Second Q & A With The Author (Part 1)

Q: Congratulations on the new book!

A: Thank you!

Q: I must say, I love the title: The Finality Of Fruitcake! So catchy! How did you come up with it, and is this some sort of cookbook? Ha-ha, just joking. But, how much does fruitcake play a role in this book?

A: Ha-ha, well, fruitcake actually is in one of the stories. Actually, this book is a work of short stories, and the title of one of them is The Finality Of Fruitcake, and so I used that title for the title of the book as well. I came up with that title in particular because of the overall theme of the story. I felt it was fitting, and I’m glad you like it. Hopefully all of the Readers out there will too!

Q: Most definitely! So you said this was a work of short stories? Is this your first collection of short stories?

A: It is. Until now I’ve only done illustrated works, but this book is both non-illustrated, and it features multiple stories.

Q: What is the process for writing a non-illustrated work? How is it different than writing an illustrated work?

A: Actually, the process in and of itself is the same for me. I still “see” the different scenes, scenarios, and/or situations in my mind, and “hear” whatever dialogue. Then, I just write the details of what I am experiencing in my mind. The main difference is that with a non-illustrated work, I don’t have to worry about describing the scene specifically for an illustrator.

Q: Does not having to describe a scene for an illustrator make things easier overall?

A: Not necessarily. It might save a bit of time because it is one less step, but I wouldn’t say it necessarily makes things easier.

Q: Talk to us about this newest book. What is it about, and how is it different from anything you’ve done so far?

A: Well, it is different than anything I’ve published so far in that it is not an illustrated work. It’s a collection of short stories, and they all have their own themes so it’s not so easy to say what the book as a whole is about in general. But, I would say that some of the common threads that can be found throughout each of the stories are: love, loss, relationships, longing for understanding, the quest for more, and grief.

Q: Wow, that seems pretty heavy. This is definitely a departure from the type of writing you’ve done before.

A: Ha-ha, I guess in a way. They are serious adult themes, and I tackle them from the perspective of an adult. Maybe that’s the way they are different from what I’ve published so far because I deal with it from a different perspective. It’s definitely a book by an adult which is for an adult audience.

Q: Interesting. It sounds to me like you’re saying—or hinting rather—that these are themes that aren’t new to your books, but you’re just going about revealing them in a different way? I’m interested to hear more about that, because I’m not so sure I can see some of these themes—grief, loss—in some of your previous books.

A: Well, alright, let’s look at grief. In my first two books, I think grief was a pretty central theme. In Sonam The Star we had a monk who is—in a way—grieving for the life he knew before he came to Earth. He talks about missing his family, and all of the wonderful things he used to be able to see and experience before coming to this planet. And that’s not to say that he makes this planet out to be some sort of hellacious experience, but when you read the story you see that he is very affected by the beauty and the joy that he knew before. That’s—essentially—grief. And in The Boy Who Dreamt Of Flying it’s approached in a bit of a different way, but our main character—the Little Boy—struggles with the day-to-day reality of no one understanding his ultimate dream. No one believes him, believes in him, or can help him. And he tries to reach out to adults in his life, but they just can’t grasp the concept that he presents to them, and so they take it and twist it into what they can understand…what they can make sense of. But none of that is the true essence of what he is trying to communicate to them. So in a sense, you see this little boy isolated, and very alone in a world who clearly has no way to conceive of reality the same way he can. That is a very sorrowful existence…and each time he tries to reach out to someone and has to—in the end—walk away from them, there’s a great disappointment that comes along with that. And it causes him great grief. You can look at loss in a similar manner. For Sonam, he’s basically lost his family and a whole way of life. For the Little Boy I feel like it’s so much sadder because there is so much loss there: a loss of opportunity, a loss of connection, a loss of community, a loss of understanding and acceptance—remember, he is not only ridiculed, but bullied because of his dream.

Q: Interesting. Tell me more, and then tell me more about grief and loss in your new book.

A: Well, in the stories in The Finality Of Fruitcake, it is a bit more direct. For example, we have characters that are either going through or have recently experienced break-ups, or the death of their significant other…so it’s very much more in-your-face. The person you’ve built your life with is suddenly gone. How do you build a new life? How do you start over again? How do you heal? How do you grieve—especially in a world and society that doesn’t fully understand or appreciate what it is to grieve to begin with? This is more of what it’s like for the stories in that book.

Q: How many stories are there, and do they all have to do with grief and loss?

A: There are six stories in the book. And no, they don’t all deal with grief and loss, but I’d say at least half of them do in some shape or form.

Q: And how was it for you to write about such dark subjects?

A: Again, I don’t feel as if it was anything new for me. Maybe I was being a bit more direct about the subject matter, but it definitely wasn’t anything completely alien to me.

Q: So it was easy?

A: Ha-ha, about as easy as it is to write any type of work!

Q: Okay, fair enough, but I guess what I’m getting at is—well, you know how you can write anything…I think many authors can…but there is one area, topic, or subject that is like…like your “element” you know? The one thing that you could write about with your eyes closed…you know? Would you say that The Finality Of Fruitcake was like that for you? Were you in your “element” so to speak? And—I might add—what is your “element”?

A: Well, like I said before, the actual process of the writing was no different than it has been for me before. I’m not sure about writing “with my eyes closed”, but it wasn’t particularly hard. I feel like my “element” is the paranormal, and so with these stories in particular, we delve into that world.

To Be Continued Next Month