Talkshow Thursday:
Speculative Fiction Author Yvonne Anderson
Linda: Thanks
for joining me today. Congratulations on your new release, Free (The Four Lives of J.S. Freeman, Book 3). Where did you get the inspiration for the story and its
characters?
Yvonne: It
all sprang from the setting. For several years previously, I’d spent a lot of
time (mentally) on the planet Gannah while working on my Gateway to Gannah
series. I wanted a different setting for my next project but had trouble deciding
between two environments that have long fascinated me: a flat, steamy bayou-type
place where people travel on the water rather than roads; and steep, rocky slopes
that only a mountain goat could be comfortable with. How to choose? But wait a
minute; what if this world was made up of both kinds of terrain at once? The
two are mutually exclusive in nature, but couldn’t such an environment be
man-made? So I created the mysterious island of Freemansland and put it in the
middle of the largest ocean on an otherwise earth-like planet.
Once I had the setting, I tried to
imagine the people a place like that might produce. How would they live? How
might their environment shape them? Would they be isolated from the rest of the
world? I put myself in the position of a girl growing up in those conditions,
and the story took off from there.
LM: You write speculative fiction. Did you read a lot
of fantasy and science fiction while you were growing up? How did you become
interested in the genre?
Yvonne: I didn’t read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy
when I was growing up, but I will confess to an obsession with Tolkien in my
youth. I discovered The Hobbit in
fourth grade and the Lord of the Rings series a few years later, and I read
them all several times. I recall enjoying a few other books in the speculative
category, but usually when I’d pick up a sci-fi book, I’d put it down before I
got very far because it didn’t interest me.
Why did I
start writing speculative fiction myself? Funny story: I never felt compelled
to write fiction until my children were grown, and when I did start, I played
with historical and women’s fiction, purely earth-bound stuff. At one point,
highly frustrated and resolved to quit fiction altogether—both the reading and
writing of it—I read an interesting little nonfiction book called
The Gospel in the Stars that explained
how, when God created the heavens and the earth, He portrayed the gospel
message through the constellations for early man to “read.” The idea fascinated
me, and before I knew it, I was writing a story about people on another planet
who discovered this “story in the stars.” That led to my first published novel,
The Story in the Stars. Once I
started writing it, I knew I’d found my niche.
LM: Research is an important part of writing a book.
What sort of “aha” moment did you have while researching your Four Lives of J.
S. Freeman series?
Yvonne: When you write about things that take place
on another planet, you don’t have to do a lot of preliminary research. You can
just make up everything as you go along. But because the world in this story is
subject to the same natural laws as our world, I do have to make sure things
are logical and consistent. For instance: at the time I wrote the story, my
husband and I were living in the Appalachian Mountains of Western Maryland,
where the weather in the higher elevations can be strikingly different from
that of the valleys. The island of Freemansland is equatorial, but built in
layers, like a cake. I hadn’t gotten very far into the story before I realized that
those tiers would each have different climates; they wouldn’t all be steamy and
hot. This prompted me to research how altitude affects temperature.
LM: What is your
favorite part of the writing process?
Yvonne: I’m a pantser, and one of my
favorite parts about writing is being surprised by what happens next. I always
know where the story will end, but I often have no idea what might happen along
the way until it unfolds.
LM: What is something you wish you knew how to do?
Yvonne: Speak
multiple languages.
LM: What is your next project?
Yvonne:
I have a couple of things in mind,
but I’m not sure yet what project of my own I’ll begin next. However, I’ve been
working with a friend on polishing up a nonfiction book of hers, and we’ll be
publishing it soon through my own imprint, Gannah’s Gate. Watch for Dancing on Stones: A Quest for Joy by
Edith Harrington. Here’s the blurb:
Life
gets rocky. You stumble and fall, crushed beneath an avalanche of despair. You
cry out, God, where are You? How could
You let this happen? I don’t understand! Must you lie helpless forever
beneath life’s rubble? Or can you take God’s hand, and rise to dance again?
The
author, a former ballerina, shares her story of grief, betrayal and depression.
She looked to God for healing, but years of false teaching kept her in darkness. The
story of how she discovered joy in the midst of suffering is a tender but
powerful reminder that God is faithful.
Pick
your way with her through the stones in her path and discover anew that His
word is true and His love knows no bounds.
LM: Where can folks find you on the web?
Yvonne:
Bernice published essays and poetry in a variety of magazines.
It wasn’t until 1949 that her first book was published. (Perhaps she was
waiting until she finished raising her two sons.) Her debut novel, The Reluctant Murderer, is similar to
the Pat McGerr novels in that the victim’s identity is withheld until well into
the story.
