Ryan Gutierrez’ debut novel, “Scars in Time: A Novel (The Nowhen Stories)” is about Brennan Ramirez, a man determined to change his wife’s traumatic past by going back in time.  As Brennan test drives The Machine, he begins to experience true power, true control, or so he thinks. With every trip, every choice, Brennan realizes that his newfound control may be an illusion. I found the book entertaining and enlightening so in an effort to get to know the author and his motivations for writing it, I recently asked him a series of questions.  Here is the first part of my author Q & A.

Sandra Cruz:  Was this a hard book to write or is this a story you have been thinking about for some time?
Ryan Gutierrez: “Scars in Time” was definitely a difficult story to write, but not necessarily in terms of creativity. The outline process took a few months and once that was complete, the first draft went quite smoothly. The most difficult part about writing “Scars” was the real life scars I was picking at, pun most definitely intended. There are real life events, real trauma, that I exaggerated and fictionalized for the story.

SC:  How much research did you have to do into the topic of time traveling?
RG: Honestly, not too much. I’m a huge sci-fi geek, so in a way I’ve been researching for this my whole life. I think my biggest time-travel related influence for this story is 11/22/63 by the great Stephen King. 11/22/63 starts as a bigger-than-life journey, stop the JFK assassination, but it becomes this personal story of love and growth. That aspect definitely influenced me.

SC:  Some authors base their characters on people they know, was this the case with Brennan? Is it in any way autobiographical?
RG: It definitely is. I’m not Brennan, but there are parts of Brennan that are definitely from me. The PTSD and feelings of powerlessness stemming from his time in CPS were a reflection of my own. The panic disorder symptoms in the book are basically a walkthrough of the panic attacks that I faced in my life. Brennan is the most like a real person, but there are elements of Deidre taken from my wife, elements of Abby taken from both my daughters, elements of James taken from my brother, and so forth.

SC:  Do you consider Brennan a hero/superhero?
RG: No, I don’t. The thing with Brennan is that HE thinks he’s the hero. He wants to be Batman or Superman, but the more power he gets, the closer he is to playing the role of tragic villain. I think that when Brennan realizes he’s not a superhero, he notices the heroic characteristics of those around him. Abby’s immutable joy and unique perspective, Deidre’s resilience and strength, or James’ ability to look to tomorrow. He has to learn from them in order to take his final heroic turn.

SC:  As someone who suffers from panic attacks, I sympathize with Brennan as he suffers through his. His experiences are hauntingly realistic. Is this your way of reaching out to those in similar situations?
RG: Yes, definitely. Brennan’s panic attacks are realistic because they’re based on the real attacks I suffered. I wanted people who have suffered with them to be able to relate to a character who is flawed and doesn’t overcome them by just having some feel good mantra or attitude. By the end, Brennan knows this may be a lifelong struggle, but he knows there is hope in that struggle. As for people who have never suffered from them, I wanted them to get a little peek into them, a way for them to better understand their loved ones who do have those struggles.