Author Linda Kay Silva talks about her latest book, Across Time. She also talks about the writing and publishing process, stressing the importance of query letters.

Why don’t you start by telling us a bit about your book, and what inspired you to write such a story?

My book, Across Time, is about Jessie Ferguson, a 17-year -old who hears a cry for help from one of her past lives. Cate is a Druid priestess who has had a vision that revealed two catastrophes; one is the massacre of her people on an island, and the other is the death of her beloved. In an effort to save both, Cate’s soul has slipped through a seam in time in order to find anyone in the future who might have enough information to help save the Druids from complete annihilation at the hands of the bloodthirsty Romans. Where her soul lands is in Jessie’s 21st-century world; a young girl who knows no history, believes in little, and cares for nothing; until now. Hearing Cate’s call, Jessie pulls herself together enough to send her own soul across time to help Cate and the Druids escape complete destruction. In travelling to the first century, Jessie learns of the role she must play in her own and this knowledge changes the course of her wayward life forever.

Across Time is the first of a series. The second book takes Jessie back to Elizabethan England, and the third to Ancient Egypt.

How would you describe your creative process while writing this novel? Was it stream-of-consciousness writing, or did you first write an outline? How long did it take you to write it?

When I wrote my first series, I didn’t outline, and that was a huge mistake. I have learned that you need some sort of skeleton outline so that you can weave in threads that can be unraveled at a later date. So now, I outline. My process is odd, but I think every writer has their own process. First, I can feel the story start inside me. I know it’s there. I can feel it. I can feel the character wondering, thinking, planning, and scheming. I ignore it at this point. It must ferment. Then, when I feel as if it is just about ready, I talk it out…usually in the car so people think I am singing and not talking to myself. (which I do more than most people). Once I have the whole story ready, I write it out in scenes. I prefer scenes to chapters because I want to keep the reader reading. After it’s ready, I load up my fountain pen, grab my paper and clipboard, and start.