret it, I promise.