I opened the garage door and wheeled the bike out. In the sunlight, the
red paint almost seemed to glow. I strapped on the helmet, and with a
wave to Mom, who stood in the garage watching me and sipping yet another
cup of coffee, I rolled out into the street.
Today we bring to you an interview with Terie Garrison! Garrison's new book, Changing Gears, releases Friday!
~****Terie Garrison Interview****~
1. Could you start things off by telling us a little about your novel Changing Gears which releases this Friday?
Changing Gears is actually the first novel I ever wrote. I was very
involved in cycling back then, although I didn’t race much, and the idea
for the book grew out of that. It took several drafts over a number of
years before I hit on the idea of Barry’s best friend having this deep,
dark secret. And when the beans get spilled, Barry finds out that he
didn’t have this whole friendship thing down as well as he’d thought.
Complicating everything is Barry’s discovery of bike racing, something
he turns out to be very good at. Faced with important choices, he
doesn’t always make the right ones.
2. Tell us a little about yourself? Maybe something juicy.
Something juicy? I’m a writer, which means sitting all by myself, just
me and my manuscript. Anything juicy is a figment of the imagination.
:-) But let’s see. I work as a technical writer for my day job, writing
user documentation for software systems. See, I told you, nothing juicy
here. I’m originally from San Diego but now live in the Northwest of
England. I have bikes in nearly every room of my house, but I don’t ride
much anymore.
3. What do you do when you're not writing or reading?
Are there things to do other than writing and reading? I guess that’s
one of the hard parts about having a day job as a writer: it means you
write all day at work, then go home and write more. Although, actually, I
got into crochet about a year ago and enjoy doing that. While listening
to audiobooks, so I think even that still partly counts as reading.
4. If you're trapped on a deserted island, name 3 books you wish you had with you.
I’m afraid I have to be pragmatic here. I’d want a book on growing
food, one on survivalism, and a big, thick, unabridged dictionary
because, you know, all the words are in there. If we want to go with
novels, then I’d have to go with my comfort reads: Lord of the Rings
(JRR Tolkien), The Harper Hall Trilogy (Anne McCaffrey), and the Farseer
Trilogy (Robin Hobb). Which is sort of cheating since each of those is
actually three books.
5. Tell me a bit about your process of writing.
I have to start with a character and a problem. I think through a lot of
scenarios about the character and the problem, and I start making lots
of notes. I can’t really start writing until I know the beginning, the
end, and the first major turning point. Once those are in place, I dive
in. Despite being very organised for my day job, when it comes to
fiction I’m a dyed-in-the-wool ‘pantser’; that is, I don’t outline, but I
plot as I go ‘by the seat of my pants’. I’m in a critique group, and I
start submitting chapters for critique fairly early in the process. That
way, if something isn’t working, like if the narrator’s voice doesn’t
sound quite right for the story or if I’ve misjudged the age of a
character, I can fix it before getting too far in. And I do a lot of
thinking during – and especially before – writing sessions. I call that
‘the writing that doesn’t look like writing’ because most people will
say it looks like staring off into space.
6. Are you working on anything new at the moment?
I’ve recently started a new YA novel, kind of an alternate world story
set in a situation a lot like the German concentration camps in World
War II, but with magic. I also have a few adult projects in various
stages of percolating and simmering.
7. Of all the characters in Changing Gears, who do you feel you're most
alike? Who is your favorite? Which character do you feel has the most
impact?
I think I feel the most like Barry, the main character. He wants to do
the right thing, but often says the wrong thing and just makes
everything worse. That’s the story of my life! My favourite character is
Daphne. In a lot of ways, she’s the teenager I wish I’d been. She was a
lot of fun to write about. As far as which one has the most impact,
that would have to be the guy who slugs Barry and gives him a black eye!
Okay, but seriously, I hope it’s Barry. The story is told from his
point of view, and I hope that readers will be able to understand his
flaws, commiserate with his mistakes, and cheer for him in the end.
8. Do you have an author that has really inspired you?
Well, every author has inspired me in one way or another. But the one
whose work inspired me to write novels for teenagers is SE Hinton. After
the first time I read The Outsiders, I knew that that’s the sort of
thing I wanted to write when I grew up. The impact that The Outsiders
had on me is what I aspire to in my own writing.
9. If you had to describe your book in one sentence, what would it be?
I really like the tag line someone in the Marketing department at Musa
came up with: “Winning the race doesn’t equal winning at life.” Or to
put it in quite a few more words, “For Barry Sloane, the challenges of
turning sixteen include learning how to be a top-notch bicycle racer and
discovering that his best friend is gay; now it’s time for him to learn
how to deal with a complex, adult world.”
10. Can you tell us a little about the main character in Changing Gears?
I think I’ve already said about as much as I can without giving away
spoilers, and I don’t want to do that. In a nutshell, he’s a good guy
who makes very human mistakes and learns a little bit about life as he
tries to sort things out.
**CHANGING GEARS Excerpt**
The bike, this Eddie Mercx—whoever he was—felt like it wanted to fly
away with me. I went around the block, experimenting with changing the
gears. It probably would’ve helped if I’d known what I was doing.
Finally, I selected a comfortable gear and headed away from my
neighborhood.
Our house was only a mile or so from the Coast Highway, a flat coastal
route that paralleled the beach through most of San Diego. I figured it
must be a great place to ride because there were always tons of cyclists
on it.
I cruised along, enjoying the fresh air and the unfamiliar feel of the
breeze tickling my ears. Every once in a while, some hot-shot in fancy
bike clothes and wrap-around sunglasses would zip past, sometimes
saying, “On your left,” as they approached from the rear. It didn’t take
me long to figure out that that must be some kind of signal to let me
know they were coming.
After about the three millionth rider passed me, I decided to see just
how fast I could go. The bike had a computer thingy on it, and even
though I hadn’t figured out how to work all the buttons, it was pretty
obvious that the 11 and 12 that kept displaying must be the speed.
Just past the next light, the road went downhill a little, then
flattened out into a long stretch. Seemed like a good place to try for a
speed record. I started pedaling as fast as I could. It wasn’t long
before I was moving too fast for my legs to keep up. Even though I’d
practiced shifting a bit, I didn’t have a clue what the right gear would
be, so I just coasted until I hit the flat. Harder and harder I
pedaled, and I watched with satisfaction as the speedometer rose to 15,
16, 17, 18. I tried to suck in enough air, and the blood pounding in my
ears matched my pounding heart. Finally I had to ease up. Not only could
I barely breathe, but the light I was approaching turned yellow, then
red. I braked, honestly glad that the traffic light gave me an excuse to
stop.
Bio:
Terie Garrison rode with several San Diego bicycle clubs and was active
in the Ultra Marathon Cycling Association when she lived in California.
She now lives in the UK.
Terie's other novels are AutumnQuest, WinterMaejic, SpringFire, and
SummerDanse. She also co-ghostwrote Belonging, by Sameem Ali.
Check out her website!
here
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