Wednesday, 27 April 2016

INTERVIEW 11- KIRTIDA GAUTAM INTERVIEWS CHERYL RAINFIELD

INTERVIEW 11
KIRTIDA GAUTAM INTERVIEWS 
CHERYL RAINFIELD
Cheryl Rainfield is the author of Young Adult novels, Scars, Stained and Hunted. She is an incest and abuse survivor. She battled with abuse by reading numerous books, and by writing and creating art during her early life which opened doors for her as an escape. 
You said, "I write the books I needed as a teen and couldn't find." Can you elaborate that?
When I was a teen, I desperately needed to know that I wasn’t the only one who was being raped, abused, and tortured by my parents and the cult they were part of, or who was cutting myself to cope with the abuse, or who was also queer. I held so much pain that most of the time I wanted to die. And there was so much silence and shame about those things—both forced on me by my abusers, who told me they’d kill me if I spoke (and I saw them murder other children so I knew they could), but also by society, where people did not want to hear or believe about child rape, torture, and abuse. I did speak out about all those things as a teen, trying to find safety and healing, but the pain ran deep in my soul, wounds that are still healing. And there is so much homophobia in our society, which encourages silence. I think that my pain was made worse because I felt so alone in what I’d been through.
I read every novel I could get my hands on, reading both to escape the horror I was enduring, and also to find validation that someone else understood and I wasn’t alone. I found that in small ways—like that I wasn’t the only one who felt unloved and needed a good family (Anne of Green Gables), or who was bullied (Blubber), or who rightfully didn’t trust the people who were supposed to care for me (Down A Dark Hall). But I never found validation and comfort in knowing I wasn’t alone for the core of what I was enduring.  So those are the things I write about now, to help other teens (and adults) who’ve been through similar things to know that they’re not alone, as well as to help those who’ve never experienced them have greater compassion and understanding.

Have important parts of yourself gone explored in your writing?
Every time I write a novel, I put a small slice of what I’ve experienced into that book—one issue, or a group of issues—and write from the heart—such as sexual abuse, self-harm, being queer, and using art to cope in Scars, or being bullied, body hatred and shame, being held captive, being withheld food and water, and using comics to survive in Stained. I draw deeply on both my trauma and healing experiences when I write, and on my emotion. I relive those experiences every time I edit the manuscript (for Scars, I did more than 50 edits before it was published), and as I do, I find myself working those issues through more fully, letting go of some of the pain.

What social concerns come across in your novels?
I deal a lot with multiple forms of oppression—and overcoming that oppression—in my novels, since I’ve experienced many of them, and I think it’s important to address inequality, abuse, and misuse of power, and try to make the world a kinder place. My book Scars deals with sexism, homophobia, happy queer relationships, our rape culture, and child sexual abuse; Stained deals with bullying, abduction, rape, sizeism, and body image. In Hunted, my dystopian fantasy novel, I thought of as an analogy for much of the oppression that exists in our world: sexism, racism, homophobia, ageism, sizeism, etc., as well as, for me, the oppression that cults create. In every novel I try to have at least one queer character, one character of color, and one character who’s experienced abuse, trauma, or oppression and/or deals with mental health issues, whether they’re the main character, love interest, or walk-on character. I always write strong-girl characters who save themselves (as well as emotionally strong boy characters). I had to rescue myself many times over before I finally got safe, and I want to remind readers that they can, too, and that they’re also strong, even if they don’t feel that way. It’s important to me to help others feel seen, to reflect back emotional strength even during oppression, and also to encourage greater compassion—for ourselves and for others—while gripping readers with suspense!

Is your life in some way expressed through your work?
I draw heavily on my trauma and healing experiences when I write. I put a piece of my soul in every book. My books are fiction, but they have a lot of me or things I’ve been through in them.

