READER'S ROCK LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE VOL 2 ISSUE 4 NOVEMBER 2014 Volume 1 Issue 1 June-July 2013 | Page 32

The

DREAMS Series

JJ DiBennedeto

others . And that leads her into
textbooks ; and much more ,
solving a mystery , in the first
very easily . Equally , I ' ve never
book .
been arrested or in jail , so I had
to dig up information on what
Over the course of the four
that ' s like so I could describe
books , Sara deals with
what happens to Sara when she
murderers , mobsters , corrupt
finds herself in that situation .
politicians and her own demons .
There are also a hundred little
She also copes with medical
details : the menu at a particular
school , residency , marriage ,
restaurant , what day of the
kids and all the other everyday
week Christmas fell on in 1989 ,
problems of life . The series
and so forth .
provides a mix of suspense and
How did you start your
mystery , along with romance ,
Have any of your characters
writing career ? I ' ve always
and a lot of more mundane
been modeled after
been
issues that readers will be able
yourself ?
writing , at least since high school . But I wrote the first draft of what would become
“ Dream Student ” over a decade ago . I was thrilled to have finished a novel , but I didn ' t think it was good enough to try and get published , so it just sat on my computer . Years went by , and I finally got the inspiration to go back to it when a good friend got published , and I decided “ why can ' t I do it , too ?” I rewrote that first draft into something much better , and it turned from one book into a series of four ( so far ).
Tell us about your current book . It ' s four books ; I released the Dream series all at once . The books follow Sara
to relate to . I really think these books offer something for everyone .
Entice us , what future projects are you considering ?
Aside from book # 5 in the Dream series ,
I ' ve got several ideas I ' m playing with .
One is a “ Romancing the Stone ” style adventure / romance / comedy starring one of Sara ' s college friends . Another is a
science fiction retelling of the story of
Lady Jane Franklin ( she was the wife of th an 19 century British explorer who disappeared with his entire expedition in the Arctic . She spent the next 25 years searching for him , or at least proof of what exactly happened to him ).
Where do you research for your books ? The Internet is my friend ! I had to do quite a bit
Not exactly . The closest is Brian , Sara ' s boyfriend ( and later husband ). He ' s the kind of man I aspire to be . But many of the background characters , especially in
Dream Student , are modeled on people I actually knew in college ( Sara ' s school ,
“ Crewe University ” is basically my college , Case Western Reserve
University , with all the names changed ).
What are your hero and heroine of the story like ?
At heart , they ' re both good , hard- working , unselfish people . I think that ' s something that ' s kind of rare in a lot of stories today . We tend to celebrate people who make poor choices , who look out for themselves first , and so forth , and I didn ' t want to write about people like that . Sara and Brian pretty much always try to do the right thing .
They may make dumb mistakes from time to time , but their hearts are always in the right place .
Barnes , who thinks she ' s an
of research for the Dream
ordinary , average young
series . I ' ve never been to
Tell us about your next
woman … until the dreams start .
medical school , and honestly I
release . Book 5 in the Dream series
At first she doesn ' t know what
didn ' t know a thing about it
is tentatively titled “ Waking Dream ” and
to make of these new , strange dreams , but she soon realizes that they aren ' t her dreams at all – she ' s seeing the dreams of
before writing Dream Doctor .
But you can find memoirs of students and their experiences ; class schedules and syllabi ;
it ' ll be out this fall . In this book , Sara ' s going to face a new challenge – a rival dreamer who ' s got the same talent she does , and who ' s using that talent for evil rather than to help people .