Cascade Library Interview with Sherrylou

Interviews by Fans
Title:	Cascade Library Interview with Sherrylou
Interviewer:	Cascade Library
Interviewee:	Sherrylou
Date(s):	January 27, 2002
Medium:	online
Fandom(s):	The Sentinel
External Links:	interview is here, Archived version
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In 2002, Sherrylou was interviewed for Cascade Library.

Some Excerpts

I was a fan right from the beginning. My son and I (Oh, my! He was only 12 when the show premiered!) would watch it together. He'd watched it for the action, particularly the explosions, while I was in it for the unique relationship between the hard-nosed cop and the hippie-esque anthropology grad student.

...the idea to write a story was on a dare from my twin sister, Linda. I had tons of story ideas in my head, so the first story, Buried Memories, was fairly easy to write. I wrote it in about two weeks during December 1998. The hard part was actually clicking on "send." I think all writers share the same fears and insecurities about how a story is going to be received by the readers. Thankfully, the response was positive, which in turn encouraged me to write more stories. Looking back, however, I wished I had known about beta readers. I cringe at the mistakes that I made in those first few stories. LOL! I could probably use a beta reader right now for this interview! So, my advice to new writers is not to be afraid to ask for help. The Sentinel fandom has so many wonderful and talented people willing to lend a hand

I have two absolutely fabulous beta readers. CJ (Alberte) has been instrumental in the improvement of my writing. I can really see the difference in my later works. She encourages me to flesh out scenes, rewrite ones that aren't working (ugh!), and to mind my POV's. Lorri (Nickerbits) is my mechanics specialist. She checks for plot holes and has an eagle eye for those pesky typos and punctuations.

Well, writing with my sister, Linda, is quite easy. I think we've been telling stories to one another since the womb! Though Linda becoming a co-author happened quite by accident. As I progress with a story, I usually send what I have to her for insight. I was stuck when writing Silent Justice, and asked for help. I was just expecting some suggestions, but instead she sent me six pages, continuing where I had left off. The rest, as they say, is history. What's nice is that I think we balance out each other's writing. She's definitely Jim-centric in her view, whereas I like to focus on Blair. And Linda graciously gives me the freedom to oversee the story from start to finish and make whatever changes I think are necessary.

I stumbled onto fan fiction, and it was Sentinel fan fiction, quite by luck. When I moved to Maryland, I wanted to find out what station The Sentinel was playing on, so I ran a search on my computer for "The Sentinel." Wow! What a surprise at the sites that popped up. By the click of the mouse, I picked Kristine Williams' site, and I was in heaven. Soon I was off into other sites, eagerly devouring all the wonderful stories.... I love long, long dramatic or case-driven stories. And I'm particularly fond of stories that contain a lot of angst as long as they're not death stories (death stories of Jim or Blair). Give me a nail-biting, gut-wrenching, tear-spilling story any day! I guess that's why Donna Gentry is one of my favorite writers. Her talent for drawing the reader into the characters' lives is simply amazing.