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Welcome to Bookish Bites. Discover new books and authors that absolutly love what they do and it shows.

 

 

@aprildstoryweaver

 

1. What inspired you to start writing, and how do you stay motivated throughout the writing process?

 

I have to give a shout out to my friend Valery B. who insisted that I join her writing club in middle school. I didn’t think I had any talent for crafting stories, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. I believe God sent her. Just to really drive what I just said home, get this. I wrote from the 6th grade to the summer before highschool. Which wasn’t long because I skipped the 8th grade and went to 9th grade. That summer, I took a break from writing because I felt like my stories were all beginning to sound the same. I made the conscious decision to live life. Well, I got into a lot of trouble, ended up pregnant at 16 having my first child at 17 and then eventually dropping out of college. Maybe I should stay writing stories. Fast forward to when my oldest was about 15. I was married with two beautiful kids. My oldest daughter and my husband’s son who became my baby, I nicknamed my kids after carbs my daughter I called Frybread and my son I called Pumpkin Frybread. I love Frybread. Well, God sent my sister this time. She encouraged me to write. She said she felt compelled to tell me. I thought about it for a few months, then caved. When I sat down to write, I nearly threw up all over my computer. The story I attempted to write was what became my fourth book, Apathy. I didn’t write again for either 3 weeks or a month. When I woke in the middle of the night to something shaking my side of the bed, I glanced over at my husband, who was sound asleep, then down to where I felt the movement. I t was my right hand. It appeared to grip a pen and move as if writing, and I had no control over it. Once I was certain I was not sleeping, it stopped. I calmed myself down then fell back to sleep to dream of my characters I wrote back in highschool Mei and Max. Back then I named them Myceila and Med...yeah, names were not my talent. I made the conscious decision to write and after that I couldn’t sleep. I laid in bed until it the sun came up and the first thing I did was take a pen and notepad with me to our family breakfast. The rest is history.

2. Can you walk us through your typical writing routine? Do you have any unique habits or rituals that help you get into the creative zone?

Oh boy, okay, well, yes. It first take a spark. When I wrote Forbidden, that book took

me nine years to get the story out. But the spark was received in 2010. The book was published in 23". So more like 13 years to give birth to. The spark for forbidden was a scene that flashed through my mind of a handsome Native man un-burying a woman who had been murdered by her ex. He was instantly captivated by her and rescued her. He lifts her naked from the shallow grave and wakes towards the hidden entrance of his tribe where he is stopped. It’s forbidden to bring in an outsider. Life happened to me hard, so it took a lot of time to get that book out, but when I could finally get it done. This was y process. At first I call it throwing up on paper. Just write your story doesn’t focus on grammar or if it even makes sense, just. Write. Let it all out, I write until I hit a wall, or no more scenes are coming to me. I go back to the beginning and read and rewrite. So for me, it’s like making a person in a way. First is the skeleton, then the muscles and ligaments, next the nervous system, then finally the flesh. I have to sync with the characters and feel what they feel, see things from their POV. I have and still cry, laugh and get angry, then laugh at myself because it’s all rather nutty. Everything I do, I am thinking of my characters, the story, the love or bitterness they may be feeling. it’s a beautiful thing and an enlightener process. I also listen to a lot of Afro beats and Powwow music when writing these books.

3. How do you develop your characters? Do you ever find yourself arguing with them or feeling surprised by their actions as you write?

 

I don’t develop my characters; I believe they come to me. I have tried to control them and it never works out never. The only time I argue with my characters is when I’m trying to change or control them. This taught me that in relationships, couples argue because they’re trying to change each other or be in control. Once you stop trying to control them and you realize you can either accept them or leave, peace floods in.
I have also worked out a lot of personal issues from discussions my characters had with angels or other characters in my novels. It was very eye opening and life changing for me personally.

4. What’s your approach to creating authentic dialogue and settings that resonate with readers of your genre?

I think I still struggle with that because of the grammar police. But, I try to say things the way the character would say them and sometimes it works other time I’m not sure if the reader will get it. For example, my main characters are from Trinidad. Like all cultures, we have sayings and some of them just sound weird but make perfect sense to us. Like in Endurance, I used the term “Tabanka” When a person is going through some deep heartache over a breakup, we call that Tabanka. Another one is when your mom says “I done talk!“ When your mom says that shut up and back away cautiously because after that it’s straight licks!” and I don’t mean the kind your dog gives your legs.

5. In your most recent novel, which scene was your favorite to write and why?

 

My most recent novel is “Toxic: The Double Cross”. The main characters are Karina and Sage. There are a lot of scenes that I love so I will try to narrow it down to one. So Sage is the CEO of a Herbal Heath Company that Karina works for. She is one of the best herbalist at this company. Well, she is in an odd situation-ship and comes home early one day to get the shock of her life. In shock, she flees her home and can only think of her boss Sage. She goes back to work and is helped to her office, where Sage sees her back and rushes to see what’s wrong. She is catatonic and people are thinking is something wrong with her daughter what’s wrong. Sage pushes everyone out of her office and kneels down in front of her and sings to her a Native Medicine song. She snaps out of it with only saying I don’t want to be here. Sage jumps to his feet, tries to help her to hers, but she slumps back down. He turns around, kneels down and places her on his back. On his way out of the office with her on his back, he shouts out orders. He puts her in his truck, picks up her daughter from school, and drives away while playing a comforting song called “Patience” by Nas and Damian Marley. She loves that song and he gives her control of the stereo, but it reflects on how much in sync they are with each other. I thought that it was beautiful, and now I need to listen to that song .

6. Who is your favorite character from your latest book, and what makes them stand out to you?

It’s a tie between Karina and Sage. I love Karina because she is a good person in a bad situation, making the best of it. She doesn’t fuss much, and she is just so chill with humanity and nature and God. Sage loves his people and puts their needs before his own. He is a man of integrity and he knows his strengths and his weaknesses. They are all together a powerful team, spiritually and physically.

7. How do you balance the realism of painful topics in your novels with elements of hope or redemption in your stories?

One of the hardest scenes I had to write was in my first novel, Endurance The

Power Within. Mei was brutally attacked my her stepfather. I really didn’t know how to go about it. But in a way, I spoke from experience at a certain level. I wrote it in a way that it would help people who have not been through that experience (Thank God) empathize with how the victim coped. Leading to the thought seeds that we often blame the victim with how they handle abuse when we don’t really understand what their mind had to do to keep them somewhat sane to survive. I was later told by people who had been victims that the way I did it was perfect because it was what they had to do. Do you know what it feels like when someone understands your pain? It deeply healing, at the very least a start to the process.

8. Do you draw inspiration from real-life experiences or current events when crafting your plots?

If so, how do you incorporate them into your fiction? As a fiction author, I would like to say, oh I just made this all up, but that would be a lie. A lot of what my characters are are aspects of situations I have experienced. I have found a way to self heal through telling these stories. Now I think my characters go through worse than what I experienced most times.

9. What’s the most challenging aspect of writing in your genre for you, and how do you overcome it?

First, it’s identifying what is my genre? I believe I am a multi-genre author but the root of all my stories is spiritual warfare and for the longest time I stay away from Christian Fiction because I felt some scenes may be too gritty, too scary or too sexual. However, I learn maybe I was completely wrong about that. So for me, it’s very hard. I don’t always sugar coat things or play it down. However, many of my readers can sense I am still holding back and I think it’s time that I stop holding back and just write, uncaring of what my genre thinks.

Author Website: www.aprilathomas.com

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