FAQ  corner

About TRACES:

• Was it hard for you to stay productive while you were working on TRACES?

Yes and no. Thinking about the characters, coming up with background information hardly anyone will ever even hear about and so on is fun and easy, and it's something I do regardless of where I am and what's going on in my life. But I also have chronic pain issues and work full time / used to attend university full time and had several student jobs while writing the trilogy. So a lot of the time, I am (was) exhausted and in pain while writing and only manage(d) to do a fraction of what I'd set out to accomplish.

• How long did writing TRACES take?

Simple answer: The stream-of-consciousness-y version of TRACES has been around since 2014ish and took about a year to write.
More accurate answer: it's hard to say because I re-wrote it several times and because I wrote it in layers, i.e. I wrote the basic story first (about 115,000 words) and then added details, dimensions, and layers, which resulted in a 173,000 word manuscript. Then, after I'd completed my drafts for the second and third part and agonized over them with my editor, I sat down and re-edited TRACES for publication, which mainly involved cutting superfluous details (like lots of whining on Aiden's part). That's how I ended up with the 150,000 word novel I eventually released.

• When did you first think of the story for TRACES, and what made you think of it? / Where did the inspiration behind TRACES come from?

The inspiration for TRACES came from... everywhere. Things I've been through. Things my friends and family have been through. My pets. My amazing students. My home away from home. The Greek myths my dad used as bedtime or 4AM "let me go back to sleep, you little monster" stories. The time I spent volunteering at a psychiatric clinic and an animal shelter. The bat I got to pet. And so on...
Back in 2006, I had a dream the original pieces of TRACES are based on. The characters in it developed into Aiden, Cole, Gracie, and roughly 273 dream-devouring pigeons.

• Why pigeons?

Initially: because I didn't like them. And I was 16 and a judgmental little shit. Later on: because I like the fact that TRACES has some aspects that are kind of campy. So much of it is so serious... Having evil minions that seem kind of absurd is my idea of humor, I guess. That's why I never changed them to a more overtly menacing kind of animal.

• Could you imagine Cole and Aiden [changing] personalities for a day?

Switch personalities? No. Switch genders? Yes!

• Are there any characters or scenes that you based on real people or events?

All my characters have a piece (or ten) of me in them. I've also borrowed character traits from family members, friends, former colleagues and so on. But not a single character is a direct representation of a real-life person. I think that would be presumptuous.

• Are there scenes you considered cutting, and if so, why did you keep them?

I considered cutting the quiet exposition because YA novels tend to start in medias res these days. I decided to keep it because I prefer to get to know my characters first so I already care about them by the time they get thrown into any sort of life-threatening situation. See also: "the best thing about self-publishing"!

• What was your reaction when you first held a copy of TRACES?

It's a real book!!!1!1! Is this what people feel like right after giving birth?

• Why does Layla draw a picture of baby Jesus?

My friend Yazzie (@book_ista on instagram - check out her beautiful account!) pointed out to me that, as a Muslim, Layla would be highly unlikely to draw Jesus as a literal baby as he's considered a prophet in Islam, so drawing him that way is a no-no. Yazzie showed me that Layla would be significantly more likely to draw the manger glowing with a beautiful light since this kind of light is often used to symbolically represent prophets. As an art whiz, Layla would definitely know how to draw that!
I'm really glad I didn't specify the exact thing Layla draws in the book, so I didn't have to make any changes to that section. But I wanted to be up-front about the fact that, though I try very hard to get things right, I'm not perfect, and no amount of research (and, in my case, consulting Muslim sensitivity readers ahead of publication) will prevent me from getting things wrong when writing about a culture I'm not a part of. NOT including characters whose backgrounds are different from my own is also not an option, though, as I'd like the community of characters in my books to reflect the community of people I know and love in real life. Different people will perceive different elements of the story in different ways. Going forward, I hope I'll always manage to address people's concerns in a constructive and respectful way.