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| Traci L. Slatton, Author BLOOD SKY Book 4 After Life Series |
International
best-selling author Traci L. Slatton has just released BLOOD SKY, the 4th
book in her dystopian After Series that combines the apocalyptic with a
poker game played in the American West to save the world. And there’s romance.
She claims her characters led her there! Reviewers of her previous books praise
her characters as “Believable, energetic, interesting
characters who make very human choices facing inhumane foes and unbelievable circumstances.”
Indeed, Slatton informs us that “facing our
choices is part of maturation.”
Slatton, who
lives in New York with her artist husband, spends most of her time writing. She
is also growing her independent press, Parvati Press. She provided a previous interview for this blog when she released BROKEN, a paranormal historical fantasy.
Q: You have
merged several genres into your new novel, BLOOD SKY, including,
Dystopian/apocalyptic/American Western/Romance. How did you conceive of the
story? Did you start with the concept of the world coming to an end and then
look for intriguing ways to keep that from happening?
Traci L.
Slatton: Joyce,
good question and good eye, I did merge those genres. The whole series started
with a scene that flashed into my mind a few years ago. It was a man and a
woman, very much in love, walking away from each other. Behind them stretched a
desolate world. From that initial scene came the whole edifice of the series….
I’m not sure I intended to merge the different genres, it just happened as the
story unfolded and I stayed true to it.
Q: What
inspired you to use a poker game as a means to win or lose all? Do you play
poker? Did you have to research the game?
Traci L.
Slatton: I
grew up playing poker at the kitchen table with my mother, grandmother, sister,
and various assorted friends and beaux. Poker was a time for us to connect and
also a time for storytelling. My mother and grandmother were great raconteurs,
and they usually had me in stitches over their tales.
Yes,
I did have to do some research. My husband Sabin isn’t much for card games so I
haven’t played in a while. I didn’t want to rely solely on my memory. Also, I
played out the hands I wrote about.
Q: Reviewers of
your previous books tout your characters. How do you make them engaging – especially
in a dystopian world? Why do readers care what happens to them?
Traci L.
Slatton: First,
thank you for compliment! Second, for creating characters, I use two different
methods. One is a character X system. This is a variation on something learned
in David Freeman’s Beyond Structure screenwriting class.
A
fully dimensional character needs 3-4 character traits to flesh him or her out.
Fewer than that, the character feels flat; more than that, and it’s hard to get
a handle on who the character is. So I draw out an X on a clean sheet of paper
and I label each of the end-points with a character trait. I try to make sure
that at least one of the traits isn’t too noble—I think it’s hard to relate to
a character who’s too perfect. For example, Arthur’s basic four traits are:
Charismatic, Intellectually Brilliant, Athletic, and Jealous. There are
nuances, of course. But I always have the character X on hand when I work. It
helps me keep the character coherent.
There’s
another technique that I also use. I studied astrology for a long time, and I
draw out charts for my characters. Sometimes the charts are just partial
horoscopes, but they speak to me in rich symbolic form. For example, Arthur has
Sagittarius rising and a Leo sun, Venus in Virgo. Emma has Virgo rising—the
classic healer—and moon in Leo. Her moon interlocks with Arthur’s sun, and
Arthur’s Venus in Virgo shows his appreciation of her.
Luca
Bastardo, the protagonist of my historical novel IMMORTAL, had a hell of a tight
Pluto-Venus square.
Those
astrological signatures communicate to me in rapid shorthand and help me with
character development.
Q: What do fans
of dystopian fiction expect to read in a dystopian novel?
Traci L.
Slatton: They
expect to enter a speculative world that intrigues them and enlarges their
consciousness, that shows a possibility under certain conditions. They expect
the protagonists to meet extreme challenge and hardship, thus revealing their
intrinsic character.
Q: How helpful
is setting (Old West?) to tell your story? Does it add to the suspense,
romance, or character development?
Traci L.
Slatton: Well,
the Old West just crept itself in, unbidden. I work in two ways in writing a
novel: 1, from an outline, and 2, from wild inspiration. I usually start a
novel in a burst of oceanic creativity, from a scene or a character who emerged
from my unconscious. But sometime during the first chapter I’ll write an
outline to structure the story. There is craft involved, you know?
But
I also allow and cultivate the oceanic, protean nature of creativity, which
means that themes and motifs and characters crop up and I don’t know why but I allow
them to emerge and then I pursue them. It’s a process of trust and discovery,
and it’s part of the fun of writing a novel.
So
that’s how Outpost City and the Old West came into my dystopian tale. I think
it adds resonance and richness….
Q: I know that
you write to entertain, but in previous books you’ve also had a message or two
that you wanted to deliver. Is that true for BLOOD SKY? Did you have something
you wanted readers to think about?
Traci L.
Slatton: There
are some ideas that matter to me. For one, we have greater abilities than the
concrete senses that Newtonian science acknowledges, and I try to share that
with readers. Also, BLOOD SKY turns around Emma’s choices. She has to come to
understand that she is making a choice at every turn. I think facing our
choices is part of maturation.
Q: Does humor
help to tell your story or develop your characters?
Traci L.
Slatton: There
tends to be humor in my stories, and my characters tend to have humor. Some of
my characters can be humorless if that’s who they are—I am true to my
characters. Arthur’s a bit humorless, I find. But he’s so hot, does it matter?
Q: What’s
next? Will you leave the dystopian
world?
Traci L.
Slatton: I
write the After Series novels between stand alone works.
Having
finished BLOOD SKY, I’m currently working on a novel called THE YEAR OF LOVING.
It was entitled THE YEAR OF LOVING A YOUNGER MAN, but then the protagonist went
and got herself involved in a love triangle with a younger man AND an older
man, and her best friend has cancer, so I realized it was THE YEAR OF LOVING. I’m
also researching the siege of Montsegur and the Cathars for a historical novel.
Q: What have
you been doing since you last visited here almost a year ago? Anything fun?
Traci L.
Slatton: Writing,
writing, writing! And growing my independent press, Parvati Press.
About
Traci L. Slatton
Traci L. Slatton is the international bestselling author of
historical, paranormal, and romantic novels, including IMMORTAL (BantamDell)
and BROKEN; the award-winning dystopian After Series which includes FALLEN,
COLD LIGHT, FAR SHORE, and BLOOD SKY; the bittersweet romantic comedy THE LOVE
OF MY (OTHER) LIFE; and the vampire art history romp THE BOTTICELLI AFFAIR. She
has also published the lyrical poetry collection DANCING IN THE TABERNACLE and
THE ART OF LIFE, a photo-essay about figurative sculpture through the ages. Her
book PIERCING TIME & SPACE explores the meeting ground of science and
spirituality.
In a time of apocalyptic despair, love is put to the test… Deep in
the badlands of Outpost City, in the Dark Horse saloon, a poker game is being
played. The stakes are life and death—for the world. What can Emma afford to
lose? Will she gamble on herself, or on Arthur? Will love find a way when the
apocalypse closes in? A mystical odyssey, a haunting love…
Purchase Link
Amazon Kindle
Author Links
@tracilslatton
BLOOD
SKY Trailer: https://youtu.be/moBlcXPG33o
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