People Spotlight
Literature
LOCAL AUTHORS RELEASE
Young Adult Sci-Fi Novel by Patrick Patton
J
on McConnell graduated from Atascadero High School in 2000, and Dayna McConnell graduated from Morro Bay High School in 2005. Each ended up working at Mervyn’s Department Store, Dayna in the shoe department, and John in the men’s department. Little did they know that they would be married with two kids less than a decade later, and both published authors of a YA scifi novel. “We were just friends at first,” Dayna said, “truly just really good friends,” Dayna said that their friendship lasted for about 2-3 years before it became something more special. They are now in their sixth year of marriage with two young children and both teachers living in Orcutt. Dayna teaches 3rd grade, and Jon teaches high school.
“There’s a bit of an ‘opposites’ thing hapThe idea for The Time Trials was something pening,” said Dayna. “He’s just a more fun that the couple had talked about and slowly person than I am! Jon is really good with the developed over the years. plot and the world-building, and I tend to be better with the more poignant aspects and “The spark that started it was the idea of character development.” competitive teams that travel back in time and accomplish certain tasks,” Jon shared. As far as the actual process goes, Dayna shared that she would write the more emoJon described writing until he came to a tional scenes while Jon would write more of point where he felt stuck, at which point Day- the action scenes, but when it came to the na sat down and decided to give it a shot. scenes with the actual time trials, the couple spent hours upon hours researching and de“It happened kind of naturally,” Jon ex- veloping those chapters together. plained. Jon and Dayna described the book as a PG“The experience of having a co-author was 13 YA sci-fi novel intended for teens, though really valuable for me,” Dayna shared. many adults would probably enjoy it. It is chock full of nineties throwbacks, heavy on “Yeah, it could have been a disaster,” said teen angst, and has a YA relationship aspect. Jon, “but it worked out really well.” “It’s not hard sci-fi,” Dayna said, “so it’s Jon explained that there were some really meant for teens and those who have never great benefits to writing with your partner, read sci-fi before.” including how fun it is to bounce ideas off of someone else who knows the story. For The story revolves around protagonist Finn most writers, crafting a novel is a notoriously Mallory, a boy who arrives to the Time Trials on scholarship. He’s dealing with the trauma solitary and isolating process. of losing his parents and ends up at this high“You also have someone to write for,” Jon end school, feeling like an outsider in a world said. “Instead of trying to write for an au- of elites, clinging to the image of his parents, dience, I found myself thinking, ‘oh, Dayna’s who were musicians and deeply involved in the 90’s grunge scene. really gonna like this.” 16 | centralcoastjournal.com
“Finn is a bit stuck in the past,” Jon said, “which is one of the major themes of the story.” “The major themes we deal with are redemption, classism, and found family,” Dayna added. The two are already finished with the second installment of the series, which is due out in July 2022. They expect there will be four books in this series. Make sure to pick up your copy of The Time Trials by Jon McConnell and Dayna McConnell, released in September. For more information on the authors and their work, visit mcconnellwriting.com.
