OBS owner Dawn chats down with author H.K. Savage about her exciting series “The Empath Trilogy”. In this interview we get a chance to learn more about the Empath characters, her upcoming work and fun facts about the author you might or might mot know. Enjoy!
You can check out the review for Empath (The Empath Trilogy, Book #1) here.
Dawn: What is the inspiration behind the Empath series? H.K.S.: Honestly, I’ve been reading paranormal for 20 years and loved it. Then, it seemed like good ones were getting hard to come by so I thought I would try to write the one that appealed the most to me. The characters came to me and I threw them together in a crisis to see what happened.
Dawn: I often felt overwhelmed with what Claire could pick up from others, with how strongly their emotions came at her. How did you get into the headspace of an empath? H.K.S.: At the risk of sounding flaky, I’ll admit that my background is Psychology and my great grandmother was a psychic (a real one, not a phone in tv sort). Since I was raised thinking about what was in other people’s heads, maybe this sort of stuff is on my mind a lot more than it is for some people. I think a lot of my stuff comes from watching people and trying to figure out where they’re coming from. Figuring out Claire was no different. I treated her ability as a disorder, like she did in the beginning, and went from there. How would someone deal with sensory overload on that sort of level? In our current society with the need to medicate and treat the hell out of anything different, what would a young girl with confusing thoughts do? Would she hide it, use it, how would she compensate? And not to sound pompous by mentioning it, this same idea inspired my 2012 ABNA Breakthrough Novelist entry, Whispers. It made quarterfinalist (that’s from 5000 entries down to 250) which shocked me. It was my first contest and I was just jazz not be laughed at. I’m sorry, I wandered. It’s late as I answer these. My point is I love writing about people who think of themselves as damaged but turn out to be very strong because of it.
Dawn: I like the way you portrayed James and Claire’s relationship. She retains her strength of character despite needing James for safety reasons. Is it important to you to have a strong female lead that is not too dependent on her boyfriend? If so, why? H.K.S.: In short, yes. The girl dragging along on her boyfriend’s leg begging him not to go is a little much for me. Claire starts out doubting herself but I loved watching her grow and progress as a character. She always felt real and I heard again tonight about the realism of this character in particular was alluring (a reader emailed me). I think the super swoony women and the over the top kick ass heroines are a little out of most of our reach. My characters tend to be real- even when they’re crazy powerful or vampires out to take over the world.
You can check out the review for Empath (The Empath Trilogy, Book #1) here.
Dawn: What is the inspiration behind the Empath series?
H.K.S.: Honestly, I’ve been reading paranormal for 20 years and loved it. Then, it seemed like good ones were getting hard to come by so I thought I would try to write the one that appealed the most to me. The characters came to me and I threw them together in a crisis to see what happened.
Dawn: I often felt overwhelmed with what Claire could pick up from others, with how strongly their emotions came at her. How did you get into the headspace of an empath?
H.K.S.: At the risk of sounding flaky, I’ll admit that my background is Psychology and my great grandmother was a psychic (a real one, not a phone in tv sort). Since I was raised thinking about what was in other people’s heads, maybe this sort of stuff is on my mind a lot more than it is for some people. I think a lot of my stuff comes from watching people and trying to figure out where they’re coming from. Figuring out Claire was no different. I treated her ability as a disorder, like she did in the beginning, and went from there. How would someone deal with sensory overload on that sort of level? In our current society with the need to medicate and treat the hell out of anything different, what would a young girl with confusing thoughts do? Would she hide it, use it, how would she compensate? And not to sound pompous by mentioning it, this same idea inspired my 2012 ABNA Breakthrough Novelist entry, Whispers. It made quarterfinalist (that’s from 5000 entries down to 250) which shocked me. It was my first contest and I was just jazz not be laughed at. I’m sorry, I wandered. It’s late as I answer these. My point is I love writing about people who think of themselves as damaged but turn out to be very strong because of it.
Dawn: I like the way you portrayed James and Claire’s relationship. She retains her strength of character despite needing James for safety reasons. Is it important to you to have a strong female lead that is not too dependent on her boyfriend? If so, why?
H.K.S.: In short, yes. The girl dragging along on her boyfriend’s leg begging him not to go is a little much for me. Claire starts out doubting herself but I loved watching her grow and progress as a character. She always felt real and I heard again tonight about the realism of this character in particular was alluring (a reader emailed me). I think the super swoony women and the over the top kick ass heroines are a little out of most of our reach. My characters tend to be real- even when they’re crazy powerful or vampires out to take over the world.
See the full interview here http://openbooksociety.com/article/h-...