Ask the Author: Lenore H. Gay
Answered Questions (23)
Lenore H. Gay
I've always loved science fiction. I read a lot of it during adolescence. I keep reading it as an adult, but not as often. In early days the world-building and plots drew me. I read despite the undeveloped characters. I think current science fiction writers do a better job with character development. I still enjoy it.
Lenore H. Gay
I think readers will have various responses to Sabine at different points in the book. Perhaps they will be puzzled by her behavior. As a reader, I like complex characters. I like to be surprised by characters’ actions and thoughts. Strong writing is important. I tried to carry this out in writing Shelter of Leaves.
Lenore H. Gay
Yes. Since writing Shelter of Leaves, I’ve completed another novel called Feathers & Wax. The book is loosely based on the Daedalus and Icarus myth.
Recently I started work on a new manuscript. It’s in the beginning stages, too soon to discuss because it’s in flux. It is an experiment. It is not dystopian or postapocalyptic.
Recently I started work on a new manuscript. It’s in the beginning stages, too soon to discuss because it’s in flux. It is an experiment. It is not dystopian or postapocalyptic.
Lenore H. Gay
When I write I stare out of the window while sitting at my desk. I imagined the emotions I’d feel in Sabine’s situation, and in the other characters’ situation. I thought about how losses would have an impact on Sabine’s character. I asked myself questions about resilience, longing, fear and anger. I used my imagination and visualized the road she travels and the people she meets.
Lenore H. Gay
This is a more difficult question to answer. The characters came to me as I wrote. First, I saw what they looked like. I thought about their families of origin and what part of the country they came from, their skills and abilities, their weaknesses.
Of course while working on the book, I deepened character and made changes based on interactions among the characters. If I wrote a sequel to the book, I’d consider whether a certain character could change. Were they capable of change? Some characters don’t change but they do move.
Of course while working on the book, I deepened character and made changes based on interactions among the characters. If I wrote a sequel to the book, I’d consider whether a certain character could change. Were they capable of change? Some characters don’t change but they do move.
Lenore H. Gay
This answer contains spoilers…
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Lenore H. Gay
This answer contains spoilers…
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Lenore H. Gay
Surviving, searching, finding… these things drive the characters and book’s action.
Lenore H. Gay
I wanted to write about an event that affected the country. In 2008 I decided to take on a big theme: terrorism and peoples’ responses to the fear and deprivation a crisis brings. I began writing Shelter of Leaves that year.
Lenore H. Gay
During the Cold War US citizens were preoccupied with the Red Menace. It gave rise to the McCarthy hearings and other Communist witch-hunts. Spy books and books about war were popular with readers then.
Now the younger generation, as well as some older Americans, are preoccupied with the degradation of the planet, and terrorist attacks. With the explosion of media, Americans can stay immersed in news about homegrown terrorists, as well as attacks in other parts of the world. Since 9/11 the preoccupation with terror has grown, and it’s reflected in the book’s imagining a world of chaos.
Now the younger generation, as well as some older Americans, are preoccupied with the degradation of the planet, and terrorist attacks. With the explosion of media, Americans can stay immersed in news about homegrown terrorists, as well as attacks in other parts of the world. Since 9/11 the preoccupation with terror has grown, and it’s reflected in the book’s imagining a world of chaos.
Lenore H. Gay
My early education helped form my interests. We read literary works from
Shakespeare’s poems and plays to Moby Dick, To Kill a Mockingbird, Silas Marner and The Scarlet Letter. In later years I read noted books by Margaret Atwood, Henry Miller, Sartre, Rimbaud, Anais Nin, Truman Capote, Ernest Hemingway, Gunter Grass, Mary Renault, Doris Lessing, Jack Kerouac, Reynolds Price, Ray Bradbury, Ursula LeGuin and D.H. Lawrence.
These days I’m an avid reader and pick books from reviews in print and online. I talk with writer friends and browse in bookstores, skim a few pages to get a sense of the work. Recent non-fiction by Jon Krakauer, John McPhee, Lucy Grealy, Bernd Heinrich, Kathleen Norris and Tobias Wolff.
Some current favorite novelists are Donna Tartt, David Mitchell,
Haruki Murakami, Cormac McCarthy, Charles Frazier, Michael
Cunningham, Chang-Rae Lee, Siri Hustvedt and Ann Patchett. I
enjoy work by dystopian, science fiction and fantasy writers like Patrick
Rothfuss, Lev Grossman, Emily St. John Mandel, Neil Gaiman, Edan Lepucki, Justin Cronin, Victoria Schwab and Greg Hrbek.
