One exciting part of being involved with a great author group like the Fantasy Sci-Fi Network is being able to get to know other authors in my genre. Today I have the privilege of interviewing one of those brilliant authors, one who happens to be an award winning writer.
A.R. Silverberry talks about his lack of boy scouting ability, the need to create and of course, his exciting new adventure, The Stream.
Your book The Stream sounds
so intriguing and such an original concept, what inspired you to come up with
it?
The idea came from a
conversation I was having where I was using the metaphor of a stream. Afterward,
I kept thinking about that metaphor. In a few hours, the
character of a small boy, alone, defenseless, trying to understand the ways of
the world, popped into my mind. I saw images of him confronting the challenges
we all face in life: love, loss, pain, losing your way. The next morning, I put
aside the novel I was working on (it wasn’t working anyway), and started
writing. It pretty much tumbled out of me and didn’t let go until it was done.
If The Stream were to be
made into a movie, would you want a cameo? Who would you play?
Fun
question! If you look at Alfred Hitchcock movies, he always puts himself in as
a bystander in a crowd, or some anonymous person walking by. That would be the
place for me. No aspirations here to get into acting, though both of my parents
did it professionally. I loved watching them in plays from the front row. My
father played Harry Brock in Born
Yesterday, my mom played Billie Dawn. The both were fabulous actors,
especially my mom, who ran 100% on pure talent and instinct and left people
speechless. I think my dad knew that it was a little disconcerting for my young
mind to see his parents so transformed, my sharp-witted mom into a ditzy doll,
and my father into a gangster boss. So what did he do? He stuck his tongue out
at me during the dress rehearsal. I’ll always love him for that!
How long did it take to
write The Stream once you had the idea mapped out in your head?
Looking
back on it, it’s a miracle I wrote it so quickly. I was going through a rough
year looking for a house to buy. The market where I was looking was crazy.
There were bidding wars with twenty or more people bidding on the same house
and tossing out tens of thousands of dollars over asking. Some how, during all
that, I wrote The Stream. Start to
finish, it was about sixteen months before it went to edit.
Tell us about some of the
learning you had to go through in order to make The Stream seem real and
believable?
I
never attended Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts. I never river rafted or took a
wilderness course. That left me with a huge learning curve, understanding how
my five-year-old hero, Wend, would survive in a primitive water world. What I
did have was a sailing trip I took with a good friend and his dad during high
school. Some of the imagery from that trip found it’s way into the story. He
and I lost touch until a few years ago, but I reconnected with him at a reunion
and gave him a call. He answered a
lot of questions I had about boats, storms, and sailing.
Did you do any hands on
research?
Henry
James coined an interesting word: verisimilitude. It means the
appearance of being true or real. That’s paramount in a novel. If something
doesn’t have the ring of authenticity to it, readers are knocked out of the
story, even if they aren’t aware of why. Since the setting, the stream, is a
character in my story, I had to get it right. I visited two streams multiple times, sitting
and absorbing with all my senses. I captured my impressions immediately in a
notebook.
I
actually wrote on how much research was involved in a post called The Secret Ingredient In
Fantasy Novels.
What do you do for fun, when
you are not writing award-winning novels?
Taking
award-winning walks on the beach! Long before I started writing, I played
piano. When I need serenity, that’s still the center I return to.
I hear you are a psychologist,
working with children and teens, is there ever a time that your immense
imagination comes in handy with those you are working with?
Psychotherapy
is less about imagination and more about empathy; intuition; and sensitivity to
process, listening with every part of yourself. Writers and psychologists do
have this in common: the ability to step into someone elses shoes. For the
author, that means not just the hero or heroine, but also the villain.
Ever had any interesting
encounters with fans of your work?
After
reading Wyndano’s Cloak, a number of
girls wrote to me that I inspired them to write their own novels. Several
parents told me their children came out of their shells and started showing
their true colors after reading the book. Comments like that send me to the
moon!
When did you know that you
had to be a writer?
For
me, it’s not that I have to be a writer per se, but that I have to create.
Right now, writing just happens to be the best mode for me to express that side
of myself.
What other authors to you
look up to and feel inspired by?
Jane
Austen, Dickens, Harper Lee, Tolkien, Hemmingway, Barbara Kingsolver, Dean
Koontz, Stephen King.
What is the best part of
writing?
Meeting
readers at bookstores. Once, a girl of about nine was too shy to come up to my
table, though her little brother did, and at last, he convinced her to stop by.
We talked for a long time and I read her an excerpt. After paying for the book,
she sat on the floor, carefully peeled off the stickers, and walked out of the
store hugging the book to her. I’ll never forget her.
Synopsis of The Stream:
What if your world was six miles wide and endlessly
long?
After a devastating
storm kills his parents, five-year-old Wend awakens to the strange world of the
Stream. He discovers he can only travel downstream, and dangers lurk at every
turn: deadly rapids, ruthless pirates, a mysterious pavilion that lures
him into intoxicating fantasies, and rumor of a giant waterfall at the edge of
the world. Defenseless, alone, with only courage and his will to survive, Wend
begins his quest to become a man. Will tragic loss trap him in a shadow world,
or will he enter the Stream, with all its passion and peril?
Part coming-of-age
tale, part adventure, part spiritual journey, The Stream is a fable
about life, impermanence, and the gifts found in each moment.
Purchase The Stream:
Ebook:
Softback:
Purchase Wyndano’s Cloak:
Ebook:
Limited first edition Hardback:
Signed and unsigned
copies available only from the author
Follow A. R. Silverberry:
About A. R. Silverberry:
A.
R. Silverberry writes fiction for adults and children. His novel, WYNDANO’S
CLOAK, won multiple awards, including the Benjamin Franklin Award gold medal
for Juvenile/Young Adult Fiction.
He
lives in California, where the majestic coastline, trees, and mountains inspire
his writing. THE STREAM is his second novel.
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