{Character Interview} Elwyn "Derrin" Derringer of THE NATURE OF ENTANGLED HEARTS @theemmahartley #characterinterview

We’re thrilled to be talking to Elwyn “Derrin” Derringer from Emma Hartley’s novel, The Nature of Entangled Hearts.  It is a pleasure to have her with us today at Pimp That Character!

Thank you for your interview, Elwyn.  How old are you and what do you do for a living?

I am thirty-one years old and I’m a professor of ceramics at the College of Art in Portland, Maine.  I’ve been there for eight years.  I’m also a practicing artist.  You might have seen some of my work around in the local galleries.

Can you tell us about one of your most distinguishable features?

If you’re talking about physical features, I guess I’d go with my eyes.  My dad always said they were pretty.  They’re amber-brown with a dark ring around the iris.  I have nice eyelashes too.  If you are

wondering what distinguishes my personality from that of others, I’d say I’m just a tad sarcastic.

What would I love the most about you?

I’m a really good teacher.  Have you ever made anything out of clay?  If you haven’t, I could teach you.  It might be fun.  You’d get to see the creative side of me.  Clay is my happy place.

Where do you go when you are angry?

I go to the punk bar down the street.  It’s full of ill-tempered people, loud music, cheap beer, and I love it.  Being there always makes me feel better.

What is in your refrigerator right now?

Left over tom kha gai soup, a bottle of white wine, almond milk, fruit and yogurt.  The most important commodity in my food arsenal, however, is the coffee.  That, I keep in the freezer.

What is your most treasured possession?

My most treasured possession is probably the picture of me and my dad from the day I graduated from grad school.  He looks so happy.  I miss him.

What is your greatest fear?

I’m not really afraid of anything anymore.  After my experiences with James, after going through the most intense fear I had ever experienced, I understand that fear is destructive.  It doesn’t do us any good in the end.

What is the trait you most not like about yourself?

Whenever I’m nervous, I make stupid jokes.  It seems pretty non sequitur to the people I’m with, and it only makes matters worse.  I also tend to push people away when they get too close.  I guess that’s not the best approach to making relationships last, but I just can’t seem to help it.

What is your idea of a perfect day?

A perfect day for me would be sailing with James.  I love being out on the water with the wind tying my hair into knots and the sun on my face.  I feel completely free when I’m on the ocean, as though my body has found exactly what it needed all along. 

If you could change one physical thing about yourself, what would that be?

I am pretty clumsy.  I would change that about myself.  I watch graceful people sometimes and wonder how they do it.  They move through the world without hurting themselves at all.  It seems almost miraculous!

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Happy.  When I was a kid, I just wanted to be happy.  I never had that kid-like talent of capering with abandon.  I always felt weighed down, somehow.  I started making art to keep myself from being downright unhappy, but it only took me so far.  I always felt like something, or someone, was missing.  Then, I met James.  And the rest?  Well, read it for yourself!

About the Author

Emma Hartley is an author and artist living in picturesque Maine. She has been writing and making art since childhood and has been insatiably curious and industrious her whole life. Emma was a double major in English and Fine Arts and she received her Masters in Art and Design Education. She is a specialist in ceramics and includes much of this expertise in her novel The Nature of Entangled Hearts. Her other interests include playing drums, making art and exploring every square inch of the Maine coastline. The Nature of Entangled Hearts is her first novel.

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About the Book:

The Nature of Entangled Hearts is a fast-paced, edgy, romantic thriller, with a subtly supernatural twist.  Enter the story of Elwyn and James, two strangers entangled by their past-life experiences, who are mired in an unquantifiable present.  Throughout the novel they work to understand the bonds

that hold them together, just as an unforeseen danger threatens to tear them apart. 

                                                   

Elwyn “Derrin” Derringer is a ceramic artist and a professor at the local college of art in Portland, Maine.  She has always felt insecure and disconnected, unsure of how or why she fits into the world, seeking through her art to fill in the missing pieces of herself.  When Elwyn’s eyes lock on those of a stranger across the market, everything she has taken for granted as reality is thrown into question.  Understanding blooms in fits and starts, interrupted by her fears of attachment and eventually by the unwanted attentions of an obsessed and disturbed art student.

Throughout the novel, Elwyn discovers reservoirs of strength and independence as she faces these challenges, endearing the reader with her feisty nature and her fierce desires to create authentically, to love intensely and to transcend the destructive links to her past.  “The Nature of Entangled Hearts” takes us on a thrilling ride through past and present, through love and dread, through loss and reclamation, leaving us thankful that we don’t understand all the mysteries of the universe just yet, and reminding us never to take our lives - or our loves - for granted.

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