Cheryl Robinson is back with a new trilogy sure to take readers on a journey. I recently spoke with her about the first novel in the series, Until Ray.
Tell me about your novel, Until Ray.
Until Ray is the first book of the trilogy and is set in the mid-eighties in Detroit, where I was born and raised. The book explores Ray and Sarita as a young couple as they transition into adulthood, find each other, and develop a bond that will be tested over the course of three decades.
Why did you decide to write it?
I want readers to know the background of the characters, so I am offering Until Ray as a free e-book that’s available at most online e-book retailers.
I wrote the second book of the trilogy first, before I realized I was writing a trilogy. As I was working on the second draft of the second book, I realized that there was too much backstory. Initially, I thought I would move the backstory into an eighty-page novella and offer it as a free e-book, but the characters came to life and told me things about their lives that I didn’t know. As a result, eighty pages grew into close to 400 pages.
What do you want readers to learn from the story?
I desire to take readers on a journey by introducing them to characters that they can grow with and feel as if they know. I want readers to recognize the flaws in each of the characters and watch what unfolds in their lives as a result of the choices they make, and then learn:
“No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.” – Maya Angelou
What do you want readers to learn from your life?
Every book that I’ve written, I had done so in search of a feeling. I cannot explain that feeling. I can just say it is the same one I had when I watched The Shawshank Redemption. I told myself if I can write a book and have that feeling then I would know I was on the right track. I would know that I was being true to myself. I have written nine books and never had that feeling, not until this trilogy. In my other books, I always put a little bit of myself or my life into them. However, in this trilogy, I allow the characters to tell their story. There are a few things that happened in the second book of the trilogy that when it was revealed to me I wanted to resist it. I was very tempted to change it because I could, but I didn’t because I don’t want to manipulate the outcome of this trilogy.
What’s next for Cheryl Robinson?
Book two of the trilogy will be released in January 2018, and then book three in June 2018.
Do you have anything you would like to add?
From now until the end of the year, I will be running monthly contests on my Facebook page www.facebook.com/untilraytrilogy and blog https://www.untilraytrilogy.com/blog
