David Fajgenbaum, my doctor and the orthopaedic surgeon for N. I did play ball for years and would still be be shooting hoops had I not torn my ACL and pulled a hamstring. Looking for Eddie Jones, the former NBA player who played for five teams in his 14-year career? I am not that Eddie Jones. That makes him a hero in my eyes and worthy of a book dedication. But I know Spencer is devoted to family, loves his mom and dad, and doesn’t let his circumstances limit him or define who he is. I don’t know if I accurately portrayed what it’s like to have an absence seizure. It was a chance to make someone with epilepsy the hero of a series. It was an opportunity to bring attention to those impacted by epilepsy. Then I met Amy at the Ghost Ranch and I understood that my character’s epilepsy wasn’t just to make the story work. I felt bad about giving my character epilepsy just so my story would work, but I went with it. If your character is leaning over the water when they have an episode, sure, they could maybe fall in.” I always smell something like burning wires just before it happens to me. “It’s possible someone suffering from an absence seizure could ‘blank out’ for a few seconds. When I asked if the creek scene was plausible, she said maybe. During a previous writer’s conference, a friend told me about her absence seizures. You need a portal - an Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole, a Harry Potter Nine and Three-Quarters platform at King’s Cross Station. See, in time-travel fantasy, the hard part is finding a way to transport your character back in time.

“My son, Spencer, has absence seizures.” I knew right then the creek scene in book one was for Spencer. When he comes back out of the creek, he’s on a raft in the middle of the Caribbean Sea being chased by pirates.”Īmy looked at me with wide eyes. It’s about a boy who suffers from absence seizures, falls into a creek, drowns, and refuses to go to heaven. “Oh, and I just released the first book in my Caribbean Chronicles series. I explained how I felt called to write for boys and that I was working on a middle-grade paranormal, murder mystery series for Harper Collins. During the conversation Amy asked, “So, what are you working on?” That’s always a great question to ask at a writer’s conference. You know, boring topics that only writers find exciting.

Some years ago at the Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico, Amy and I talked dialogue and plot and character development over lunch. I’ve never met Spencer Wyatt but I’ve met his mom, Amy.

Dead Calm, Bone Dry by Eddie Jones