THE CHRONICLE recently interviewed the internationally-acclaimed author and film-maker, Gareth Crocker, who also happens to be a Glenvista resident.
Gareth shared some recent updates of his work, and he sure is making international waves.
Getting to know Gareth
Gareth (44) was born in Glenanda on December 10, 1974. He lived there for the first half of his life before moving to Glenvista with his wife, Kerry, two daughters, Jennifer and Jordann and numerous dogs and cats. Gareth said that, with the possible exception of Los Angeles in the US, there is no other place he’d rather live.
A family man at heart, if he isn’t working, he loves nothing more than spending time with his girls and maybe playing a game of football. He’s a self-confessed soccer nut.
Gareth has been writing since he was nine years old. He used to sell poems to his male classmates who wanted to woo the girls. As an adult, he started out as a humble community-news journalist, moved into freelance writing and PR before becoming a spokesperson for a major company.
He eventually got fed up with the politics that inevitably came with representing a major business in the media, and decided to resign to pursue his dream of writing novels full time and producing films and TV shows. It’s been a tense and challenging road, but Gareth said he loved every minute of it.
Impressive achievements
Gareth’s pet peeve when it comes to novels, films or TV shows, is when the creators rely too heavily on formulas, giving the work a boring and predictable trajectory. “This is the case with so many action and romance movies, or pop music,” he said. “While it’s enjoyable enough in the short term for many people, these products quickly lose their impact and have no longevity.”
When it comes to getting inspiration for his stories, Gareth never knows when an idea will enter his mind, as it often pops up unexpectedly like little “thought nuggets”, as he describes it.
Gareth said he would sometimes just go about his daily life when, out of nowhere, an interesting idea enters his mind. He then builds around this idea continuously, until he has created an entire story out of it. He says it is also very important that he adds emotion to these ideas, to breathe life and personality into the story. “If you don’t care about the people in your story, it won’t resonate with an audience,” he said. “Emotion is everything.”
Gareth has released his seventh novel, My Name is Finn Jupiter, this month, presently only available online, but should be released as a trade paperback in the days ahead.
A quick summary of this new book:
Finn Jupiter lives in the idyllic mountain town of Victory, Colorado. She’s a smart, daring and fiercely independent young woman. She also has a gift for seeing the small things that others can’t – connecting lines that, for most, don’t exist.
While happy to live out a quiet life, hiking and climbing in The Rockies, fate has other plans for Finn. Victory is about to become ground zero for one of the most shocking disasters in US history. And, when her father goes missing, a victim of the catastrophe, Finn is forced to make an extraordinary decision. A decision that will question everything she knows about herself and about what she is truly capable of.
Gareth’s previous novels are Finding Jack, Journey from Darkness, Never Let Go, King, The Last Road Trip and Ka-Boom. All in all, Gareth has signed 30 international publishing deals with some of the world’s best-known publishers, including Penguin Random House and MacMillan (New York).
His novel Finding Jack is being made into a film in Hollywood.
In his own life, Gareth and his TV studio, Motion Story, have made several strides into film and television production. They have already made a film called Taken (nope, not the one with Liam Neeson), the world’s first African superhero TV series, Jongo. In March will be releasing a major international action series, Shadow, to run in 189 countries. Presently, Gareth is in the process of writing and producing a supernatural-thriller television series, Dead Places.
When it comes to his legacy, Gareth hopes to not only be remembered as someone who was deeply devoted to his family, but also as someone who moved people with his stories both on the page and on the screen.
Stay tuned: More stuff coming soon
Besides his various television shows, Gareth plans to return to his novels soon.
He’s confirmed that he’ll start working on a follow-up book in the Finn Jupiter series later this year, after which he will perhaps expand on an exciting idea he’s had for a new adventure novel.
Be sure to check out Gareth’s work – give it a Google. His older novels can be bought on all major online stores or bookstores internationally. You can also check out his website, www.garethcrocker.com
