Farsighted

Welcome Emlyn Chand to our little world. She is the author of Farsighted and was kind enough to grant us an interview. One more day left to enter to win her book on my giveaway. Here's a little bit of bio about Emlyn.

Please join romance author, Emlyn Chand, as she kicks off her FARSIGHTED (FARSIGHTED SERIES, BOOK #1) virtual eBook tour today.<br>

About Emlyn:Emlyn Chand has always loved to hear and tell stories, having emerged from the womb with a fountain pen grasped firmly in her left hand (true story). When she's not writing, she runs a large book club in Ann Arbor and is the president of author PR firm, Novel Publicity. Emlyn loves to connect with readers and is available throughout the social media interweb. 

Visit http://www.emlynchand.com for more info. Don’t forget to say “hi” to her sun conure Ducky!


And here's her interview. 

1. What gave you the idea for this story?

Everything started with a single image—my face in these tacky oversized sunglasses reflecting out at me from the car’s side mirror. I was daydreaming while my husband drove us across Michigan for my sister’s wedding. Something about my image really struck me in an almost horrific way. I felt the glasses made me look blind but found it so weird that there was still a clear image within them; it seemed so contradictory. At the time, my book club was reading The Odyssey, which features the blind Theban prophet, Tieresias. I started thinking about what it would be like to have non-visual visions of the future and began forming a modern Tieresias in my mind. Lo and behold, Alex Kosmitoras was born. I didn’t want him to be alone in his psychic subculture, so I found other characters with other powers to keep him company. Thank God for my poor fashion sense. J

2. How long have you been writing?

I was born with a fountain pen grasped firmly in my left hand, at least that’s what my Twitter bio says. But seriously, I do believe writers are born into the craft—we haven’t got much choice, but it’s a great calling to have. I’ve been writing since before I could write, if you know what I mean. I’ve always loved inventing stories or “tall tales” as my parents call them. I wrote and illustrated children’s books for my younger brothers when I was still in grade school. In fifth grade, I wrote a short MG novel. I tried writing screenplays in high school but never got very far with those. Really, I started writing seriously about two-and-a-half years ago when the local paper offered me a book review column. That gave me the courage and consistency to write novels. Farsighted is my second written but first published.

3. What was your response to your first rejection letter? How many rejections did you get before you got a book published?

First let me say that I chose self-publishing for Farsighted. I do have a literary agent and a condition of our contract was that I’d be allowed to self-publish Farsighted. I want the hands-on experience. I want the control. If this works out for me; I’m pretty sure I’ll stay indie forever!

That’s not to say I haven’t been scarred by the querying process. I shed a lot of tears over getting rejection letters, especially in the start. I ended up getting about 60 rejections before I got my agent, so don’t lose hope. It happens to pretty much everyone.

5. Any tips for us newbie writers?

My advice is this:  Have fun with your writing. Don’t put pressure on yourself or your story and don’t try to fit either into some type of mold. Not every work HAS to be published, but every work will teach you something, and it will make you a better writer. Find the joy in writing, and you won’t go wrong.

You can almost guarantee that you’ll receive a rejection letter, but this is an important rite of passage for us, and it really does make us stronger; it really does get easier with time. Sorry to be so cynical, but I find it’s better to have a realistic understanding of the insane query process than hopes that are too high. That first “not for us” form letter is like a dart through a hot air balloon. Prepare to crash and burn. But you can patch up; you can rise again. Maybe even float higher.