J. J. Westerman Starts to Write Chronicles of The Catalyst

I have recently started writing my first novel, The Catalyst - In Search of the Armis Trinity. It's an unusual time for not just the UK but the world, corona virus or Covid-19 had stopped the world from turning and I found myself, like many others, working from home for the first time. I hadn’t had much paternity leave when my first child, Zachary, was born in the previous September, so to find myself able to spend more time with him was the brightest silver lining to the very dark cloud that enveloped the Earth. I was furloughed in the May and the more time I spent with him, the more and more I started thinking that I needed to leave a legacy.

My Inspiration

Something else amazing happened to my wife and I last year. Our close friends asked us to be Godparents (a first for us) to their eldest daughter, Freya. She is the most gorgeous, funny, sweet, immensely strong-willed little girl you could ever wish to meet. I haven’t had a chance to spend much time with her since my son was born and then lock-down hit and I miss her terribly. Then it came to me, like a bolt of lightning. She is my heroine and Zach her accomplice. They will go on the most amazing journey together as I hope they will in real life. I could have made Zach the lead but as strong female leads are under represented (although this is changing) in the fantasy genre and being a feminist at heart, I knew it had to be Freya.

I have always loved and respected the women in my life. They are so much stronger in so many ways than men. My view on feminism is to build up women to be equal to men but not at the expense of men's rights. Equality is exactly that, being equal not one being better than the other, men or women. I was brought up to greatly respect women and have learnt so much from my Mum, my grandmothers, my sister and my wonderful wife. She has taught me so much over the years and I would follow her anywhere, anytime. She is my life. So I knew the main character in my book had to be a girl. But a girl who wasn’t tainted by the trauma that life inevitably brings, so a youngish girl that still has much to learn but old enough to know her own mind. What better age than 16 for that! You think you know it all at that age but as you get older you realise you know very little at 35 let alone 16! So I thought it would be great for Freya to embark on a journey of self-discovery as well as a fantastical tale.

The Saga Begins:

I started my research and began thinking about what a good story is and what has inspired me throughout my life. The main things were fantasy and sci-fi. The real world can be cold, cruel and depressing. I wanted to create an escape to another place even for a few moments whilst reading a good book or watching a captivating film, to create an immersive world where readers can really picture themselves in and ultimately want to be part of this new universe.

I am thoroughly enjoying bringing these characters and Kerensia to life. I hope my work will be good enough for people to enjoy and let them escape to the Connected Worlds with Viscountess Freya Aherna Oaknorth and Master Zachary Falco.

Written by J. J. Westerman