What inspired you to become an author?
Honestly? It was the desire to have stories to
illustrate, because my first love was art. It has since grown out of being
second banana, to being one of the things I love to do most.
Do you title the book first or wait until after
it’s complete?
This book initially was named Plague Rat, a title which I quite liked. It came to me, with the story
premise, in a flash. That title, which came before the first word was ever
written, gave me a focus in the years it took to write the story. But it gave
the impression of something much less nuanced than the story I ended up
writing. In the end, an editor (Marianne Ward, who is awesome!) pointed out to
me that maybe a title change was in order. The only other title I love more
than Plague Rat is the one it ended
up with, The Great & the Small. To
have found two titles that I love
(and I struggle with titles!!) is like hitting the jackpot twice.
Is there a message in your novel that you want
readers to grasp?
There is a character in the book, a blind rat named
Balthazar, who says at one point, “Seek truth!” If I had to sum up the book’s
message, that would be it. Thinking for oneself and striving to make conscious
choices, keeps us from heading down some very dark roads. Blind obedience has
cause so much suffering, so many unnecessary deaths and wars. The antidote:
seek truth.
Is the book, characters, or any scenes based on a
true life experience, someone you know, or events in your own life?
Yes and No. The book is an allegory, but the
inspiration for the story was based on real events.
What books/authors have influenced your life?
I think JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, affected me greatly growing up. It framed
everything in terms of heroism, and the importance of doing the right thing,
even if it appears doomed, or ridiculous. It made a huge impression on me that
the littlest of people, the hobbits, were the ones who saved the day.
If you had to choose, which writer would you
consider a mentor?
I loved Harper Lee’s book, To Kill a Mockingbird. I love how she wrote an intricate, sensitive
story that seemed to be a “coming of age” story, when in reality it was a
treatise against racism. It didn’t preach to people, but instead allowed the
reader to come to their own conclusions. I love that in stories. I hate to be
preached to, or talked down to, and try to avoid it in my stories at all costs.
What book are you reading now?
Because I get too influenced by the “voice” of
whatever fiction I’m reading (and end up writing exactly like it!!) I only read
nonfiction when I am writing. Now that I am between writing projects, I am
binging on fiction. I am reading The Last
Kingdom series. I love it!
What books are in your to read pile?
Oh. Wow. So many. There is The History of Bees, an annotated Jane Eyre, a nonfiction book about the American civil war, another
nonfiction book about ancient China, a book about particle theory for
non-scientist-types, and research for a picture book I’m doing on modern-day
slavery. I find that books are like rabbits—there seem to be more every time
you turn around.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging
in your writing?
I think the voice in my head that tells me, in a
voice reminiscent of Eeyore of Winnie-the-Pooh fame, “It’ll never work!” My own
inner critic is the most challenging thing, as well as comparing my paycheck
(haha!) to my husbands’. I have had to realize that artists often have to do
the work just for love, because no one else might “get” it, much less buy it.
Vincent Van Gogh is my patron saint for artists; in spite of never finding
success in the world’s eyes during his lifetime, he painted the most exquisite
art. He painted anyway, not knowing if anyone would ever really “see” his art.
He did it for love.
Do you have any advice for other writers?
Don’t give up. Don’t write something because you
think it will sell. Write something because it will keep you up at night until
you do. Write for love. Write for passion. It’s the only reward you may get out
of your labours. There are shelves and shelves of forgotten books in old dusty
libraries, and eventually even the best sellers will be forgotten, so don’t let
your desire to be published outweigh why you started writing in the first
place. In the end, that pure desire to express something from within,
regardless of outcome, will have a greater impact on the world and on your
life.
Do you have a song or playlist (book soundtrack) that
you think represents this book?
Pretty much anything by Delerium! For specific
scenes, I have a few “soundtracks” from other artists, like Deep Forest, and
Amadou & Miriam, which I talk about in the blog post. When I needed general
mood music for The Great & the Small,
Delerium always delivered.
Just for fun- If you could have one paranormal ability, what
would it be?
I wish I could fly around and be an invisible
guardian angel to animals and children. When I read about innocent, helpless
creatures, animals and children alike, being mistreated it really rips me up
inside. I have wished on many occasions that I could swoop in and make things
right. In the end, all I can do is support animal protection and human rights groups,
sign petitions and write letters to the government, and try to live my life
with love.
