good question.. I always wanted to learn this.gali wrote:Thank you for your answers.
What was your hardest scene to write?
What is your work schedule when you're writing?
Ask the Author
- BoyLazy
- Posts: 808
- Joined: 26 Apr 2017, 23:01
- Currently Reading: Temptation Trials Part II
- Bookshelf Size: 122
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-boylazy.html
- Latest Review: Heartaches 2 by H.M. Irwing
Re: Ask the Author
Reviewer | Blogger | Influencer
-
- Posts: 184
- Joined: 07 Apr 2017, 13:23
- Bookshelf Size: 0
Gali - I met a fascinating archeologist who has studied ancient humans living along the Pacific Coast and I met other archeologists who have studied sites in the Olympics. Usually though in my research I was reading and studying. I have met and continue to meet fascinating characters in real life along the waterfront, aboard ships, and deep in the woods. What is it they say? Truth is stranger than fiction? Believe it.
- gali
- Previous Member of the Month
- Posts: 53653
- Joined: 22 Oct 2013, 07:12
- Currently Reading: Pride and Prejudice in Space
- Bookshelf Size: 2288
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-gali.html
- Reading Device: B00I15SB16
- Publishing Contest Votes: 0
Thank you.Charlie Sheldon wrote:Anjum - thanks. I dont think I "made" Sarah anything, as she honestly just appeared at the door when I started writing this thing.
Gali - I met a fascinating archeologist who has studied ancient humans living along the Pacific Coast and I met other archeologists who have studied sites in the Olympics. Usually though in my research I was reading and studying. I have met and continue to meet fascinating characters in real life along the waterfront, aboard ships, and deep in the woods. What is it they say? Truth is stranger than fiction? Believe it.
Indeed, truth is stranger than fiction!
Pronouns: She/Her
"In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you." (Mortimer J. Adler)
- Kat Kennedy
- Posts: 248
- Joined: 07 Sep 2017, 15:27
- Currently Reading: Superhighway
- Bookshelf Size: 83
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-kat-kennedy.html
- Latest Review: "All About Water" by Greg Chick, Marta Zarrella
I really enjoyed the aspect of collective or genetic memory. I liked the questions arising from this in the novel. Is memory data? Are dreams data? Is this something you've always been interested in, or is it a part of the Native American culture of the Northwest? Are there any writers that inspired you with these ideas? I did some research on it when I wrote the review for Strong Heart, and it is fascinating, so just wondered what you would suggest as far as reading. Thanks for taking the time to answer questions, by the way.
-
- Posts: 184
- Joined: 07 Apr 2017, 13:23
- Bookshelf Size: 0
- Kat Kennedy
- Posts: 248
- Joined: 07 Sep 2017, 15:27
- Currently Reading: Superhighway
- Bookshelf Size: 83
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-kat-kennedy.html
- Latest Review: "All About Water" by Greg Chick, Marta Zarrella
-
- Posts: 122
- Joined: 05 Oct 2017, 19:21
- Currently Reading: All the Light We Cannot See
- Bookshelf Size: 32
- Reading Device: 1400697484
-
- Posts: 184
- Joined: 07 Apr 2017, 13:23
- Bookshelf Size: 0
-
- Posts: 122
- Joined: 05 Oct 2017, 19:21
- Currently Reading: All the Light We Cannot See
- Bookshelf Size: 32
- Reading Device: 1400697484
no wonder your book is amazing Mr Sheldon I have really enjoyed it and congratulation for the work well done .Charlie Sheldon wrote:Jonaya - I am not sure I can answer your question, because this story may have been building forever in me, but I would say that when I moved to Washington in 1990 and first saw and went into Olympic National park, and first heard just after I arrived about the old legends of the First Peoples that they had always been here (and were indeed the first people) was when the seed of this story sprouted. Later in the 1990s I did some research and found out that dna evidence can be fossilized, such that perhaps you could "read" fossilized dna. Meanwhile I was writing other books - four of them actually in the 1990s - and then in 2003 rewrote all the books I had done and self published them (really to get them in book form because self promotion is awful, awful, awful, but at least the I could have the book as a book, not a sheaf of manuscript papers). Then I got this big shot (sort of) job that consumed all my time and mental energy, and I thought I was done with stories, but all this time this ancient legend Olympics area tale whispered at me, especially a every year I would spend 10-25 days in that park hiking and backpacking, every chance I had. In 2010 when I started an even more demanding job but away from my wife and home in Seattle, so I was in a rental 85 miles away all week, and I knew that due to some issues with one of my bosses I was not going to last very long, I figured, I might as well do some research on this idea to use my time well up there, what little I had. From 2010 until 2013 I did research, filled notebooks, pondered....As I had suspected, the job did not last, and after 18 months I came back to Seattle and shipped out with the Sailors Union of the Pacific as an able-bodied seaman after documenting all my sea time as a commercial fisherman from 40 years earlier. Long story. Then in 2013 after coming back from two trips on a container ship, 272 total days, I took a literary fiction course at University of Washington and I started this tale the first evening of class. That is when I started writing Strong Heart, the same first scene, and once started writing it just poured out, as if all that research and years had been building up and wanted to get out. I got the first draft done in 81 days, 155,000 words, but then it took from December 2014 until July 2017 to get the book the way I wanted it. So, in answer to your question, a long damn time.....
