What happens when "happily ever after" has come and gone?
On the eve of her only daughter, Princess Raven's wedding, an aging Snow White finds it
impossible to share in the joyous spirit of the occasion. The ceremony
itself promises to be the most glamorous social event of the decade.
Snow White’s castle has been meticulously scrubbed, polished and
opulently decorated for the celebration. It is already nearly bursting
with jubilant guests and merry well-wishers. Prince Edel, Raven's
fiancé, is a fine man from a neighboring kingdom and Snow White's own
domain is prosperous and at peace. Things could not be better, in fact,
except for one thing:
The king is dead.
The queen has
been in a moribund state of hopeless depression for over a year with no
end in sight. It is only when, in a fit of bitter despair, she seeks
solitude in the vastness of her own sprawling castle and climbs a long
disused and forgotten tower stair that she comes face to face with
herself in the very same magic mirror used by her stepmother of old.
It
promises her respite in its shimmering depths, but can Snow White trust
a device that was so precious to a woman who sought to cause her such
irreparable harm? Can she confront the demons of her own difficult past
to discover a better future for herself and her family? And finally, can
she release her soul-crushing grief and suffocating loneliness to once
again discover what "happily ever after" really means?
Only time will tell as she wrestles with her past and is forced to confront The Reflections of Queen Snow White.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
1.
If you could work with any other author, who would it be and why?
Probably
Neil Gaiman or Tad Williams - Williams because he’s probably my
favorite author and Gaiman because he is just incredibly creative.
There is something about the quality of his writing where if you pick
up a piece of Neil Gaiman writing, you know that’s exactly who
wrote it. His is a very distinctive style and I admire that.
2.
What would be a typical working day for you? When and where do you
write?
As
far as my writing goes, I still have a day job (and a night job as
well, as a matter of fact) so I just have to squeeze it in whenever
and wherever I have a little time. The most important thing to me
though is to work on my writing and promotion at least a little every
day, even if I only get 5-10 minutes, just to keep my momentum going
and avoid stagnation and writer’s block.
3.
What is the hardest part of the writing for you?
I
suppose it’s not responding to negative reviews. I’m not by
nature a vitriolic or overly reactive person, and I make it a point
to NEVER respond to negative reviews (I think it’s grossly
unprofessional), but it is maddening when you read a review and it’s
obvious that the reviewer either totally didn’t get the point you
were trying to make at all or complains about something that was
specifically spelled out in the initial query (the sex and violence
content of a story for example). Still, as with any artistic medium,
there will always be people who do not care for your work and their
opinions on how it affected or failed to affect them are perfectly
valid, so you just have to shrug and move on.
4.
When and why did you first start writing?
I’ve
always written. Going all the way back to when I was about nine years
old writing stories on notebook paper and binding them with old
shirt-boards decorated with Crayola marker I wanted to create
stories, but it took quite a bit longer for me to feel confident what
I wrote was good enough to show other people. I don’t think that
happened until well into my adulthood – when I’d finally had
enough literary experience as well as life experience to make my
writing feel authentic and real.
5.
How did you come up with the idea for your book?
The
original version of most fairy tales where pretty brutal, (especially
compared to the highly sterilized Disney versions that most people
are used to). However, in spite of the fantastical elements they
invariably contain, they are at their root, very real. They speak to
our deepest desires, darkest fears, and greatest flaws, but they are
also aspirational. They provide us with examples, regardless how
improbable, of how we might overcome desperate circumstances to
achieve greatness and contentment in a world where such things often
seem rarified and elusive. They give us hope that everything really
will work out in the end. The best of them leave you with a sense, on
some level, the story really could have happened.
In
the case of Snow White, I think most people can relate to depression.
Most have either experienced it themselves or know someone dear to
them who has. However, I noticed that fairy tale princesses,
particularly of the Disney variety, in spite of horrible trauma and
tragedy just simply don’t appear to have the same weaknesses and
failings as regular people by suffering the long term effects of
those traumatic experiences. I felt like this actually served to
distance the character from the reader. I think my approach more
accurately examines the likely effects that a life of neglect and
abuse (like the one Snow White was forced to endure) would have in
real life. It’s the sort of thing that really has the potential to
break a person and I wanted to explore that struggle more thoroughly.
Now,
the other part of the inspiration, the real world part, was rather
personal. In the space of about three or four months back in 2006,
both of my grandfathers died unexpectedly. As I observed how hard my
grandmothers took their deaths, it led me to wonder on their behalf –
“So… Now what?”
They
had both had wonderful, loving relationships – many long, happy
years together (over 60). Now it was over. It made me wonder, “When
your life has been so closely tied up with and centered upon one
other person for so long, what do you do when they are no longer a
part of your life? How do you pick up the pieces and move forward?”
That was the original kernel of the idea for The Reflections of
Queen Snow White.
6.
Are you a big reader? If so, what are you reading now?
I would say “usually” in answer to that question. I am currently
working on my doctorate degree so I don’t have a whole lot of time
for pleasure reading these days. At present I am mostly pouring over
a fat, heavy textbook on research statistics. When I do have time to
read something for fun, it is generally fantasy genre literature. The
most recent title I read was George Martin’s first volume of Game
of Thrones. I also tend to read a lot of work themed on Japan, (I
lived there for nearly a decade). I think James Clavell’s Shogun
and Liza Dolby’s The Tale of Murasaki are particularly good,
but I try to read lots of different types of writing to expand my
literary tool box.
7.
Do you have any advice for other aspiring writers?
-Be
confident in your craft, but open to criticism.
-Read
lots of different writing styles to expand your writing tool-box.
-Be
pleased with your work but never satisfied – Always strive to be
better on your next piece of writing.
-Enjoy
the process – Writing should be about process first and product
second. If you fail to enjoy or attempt to rush the process, your
work will likely suffer for it.
