Q5 Moments

Q1
In Moments, you make use of a diary entry to tell of an event that has happened. As a writer, you have shifted between many different styles, straight prose, poetry, interviews, dreams, flashbacks to name but a few, do you make a conscious choice to use one style over another in any given chapter or do they present themselves to you in the flow of inspiration and creativity? Anything else you could tell us about the writing process as you see it would be welcome.

Trée: 99% of the time the style is dictated by inspiration in the moment as opposed to a conscious plan. Some chapters, however, are usually best written in a particular style--for example, the snoot imbibed chapters with Rog and Von and John are usually best written in "play form' with very little accoutrement of the descriptive nature. Other times I feel like I'm stuck using a particular style with regard to moving the story forward and this is when we see "interviews" or "letters" or "flashbacks" etc. I will say there is a conscious desire to use many different styles for a few reasons. First, I like the change of pace and feel that each style is like a tool and that some tools are better than others for painting the picture I want to paint. The heavy dense poetic baroque style used to describe the rape and murder of Cait was, in my opinion, the only tools that could do what I wanted. To use a play format or even a journal entry from John, although doing the job, I think would have been less effective. Second, as I work on my writing skills, I like the idea that I don't have to start a new story in order to try my hand at a new style. Third, I have the belief that readers enjoy the change of pace and in a way it helps keep the story fresh and worth the visit since one never really knows what or how the story will move forward.

As for your last question, we could discuss that for days and perhaps should save it for a Mega Q all by itself. I have many thoughts on that matter. ;-)

Q2
As with a real journal entry, this chapter seems to flow in one endless stream of thought, was it written as such or did you take great pains to make it appear so? Either heralds an innate gift.

Trée: This chapter, as almost all of them, are written in the moment. I usually have a vague idea of where the chapter is heading but rarely do I know how a chapter (even one that is just a couple paragraphs) will end. Diary entries are a lot of fun for me because I don't have to worry about writing or grammar or style or consistency or logic or anything since it is a diary entry and technically, I'm not writing, the character is, so any mistakes are theirs, not mine. LOL

What I love about doing a diary or journal entry is I treat them as if I were writing my own journal entry, which is to say, I just start writing and let the character say whatever comes to mind in the moment of that entry. That is exactly what happened in this chapter. I had no idea if it would be 50 words or 500. Nor did I know where Kyra might take me. I am often as surprised as the reader as to where a chapter goes. And, I wouldn't have it any other way. There is magic in the moment. Think too hard about a chapter and that magic slips through your fingers like sand. My best chapters are written quickly with very little thought, they just flow from mind to fingers and even 1,000 words can be written in a matter of minutes. Those few chapters that I labored over, that took a long time and many revisions, are, in my opinion, some of my lesser pieces. Somehow, they lack the magic. Hard to explain. Which brings up another question, I do not write on a schedule at a fixed time. I write when the chapter presents itself, and that could be any time. :-)

Q3
Kyra writes "For the third time in my life I felt a warmth radiate from the center of my being", remind us please of those other two times and which chapters they occur in?

Trée: I may be completely wrong here, so take my answer with a grain of salt, but I believe the other two times involve-as she indicates in this chapter at this time in the story--the night of the fireflies with Papa and the iso-ward with Kieran when they entered the white room. There have been, and I'm not sure if these happened before or later, other episodes that Kyra could say this same thing about, feeling the warmth (Yul on the stone floor would be one; perhaps the "Kyra incident" would be another, her visit with The Unknowns too; not to mention the trip she took Ariel on to see her mother).

A question like this reminds me of just how much as happened and unlike a book that one might read in the course of a few days or a week or two, this story is now over two years old, and like real life, my memory of just exactly what happened and when it happened is sometimes a little blurry. :-D

Q4
In this chapter, Kyra is reluctant to place defining words upon the events that transpired, are you willing and able to?

Trée: No and Nope. Only Kyra knows and she has not spoke to me of these things. To put words in her mouth would be a grave injustice and could harm the relationship (Kyra and I) that I have worked so hard to cultivate. I won't risk that relationship with idle speculation on a matter that I have no direct experience of, of a matter that is very personal to herself. One day she might share and I promise you this--if she does, I will document her explanation in the story, probably via an interview or a journal entry or maybe even a late night exchange with Von or John over a snoot or two. ;-)

Q5
Kyra's special abilities have been the basis for much of the story, how did you come upon such a wonderful idea? Were you inspired by something seen, read or heard or did it tumble forth from the rich and fertile soil of your imagination?

Trée: In short the idea evolved as the story began to unfold--it was not pre-planned. The underlying idea, however, forms the basis for the story, and that is the gifts of a child are magical and they are to be cultivated and nourished as if precious jewels. This is what Papa does and in this fictional story, we see those gifts become something quite spectacular. But the basic idea is there. Love your child and in that love you will be repaid a thousand fold. As will the universe. ;-)