After reading and reviewing The Fear Principle, I could not wait to interview the author. I wanted to learn as much as possible about the inspiration behind such a well written and suspenseful book about people who must learn to face their fears. Please join me in welcoming B.A. Chepaitis.
1. Can you please tell me about your background?
I was born and raised in a small town in upstate New York, in a house full of Lithuanian and Italian immigrants. My parents believed that the mind was the best toy in the world, and they encouraged me and all my siblings to read, to explore science, to always ask questions. Our house was also filled with music, which probably explains why my writing often works with sound as much as sense.
2. How long did it take you to finish writing The Fear Principle?
This novel was a short story first, and when I had an editor's interest in seeing it as a novel I had to finish it rather quickly. Within two weeks, with lots of all-nighters. But then my first draft process is always fast, and my editing is always slow.
3. I love your style of writing, how did you develop this prolific way of writing?
As I said, a lot of my writing style comes from playing and listening to so much music. I can clearly remember sitting at the piano and thinking that I wanted to make words do what music does — give readers a direct experience of emotion. The characters, such as Jaguar Addams, come from growing up with strong-minded people who said what they thought out loud. In particular, the women in my family were very outspoken. In fact, my Italian grandmother marched with the Suffragettes.
4. There is so much detail in the plot of The Fear Principle — how did you come up with these ideas?
I don't think I 'come up' with the ideas so much as I 'listen' for them. Sometimes that listening is internal. There's an image or idea bubbling up inside me that suddenly makes itself known. That's how Jaguar appeared. Other times there's situations in the world that grab my attention, such as our culture's fascination with serial killers, and our overcrowded prisons. When two such ideas meet, you have a novel!
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