Hywela Lyn: Gerald G Griffin continues his Blog Tour

at 11:00 am

I am pleased to welcome Gerald G Griffin to my blog today, as part of his Blog Tour with NURTURE:

"People say you should write about what you know. Do you have any personal experiences that helped you while writing this book?"

I did with my first novel, The Corruptors, because a majority of the events in that book took place at and around Michigan State University during the time I was there working on my PH.D., and my personal experiences then helped me in writing the book, as did my personal experiences, to some extent, in writing my subsequent novels, The Death Disciple and The Last Coming.

I feel writing about what you know is essential to your first book and perhaps to your second and even third, but eventually a writer has to go beyond "what he knows" firsthand from personal experience (especially with novels) if he's to continue his writing. That is the case with Of Good And Evil.

For the most part then, except for what sort of creeps in subconsciously, personal experiences did not help me that much while writing OfGood And Evil. That is not to say that there were no personal experience drawn on in writing the novel. In fact, a spark initiating the novel came from a memory of personal (professional, really) experience. While I was still in private psychological practice in Atlanta, Georgia, I treated a few veterans in therapy who were still suffering from unresolved psyche/emotional trauma stemming from combat trauma. Years later, when I first began writing Of Good And Evil, my professional experiences with these veterans helped to formulate the book's hero, Ron Sheffield, leading to aspects of the novel's plot.

Aside from that, it was the experiences of others --- which I'm not at liberty to divulge, and my own research, knowledge and the imagination of my creative process that proved to be helpful in writing the book. This time it was not so much "what I knew" from personal experiences but "what I knew of" from other sources.

Author Bio: Gerald G. Griffin was born in Flint, Michigan. He received his MA and Ph.D. in psychology from Michigan State University. Set up private practice in Atlanta, Georgia as a Consulting Psychologist, a practice of 18 years doing psychotherapy, counseling, diagnostics and executive consultation. Moved to Gainesville, Georgia to enter writing full-time, at first doing ghost-writing and screenplays before turning back to novels. At present, putting the final touches to A Time of Reckoning, the sequel to Of Good or Evil.

Author’s Website: http://www.authorgeraldgriffin.com

Author’s Blog: http://www.geraldggriffin.blogspot.com

Author’s Twitter Account: http://www.twitter.com/#!/GeraldGGriffin

Synopsis: A timely, quick-paced, action-packed story with vivid, vibrant characters and international locales, and villains both fictional and ripped from international headlines.

Ron Sheffield, a gifted but tormented Green Beret, plagued by suicidal guilt because of his “special” abilities, is discharged from the army for going “crazy.” Immediately, he is brutally beaten and shot by the Mafia, and is hospitalized near death. His life is dramatically saved by Amber Ash, who also possesses “special” abilities; and from there the two are propelled against mobsters, terrorists, and a government cell out to kill them over Iraqi documents Ron possesses from his army service. Ron becomes a Mafia hit man, targeting fallen mobsters. This brings Ron and Amber into contact with the powerful and humane gifted secret society, Eros; this contact eventually actualizing Ron’s mental gifts to a point beyond his imagination. Ron is confronted with the imminent nuclear obliteration of a major American city by a suicidal terrorist cell that only he can stop. But will he be able to do it in time? Of Good and Evil is a spiritual fight against tyranny.