Author Interview : Brian Ditchek, author of 'I am Avhor'

Read up, the first part of the Interview with Brian Ditchek, author of 'I am Avhor'. In this part of his Interview, he describes his journey of writing the book, how the characters of  Urvak and King Harad came about, how he relates the life of characters to lives today and, how the entire sequence of events came about. There is more to come, Folks...

How did ‘I Am Avhor’ happen?  Could you describe the journey?

The journey was a long one.  It started with one sentence, which I wrote (as I was putting my kids to bed, just after I told them a story) and became intrigued by. Wondering what events laid behind this one sentence, I turned it into a paragraph that night and soon thereafter formed it into a chapter.  I worked on a few more chapters before I gave it up due to a busy work schedule.

It then lay dormant for about 25 years.  Though I thought about Urvak and the other characters, I just didn’t have time to work on it.  Shortly after I retired, it called to me again and I finished it in late 2015, when I decided to make it official and publish it.  It was a long journey, but a rewarding one.  I learned about myself as I developed the characters and the plot.  By the way, the sentence I liked that started it all ended up opening Chapter 5.

How did you bring about the two main characters, Urvak and King Harad, besides the earthlings?

When I was young and put my two children to bed, I would always make up stories to tell them about how one of my children would get in trouble and the other would help them get out of it.

For this story, Urvak took the role of the child helping his sister.  King Harad was developed as the foe.  I wanted to make him formidable and evil, yet capable of love.  His relationship with his son, Comptor, was created to add complexity to his character.

What according to you is different about your book?

I believe my book is difficult to classify by the usual genre definitions.  It is sci-fi because it takes place on a different planet, but it does not have the usual sci-fi purpose of making the reader think about the future.  

It is young adult because the main characters, heroes and heroines are young, but there is no romance element.  But the main plot, pursing the release of a captive, also makes it a thriller!  Hopefully, it can be enjoyed by readers of all these different genres.

How would you relate the lives of characters to the lives today?  Especially, today?

The characters display fundamental human emotions of love and loyalty.  They strive for a better life and can fit into any past, present or future events. 

How did the entire sequence of events come about, especially the whole concept of another planet and earthlings, who end up there?

I don’t know exactly how to answer this question other than to say that the story just oozed out of my head little by little.  My objective was to make a story about siblings helping each other.  The scenes, characters and alien settings were all added to make the story fast-paced and engaging.  

Similarly, my use of short chapters and jumping from scene to scene within a chapter was all designed to keep the reader’s interest.  

The planet Vacaron makes the whole story a little more exotic. The earthlings help the reader relate to the story.  My education as a scientist, with a Ph.D. in Materials Science, probably helped me with the sci-fi element of the story.  

You can Read the Review and Buy the Book here, as well.