ABOUT ENSLAVEMENT (ONE BRIGHT FUTURE #1)
Title: Enslavement (One Bright Future, #1)
Publication date: October 31, 2014
Publisher: Rebelight Publishing Inc.
Author: Melinda Friesen
“One world. One currency. One
bright future.”
That’s the promise made by
OneEarth Bank after a global economic collapse–but only for those who accept
the insertion of a commerce chip.
When Rielle’s parents refuse
to comply, government officials tear her family apart. As punishment for her
parent’s crimes, Rielle is forced into a Community Service Contract–a legalized
form of slavery–and sold a wealthy, abusive banker.
The Banker’s secrets hold the
key to Rielle’s freedom, but will she risk prison or even death to escape and
search for her family?
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ABOUT MELINDA FRIESEN:
***Author Interview***
Hello WS
Momma Readers Nook. Thank you for inviting me to share today!
What
inspired you to write your first book?
Overwhelming thankfulness.
Five years ago, I sat, watching my daughter play piano. I was feeling so
grateful that my daughter had this opportunity to hone her talent because many,
many people in the world never get the chance.
And then, this thought
popped into my head—what if it was all taken away from her. What would it be
like to have that talent and then to have the opportunity to express it
snatched from you? That is where Enslavement
began.
Do you have a specific writing style?
Good
question. I really don’t know, but I can tell you what others have said. One of
my writing instructors told me that some of my writing has a Kafkaesque feel to
it. Once, I put a piece of my writing into one of those Facebook quizzes where
it promised to tell you who you write like—I got Stephanie Meyer. Margaret
Atwood is my writing hero so I’ve gone over a couple of her novels with a fine
tooth comb to learn everything I can from her. One reviewer said that Enslavement reminded her of The Handmaid’s Tale, which was a huge
compliment. So, there you have it—a Kafka/Meyer/Atwood
kind of style.
How did you come up with the title?
I went through several
titles. The original was Silence, but
I scrapped that. Next came The Fear of
Drowning which I didn’t keep because I thought it might be too abstract. I
finally settled on The Enslavement of
Rielle James. However, my publisher felt it was too long, so they shortened
it to Enslavement. The series title: One Bright Future was my publisher’s
idea. I didn’t love it at first, but it’s grown on me.
Is
there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
I never want to feed my readers a message. I want to get them
to ask important questions and discover the answers for themselves. I hope
Enslavement prompts the reader to ask, what is freedom? Why is it important? In
order to have human rights, we have to be human, so what does it mean to be
human? Who have we dehumanized in our society? How far would you go to protect
your freedom and the freedom of others? I’ve had readers come back to me and
tell me that the book frightened them because it all seemed so plausible. We
see these stories on the news and always think, “That couldn’t happen to me.”
But, it could. And it has happened to people just like you and me.
How much of the book is realistic?
In terms of the
scenario—the dehumanization of a segment of the population—Enslavement is realistic. You need only open a history book to see
that this has happened over and over. The most familiar to most people is the
dehumanization of the Jews in Nazi Germany. This is not the first time such a
thing happened and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?
No. I based the story in
some sociological reading I was doing at the time. I was heavily influenced by
John Pilger’s Freedom Next Time.
What books have most influenced your life most?
The Keeper of the Isis
Light
by Monica Hughes—My first exposure to sci-fi, and it blew my 10 year old mind.
I loved Star Wars and Buck Rogers and Star Trek. I didn’t know I could read
about stuff like that.
The Science of God by Gerald L.
Schroeder—Fascinating and changed the way I think about God.
The Holy Bible—My anchor.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee—Absolutely
broke my heart. I’d never been so emotionally moved by a novel.
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer—Awakened
my imagination after many long years without reading when my kids were little.
If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
That’s easy. Margaret
Atwood. She’s already my mentor, she just doesn’t know it. I scour her books
for writing advice. I’ve read about her career and tried to take similar steps
in my own.
What book are you reading now?
I am Malala by
Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb
The Maze Runner by
James Dashner
Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
I have friends from my
writers’ group who have just released or are soon releasing YA novels. I’m
rooting for them and hoping their books do fabulously. Go Suzanne Costigan and
Jodi Carmichael!
What are your current projects?
I’m
working on a short story about Nina Hayes, one of the characters in Enslavement, as a thank you gift for
everyone who leaves a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. I’m also working on my
eleventh novel, a post-apocalyptic. I like to try new things with my writing,
so this time I’m writing from a male POV, which has been really interesting.
It’s strange being inside a male mind, but it’s illuminating.
Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.
I
have two very supportive beta readers and I have an excellent writer’s group.
My beta readers have been my cheerleaders. One of them just contacted me about
one of my other novels, Solar. She
said she liked Enslavement and all,
but I was still working on getting Solar
published, right? These little kicks keep me moving forward.
