Award-winning YA Fiction Novelists Talk about The Strand Prophecy

Joining us today is the talented writing team known as J.B.B. Winner. Jeff Winner and his twin daughters, Brittany and Brianna, have written the award-winning young adult science-fiction novel, The Strand Prophecy about a present day superhero who delivers evidence of an ominous scientific discovery to the President of the United States. We´ll talk about The Strand Prophecy and what the future will bring for fans of this award-winning novel.

Thanks for joining us today. It´s a great pleasure to have you with us.

Brianna: Thank you for having us.

Tell us a bit about how the writing of The Strand Prophecy got started.

Brittany: When we were in fourth grade some of our learning disabilities started to show, like dyslexia, and it became harder for us to read and write.

Brianna: We were feeling defeated and thought we were stupid and our dad…

Jeff: Dad here…

Brianna: ..said we were not stupid and to prove it to us we would do the impossible: write a novel.

Jeff: The girls had the imagination, the vocabulary, the concepts and the characters. So we started to write together at night right before going to sleep, while their mom was doing their hair.

Brittany: We would also research on the internet during the day. We checked for strange things that happen in nature.

Brianna: And we found lots of them…

Brittany:... they were a great source of inspiration.

Do you always finish each other´s sentences?

Brianna: Well

Brittany: not always…

Brianna: most of the time… well

Brittany: some of the time…

Brianna: Hey, we are identical twins what can we say.

You guys are great, I understand this is the first book in a series of five. What is the story in this one?

Brianna: Strand, a scientist superhero, with no powers, must warn the world of rapidly evolving predatory creatures before it´s too late

Brittany: A unique solar radiation is triggering the DNA in all living things to rapidly adapt to their environment. Everything is changing and unfortunately the most abundant source of food on the planet…

Brianna: are humans!

Strand is described as a reluctant superhero. How so?

Brittany: Strand was content to exist as Steve Cutter, inventing new technologies and raising his deceased brother´s daughter, Anna.

Jeff: Anna showed Steve Cutter the meaning of life of family and love and being a parent.

Brianna: But, Steve Cutter feels responsible for the death of Anna´s parents and guilty that they had to die for him to learn about love and family.

Brittany: He discovers this solar radiation and realizes that the world is entering into a rapid evolutionary cycle. Predators would be evolving to adapt to the available food sources and that meant…

Brianna: … that the innocent, the children and those whom the governments might not protect would become some new predator´s dinner.

Jeff: Which is not a good thing.

Brittany: Not a good thing at all.

Brianna: So Cutter decides that in he will protect the innocent, just as he should have done the night Anna´s parents died.

Brittany: He sees it as a way of finding salvation from his decisions,

Jeff: and a way to give meaning to their death, but it means he must expose Strand to the world.

The back cover of The Strand Prophecy says "It´s X-Men Meets Jurassic Park". How much influence did these movies or novels have on your book?

Brianna: The funny thing is that we watched Jurassic Park for the first time after we had the book published.

Brittany: When you a get published, lots of people get involved and that is where the comparison came from.

Jeff: That´s right. We were advised that making analogies to well known stories help communicate and inform.

Brianna: We love X-Men, in fact we meet the company that did the effect for the X-Men The Last Stand.

Jeff: Mike and Mary Elizalde own Spectral Motion and gave us a tour of the entire facility. They and their company are amazingly talented and fantastic people.

Brittany: That was an incredibly exciting day.

The first few pages of the book have comic book-like artwork that gives the reader a visual of what transpires within the first pages of Chapter 1. Similar artwork introduces each chapter. Why did you choose this format?

Brianna: That´s a great question. We went to the book stores and observed how people buy books. We noticed that people look at the front then the back. Then open the front cover, flip the book, and open the back cover.

Brittany: So we wanted them to get engaged with our world, even for a moment longer.

Jeff: The art work is engaging…

Brianna: … and we like comics.

