May Sinclair, PhD Interview!

Here's an interview with May Sinclair, PhD! View my review of her book In the Between here.

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Q.  What inspired you to write a novel on reincarnation?

A.  I’ve been attracted to the concept of reincarnation for a long as I can remember.  Especially, after I read The Tibetan Book of the Dead, where the concept of getting to choose our parents is described.  It was all quite intriguing.  Then when I was invited to join a writers’ group and they were all writing fiction, I decided to put aside the non-fiction book I was then working on for a while to write a metaphysical fantasy.  Of course, I also used prior research from other books I’d written, and my personal experiences, along with my imagination, to develop the story. 

Q. What made you decide on those specific places and time periods?

A.  Conversations with various people over the years suggested some places and periods of time that fit into the overall story.  My husband and I used to sit in our kitchen enjoying ourselves as we made up past-life stories about the two of us and people we know. 
My real sister, just like my sister in the book, believed she was buried alive in Egypt and she told me that was why she was claustrophobic.  One of my dearest friends told me she felt she lived in Greece and could picture herself looking out from a set of wide steps to view a columned Greek temple.

Q.  How did you come up with the character of Starry and her traits?

A.  Now that is both psychological and metaphysical.  Psychologically, I, like most people, hear voices in my head that tell me what I “should” do.  Things like: hurry up, you can’t have fun until the work is done, you won’t succeed unless you to this or that.  Those voices come from the pieces of me that I developed throughout my life to cope with it.
 The core of metaphysics indicates there is more to us than our five senses: hearing, speaking, seeing, smelling, and touching, while many religions and philosophies teach that a soul is placed within a physical body to learn—to increase consciousness. 
The Starry character is a creation from those parts of my concept of soul that is both a goad to cope and to evolve consciousness.  She is a blend of instincts that are often automatic and self-protective along with the sense there is something greater than can be comprehended with only five senses alone.  Starry is joyous.  She knows life is infinite and if one choice doesn’t turn out well, there are many more opportunities to choose from again and again.  Still, Starry’s character flaw is that she’s not using the emotional element in the best way to feel compassion and to cooperate with her physical aspect to grow more easily.  Her detachment is necessary yet stressful for evolution of the complete soul.

Q.  Who do you think you were in a prior life?

A.  At one point my life, I experimented with Past-life regression.  Of course, all of it could be from my imagination, but I saw myself during one of the regressions with other young women in the Ambassador’s wing of the palace of Versailles.  I used that as a basis for the parts of the book that took place in Spain, England, France, and the Netherlands.  In another of those regressions I saw myself in a harem where a man (my real husband in this life) was mutilated for some misdeed that could have been attributed to me.  That was a terrible experience and I remember telling my husband after I came out of the trace state that it wasn’t my fault.  He looked at me as though I was nuts and then we laughed about it.

Q.  How much research did it take to write as true to the time periods as possible?

  

A.  The amount of time was lessened because I was able to use my prior research about the sacred marriage rites from Mesopotamia, the medical practices used to produce a son in ancient Greece, and how the throne mysticism of the Kabalah affected temple worship in Jerusalem from another non-fiction book I wrote many years ago: Infamous Eve, A History.

The second book in this series, The Beginning Begins, continues the progression of the soul (two souls rather than one), but it also weaves into the story the mystery surrounding the scrolls that were hidden, along with the Urim and Thummim that were said to be used to get answers to questions from God—by Salome Alexandra in Jerusalem—in this book.
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Thanks to May Sinclair for answering all my questions! The link to my review of her book is posted above. It's an amazing book and it's an interesting concept so please go check it out!

 

Interview with Hilari Bell :D

1) Did you try and express a hidden meaning with TICKSTER'S GIRL? If so, why?


Not really a "hidden meaning" in Trickster's Girl, but I am trying to pull off kind of a subtle "mirror" theme thing in the two books. In Trickster's Girl, what Kelsa needs to learn is to let go: of the quest, of her grief for her father, her anger with her mother...she needs to learn to stop trying to control all of life and let it happen, sometimes. Jase, in Traitor's Son, needs to learn to take control, and to take responsibility for himself, and for the parts of his world that he can effect--which includes the quest. So they're both doing the same thing, but overcoming opposite weaknesses to do it.

2) How many books can your readers expect after this one?

The only two books in this series will be Trickster's Girl and Traitor's son--which leaves me kind of baffled what to call it. Can you have a two book "series"? A duology?

3) What made you think of placing your story in the year 2098?

The exact year, 2098, has no special meaning. I just wanted it to be far enough in the future to be a bit different, but not so far that too much would have changed. Because if I let it be too far in the future, with too much change, then the story becomes, at least in part, about the future--and I wanted this story to be more about Kelsa and Raven.

4) How did you come up with the different technological advances? (e.g. compods, levcars, etc...)

To come up with the tech, I just took some of the things I know are happening now and pushed them a little--we almost have com pods now, really. As for the lev cars, I knew I needed to do something to update our transportation, and since they have maglev trains...why not? It's not really a high tech story...although, in the next book Jase drives an "antique" mark 14 Tesla--an incredibly cool car!

5) Which character's personality did you think was easier to write? Kelsa's or Raven's? Why?

Both Kelsa and Raven came alive for me well enough that I didn't really have trouble writing either of them, though I'd say Kelsa was probably the easier of the two. Raven's got some...inhuman edges that were a little harder to bring off. He's not always a "nice" person. In fact, in many ways he's an untrustworthy so-and-so! And that is a bit harder to write.

6) Can we have insight on your writing schedule?

I write a book a year. I prewrite, figuing out my characters and plot and taking tons of notes, doing research etc. in the fall. I write the first draft in January, February, and sometimes into March. I take at least two weeks off, sometimes three or four, and then do the first rewrite, which takes a month. Then I turn it into my critique group and give them a couple of months to read it, while I try to get some distance from the story, so that when they tell me what's wrong with it I can see that they're right, instead of aruging! Then I think their suggestions over for a while, and rewrite again. Then I turn that draft in to my editor, who tells me what else is wrong with it. I think about her suggestions for a while, and then rewrite again, and send it back to her. Hopefully she then says it's wonderful (I can always hope for that) and gives it to the copy editor, who sends it back with all the punctuation and grammer corrected, and I either OK what she's marked or argue with her. Eventually after that I'll get an unbound ARC to read over to be sure there's nothing else that needs to be changed...and then my work is done! But you can see why it takes a year!

Thank you Hilari!

Be sure to check out TRICKSTER'S GIRL Coming out January 3rd 2011
~M.A.CHASE♥