My
writer’s group, the Anita Factor, is fabulous. Full of published authors, they
are so knowledgeable. I learn oodles from them, not to mention their role as
writer’s therapy. Only other writer can truly understand all the sacrifices and
hardships of this calling.
Do you see writing as a career?
Five years ago, with my
kids getting older and about the time I started writing, I went back to school.
I started taking classes part-time. What did I put down as my major? You
guessed it, Physics! I was aiming for a career in medical radiology. In the
spring of 2014, I came to a crossroads and I had to make a decision between my
education and my writing. With my husband’s encouragement, I chose the writing.
From a financial standpoint it was a stupid decision. I was sick over it for a
month. From a passion standpoint, it was the best decision in the world. I will
be poor, but happy!
If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
Only
a typo on a certain page. I had five years to nurse my baby. It was time to wean
her. Honestly, I can’t look critically at the book anymore. I love what it is.
It’s more than I could have hoped for when I set out to write it. It belongs to
readers now, not to me.
Do you
recall how your interest in writing originated?
I’ve always enjoyed
writing. But, to answer this question I’m going to focus on how my interest in
fiction writing originated. I remember the day, the weather, where I was
sitting the moment it happened. It was 2009 and I was hitting the Twilight
pretty hard back then. I tuned in to Oprah to watch an interview with Stephanie
Meyer. She said something in that interview that shocked me. She said that she
told herself stories all the time, didn’t everyone? Oprah confirmed that most
people do not tell themselves stories.
My mouth fell open. What?
I thought everyone did that too. It’s why I get so irritated when my husband
talks to me in the car. I’m busy telling myself stories and looking in people’s
windows wondering what their lives are like.
So, I gave it a try. My
first attempts never went anywhere. They’re still on my computer, unfinished.
Third try was the charm. I wrote the first draft of Enslavement in five weeks.
Can you share a little of your current work with us?
Of course! Here’s how it all begins:
DOZENS OF BANK SECURITY OFFICERS in black
uniforms and dirty boots shout orders and tramp through our house.
Crouching beside the sofa, I clutch my two-year-old
sister, Alyssa, to my chest and shield her eyes. I stroke her back and tell her
lies. “Shhh. Everything is going to be okay.”
Officers swarm up the stairs. Others search the
living room and kitchen.Drawers are dumped. Spoons, forks, spatulas clatter onto
the tile. My grandmother’s china is flung to the floor. It pops and shatters
and crunches under their feet. A crystal vase tumbles from the top shelf. I
jolt as it explodes into a thousand glittering shards.
From the bedrooms, thuds and crashes rake my
ears, splintering wood and clanking metal hangers. We’ve made their search
easy. Dad already traded away most of our belongings. A few family treasures,
now in pieces on the floor, were all we kept. But they would’ve gone soon too.
Hunger trumps sentimentality.
My fifteen-year-old brother, Silas, sits on the sofa
and stares at the floor. He jams his white-knuckled fists against his ears.
Mom kneels beside Dad, sprawled unconscious on
the living room floor. She brushes her quaking hand over the gash on his head
where they clubbed him for trying to protect us. A thread of blood winds around
his ear and soaks into the ivory carpet.
An officer grinds his knee into Dad’s back, fixes
a plastic zip-tie around his wrists. He grabs Dad by one arm and drags his limp
body through the front door. Mom’s glassy gaze follows him, her hand hovering
over the blood-stained carpet. She looks down at her red fingers, her face
shiny with tears.
Another officer digs his fingers into Mom’s shoulder
and hauls her upright. He pins her arms behind her back and snaps a plastic
cuff around herwrists too.
Mom in handcuffs—why? My parents are not
criminals.
“Please.” Sobs convulse Mom’s shoulders.
“Please—please let me say goodbye.”
Alyssa wrestles away from me. “Mommy!” She reaches
her arms out to Mom, clenching and unclenching her tiny fists.
“I love you so much.” Mom’s voice trembles.
The officer lifts his chin and indifference flattens
his features. He clutches her elbow, mumbles “filthy Resistor,” then pushes her
toward the door.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
My
biggest challenge is definitely beginnings. BEGINNINGS! The bane of my entire
existence. It’s not that I struggle with where to begin. I know exactly where
my story starts. It’s how to begin
that gets me. You know, that amazing opener that instantly intrigues the
reader. I mentioned one of my manuscripts above, Solar. Solar is lamed by
my beginning. I’ve had literary agents say, “Great premise, but the beginning
didn’t pull me in.” I entered it in a novel contest and got shortlisted. The
feedback I received from the adjudicator cited the beginning as it’s greatest
problem. Frustrated sigh.
Who is
your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?
I have to pick one
favourite? Sorry, I just can’t.
Kate Morton—The way she
weaves a mystery.
