War of Wings Author Q&A

 TANNER McELROY

Author of War of Wings

 

Raised in Dallas, Texas, by a devoted Christian mother and a father with a more broad view of religion, Tanner McElroy grew up knowing the significance of making his own decisions. While gaining a deep understanding of the Bible from his mother and a passion for epic stories from his father, he was able to combine the two for his saga, “War of Wings.” McElroy attended Texas Tech University with an academic scholarship from 2000 to 2005. There, he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and was awarded Male Student Athlete of the Year in 2005 for his accomplishments in the classroom and on the baseball field. In 2006, he packed up his bags and headed to the West Coast to study at Howard Fine Studio in Los Angeles where he gained much understanding of the depth of characters. It was there he realized “everyone justifies his/her own actions, even serial killers,” which defined Lucifer’s actions, conversations with God, and persuasiveness in his rebellion. McElroy is a member of the Screen Actors Guild as well as the Romance Writers of America and the Writers’ League of Texas. McElroy lives in Dallas, Texas. When he’s not writing stories, he spends time painting, acting, songwriting and playing his guitar.

Q&A with Tanner McElroy

Q: A former professional baseball player and actor, how did you end up writing a book?
A: Writing is very much a passion for me. And I was able to pursue that while playing baseball for the Texas Rangers, as odd as that may sound. Long bus trips and hotel stays provided lots of down time when I could write. It was studying at the Howard Fine Studios in Los Angeles where I learned how to add depth to characters realizing that “everyone justifies their own actions, even serial killers.” If this was true then Lucifer himself had to believe he was right or he would have never challenged God before the war in Heaven. Acting is something that I believe can really help writers gain a deeper understanding of their characters because you always have to know objectives in a scene as well as each character’s overall super-objective. I am by no means a good actor, but the lessons I learned studying it were priceless for this novel.

Q: Tell us about the years of research you did.
A: I was raised with a Christian mother who believes in spiritual warfare and greatly respects the Bible. From a young age I was exposed to verses and read the Bible in order to have my own opinion on religion. The fact my father was a little less serious made me really question everything. Before I started writing this novel I did quite a bit of work in order to understand the different views of the major religions on angels and their orders as well as the role of Satan or the devil. It was interesting to see some similarities as well as some major differences. Although, the novel stays true mostly to the Bible since I was raised Christian, I wanted to incorporate a few aspects of other religions as well and also take some creative license. I also used a major motivation for the rebellion of Lucifer that is in sync with one of the major works of all time, Paradise Lost. I really felt to not honor such an amazing piece of literature would have been a mistake.

Q: So is this a secular book or Christian book?
A: This book is secular. I wanted it to be secular for a reason. The message I wanted to send transcends religion and is much bigger than the trivial arguments that occur between the different religions.

Q: What is it that you hope readers take away from your book?
A: The epigraph of the novel is “Some see a hopeless end, while others see an endless hope.” I wrote this to inspire hope rather than a religious agenda. I am not fond of religion when it is used as a mask for segregation or hatred. The overall message is that it is never too late to turn things around and love can change lives as long as we hold on to hope and the positive pieces of each individual’s character.

Q: Which character do you relate the most to in the novel? In other words, which is based on you?
A: I like this question because I truly believe that anyone can write and we all have a story to tell. Everyone is the hero of his/her own story. I wrote this in third person limited in order to tell the story from two perspectives: the protagonist, which is Gabriel, and the antagonist, which is Lucifer. I have pieces of both of them inside me. The inner struggle I battled with my whole life was with the topic of science and reason vs. religion and faith. It has been very real with me and that comes out in both sides. The character of Michael is closely related to my own brother, Travis, as I drew on many situations from our relationship. He is my best friend and sometimes still I want to give him a giant neck hug, if you know what I mean. He is actually a partner with me on this book and helped come up with the idea of writing about the H fall of the angels occurred with a modern spin on it. I drew upon deeper into their souls and objectives. many past relationships in my life for different major characters in the novel, which allowed me to get deeper into their souls and objectives.

Q: Everything down to the numbers used in the book was very carefully thought out in your writing. Can you give us some insight into that?
A: Sure. The number of man is 5, the number of Lucifer is 6, and the number of God is 7. There are parts in the novel that directly use these numbers and others to foreshadow as well as show the different stances and transformations of characters. Like I have said before, I am a huge nerd and I always loved little secrets authors as well as directors and even video game makers throw in their work. They are known as “Easter Eggs” to us out there.

Q: What authors or works have inspired you the most?
A: I’d say the main author that really inspired me to do what I’ve done with this book is Tolkien with the Lord of the Rings series and The Hobbit. I have been obsessed with his world of Middle Earth since I was a little kid. I even originally drew a map of heaven that I was going to publish in the front of the book as kind of an ode to his map and guide to the reader, but decided that I would rather not limit the reader’s mind. We all have an image of what heaven is supposed to look like and I drew from John’s visions in the Bible as well as added many things I think would make up paradise, but I decided didn’t want to limit imaginations, especially since the bulk of the novel centers around The Great Mountain located in the middle but by no means everything. Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” I actually took it probably too far having imaginary friends as a kid. Doidee and Fravel were there names and I guess I loved to escape the reality of my world in order to travel to much more fascinating places, so I also loved Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey as well as Dante’s Paradiso, Purgatorio, and Inferno, which showed the many rings of Hell. There are so many amazing writers and novels it’s hard to say all of the ones that inspired me, but I can also say my favorite storytellers of modern day are John Grisham, Dan Brown and especially Dennis Lehane.

Q: Without spoilers of course, can you give us any sneak peek into book two of the series, “The Reign”?
A: Well, I can say that many of the major angels from the different classes become demons in charge of the seven infamous deadly sins after the fall, and some other unexpected heroes emerge without giving away too much. But honestly, I am just happy to be able to write, which is what I love to do. Hopefully, people will relate to the novel and we will have enough success to allow me to pursue writing full-time. I have many stories to tell in the queue. I really appreciate you inviting me here and taking the time to discuss War of Wings with me.