We caught up with the brilliant and insightful H. G. Shuler a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
H. G., appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
Once in high school my English teacher took me outside into the hallway. I actually thought I was in some kind of trouble. The teacher was nice, but the blunt, straight forward type, using very few words. She told me I was too good for her class. As part of an assignment, we had been asked to write a story. Without knowing it I had impressed the teacher with my writing abilities. She took me to another classroom. It was a creative writing class for talented students. I hated the class, didn’t want to be there, not because of the creative writing, but because of being with a group of students I wasn’t familiar with. I started skipping the class. The teacher recognized what was going on. She caught up with me and had me do my work in the library. For other reasons, later on, I ended up quitting school. Years later I finished my schooling by homeschool. Because of all of this I was never afforded an opportunity to go to college. Not going to college held me back. Still, I constantly found myself drawn back to writing. I couldn’t stay away from it. I began writing some poetry and short stories. I also began writing children’s stories. After many years of practicing my art through short stories I decided to try my first novel. I am now writing my eighth novel. I would say the skill I think is most important is use of imagination. Study other great writers work, see how they do it. Education is the biggest obstacle. If you don’t the opportunity, find other ways.
H. G., before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I was born in Douglasville Georgia but raised in Cobb County Ga. in the small town of Austell. When I was just a boy, we didn’t own a TV. We would sit around and tell stories. My mom says I was the one who did all the story telling. I was only about four years old at the time. That was my start as a storyteller. For the past twenty-five years my wife and I have lived in the North Georgia mountain town of Ellijay. I broke into the writing industry by self-publishing. My work can be found or ordered through most bookstores including Barns & Nobles. My work can also be purchased through Amazon or my website hgshuler.com. My books have sold in the United States, Germany, and Australia. They are available earth wide. The books I’m most proud of Are my first book, “The Monsters of Mary Percy,” and my seventh book just released, “Man Seeking Life.” The reason is subject matter. The Monsters of Mary Percy deals with child cruelty which was important to me. Man Seeking Life deals with anaphylaxis shock, a subject many know little about.
I write in different genres, including a science fiction trilogy series called “Earth Chronicles.” Book one is “The Fifth Pinnacle”. Book two is “The Blue Woman. Book three is “Traces of Caledonia.” My work is known for its strong characters, easy to follow story line, tenseness, and action.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
For me it’s what it does for my heart and mind. My first book delt with child cruelty and unexpected traumatic events that come upon children. I had a difficult upbringing, being exposed to these kinds of things. In the book I don’t use the exact same things I went through, but they were similar. Using the creative process to talk about things that you might not otherwise be able to discuss can do you a world of good. And during the creation of this work, you might just discover that you are at your absolute best. I would encourage any new writer to write about a subject that is important to them, at least the first book. Drawing on those emotions will not only be soothing to you, but they will also produce your best work.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I was at a seminar for beginner writers. There were several well-known writers we would listen to and get to ask questions of. It was exciting and I learned a lot about the industry. My wife had signed me up with a one-on-one with one of the established writers. She had taught one of the classes. She would be critiquing my work. She had one of my short stories. I arrived at her office and had to wait while she spent time with another new writer like me. I don’t think she realized that I could hear her. She was being unprofessional, using my story to show this other writer what not to do. She was discussing mystery writing. My story was not a mystery story. When I finally got to sit down with her, I was dejected. She didn’t have much good to say about my work, other than my word choice and structure were good. And that I had a way of making everything clear. I was so down that I didn’t even tell her my short story was not supposed to be a mystery. When I walked away from her office that day something was churning inside me. I worked harder than ever at my craft. That story she didn’t think too much of ended up being the first two chapters in my first published book.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hgshuler.com
- Instagram: hgshulerauthor
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BooksbyHG/
- Linkedin: Harold Shulerr
- Youtube: Harold Shuler