Margaret Atwood—The
emotion she can pack into a couple words.
John Green—His characters
have such a strong voice and he makes me laugh and then cry.
Kresley Cole—Oh, the
sexual tension in her Arcana Chronicles.
Do you have to travel much concerning your book(s)?
I wish.
Who designed the covers?
Melanie Matheson. She’s
the resident designer with my publisher, Rebelight Publishing Inc.
What was the hardest part of writing your book?
Definitely the editing
process. Because it was my first book, it needed so, so, so much work. First
books are, well, that wet ugly Voldemort thing under the bench in the last
Harry Potter movie. I went through a couple dozen global edits and at least
that many minor ones. Of what I originally wrote, about ten per cent remains.
Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?
I learned I could get
severely discouraged, pick myself up and keep going. I learned I am stronger
than I thought.
Do you have any advice for other writers?
Have patience. There’s no
rush to get your work out there. If I had published Enslavement back when I first tried, I’d be so embarrassed right
now. There’s so much to learn. Take the time to learn it, so your book can be
amazing.
Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
Thank you. Thank you to
all my readers who’ve contacted me and encouraged me. I love to hear from my
readers, and I always reply to Facebook and Twitter messages.
What were the challenges (research, literary, psychological, and logistical) in bringing it to life?
Research: The
technology. I’m a physics student, so I’m not okay with just making stuff up
that is physically impossible. I want the technology to be plausible,
especially since I’m dealing with a story that takes place only about 40 years
in the future. I needed to take what’s cutting edge now and forecast where it
will go in the future.
Literary:
Balance. Writing is balancing act, too much of one thing and the story suffers,
not enough and it still suffers. What is the right balance between thoughts,
actions, emotions and descriptions? The balance is tough to achieve.
Psychological:
The constant critique and rejection. Nobody’s patting me on
the back. I rarely have had anyone say, “Wow, you’re a good writer.” There is
never a critique that says, “Well done! Wouldn’t change a thing.” I always
dream of that happening, but it never does. Between my short stories and
novels, I’ve received over a 100 rejections. Sometimes I feel really disheartened.
I have to give myself a lot of pep talks to keep going.
What books/authors have influenced your writing?
The Handmaid’s Tale and The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood.
Looking for Alaska by John
Green
The Host by
Stephanie Meyer
The Forgotten Garden by
Kate Morton
A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
What genre do you consider your book(s)?
Enslavement is
dysopian/sci-fi. I’ve also written paranormal romance, historical, fantasy and
contemporary.
Do you ever experience writer's block?
No. Don’t hate me for
this, but the ideas come faster than my fingers can type.
Do you write an outline before every book you write?
The only outlines I write
before I start my manuscripts are character outlines. I won’t start without
having a good handle on my characters. I don’t write plot outlines, but I
always know where the story is going before I begin. The story is a mental
movie that I have to transfer from my brain to the computer.
Have you ever hated something you wrote?
I’ve never hated something
I wrote, but I have harbored a little self-loathing for something I wrote. It’s
a short story. You see, I made one rule for myself when I started writing—no
vampires! Not that there’s anything wrong with writing about vampires—for other
people. It just seemed to me that for a while that’s what everyone was writing,
so I thought it best to avoid it. You know where this is going. A couple
summers ago, I had this great idea for a humorous short story. Yes, about
vampires. I hang my head. So I wrote it. It was actually really fun and I see
why people choose to write about the blood suckers.
What is your favourite theme/genre to write about?
Redemption. All my books
deal with this theme in some way.
While you were writing, did you ever feel as if you were one of the characters?
Always. I get into character when I write. Usually, I push
the character to the back of my mind when I get up from the computer. Rielle,
my main character from Enslavement, was very polite. She’d hang out and wait
patiently until the next time I wrote. I have another character who is much
more domineering. She totally interrupted another manuscript and demanded hers
be written. And when I finished her novel, she demanded a sequel, so I could,
in her words, “Fix it!” Fix the mess I made of her life. She likes to tell me
how to dress. Sounds weird, I know.
What are your expectations for the book?
After years of bleeding for this manuscript, of
course I want it to go to the moon and back. I expect that it will take a
little while to catch on. I’m a new writer and people like to stick with what
they know. I’m so pleased that already people have read it and loved it. I
expect the One Bright Future series to build with each subsequent book. I expect
it will take a lot more bleeding for me to get the attention of readers. But,
hey, perseverance is nothing new.
Thank you for stopping by and answering some questions for us Melinda! Good luck with the book :)
Giveaway
Information: Winner will be drawn February 27, 2015
· Two
(2) winners will received a signed copy of Enslavement by Melinda Friesen (US/Canada)
· Five (5) winners will receive a digital copy of Enslavement by Melinda Friesen (INT)
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