-- 12 Oct 2017, 09:39 --
Charlie Sheldon,from the look of things it shows that you are a busy man now my question is ,how do you mix up with the family? Do you manage to balance them all ?
- gali
- Previous Member of the Month
- Posts: 53653
- Joined: 22 Oct 2013, 07:12
- Currently Reading: Pride and Prejudice in Space
- Bookshelf Size: 2288
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-gali.html
- Reading Device: B00I15SB16
- Publishing Contest Votes: 0
Pronouns: She/Her
"In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you." (Mortimer J. Adler)
-
- Posts: 184
- Joined: 07 Apr 2017, 13:23
- Bookshelf Size: 0
Gali: I am always reading, all the time, but when working on a specific tale the reading becomes much less, and what I do read is totally forgettable. I am always looking for new authors to read, and spend way way too much on books, and confess that much of the time, maybe most of the time, what I do pick up I find hard to finish.Not always, though. Annie Proulx I like, for example, these days. Generally I keep coming back to some old classics - Conrad, Melville, dos Passos, Tolkein.
- gali
- Previous Member of the Month
- Posts: 53653
- Joined: 22 Oct 2013, 07:12
- Currently Reading: Pride and Prejudice in Space
- Bookshelf Size: 2288
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-gali.html
- Reading Device: B00I15SB16
- Publishing Contest Votes: 0
lol I also spend a way too much on books. Thank you for sharing.Charlie Sheldon wrote: Gali: I am always reading, all the time, but when working on a specific tale the reading becomes much less, and what I do read is totally forgettable. I am always looking for new authors to read, and spend way way too much on books, and confess that much of the time, maybe most of the time, what I do pick up I find hard to finish.Not always, though. Annie Proulx I like, for example, these days. Generally I keep coming back to some old classics - Conrad, Melville, dos Passos, Tolkein.
Pronouns: She/Her
"In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you." (Mortimer J. Adler)
- Manang Muyang
- Previous Member of the Month
- Posts: 11174
- Joined: 02 May 2017, 20:17
- Favorite Book:
- Currently Reading: Donny and Mary Grace's California Adventures
- Bookshelf Size: 686
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-manang-muyang.html
- Latest Review: Your Great Name by Shawn Funk
- Reading Device: B00KC6I06S
-
- Posts: 184
- Joined: 07 Apr 2017, 13:23
- Bookshelf Size: 0
- Attachments
-
- DSCN2852.JPG (742.3 KiB) Viewed 3566 times
- Manang Muyang
- Previous Member of the Month
- Posts: 11174
- Joined: 02 May 2017, 20:17
- Favorite Book:
- Currently Reading: Donny and Mary Grace's California Adventures
- Bookshelf Size: 686
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-manang-muyang.html
- Latest Review: Your Great Name by Shawn Funk
- Reading Device: B00KC6I06S
It seems I am overthinking the story haha. My understanding of the story is that the spirits in the mountain brought Sarah back to the age of the first people. Her detailed story, injuries, acquired skills and maturity all point to the passing of time with real people.
As you have gone up that mountain as well, I won't be surprised if the spirits inspired you too.