My favorite character in my book is Elsie Wilkins. She’s a twenty-nine year old independent girl born in England. She actually lived so she is not fictional. To bring her to life I had to empathize with her situation, research her history and just merely fill in the blanks. She was so inspiring to me, because she was ahead of her time and had the wonderful combination of strength, beauty and vulnerability.
As a writer I tried to create an independently multi-dimensional strong character. I wanted to maintain a good balance of action and thought from the being, have a person willing to take a risk and not be paralyzed by fear or past experience. In addition, I wanted to have a young woman with positive traits, or virtues more than an abundant of weaknesses.
In such a 1930s story, too, situations must happen for her because she uses her intelligence, not simply because she’s living in reserved times.
I tried to make all the characters believable with a clear purpose.
- I’ve only written one book that is historical fiction, although I’ve written several film scripts and comedy television scripts for “Alf” and “Married with Children.”
- This book took me so long to write – I think I wrote everywhere. It took forever to research the characters. The love story takes place in the 1930s so I had to do extensive research on that time period. The historical nature of the book required precise and accurate information. My favorite place to write is in my living room on the couch.
- What inspired this story was a powerful experience I had with my boyfriend Mike in 2001. When we first met we experienced several meaningful coincidences in our newly formed relationship and I wanted to find out for sure whether there was a past connection between us. To uncover if we were soul mates or to find out if we ever met in another life we turned to hypnosis. The initial past life regression sessions and those that followed were more successful than either of us could have imagined. Actually in my book there is a chapter at the end of it titled: “the story behind the story” which chronicles the hypnosis and research part of the story.
- I was in anOrangeCountywriters group for several years that helped motivate me to write on a daily basis. Also in my daily affairs, I tried to have a reverence for life by displaying acts of harmony, love, kindness. With all this indisputable spirituality, my sometimes sluggish moods lifted and I was able to joyfully write this novel.
- My first recollection of reading was probably the Nancy Drew mystery stories but I didn’t start writing until about nineteen.
7. I do have a book published. It is titled “Lifetimes Ago- A Love Story Inspired from Past Life Memories.” It is historical fiction based on several past life regression sessions. Lifetimes Ago is a powerful story, augmented by the unique twist of hypnosis and regression in the discovery of the characters. This book is spiritual in many aspects, so the reader is not only drawn into the story, but is educated about past life regression.
It can be purchased on any online bookstore including Amazon and Barnes & Noble and now available on Kindle and Nook for only $1.99.
- I love J. K. Rowlings! She is an amazing writer. I worked with kids between the ages of 9-12 and they began to read when the Harry Potter books came out. Rowlings is a true “rags to riches” life story in which she went from poverty to multi-millionaire status.
- I have a web-site. It is www.lifetimesago.com.
- Philosophy and Spirituality encouraged me. In college, I was introduced to Buddhism. For many years, I embraced this Eastern Religion, although I did not entirely believe in reincarnation. I could not completely grasp the notion that I had lived before. To me, reincarnation was a plausible theory of eternal life and a believable explanation, along with many other explanations of what happens to us when we die. After having this past life experience with Mike—I am a believer. I believe this book has a sense of truth and its pages resonate with the universal certainty that love never dies.
The people in my writing group were also very supportive and encouraging.
A truly wonderful insight Susie – thank you for participating.
Mandy Eve-Barnett's Blog for Readers & Writers 