Lebanon Daily News Interview

 

An Interview of me done by our local newspaper, the Lebanon Daily News, in March of 2015

Myerstown author releases first book
‘Dark Fey: The Reviled’ is first book of three-book series
By Michael Waterloo

The trend over the past decade or so when it comes to books has been the fantasy genre. Just ask Stephenie Meyer or E.L. James, who have the successful “Twilight” and “Fifty Shades” trilogies, respectively.

A local author is following the same path, as Myerstown’s Cynthia Morgan is releasing her own trilogy, which is kicked off by her recent self-published debut book, “Dark Fey: The Reviled.”

“It is an epic fantasy, and the first book of a trilogy. It takes place in a mythical realm, not of this earth or time. It’s peopled by winged folks, fairies, but they’re not the little Tinkerbelle-sized fairies that people often think about. They are full-sized fairies,” Morgan said. “There’s magic, unique languages that I created for the books, tradition, intense action scenes, romance, love and a bit of sex.”

But there’s an actual meaning behind Morgan’s book, too.

“It’s deeper than that. It’s a story about learning how to believe in who you are; finding the gift that makes you unique and sets you apart. It shows you how to use that in a positive aspect,” she said. “It’s about prevailing over the darkness that is all around us. It’s about learning how to be the one true person you’re meant to be.”
With breaks included, it took Morgan between four and five years to finish the book. But it’s how it began that’s the real interesting part.

“It actually came to me in a dream, which sounds a bit odd. A few years ago, I had this very vivid dream. Dreams fade after a day or so, but I just couldn’t get this out of my head. I thought about it and thought about it, and the more I thought about it, the more ideas I got, and the broader the story became,” she said. “I did what I do, which is sit down at my laptop and I start to write. I wrote, in one sitting, what is now chapter six in the book. I really liked it, and I really liked where it was going and what it was doing.

“I let my niece read it, just to kind of get a young person’s perspective on it. She loved it. She was asking me when I was going to write it. But I didn’t write it. I sat it down and didn’t touch it for two years. It just sort of marinated in there, until I started the blog.”

The blog that Morgan refers to is sort of an online community that found an interest in Morgan’s writing. When she first started it, it was just a hobby for her to do when she wasn’t busy working her day job at the Good Samaritan Hospital as an administrative secretary at one of their physical therapy offices.

But eventually, Morgan reached out to other authors who directed her on what to do, and the separate blog posts turned into eventual chapters of the book.

“The blog was integral to getting me to finish the book. Once I started the blog, I had no idea what I was doing. I figured I should do it because I write. Poetry comes easy to me, but after a while, I was running out of ideas,” Morgan said. “So, I started thinking that I could start putting out ‘Dark Fey’ in a weekly special. In order to do so, I had to get to the chapter I wrote. I knew that would be in the middle somewhere.

“So, I started writing. As I was writing it, I would literally write a segment and post it. The response that I got from readers really inspired me. I never wrote fantasy before, ever. I haven’t really read much of it. When people started saying it was wonderful and asking for the next session, it really pushed me to keep writing it, as did my niece and mother, who were reading it along with the rest of the bloggers.”

The self-published book was available on Kindle as of April 2014, where it is available for $4.99, unless you’re an Amazon Prime member, where it is free. However, Morgan got around to doing the required formatting to put the book into a softcover form, which is $9.99 and available from her or through Amazon.

Morgan held her first book signing at the Myerstown Free Library on Monday, March 23, and has another one coming up on April 20 at the Lebanon Community Library, but they won’t be her last, as she’s working with the other Lebanon County libraries to set some up some more for her first book and her last two of the trilogy, which she is currently working on part two in hopes of completing it by this fall.

At the midway point of book two, does she know how the series will end?

“No,” she laughed. “Some writers plot everything out. I have a rough idea of where I want to go, but I tend to write the book and think about what will happen next. I let the story lead me, as well as me leading the story. I know where I’m going with it, and I know what I want to accomplish with it. I know how I basically want to get there. What happens in between is up to inspiration.”

~Morgan~