The Great and The Small
A.T. Balsara
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Common Deer Press
Date of Publication: October 31, 2017
ASIN: B07543NL6H
Number of pages: 292 pages
Cover Artist: Ellie Sipila of Move to the Write
Book Description:
Deep below the market, in the dark tunnels no human knows exist, a war has begun. Lead by the charismatic Beloved Chairman, a colony of rats plots to exterminate the ugly two-legs who have tortured them in labs, crushed them with boots, and looked at them with disgust for as long as anyone can remember.
When the Chairman’s nephew is injured and a young two-leg nurses him back to health, however, doubt about the war creeps in. Now the colony is split—obey the Chairman and infect the two-legs with the ancient sickness passed down from the Old Ones, or do the unthinkable...
Rebel.
Excerpt
from The Great & the Small: Ananda
and Fin meet
Ananda eased
the door open. Patting along the wall, she found the light switch and flipped
it on. She stepped slowly down the stairs and peered into the room. The light
bulb cast harsh shadows across the concrete floor. “Hello?”
Something
moved. Ananda stifled a scream. A small lump quivered under the window, in a
mess of metal and fur. Her dad’s trap had caught something.
She
moved closer. The creature’s eyes were half-closed. Soot-grey fur capped its
head and ran down its back.
White fluff trembled between steel jaws. And then she saw its tail: naked and
pale, stretched out
like a bristly snake.
A rat.
Ananda
jumped back. The thing twitched and its eyelids fluttered, but it sank back
onto the floor, ribs heaving.
She
crept closer. Her shadow flickered across the creature.
Its eyes
popped open.
It
squealed, thrashing against the trap. Fresh blood seeped onto the concrete,
adding to the dried pool already there. Ananda stepped back and the rat went
still.
Wearily
it closed its eyes. Its head slumped down.
What
was she supposed to do now? Was it somebody’s pet? It looked like the rat from
the market, but that was impossible.
Ananda
leaned forward to see how badly it was hurt. The rat went crazy again. It
squealed shrilly, biting at its trapped leg to free itself.
“Okay!
Okay!” she said, and moved back. This was not
someone’s pet. It was wild, no matter how it looked. And that meant it might
have fleas. Fleas infected with plague bacilli.
Backing
up the basement stairs, Ananda turned and raced out the back door and to the
shed. She hauled open the rickety door and scanned the shelves. There were
thick gardening gloves. She put them on. A dusty cinder block sat on the shed
floor. She picked it up, staggered back a step under its weight, and waddled
into the house and back down the stairs.
Standing
over the rat, she gripped the cinder block with both hands. She’d try to make
it painless.
***
Fin
couldn’t move. His hind leg felt bitten in two. Some evil thing had its teeth
into him. Why didn’t it just kill him? What was it waiting for?
The
floor was cold. A chill crept through his fur, into his bones. The red curtain
of pain shifted. He thought, drifting, It’s
not so bad….
The
peaceful dark was shattered. Buzzing light split the gloom. Red pain bit into
him again. He pressed his eyes closed, trembling.
A
shadow moved over him. Fin opened his eyes a crack and saw two boggle eyes
staring down at him. He thrashed against the cold teeth. Bit at his leg to free
it. “Help! Help! Papa!” he screamed.
The
bulbous eyes floated away. Panting, Fin stopped, listening. He couldn’t see it,
but the thing was nearby. He could hear it breathing. Lifting his nose, he
feebly scanned the air and froze. There it was, an odour rank and pungent:
two-leg stench.
The
eyes hovered close again, its foul smell filling Fin’s nostrils. He shrieked,
“Let me go! Let me go!” yanking at his pinned foot. Once again the ugly two-leg
moved back. Was it toying with him? Like a cat toying with a mouse?
Barely
able to make out its blurry shape, Fin threw ultrasonic screams at it, calling
it every insult he could think of, but his cries fell like stones, unheard. The
thing was too brutish to understand him.
He
was grateful Papa couldn’t witness his shame. He was no Hero of the Tunnels
now.
When
the two-leg stood over him one last time, Fin did not feel a thing. He had
already fainted.
About the Author:
Website: http://www.torreybalsara.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/torreybalsara
1 comments:
Thanks for the wonderful interview, Roxanne! We loved reading your unique list of questions.
Thanks for hosting A.T. and The Great & the Small!
Jenn
Common Deer Press
Post a Comment