Brittany: It was a perfect blend.

Brianna: We start the book in graphic novel format, telling the story of when Strand arrives at the white house.

Jeff: Unannounced and unwelcome.

Brittany: We have a brilliant artist named Daniel Goiz that did the chapter art. Each chapter has a special piece of art which depicts one of the scenes in that chapter, which was particularly important.

Jeff: The detail and care taken in each piece of art is incredible. We wanted to carry the theme of a graphic novel and comic books throughout the book.

Brianna: At the back of the book we put tons of detailed illustrations and broke them up into categories.

Brittany: Main characters, Technologies, Creatures, and sneak peak at Extinctions Embrace, Book II and The Quickening the graphic novel spanning the time between Book I and Book II.

If you had to describe The Strand Prophecy in only three words what would they be?

Jeff: A fun adventure.

What types of events have you used to promote your book? Have you found some promotional avenues more effective than others?

Jeff: We are learning how to more specifically identify our niche and ways to tell those people about our book. The issue is: what the initial perception of who would like it, who actually does like it, and how to best talk to those people. All avenues produce results, but so far no magic bullets.

How does it feel to be touring the country and promoting an award-winning novel at such a young age?

Brittany: It is a dream come true. We want to inspire kids to read and to write.

Brianna: And believe in their dreams.

Jeff: The kids respond to kids. Especially when they can see results. So when Brittany and Brianna talk to the kids, the kids listen.

Where can readers purchase a copy of The Strand Prophecy?

Brittany: In every Barnes and Nobles in the US and online at Amazon.

Brianna: or on the web site for signed copies at www.StrandTheBook.com.

Have you already begun work on other books in the series? Can you share some of what readers will find in the next book? What adventures are planned for Strand?

Brianna: There are six books in the series, five plus a prequel. The second book is done getting final edits and art work. We are done writing 20,000 words into the third book.

Brittany: In the second book, millions of people start to evolve and mysteriously migrate north. They just stop what they are doing and start walking; they could be cooking or driving or in their pajama´s. Meanwhile the Strand Team must also evolve to become something more than they are, try to solve the mysterious migration and find a solution to help humanity survive.

What kind of advice do you have for young people who would like to write a book?

Brittany: We were born eleven weeks early and suffer from dyslexia. In school I could not catch up with the classroom work no matter how hard I tried. I felt very bad about myself.

My dad said we were brilliant and to prove it we would write a novel. I thought that was impossible when he said it… I mean, I had the vocabulary and the ideas but getting them down into a novel was unfathomable. Together we focused on our strengths instead of our weaknesses and look at what we have been able to achieve.

So my advice is for everyone to keep in mind that we all have strengths and weaknesses; don´t conclude that you are less than anyone else just because it appears that people are writing faster or seem smarter or better than you at school. Focus on what you CAN do, not what you CAN´T do. Get your ideas down on paper one page at a time, one day at a time and soon you will have written a novel.

Brianna: Yes, write chapter at a time and don´t worry about how long the book will be when it is done. Think about your character and the situation, then write and keep writing.

Brittany: Brianna is right. Don´t stop, just keep writing. We never edit, rewrite or change the story until the whole book is done.

Brianna: When the book is done we may delete entire scenes or rewrite them a different way.

Brianna: Just get it done. Write, write, write until it is done. Then go back and edit.

Do you have a website?

Brianna: Yes we have a fantastic flash site www.StrandTheBook.com. Also you can see video of us at signings and our book trailer at YouTube.com

Is there anything you would like to add?

Brittany: Yes, we answer our emails and love to hear from readers that have questions about Strand and writing. Our email is jbbwinner at Strandprophecy.com.

Brianna: We also give free presentations to schools to help inspire kids to read and write, so please contact us if you are interested in us coming to your school.

Thanks for sharing so much of your time with us today. I wish you continued success with your writing.

Brianna: Thank you for having us!