Q. The Promised World is told from several different narrative perspectives. Why not choose to use one characters voice? Do you find it easier or more difficult to use multiple points-of-view?
A. My first two novels were written in first person, from one point of view. There’s a certain intimacy you gain from writing that way, but of course you lose the chance to hear how the other characters view the story. Using multiple points-of-view is easier from a plot perspective, but much harder when it comes to voice, especially if the characters are very different, as they are in The Promised World. Ashley, Billy’s wife, sounds nothing like Patrick, Lily’s husband, who in turn sounds nothing like eight-year-old William. They all have unique ways of viewing the world, and unique ways of talking about it.
Q. List 3-5 characters from The Promised World and do word associations for them.
I’m not sure if I fully understand this question, but it’s fascinating, so here goes.
Lila: kind, secretive, confused, asleep, alone, heartbroken
William: young, funny, peanut butter cups, tree house, brave
Ashley: poem, love, grief, quilt, the “air people queen”
Q. If you were an interviewer, what question would you ask yourself? What's the answer to the question?
Q: All of your books have children as major characters. Why do you write so much about kids?
A: This is a question I keep asking myself—I’m still trying to answer it. I think it’s partly that I miss my son’s childhood, but also that I find children’s voices the easiest to write. In The Promised World, the chapters from the eight-year-old’s point of view went so much more quickly than any of the other chapters. Why this was true, I haven’t figured out yet. Maybe I’ll answer that in our next interview.
Q. What's next for you?
I’m working on another book, but I’m too superstitious to discuss it yet. I’m excited about it though. It’s great to be imagining new characters and learning about their lives. I love this stage.
Q&A (from an interview with The Eclectic Book Lover)
Q. What have you learned about yourself since you began to seriously pursue writing? How did that lesson apply to your process or experience of writing The Promised World?
A. I’ve learned that trying to control what I write is like trying to control what I dream—it can’t be done. Whenever I have tried, I’ve gotten massively blocked. So I have to give myself over to the process, even when it’s painful. Writing The Promised World was very painful at times. The characters had to face so many demons, and it was difficult to stay with them through it. I kept wishing I could protect them, though I knew that there wouldn’t be a novel if I had.
Q. Why did you decide to write about twins? Did you do research into relationships/connections between twins?
A. I always seem to write about the sibling bond—because my own brothers and sister were so important to me growing up. In The Promised World, I wanted to push it further by creating not only the twins Lila and Billy, whose secret history is the main mystery of the novel, but also William and Pearl, Billy’s children, who are at risk in the present time of the book. I did do some research into the connection between twins, as well as talking to friends who know about it first hand.
The Promised World
