I am delighted to be speaking with Sheri McGathy today. Thanks for chatting with us Sheri and welcome to FAR!

Hi Tammy, great to be here! Thanks for having me!

To start, will you please tell us a little bit about your current projects?

My current project is a YA fantasy, but I haven't gotten any further than the first two chapters. I'm still working on the rules of that world's magic, trying to figure out how it will work in my story.

I believe magic must have limits; it can't be all-powerful, wave your hand and poof the problems go away magic. I believe there must be deficiencies in the magic's use so that the characters are faced with uncertainty and conflict. So, I've been pondering the magic in this new WIP and how I want it to perform in the fantasy world I'm creating.

My latest release is a short story titled: The Birth of Spring and is an Enchanted Storyteller Tale.

This is the blurb for The Birth of Spring:

When the Winter King stays the wheel, refusing to allow the season to turn, the Summer Queen has no choice but to declare war.

Yet, there is one within the southern realms unwilling to see the people of Faery wage war. Astara, daughter of the Summer Queen, has taken it upon herself to journey alone to the northern realms, seek out the Winter King, and beg him if she must, to release the wheel. The season must be allowed to change.

The people of Faery could not go to war, for if they did, the land and all that depended upon its bounty would suffer. Somehow, Astara must make the Winter King remember this before the bitter chill of winter silenced her voice forever.

The Season of Gold is book one in the Elfen Gold series. Could you tell us more about this story and how many books will be in this series?

The Season of Gold -- Book One, Elfen Gold as well as The Season of Silver -- Book Two, Elfen Gold are the only two books in the series at this time, but I have decided to write a series of tales as told by the Storyteller, one of my favorite characters from these books. As mentioned above, the first of The Enchanted Storyteller Tales has just been released: The Birth of Spring.

The Elfen Gold books are actually new releases of an older work. The books have been revamped, smoothed out, and enhanced yet I hope they remain as entertaining as the original.
And because I am terrible at summing up what my novels are about, (you would not believe how hard this is for me to do), I'll let the Storyteller from the books speak for me:
The Season of Gold, Elfen Gold Book One ~ The adventure begins….

"Gather round. Aye, gather near, and I will spin you a tale of magic from a time long since lost to lore. Come and I will tell of elves and the kingdom of Ra-Jee, a kingdom now forgotten in the mists of enchantment.

"This tale is one of sacrifice and sorrow, yet one of hope offered to a future not yet written." The Storyteller curled his gnarled fingers over the worn top of his cane and smiled. "And it is a tale of a young elfen maiden named Ra-May and the human male, Michall, she is destined to meet.

"Come, join me as I tell of these two very different and unique individuals, brought together by fate, and guided by ancient magic as they venture forward to save Ra-Jee--or die trying.

"And so," whispered the old Storyteller. "The tale begins…."

Everyone has a different perspective on "getting away from it all" and a good book often helps to satisfy an escapist urge. As a reader or an author, what are the essential elements for you in good escapist reading?

The story has to be able to quiet the author in me and totally captivate my reader's side. I want to be pulled into the story's world, made to care about the characters, and have the real world fade away as I turn each page.

What quality do you most admire in a person?

A person with a sense of direction. Any person who can find my car at a super mall parking lot is my hero for life! All teasing aside, I value honesty and admire those who aren't afraid to reach out and capture their dreams.

If you weren't a writer, what would you be?

I've always been fascinated by archaeology and ancient cultures, so maybe I would have found time to become more than just an armchair hobbyist. I also think that running a Doggie Daycare would be "interesting."

Your book Thief of Dreams, from the Twilight Crossings anthology was a 2003 Sapphire Award finalist. Could we hear more about it?

Thief of Dreams is a tale of fated love lost, and the risks one is willing to take for another, no matter what the cost to regain that lost love. It's a tale of the impossible made possible if only we believe.
I borrowed from old legends of the white stag, the huntress, and Faery rings, and made them my own in order to create what I hope is an enjoyable story.

Thief of Dreams originally was published in the anthology Twilight Crossings, but since then it has been released as a standalone ebook as well as an audio book available in both CD and MP3 download. Another of my stories, The Ancient One, is also available as a standalone or as audio.

What is your most favorite part of being a writer? The least favorite?

My favorite part of being a writer is the creation stage. The process of building a world and developing characters from scratch is something I enjoy doing and in itself a form of escapism. I find it challenging as well as appealing to slowly layer in, bit-by-bit, notion-by-notion, details of my characters and their world.

My least favorite is the business end of writing. I'm not very good at promoting self and I am still uncomfortable at book signings and presentations. I'd much rather let my stories speak for me.

When did you first start writing? What made you want to become a writer?

