Ask the Author: Claire Monserrat Jackson
Answered Questions (4)
Claire Monserrat Jackson
In addition to my current serial novel, "Blood Ties," I'm working on its sequel, as well as a new collection of poems and my second children's book.
Claire Monserrat Jackson
"Blood Ties" is the culmination of a lot of scribbles involving a character named Cuicatl "Cat" Cruz. She came to me one day, not in a story, but in a poem. When she was first sent up the dumbwaiter from the basement of my brain, she was a daughter of a seasoned assassin who'd passed the mantle of responsibility for the family business onto her shoulders.
In the years since, she's grown and changed a little, retaining that core identity as an occasionally reluctant assassin who tries to keep her wetwork on the side of the angels. "Blood Ties" introduces some new elements, including a few mythological ones I'd originally intended for another character of mine called La Barceloneta. This book is intended to be an in media res introduction to Cat; I'm saving most of her origin story for later, but I've included a few tantalizing tidbits that hint at her long and occasionally lonely life.
The idea for the book itself came to me one day when I was thinking about the way families both nourish and feed off one another, and what it might be like if a man was sufficiently ruthless to leverage his own kin to further his dreams of global conquest. He eventually became Georges Silver, and the kind of man who'd find himself in Cat's sights.
In the years since, she's grown and changed a little, retaining that core identity as an occasionally reluctant assassin who tries to keep her wetwork on the side of the angels. "Blood Ties" introduces some new elements, including a few mythological ones I'd originally intended for another character of mine called La Barceloneta. This book is intended to be an in media res introduction to Cat; I'm saving most of her origin story for later, but I've included a few tantalizing tidbits that hint at her long and occasionally lonely life.
The idea for the book itself came to me one day when I was thinking about the way families both nourish and feed off one another, and what it might be like if a man was sufficiently ruthless to leverage his own kin to further his dreams of global conquest. He eventually became Georges Silver, and the kind of man who'd find himself in Cat's sights.
Claire Monserrat Jackson
As the inimitable Mrs. Parker once said, "Writing is the art of applying the ass to the seat." A writer is a person who writes. If you want to be a successful one, spend a large chunk of your time, every single day, writing.
It needn't be some grave masterwork, either. Maybe it's a blog post. Maybe it's a short story. Maybe it's a few poems, or a letter, or what I call an artifact—i.e., a chunk of, or scene from, a story that doesn't quite exist yet.
Whatever you do, keep writing. It's a bit like exercise, in that the more you do it, the more LIKELY you are to do it, and the more rewards you reap.
It needn't be some grave masterwork, either. Maybe it's a blog post. Maybe it's a short story. Maybe it's a few poems, or a letter, or what I call an artifact—i.e., a chunk of, or scene from, a story that doesn't quite exist yet.
Whatever you do, keep writing. It's a bit like exercise, in that the more you do it, the more LIKELY you are to do it, and the more rewards you reap.
Claire Monserrat Jackson
I move. I know it's a bit cliche, and it's certainly not a panacea, but there's quite a lot of truth to "solvitur ambulando." Writing's a sedentary profession, as a rule, and sometimes just getting out and breathing the fresh air can blow out the cobwebs and help you grab the tiger by the tail once more.
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