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Serina Hartwell

Goodreads Author

Born

West Yorkshire, The United Kingdom

Website

http://www.serinahartwell.com/

Twitter

SerinaHartwell

Genre

Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance

Influences

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog... ...more

Member Since

January 2013

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Did you ever have an itch you couldn’t scratch, a feeling that you’re supposed to be doing something else, something bigger with your life? Something that would touch the souls of the rest of mankind and justify your place amongst our fellow men, but you just couldn’t put your finger on what? Well Serina Hartwell spent the best part of 40 years looking for the answer and low and behold, she finished up back where she started, with writing. She sometimes questions why she didn’t just turn in the opposite direction, it would have led her there straight away, but her path led her away from writing when she was just a teenager, because of a lacked of confidence to pursue her dream. Reminiscing one day, the thought occurred to her that if she ha Did you ever have an itch you couldn’t scratch, a feeling that you’re supposed to be doing something else, something bigger with your life? Something that would touch the souls of the rest of mankind and justify your place amongst our fellow men, but you just couldn’t put your finger on what? Well Serina Hartwell spent the best part of 40 years looking for the answer and low and behold, she finished up back where she started, with writing. She sometimes questions why she didn’t just turn in the opposite direction, it would have led her there straight away, but her path led her away from writing when she was just a teenager, because of a lacked of confidence to pursue her dream. Reminiscing one day, the thought occurred to her that if she had found writing back then, she wouldn’t have taken the journeys that led her to write The Hidden Saga.

Her name is Serina Hartwell. She is the mother of two wonderful children, who grew up when she blinked. She is from an average size town in West Yorkshire, England; the same place the Bronte sisters were born, and is from the village in the mill town she wrote about.

Growing up in an industrial town, and coming from a working class background, Serina Hartwell was surrounded by the mills, which were once the life blood of the community. Decrepit and falling into disrepair, they shadowed the place where she lived, serving as a reminder that her town once thrived. She watched as one by one, the mills went out of business and closed, serving to inspire her story, while changing the landscape around her.

Her mother worked in the mills when she was a child. She recalled every night, her father taking her brother and her to the mill to collect their mother and walking home over the lonely beck-side. These trips along the shortcut are embedded throughout Hidden, as her childish imagination finally materialised on the page.

It was only recently that she found her way back to writing. ‘It’s funny how life has a way of bringing you full circle. Today I have the beginnings of something big within my grasp,’ she was quoted as saying.

Follow her journey to becoming an established author. Step into her world and let her take you on a journey...

You can find out more about Serina Hartwell @ http://www.serinahartwell.com/ and http://serinahartwell.info/
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Popular Answered Questions

Who is your favorite fictional couple, and why?

Serina Hartwell My favourite fictional couple have to be Romeo and Juliet.

Love is the most powerful emotion of them all. It can elevate you to heaven or cut you down…moreMy favourite fictional couple have to be Romeo and Juliet.

Love is the most powerful emotion of them all. It can elevate you to heaven or cut you down and keeping you living in your own personal hell. Other emotions are promoted or demoted by love. Romeo and Juliet broke all the rules to be together. They denied their parent's their wish to keep the two families apart and instead brought them together through tragedy. This couple made the ultimate sacrifice to be together and that is something that I found moving and has always stayed with me.(less)

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When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? Where do the your ideas come from? What is the hardest thing about writing? Do you read much and if so who are your favourite authors.

Serina Hartwell That's quite a list. Let's work through it, Saiprasad.

It never occurred to me to write until I became really sick. I made a full recovery, but it mad…moreThat's quite a list. Let's work through it, Saiprasad.

It never occurred to me to write until I became really sick. I made a full recovery, but it made me question what I was doing with my life. I wasn't happy at work and I had a missing piece from my life. Something that I just couldn't ever put my finger on. I'd been looking for it for 38 years and had changed jobs and careers many times in order to find it.

They always say that if you never put a racket in a child's hands then you may never find out that they were the next champion tennis player. This was the same instance for me. I had an old computer, but it was sat in an awkward place. Somewhere where I had to sit on the arm of the couch to use it. I didn't have a desk and sitting at the kitchen table with the computer was out of the question. I woke one day having just had a quite prolific dream, which left me with the overwhelming feeling that I should write. I'd just finished reading everything that Stephenie Meyer wrote and had run out of her work, leaving me hungry for something else to read, but she wasn't writing, because she was concentrating on her films. The thought occurred to me that I should write something of my own, so I borrowed my daughter's reconditioned second hand laptop and headed down to the bottom of the garden.

