7 Questions from The Serrulata Saga Desk: Joel C. Flanagan-Grannemann

Pen Name: Joel C. Flanagan-Grannemann
Pronouns: he/him
Book Series/Latest Book Published: Servants of the Moon and Sun, Book 3: Fairy Court in Exile

Introduce your current favorite character – who are they and why do you prefer them above all others at the moment?

That would have to be Canin. He’s the half-Fairy, or Elenite, who appears in Book 1: Talia: Heir to the Fairy Realm. He has a love affair with one of the Fairies in Talia’s group, then leaves. He comes back in Book 2: Talia: On the Shore of the Sea, and has an important role to play there. Book 4 (the title of which has not yet been released), is about him returning to his home in the Exile Forest, and everything he has to face because of why he left. 
 
Canin was a character I created in high school. He was everything I wanted to be as a lonely, shy teenager: a wanderer with a secret. This version of him isn’t quite that, but he’s still my main point of view character. He gets to shoot bows, stand up to bullies, be a good husband and father, and become the leader he’s destined to be.

Who is harder to write – an interesting hero or an interesting villain?

Maybe it’s the real world intruding, but I’ve been having a real problem writing from inside the villain’s head for a while now. In Book 4, there are no real villains, just antagonists. The real villain is the outside Human world that hates the people of the Exile Forest, but still sees their community as a dumping ground for their inconvenient children (mostly girls and half-Fairies, who are known as Elenites). It’s also hard to write heroes who have flaws, but not too many of them. It’s a fine line to walk. 

You’re trapped in an elevator with your main character. What are you discussing?

Where did he get that cool bow from?

What is the most challenging aspect of writing for you? How do you conquer it?

My wife and editor would say grammar and spelling, but that’s job security for her. For me, it’s worrying about the story part. Is it exciting or interesting enough? Does anyone really care about these characters just walking around a forest talking, and not fighting their enemies? Book 4 is a lot of set up, and I hope people will stick around to meet all these new characters and see where their adventures take them. 

If you could write a cross-over with another book/series, what would it be and why? (Or, if cross-overs don’t interest you, why?)

I might like to write a crossover with an “Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table” story. I’d focus on the Humans and the rise of a hero to defeat the evil Fairies.

In your opinion, what is the purpose of storytelling?

First of all, stories are meant to entertain. Then, they also have the ability to showcase our current problems, but through the lens of fantasy, so they’re a little easier to swallow and to understand. There’s also an element of wish fulfillment. I want to write about things I find cool: magic, archery, running through the forest, good triumphing over evil and cruelty. I want to write a better world than the one we have, and hopefully inspire others to work toward making ours better. 

Ok, last but not least… Tell us a bit about what made you want to become a writer and why you write what you write.

I think I write because that’s who I am. In the years between when I stopped writing after college and when I resumed in September 2019, I felt something missing from my life, but I didn’t know what it was until I began writing again. That creative part of myself that I had denied for so long was a vital part of my spirit. To let it out again, to free that part of me, made me whole again. Now I write to free the stories trapped inside my skull. I want to let those characters out to play and see where they’ll go. 

Here's where to find Joel:

Website: www.servantsofthemoonandsun.com
Twitter: @ServantsAnd
Bluesky: @servantand.bsky.social

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