Can someone who reads your work get a glimmer of who you are as a person?
I think so. In all my novels, I write strong-girl characters who are surviving or recovering from some form of oppression, abuse, or torture, and find a way to overcome it and heal, and often help others along the way. That is like me and what I’ve been through. I also write queer characters, characters of color, characters with mental health issues as a direct result of abuse or trauma, and have characters who learn greater compassion and empathy—for themselves and/or for others—also like me and/or things I believe in. I put a lot of my heart and soul into my books. I am openly queer, feminist, and an incest, rape, torture, and cult survivor who focuses on healing, and I think that shows in my books. The pain and compassion. The trying to learn happiness, to reach out to others, to heal and to help others heal. That’s me. (smiling)

Name one book that you read and thanked the writer for writing it. And why?
I’ve written a number of authors! If a book moves me or I really love it, I also try to let others know online so they can find it, too. One of the authors I wrote to, thanking her for the books she wrote, was Wendy Orr for Peeling The Onion. I so identified with her character and the pain she was going through, and the need for healing, and it was so vivid and powerfully written. You might also know Wendy Orr from her delightful Nim’s Island, which was made into a movie starring Jodie Foster, or many of the other books she’s written.


Kirtida Gautam is a clinical psychologist and an author. 
Follow her on Twitter @KirtidaGautam  







Thursday, 21 April 2016

INTERVIEW 10- KIRTIDA GAUTAM INTERVIEWS JASON M HOUGH

INTERVIEW 10
KIRTIDA GAUTAM INTERVIEWS
JASON M HOUGH
Jason M. Hough is the New York Times bestselling author of The Dire Earth Cycle and the near-future spy thriller Zero World. He has worked in the fields of high-performance cluster computing and machine learning, and holds a patented invention related to location-based content licensing.

Which are the most visually arresting films you have seen? Do they inspire your writing?
Wow, I don't even know where to start! A handful that spring to mind: Blade Runner, Lawrence of Arabia, Upstream Color, 2001, Spirited Away, Ran.  There's so many, all incredible in their own way.  Sometimes due to the cinematography, costumes, or artistic design.  Blade Runner stands out because it's one of those films that put it all together so perfectly.  And yes, they all inspire my writing.  In fact one of my favorite bits of writing advice is "close your eyes and watch the movie" - visualize the scene as if it were a film, it's amazing what kind of details your mind will generate for you, and I think everything you've seen or read before it helps paint the picture.

If you can save only one book in a burning library, which book will you save?
Realistically, assuming there were no people in danger, I'd grab as many books as I could before the heat became too much, paying zero attention to what they actually were.  Or maybe I'd run to the rare books section (if the library has one), since let's face it most books in a library are not exactly unique.  Again, I can't actually imagine standing there and deciding what specific book to save.  It's an impossible question to answer, they're all important.

Is your life in some way expressed through your work?
On some level, probably, but for me it would only be through subconscious effort rather than a deliberate choice.

Can someone who reads your work get a glimmer of who you are as a person?
I've no idea, to be honest.  I'm sure they could try, and some insights would be right, but just as many more would be wrong.  I'm always a bit surprised and amused when I find I have a fan whose beliefs or values are vastly different from mine.  Odd how they usually seem to assume I'm in complete agreement with them.  People take away what they want to, I guess.

What is the most memorable moment of your writing career?
Getting the phone call from my editor that I'd hit the New York Times bestseller list definitely ranks up there!  But on a more personal level, sitting next to John Scalzi on a panel, as his peer, was especially cool, because he's an author I've always looked up to and it was his work that drew me back to science fiction and made me want to write.

What are your pet peeves?
I'm pretty easy going, so that's a short list. I guess one might be spoilers. I detest spoilers. I avoid things like movie trailers and the synopses on the backs of books. If someone tells me a book is good I just read it, with as little upfront knowledge as possible.  This leads to a weird conundrum for me as an author— when someone asks me what my book is about, every fiber of my being wants to tell them nothing at all— just read it! Trust me!— but of course they need to know something before they'll bite.

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Kirtida Gautam is a clinical psychologist and an author. 
Follow her on Twitter @KirtidaGautam