I love to tell stories and share them with others. I think I've always been a storytelling in one form or another, though before my teens, the stories were verbal, told mainly to my dog. He was a very attentive listener. In my early teens, I started writing poetry, mostly epic tales told in rhyme. It wasn't until my late twenties or early thirties that I tried my hand at a fantasy novel.

I'm always being asked why I write fantasy. Aside from a deep love of the genre, I write and read fantasy because it evokes the wonder of dreams and unfettered possibilities. Fantasy can be filled with fanciful pleasures or unimaginable fears--all the things we believed in without question when we were kids. Fantasy is Santa Claus and pixie dust, unicorns with golden horns and long flowing manes of purest white and the monster that lurked in the shadows beneath your bed when you were little. Fantasy is fantastical and holds the promise that if we close our eyes and believe with all our hearts, what we wish will come true.

Was there any one person or event in your life that finally inspired you to sit down and write your first book?

I think "challenged" would be the better choice of words. I had written a rather long, epic fantasy story poem, 48 pages to be exact, and loaned it to a friend to read. After reading it, she suggested I try writing the poem as a novel. She felt it would make a far better book than a poem. It had never occurred to me to write a novel, but the idea appealed to me. Now it seems like the only way to tell a story.

While writing, how does the story develop for you? Do you go from start to finish or create scenes as they come to you?

My imagination usually works on overtime. Once I get an idea for a story, or a hint of an idea, I tend to do the preliminary creating of my story within my mind. This is a must for me. I daydream the story until I feel comfortable with my characters and the places and situations I'm placing them in.

I don't seem to be able to write a convincing fantasy world until I have all the rules of that world's magic worked out. I have to figure out how it works and what I need it to do in my story.

Once the story is clear in my mind, I do tend to write out of order. It's not uncommon for me to write the end scenes before ever creating the opening ones, or write an opening only to discover it needs to be moved to another section of the story. A friend calls what I do "Quilting." I suppose that fits my writing style. Because I spend so much time daydreaming the story before I ever sit down to write it, I am able to write in any order I wish, because I know what I need to have happen and what I wish to achieve by the time I type THE END.

Your book, Twilight Crossings, was a 2004 Eppie finalist for best anthology. Could you tell us more about your story from this anthology?

Thief of Dreams, as mentioned earlier, was my novella from Twilight Crossings.

The idea for Thief of Dreams started as I listened to a song called The Holland Handkerchief, this version of the ballad sung by Connie Dover. The song is actually a great ghost story about young lovers and how even death can't part them. The song was a chief inspiration for Thief of Dreams' midnight ride during the celebration of Samhain scene. The rest of the story with its Faery Ring, the stag, and the world of the Fae, all came into existence as a direct result of the research I was doing on a larger WIP.

In Twilight Crossings, we (Jeanine Berry, Shannah Biondine, Jeanne Allen, and myself) decided we wanted to create our stories with a common thread or element. Thus, we decided that each story should have a pivotal scene that takes place at twilight. I found it interesting how each of us worked that in.

In Twilight Crossings II, we continued this theme. With Where Lies Beauty, my novella from this anthology, I wanted to create a story that held the moral of the old fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, but I didn't want to create just another rehash of the same old tale. Where Lies Beauty needed to be its own story, yet possess a feel of the original fairy tale. Manny's not really a beast and Tanner's not really a beauty, but each seeks to discover where true beauty lies. It's the question the title asks, and as the story unfolds, the answer to that question is slowly revealed.

How many hours a day do you spend writing?

With working away from the home, I have to steal whatever writing time I can find, whenever I can find it. I try to write over my lunch breaks, and if I'm not too tired, I will write an hour or two in the evening. Sundays are usually productive writing days for me, allowing me to get in four or five hours of writing and/or research without interruptions. But as I mentioned earlier, writing doesn't always mean sitting down at the keyboard or taking pen to pad. So even if I don't have time to physically write every day, I think I am always in writing mode.

If you could go anywhere, be anyone, do anything for 24 hours, what would it be?

Since you didn't set any limits on the impossible, I think I would love to be able to travel through history, visiting key mysteries now lost to time and witness events that we today can only speculate about.

Do you have any special rituals to help you get in the mood to write?

A diet pop, my headphones, and comfortable sweatpants. I like to be comfortable when I write and I like to wear my headphones and listen to music. The headphones tend to help me shut out the real world and concentrate more on the fantasy world I am creating.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us today?

Write and read with great passion, don't be afraid to follow your dreams wherever they roam, and may the magic always brighten your world!

Thank you for taking time to speak with me today Sheri.

Thanks so much for having me here and allowing me the chance to share a bit of my world with everyone.

Readers can learn more about Sheri and her books on her website www.sherilmcgathy.com.

Interviewed by: Tammy