Kindred Spirit - Krista Wallace
Sep 19 , 2016 - 02
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The Kindred Spirits thread is a thematic series of articles, curated by Canadian SF author Lynda Williams and sponsored by Reality Skimming Press. If you wish to interview, recommend or volunteer an author who fits, email lynda@realityskimming.com or inquire of info@realityskimming.com
Interview with Krista Wallace
My interview today is with Author Krista Wallace, concerning her Gatekeeper Series.
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Lynda: Why was "series" the right choice for Gatekeeper ? Did you always know it would be? Or did it sneak up on you?
Krista: This is the perfect question to start with, because when I started writing Kyer’s
story (pronounced Kee-Air), I thought I was writing a book. One. It didn’t take long to
figure out that the story I was telling was too long for a single book. It took me quite
some time to determine that it was going to become what it is now: a trilogy in five parts.
I simply wrote the story that it needed to be.
Lynda: What captivates your imagination about the setting and nature of the
Gatekeeper world?
Krista: “They” always say, “Write the story you want to read.” I grew up with A Wrinkle in
Time and Anne of Green Gables, along with other adventure-type stories. As an adult I
wasn’t finding fantasy novels with the kind of female characters I wanted to read. I had
an idea, so I decided to give writing fiction a try.
I have loved creating my own world, and when I first started writing what became
Gatekeeper’s Key, I would lose myself in it, even when I wasn’t actively writing. I would
be riding in the car, and carrying on a conversation between characters, which I would
eventually write down, and figure out how it would fit in the story later. While in Kyer’s
head, I liked having the freedom to say the things that I might want to say, but never
would in real life. In the world I created, the consequences aren’t all that different from
ours, but my character is capable of handling them, even if things become violent.
The world of Rydris has sort of a medieval feel to it, but in truth it’s more
progressive, with low-tech, kind of like being out camping. The settings are inspired
largely by places I have been, such as out camping up at Alice Lake, or travelling to the
prairies, or eastern or Atlantic Canada, or the UK. I take inspiration from all sorts of
places, which is one of the things that makes the story fun to write.
I think what captivates me is that control over the setting. It’s like writing in VR,
with the characters moving about in a setting that is crystal clear in my mind. At the
same time, I can change it to provide whatever is necessary for the story.
Lynda: Is it fair to call the Gatekeeper series heroic or a saga? And if so, what
makes a character a hero, while remaining relatable.
Krista: “Saga” feels a little over-the-top. Even “heroic” feels exaggerated. Yet the story is
chock full of heroes. I think any character can be a hero if they show courage in the face
of danger. Or by doing something as simple as standing up for what they believe in, and
facing the consequences of their actions. Most of my characters are pretty ordinary
people, yet they do what they can to help others, often at great risk. Does that make my
series heroic? Maybe! It definitely makes the characters relatable.
I believe in giving even smaller, less central characters some sort of task. It may
or may not become a pivotal action, but it allows that character to stand out…to be a
named character in the credits, as it were, not just Guard number 3. I figure in real life, people
perform tasks that are difficult every day. Something that is easy for one person might
be Herculean for someone else, so why not let minor characters feel heroic for a tiny
moment?
Lynda: Magic and the supernatural play a role in Gatekeeper. How do you manage
the possession of special powers by a key character?
Krista: Kyer is one of those characters who doesn’t have magical power at the start of
the story. Leastwise, she doesn’t know she possesses power inherently, and discovers it
at a crucial moment—still not realizing she was the one who made That Thing happen.
I believe that magic must have rules, limitations. Now, I am what they call a
spontaneous writer, so it wasn’t until I was writing book four that I realized what the
rules were for Kyer’s magic. She began to have a reaction to its use, and when she had
a conversation with someone who knows more about than she did, I figured out
that—unbeknownst to me—I had set those limitations in the earlier books. There were
legitimate explanations for every time she ought to have had a reaction, but wasn’t
aware of it at the time. It all fit together. (See, this is why I say I write by magic!)
In the world of my story, magic is just like the arts or athletics: some people have
a natural talent for magic in general, or a particular spell (Trevile is a Diviner, Mykret is a
Perceptor, Jesqellan and Oshihira are Battle Mages). They can work and train, or
receive instruction to improve and hone their skills to be better at it. Not having natural
talent doesn’t preclude someone from learning magic, though. It just means they have
to work harder. Even if they purchase a spell, they have to learn how to use it properly.
Lynda: Each book in a series needs to be complete in itself and be part of a
whole. How do you view the balance?
Krista:: Heh. Well. I kind of broke this rule. Like I said before, I began to write one book,
which turned into more books. I figured out pretty quickly that an unknown author like
me would have trouble selling a Book Two that was as long as Gatekeeper’s Deception
would be. I decided to cut it in half, citing Lord of the Rings as an example of this being
acceptable. (LotR was written as one book, but the decision was made to divide it up).
This is why I refer to the Gatekeeper Series as a “trilogy in five parts.” I cut book two in
half, and then I cut book four in half. Both two/three and four/five were written as single
volumes, and each is, as you say, “complete in itself.”
