Gabriel Woods asked Lissa Oliver:

Hi Lissa What has inspired you to write Chantilly Dawns and Sainte Bastian?

Lissa Oliver Hi, Gabriel,
I guess it was being a teenager and feeling a personal sense of loss when a jockey friend was sacked and relocated abroad. As I grew older, I wondered how that sense of loss must have been amplified for him. The best part of an author's journey is making that trip in someone else's shoes, and from wondering "what if?" a character and story emerges.
Chantilly Dawns ended, but I wanted my journey to continue, so I listened to a very minor bit-player from a previous book (Gala Day) who had been hounding me for a book of his own for many years! That's another aspect of life as a writer - imaginary people take up residence in your head and demand life! When they appear in print and other people "see" them, they are alive and no longer just my imaginary lodgers!
Anyway, I wondered about other characters and how the repercussions from the Chantilly Dawns plot might impact on their lives. And from that grew Sainte Bastien, a very challenging book to write.
As with your own work, Gabriel, my storylines can allow me to raise issues I feel are important and to explore different perspectives.

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