On that first day, I wrote the first chapter of Hidden. On the second day, I wrote the second chapter and I just kept on going. I knew immediately that I'd found the thing that was missing from my life and I haven't stopped writing everyday or doing something towards the writing since. That day was in August 2010. It turns out that I was born to be a writer. The realisation opened my life up in ways I cannot measure and I am so grateful that I finally found it.

I gain my ideas from all sorts of places. Life experience, watching people interact, I am a sucker for a documentary, so this inspires a lot for me, but I mainly take inspiration from random things that occur around me. That keeps the writing more interesting.

The hardest thing about writing is getting the work out there. As an author, my work is competing with the work of millions of other writers and it's really hard to stand out. Finding my work is like finding a needle in a haystack, so I spend more time promoting than writing these days. It's an unhealthy balance, but a necessary one, and one that I have to accept until my work is more widely known. It is a heavy burden that takes a lot of creative energy away from the writing and that's what I find hard.

I go through bouts of reading loads and then not reading at all. While I'm writing, I tend not to read, purely because I don't have time and don't want to be distracted by other people's work. Reading is always something I associated with my dad and my daughter. My dad was rarely seen without a book in his hand and his granddaughter has definitely followed in his footsteps. I never thought of myself as a reader, but I have always been one, when I think about it. When I look back to being a child, I spent all my time in the school library. I read constantly, and even went to the public library after school to do my homework. I used to walk home from school reading books and never once fell over or bumped into anyone. It's only when I thought back to these early days, I could see that it was always there. Always a part of my life.

Choosing my favourite authors is a difficult one. Having to choose between them is like choosing between your children. I would have to go with the ones who have inspired my work the most, I suppose. Stephenie Meyer taught me to create full characters. John Steinbeck taught me to be descriptive. Shakespeare taught me to be engaging and use hooks and create cliffhangers to leave your audience wanting more, while James Herbert taught me to get straight into the action. I would probably go with this list as my top favourites, not just because they influenced my writing, but because I enjoy reading their work too.

I hope I've covered all your questions there, Saiprasad. Thank you for asking them. (less)

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Serina Hartwell’s books

Average rating: 4.53 · 19 ratings · 8 reviews · 1 distinct work

Hidden

4.53 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 2014 — 8 editions

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Serina Hartwell's Blog

Hidden – Earth – With the Sun on Her Face and the Woods on the Horizon, Will Mrs Salvador’s Deep-seated Love for Bronte Be Able to Guide Her?

Find out more in Hidden – The Hidden Saga – Book 1.

A life in turmoil, a dare gone wrong; will Bronte and Riley make it out of
the mill? What will unfold? Is the family secret going to change Bronte’s life
forever or will she be able to maintain the status quo?

With humble beginnings, this epic fantasy will take you down an
ever-darkening path into a world of mystery and intrigue where secrets are

Serina is Currently Reading

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Morium

by S.J. Hermann (Goodreads Author)

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Apr 21, 2018 12:18PM

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Sin City Meat Locker: What Happens In Vegas...

by Jordon Sagel (Goodreads Author)

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The Damaged

by Simon Law (Goodreads Author)

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Nov 10, 2015 08:14AM

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Quotes by Serina Hartwell (?)

“We nurture our creativity when we release our inner child. Let it run and roam free. It will take you on a brighter journey.”
― Serina Hartwell

tags: creativity, free, freedom, inner-child, journey, nurture, roam

43 likes

“Life is made of connections. Who knows why fate throws things in our direction, but one thing's for sure, new things are there to offer value to our lives and teach us something new about ourselves. It's what makes life exciting.”
― Serina Hartwell

tags: connections, direction, excitement, experience, fate, karma, learn, life, new, value, why

13 likes

“When its back's against the wall, even positivity will come out fighting!”
― Serina Hartwell

tags: cornered, fight, fighting, positivity, second-wind, strength, wall, winning

5 likes

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