I had the honor to interview the author a month ago and here is the interview below:
1.) In your mind, why do you think people do not believe in psychics?
I think it’s because certain people need proof before they believe in something fantastical. And…I’m one of those people! I’m not going to say true psychics don’t exist, though. Just that I haven’t met a real one yet. I have visited about six (a couple times in college for fun and then a few for book research) and none of them impressed me. But my mother visited one in Dublin when she was a teenager that she swears was the real deal. So who knows?
2.) What is the one power you would want if you were a psychic?
I wouldn’t want any of the Fern family’s powers. But if I could have any ability, I’d love to be able to manipulate time. Mostly because I’m impatient.
3.) Do you bare any similarities to any of your characters?
I can be sarcastic like Clare. I worry like Starla. Also, Clare’s aversion to seafood? Totally me.
4.) What was the hardest part in writing this novel?
The hardest part was making sure all the pieces of the mystery fit into place and finding the right balance between predictable and completely unforeseeable. I don’t want the villain to be someone from left field that the reader never could have figured out. But I don’t want the solution to be too obvious, either. Somewhere in between. And that’s tough to do.
5.) Best line ever from a book/show/movie? :D
Oh my…there are so many! I’m going to have to go with one from the movie Say Anything. And it’s not, “I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen,” though I do love that line. The one I like more is Lloyd’s response when Diane says, “Nobody thinks it will work, do they?” He says, “You just described every great success story.”
6.) If you could pick one song that represented Clarity, what would it be?
Maybe “Army of Me” by Bjork, which seems totally random, but the song has this swagger and confidence to it. I can imagine Clare walking down the street with her earbuds in, nodding her head to it.
7.) What is the weirdest dream you've ever had?
This is tough because I have weird dreams all the time. The scariest weird dream I had was that I was stuck on a cruise ship when one of those stomach viruses started going around. But then we realized it wasn’t just the stomach flu…it was the zombie virus. So everyone on the cruise ship started turning into zombies and I was running and hiding for what seemed like hours. Horrifying! I also had a funny, weird one where a sinkhole opened up on a Boston street and was swallowing buildings and I was running away from it with Neil Patrick Harris.
8.) How was your day? XD
Fantastic! While writing this interview (in January), I got the news that Publishers Weekly gave Clarity a starred review!
