A wedding, a run and a knot-filled tree: How a book idea was born

ASHEBORO — Janet Imrick has always enjoyed reading fantasies and mysteries. Now she’s the author of a book described as urban fantasy/horror.

“I’ve always liked fantasy,” she said. “In fourth grade, I read ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardroom’ from ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ by C.S. Lewis. I liked Nancy Drew and other kid detective stories.

“I grew up in Burlington and then Asheboro, old textile towns with smokestacks and train depots. I wondered what could be hiding in those old buildings.”

Imrick said she was working as a news producer at Fox8 in High Point, “writing about criminals, politicians and celebrities.” When she left, she told her co-workers that “I’m writing nothing but magic, fairy tales and happy endings.”

Imrick’s first novel, “The Screaming Tree,” came off the press this month and can be ordered at Amazon, either in paperback or on Kindle. It’s the result of several years’ work and consulting with other writers and publishers.

Imrick, now in public relations at UNC-G and a parttime writer for the Randolph Hub, is using the pen name Claire Merrick. She explained why: “People have trouble with Imrick and Merrick is close.” As for Claire, that’s the name of a woman in France who helped Imrick find a place to stay during an overseas trip.

The idea for “The Screaming Tree” came about when a friend was getting married and wanted Imrick in her wedding party. 

“I needed to lose weight for the wedding and started running,” she said. “I was running one day and saw a tree with a face” formed by knotholes. “I started writing the story.”

Incidentally, the inspirational tree is on the site of the future Jarrell Center City Garden on Cox Street. It’s marked with a pink ribbon to let workers know it’s to be saved.

“I started really writing during COVID at home, sitting alone in an apartment,” Imrick said. “I started writing fantasy stories.”

So what’s “The Screaming Tree” about? Imrick gives a brief outline of the book.

“Bea is the protagonist who is the new girl in Verity,” a fictional town in Tennessee. There’s an old, gnarled tree in the center of town with knothole faces on either side, one facing east and the other looking west. The two sides have been feuding for many years and the townspeople placate them by keeping their rules: One set of rules for the east side, which had only red houses, and another set for the west side, with just green houses.

The last rule said, “No matter how loud, no matter how sudden, never investigate the Screaming.”

Bea’s home was green, just west of the infamous tree. Once during a storm, a mage, or magician, from the red east side asked Bea for shelter in her home while he recuperated from injuries. Her fear was that the green side would discover the red mage in her closet.

Bea, a 13-year-old, begins digging into the mystery of the screaming tree and, with newly found friends, begins to learn the secrets.

“The Screaming Tree” is the first book of a two-part series. Imrick is currently working on the second book.

With her first manuscript completed, the obvious question was, “Is it possible to get it published? I started looking up fantasy conventions. I found FantaSci in Durham.”

She went to FantaSci on a weekend in 2023 and was advised to return the next year on a Thursday. So Imrick went back to FantaSci on Thursday in 2024 and found other authors to be “super friendly.” One of them, Kevin Ikenberry, pointed out two editors and challenged her to send them her manuscript within 10 days. 

Imrick did as he said and both editors responded. One of them, Michael Morton, sent her a critique and things to work on. After the work on the manuscript was completed, Morton recommended Cannon Publishing, which deals in military and fantasy books. From there, the manuscript went to Selene Publishing and “The Screaming Tree” was that company’s third book.

“It’s indie publishing and we do a split of the revenues,” Imrick said.

“Other authors have been very supportive and want to help you get into publishing books,” she said. “I’m learning how to market myself through social media and conventions.”

A couple of weekends ago, Imrick traveled to Chattanooga, TN, where her books were sent for her to pick up. While there, she was able to greet readers and sell her novel.

Prior to “The Screaming Tree,” Imrick had a short story published in an anthology called “Fae Wars: More Tales from the Occupation.” Her story is called “House Built on Sand.”

Her book can be found on Amazon under Claire Merrick. She has a website: www.clairemerrickwriter.com. She’s also on Facebook under “Claire Merrick writes fantasy."