The balance comes by solving the problem of each book’s story, but also
recognizing that there will still be questions left unanswered, villains who haven’t
received their comeuppance. In book one, Gatekeeper’s Key, the characters must solve
the problem of the nastiness in the village of Nennia. But while that’s going on, Kyer
discovers things that add to the mystery of her personal journey, which is wider-view
stuff. She also makes some enemies who will be part of her ongoing story. In the
second story (books two/three), the characters are searching for the cure for the Lady
Alon Maer’s mysterious illness—which they achieve—but while that is going on, Kyer is
having conversations with a character who will have even more influence on her life as
the wider story arc continues.
It makes the story more complex, because there is more than one plot. Side
plots, if you like. I picture it like a main plot line, with several curly lines on either side
that occasionally criss-cross the main line. I believe the side plots need to have some
effect on the main plot; they can’t be completely separate.
The biggest challenge I faced was between books three and four. As a
spontaneous writer I had created all sorts of loose ends, all those questions that opened
up in the first three books. I knew I needed to tie those up, answer all those questions…
but that must, of course, happen as part of a story with its own main plot. The final
books needed their own story arc as a foundation, and that is what took me a very long
time to figure out (years!): what was that main plot line for the final book/s?
I finally pinpointed it, and then it was a matter of weaving side plots and the main
plot together. I had to make a list of the questions that needed answering, to be sure I
didn’t miss anything.
Interestingly, having lots of side plots sometimes allows for them to intersect and
neatly tie together!
Lynda: Where did your main character, Kyer Halidan, come from, in particular?
Has she evolved, or did she spring to life fully formed?
Krista: My friends and I used to play a fantasy table-top RPG that was similar to D&D.
When I decided to have a go at writing a novel, it was the stories we created in the
game that inspired the story I wanted to write. Kyer Halidan was my character, so I
guess you could say she was a part of me, and therefore fairly well formed. As I created
her story I learned more about her. She deepened and developed further as her story
became more complex.
I had read a whole bunch of fantasy novels wherein pages and pages were taken
up with the protagonist agonizing over whether or not to say yes to the journey/task
they’d been presented with. I mean, come on! The reader knows they’re going to do it,
or else there’d be no story. So, I wanted a character who didn’t struggle with that. I
guess that was the first step in my refusal to follow a standard story arc. Oh well.
During the writing of Gatekeeper’s Crucible I took a pause to write Emergence –
A Gatekeeper prequel. This novella tells the story of Kyer’s childhood, leading up to the
moment she leaves home to take the journey we read about in Gatekeeper’s Key. I had
wanted to write this story for ages. I realized while writing it that I couldn’t have written
this book earlier in the process, because I didn’t know Kyer well enough. So, further to
your question, she might have been fully formed, but I still needed to get to know her.
Lynda: How do you feel about the compact between the author and readers of a
series? Are there implicit promises that should be kept?
Krista: When a reader picks up a book, they are investing time and emotion (and yes,
money too) in the story, in the characters. If I manage in book one to keep a reader
engaged such that they want to move to book two… that’s huge. I am grateful to them
for sticking around. I want them to enjoy the experience, to feel things, to laugh, to cry.
Delayed gratification needs to be rewarded; it needs to be… heh, gratified.
At the very least, I owe the reader a satisfying ending. All those questions they
are clinging to as the story progresses must be addressed, otherwise I have asked them
to stick around and hang on, only to drop them at the end and walk away.
That’s why anything that resembles “it was all a dream,” or if someone uses
magic that didn’t exist before, or leaves some of those loose ends behind so they simply
vanish, or whatever… that comes across as lazy.
If a reader is invested in the characters, and has stuck around to find out what
happens, there needs to be a payoff. Just like if you go to a nice restaurant and pay
money for a good meal, you expect to enjoy every morsel, and lean back in your chair
at the end and pat your tummy and say, “Ah…that was fabulous,” you feel like it was
worth the effort to get dressed and get out of the house, etc… just like that, a reader
should finish the story and feel a sense of satisfaction, like their emotions have been on
a roller-coaster with big hills, curly-cues and a tunnel, and maybe even a bungee cord.
They should close the book and feel like it was a good ride, worth the effort and time
spent.
The same rule applies for a standalone, but it’s all the more crucial for a series.
It’s okay to leave a couple of questions unanswered if the option is left open for
an offshoot story, but they can’t be questions that leave the reader hanging. This story
must have a satisfying ending!
Lynda: Where can people find the books and what's the expected roll out?
Krista: It gives me a thrill to say that book five, Gatekeeper’s Revelation, the final book in the series, has now been released. It is available alongside all the other books in the series.
All the books—as well as my standalone fantasy--are available on the usual platforms: Kobo, my Payhip store, Amazon, Apple, Smashwords etc. Most of them come in audiobook, too.
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Writers whose work has deep roots in their lives, who spin up universes to occupy with characters who grow important to them, thrash out their questions through story -- or otherwise share swaths of overlap with the evolution of the Okal Rel Universe will feature, here, as available, on the JOURNEY category of the blog.
If you are an author with a story about your connection with story-telling to tell, especially if you've been doing it all your life, or created a whole universe to do it in, or something else resonates with any of the "journey" stories of the Okal Rel Universe found here or elsewhere -- get in touch with lynda@realityskimming.com to make arrangements to share your journey here.
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