Shakespeare’s poems and plays to Moby Dick, To Kill a Mockingbird, Silas Marner and The Scarlet Letter. In later years I read noted books by Margaret Atwood, Henry Miller, Sartre, Rimbaud, Anais Nin, Truman Capote, Ernest Hemingway, Gunter Grass, Mary Renault, Doris Lessing, Jack Kerouac, Reynolds Price, Ray Bradbury, Ursula LeGuin and D.H. Lawrence.
These days I’m an avid reader and pick books from reviews in print and online. I talk with writer friends and browse in bookstores, skim a few pages to get a sense of the work. Recent non-fiction by Jon Krakauer, John McPhee, Lucy Grealy, Bernd Heinrich, Kathleen Norris and Tobias Wolff.
Some current favorite novelists are Donna Tartt, David Mitchell,
Haruki Murakami, Cormac McCarthy, Charles Frazier, Michael
Cunningham, Chang-Rae Lee, Siri Hustvedt and Ann Patchett. I
enjoy work by dystopian, science fiction and fantasy writers like Patrick
Rothfuss, Lev Grossman, Emily St. John Mandel, Neil Gaiman, Edan Lepucki, Justin Cronin, Victoria Schwab and Greg Hrbek.
Lenore H. Gay
Sometimes I take away from my writing time to focus on marketing. I was told by my publisher that the most successful writers were usually "content monsters." She warned me that it would be difficult to balance writing essays and articles while continuing to write the long hours required for fiction. She was right.
Lenore H. Gay
I'm working with an editor on final edits of my next book, Feathers & Wax.
The novel tells the story of a family and what happens when a house fire suddenly exacerbates existing problems. Phil's severe head injury complicates Phil and Joss' fragile marriage. He no longer recognizes Joss. When a handsome electrician comes to the house to repair the fire damage he meets Joss. The situation changes again.
The novel tells the story of a family and what happens when a house fire suddenly exacerbates existing problems. Phil's severe head injury complicates Phil and Joss' fragile marriage. He no longer recognizes Joss. When a handsome electrician comes to the house to repair the fire damage he meets Joss. The situation changes again.
Lenore H. Gay
Can I tell a two-sentence horror story? Not nearly as well as a writer who works in that genre. I work in literary, fantasy and dystopian. Of course some dystopian landscapes are horrors to observe. Sorry, maybe this doesn't answer your question very well.
Lenore H. Gay
I'm currently reading "H is for Hawk." The book came out in 2015 and it's still around. Fascinating story about a woman who trains a goshawk. Lovely language and clever. Also reading "Woman 17" Edan Lepucki's latest book. Others on my to-read shelf: "Lincoln at the Bardo," by George Saunders and Paul Auster's"4321". "Tough Enough" by Deborah Nelson; "Cruel Beautiful World" by Caroline Leavitt. "The Hidden Life of Trees" by Peter Wohlleben; "The Year of the Runaways" by Sunjay Sahota; "The Painted Drum" by Louise Erdrich and "Arcadia" by Iain Pears.
Lenore H. Gay
Why do some love relationships work and others don't? Is it possible for 2 people to love each other equally? Or, is there always imbalance?
Lenore H. Gay
I'm thinking of two couples in two novels.
The first, The Hindenberg Crashes Nightly by Greg Hrbek is a story about love in several iterations. For me the most compelling is about a couple who've known each other for years. They met when he was 10, she was 18.
The other novel is Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff. The couple Lotto and Mathilde are not what they seem. Told from two points of view the tension rises with the revealed complexity that formed both of their early lives.
The first, The Hindenberg Crashes Nightly by Greg Hrbek is a story about love in several iterations. For me the most compelling is about a couple who've known each other for years. They met when he was 10, she was 18.
The other novel is Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff. The couple Lotto and Mathilde are not what they seem. Told from two points of view the tension rises with the revealed complexity that formed both of their early lives.
Lenore H. Gay
Inspiration often comes from curiosity.
Lenore
Lenore
Lenore H. Gay
Some months back I started on a new book. Yet much of my time has been spent on getting ready for a book launch. That book will be published in August.
Like most writers I know, I'm not ready to talk about the new book. Too soon. It's not good to dribble away energy.
Lenore
Like most writers I know, I'm not ready to talk about the new book. Too soon. It's not good to dribble away energy.
Lenore
Lenore H. Gay
I've listened to folks who say they want to be writers, but they don't really want to write. If someone says that they can't find time or ask how they can discipline themselves to write, I wonder if they want to write badly enough. Those who really want to write begin to make the time and grow to love writing. When you love writing the discipline isn't really an issue.
Lenore
Lenore
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