Feature Friday: Emlyn Chand

Today we welcome Emlyn Chand from Virtual Book Tours. Emlyn is the author of Farsighted. So to begin we ask her a question that I've been dying to know the answer of since I read this book.

1) How difficult was it for you to write a story with the main character being blind? How did you go about writing such a delicate subject? (I know you haven't read my review but I thought you did it very successfully!)

Oh, yay! Thank you for the praise :-D Well, to connect with Alex, I read books about coping with blindness in a school setting and spent a great deal of time pondering how I might behave if I couldn’t see. In the story, Alex has always been blind; he’s always known the world to be a certain way. Not everyone understands that, and they have trouble talking about it with him. I gave Alex a tendency to overcompensate. He knows who he is and what he’s capable of, and he wants the world to know it too, so sometimes he overdoes things a bit.

2) What convinced you to use the runes throughout the book? Especially when you have so many magical type items at your disposal to write about.

Ooo, good question. Runes are a device that can be used without site as Alex does. I also found shaping each chapter around a rune gave the story order, which made me feel happy and comfortable. Whenever I got stuck and didn’t know what should happen next, I was able to learn more about that chapter’s rune and get the inspiration I needed to continue. The runes themselves tell a story, one that is successfully completed. I felt that boded well for Farsighted. There will be other psychic story-telling devices later in the series too!

3) Shapri seemed to have the hardest time out of everyone in the book adjusting to the idea that she had an ability. Will we be seeing her develop more and becoming more accepting of herself in the next book? Will she finally have a breakthrough?

Yes, definitely. At the beginning of book #2, Shapri is already more in touch with her abilities and willing to discuss it openly. Each of the novels in the series is told from a different main character’s perspective, Shapri’s turn to narrate will be in book #3, and boy, will she have to grapple with her powers then!

4) The idea of your powers controlling you if you don't learn to control them, isn't necessarily new. But the way that you implemented it brought something fresh. As we watch all of the characters grow and develop, will there be more conflicts within themselves? Or needs to use their powers for selfishness? After all, it's a lot of responsibility to have for a few kids.

They will. Each character has his or her own private struggle. In the beginning of the next book, many new people begin to move into town and some of them do use their powers for personal gain in a way that hurts others. At least one of our main characters is not the best of guys either. Remember, “with great power, comes great responsibility.”

5) Now for a few simple, fun and silly questions, if you had to live off of 1 food for the rest of your life, what food would you choose?

Hmmm. Maybe pizza? It’s not necessarily my favorite food, but it’s so diverse. There’s a lot I could do with my pizza to keep it fresh :-P

6) Describe to us the place where your magic happens (where you write).

The comforting hum of its patrons wraps me in a warm embrace. Scents of vanilla, sausage, and coffee pour through my nostrils and make me feel at home. The springy cushion beneath me melds to my form. My keyboard is waiting. Ahhh, Panera.

7) When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew?

Oh, so many different things. The earliest one was a zoo keeper who takes care of elephants. The longest desire was to be a Disney animator. I used to be a pretty good cartoonist, but now I’m out of practice.

8) Favorite type of music?

Happy music! I love Frank Sinatra and all things croon. It just makes me “smile in my heart.” When I’m driving I listen to pop, so that I don’t fall asleep at the wheel… yeah, I totally have done that before.

9) When can we expect book 2? I saw at the end of this one that it 2012, but that's quite a vague answer... ;) Also, do you have anything else in the works?

Yes, yes, I do. Book #2 in the Farsighted series, which is called Open Heart, will indeed be coming in 2012. I’m hoping to have it ready sometime in the spring, probably later in the spring. I will also be releasing the first book in a new series called The Timewalker Chronicles this year. It’s of the YA science fiction persuasion, and I’m so so excited about it :-D

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Thank you, thank you, thank you for joining us Emlyn! It was so much fun and you were a joy to have. We hope you keep us in mind when you're looking for publicity on The Timewalker Chronicals, I know that I will be first in line for Open Heart so I can't wait to see what you do with this other series.