Tip for new writers: never write a character who’s smarter than you.

Mary Fan – 16 March 2014

The Back Flap

Illusion is the only reality.

Jane’s new career as a composer is a dream come true, but her blossoming relationship with Adam is marred by his terrifying nightmares. When Jane receives a warning that a shadowy agency is targeting Adam’s seminary school, she rescues him in the nick of time, but the only way she can protect him from such a powerful enemy is to run.

In a shocking betrayal, her brother wasn’t the one who warned her about the attack on Adam. Instead, Devin was leading it. As Jane struggles to keep one step ahead of Devin, Adam’s exhaustion gives way to horror: His nightmares have begun to touch the real world.

Jane can’t abandon Adam to a fate worse than death, and far more than Adam’s life hangs in the balance. As Jane pushes further into the dark unknown, she must challenge everything she once believed in, and she faces the most wrenching decision of her life: choosing between the two people she loves most.

About the book

What is the book about?

Synthetic Illusions begins about six months after the events of the first book in the Jane Colt series, Artificial Absolutes. Toward the end of Artificial Absolutes, Jane, a 23-year-old aspiring composer, discovered that the young man she loves, Adam Palmer, harbors a dangerous secret—one that became his burden through no fault of his own. Though she hoped they could return to their lives once the villains of Artificial Absolutes were defeated, Adam’s secret comes back to haunt her. It manifests in the form of Adam’s terrifying nightmares, which begin to manifest in the real world.

Because of them, the secret is out, and government agents come after Adam. Jane races to get Adam away from them, thinking she can turn to her brother, Devin, for help—only to learn that he’s the one leading the chase. Where Artificial Absolutes showed how loyal the brother-sister pair could be, Synthetic Illusions pits them against each other.

But all is not what it seems. Devin, too, harbors secrets, and if anyone ever discovers them, the consequences would be deadly. Though he gives Jane the chance to escape the trouble she’s in, the price she must pay is Adam’s life.

As Jane pushes further into a dangerous world of shadowy agencies and interstellar criminals, she must decide what she believes—what is real, and what is just a well-constructed illusion.

When did you start writing the book?

After I finished the first draft of Artificial Absolutes, the first book in the Jane Colt series, I realized I’d left room for more and began toying with the idea of continuing the story. That was September 2011. Thinking I knew enough about my universe that I could just rush into writing, I hastily scribbled down 30,000 words. However, I couldn’t settle on a direction to take the sequel in, so I nixed the thought and treated Artificial Absolutes as a standalone novel.

But the dangling plot threads kept snagging on my brain, refusing to leave me alone. So in late 2012, around when Artificial Absolutes was going through the editing process, I began experimenting again and wrote another 30,000 words. Then, I got stuck again and realized I hated everything I’d written. So that got scrapped too.

The version of Synthetic Illusions you see now was written in a two-month frenzy between December 2012 and February 2013 (I gave myself the crazy goal of finishing a first draft before Artificial Absolutes was released).

 How long did it take you to write it?

Although it only took me two months to bang out a first draft of Synthetic Illusions, that was after more than a year of brainstorming, trashing ideas, coming up with new ones, trashing those too… you get the idea. Once I had a first draft, I, of course, had to rewrite and revise, which took another two months before it was submission-ready.

Where did you get the idea from?

In Artificial Absolutes, Devin reveals his not-so-clean past to Jane. I wanted to bring his past back to haunt him in Synthetic Illusions, and that inspired half of the plot. Then, when I was rereading Artificial Absolutes in editing, I realized just how much that story relies on the loyalty Devin and Jane have for each other. Wouldn’t it be interesting, I thought, if they were forced to turn against each other? After everything they’ve stuck together through, what would tear them apart? The answer: Adam’s secret.

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

The hardest part about Synthetic Illusions was doing justice to Adam’s character. He’s a very pensive and well-read young man, and most of his point-of-view scenes involve some kind of philosophical or religious element (he’s a seminary student). I had to deal with this to some extent in Artificial Absolutes, but he had probably twice as many point-of-view scenes in Synthetic Illusions, which meant even more research and pondering for me in order to portray his complex thoughts. Tip for new writers: never write a character who’s smarter than you.

What came easily?

The action scenes. I had plenty of practice for Artificial Absolutes, so I’m now fairly adept at writing high-speed chases and shootouts. Dialogue came fairly easily as well, since I already knew most of these characters, and their voices were already etched in my head.

Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?

The characters are intended to be entirely fictitious, although I’m sure people will recognize elements of myself, my sister, and my friends in the character of Jane Colt. There is one character, who shows up around halfway through the book, who is somewhat borrowed from the real world. Not from any individual I know, but rather a certain kind of individual I’ve been unfortunate enough to encounter time and time again. That character is Marcus Streger, and I’m afraid I can’t say more without spoiling the book!

Do you have a target reader for this book?

Sci-fi fans who like their action/adventure tales with a heavy dose of character drama and a light dash of philosophy.

How was writing this book different from what you’d experienced writing previous books?

The interesting thing about writing a sequel is that it’s simultaneously easier and more difficult than writing the first book. Easier because the world is already established and the characters already created, but more difficult because I wanted to match the spirit of the first book. Artificial Absolutes was a blend of action, character drama, and philosophy, with an over-arching theme of artificiality and what it means to be “real.” For Synthetic Illusions, I wanted to bring back those elements, but I had to be careful not to be repetitive.

What new things did you learn about writing, publishing, and/or yourself while writing and preparing this book for publication?

Editing was much easier this time around because I already had the proper writing style drilled into my fingers. All those little rules about elements of writing—such as adverbs and dialogue tags (or lack thereof)—that caused me so much grief in the first book were no problem at all in the second one. But the initial plotting process, before there was even a book to edit, was much, much harder.

When you’re writing a first book or a standalone book, your entire universe is contained within those pages, and they’re all you have to worry about. But in the sequel, you have to take into account everything that came before and remain consistent. At the same time, you have to offer something new to keep the reader interested. Decisions you made in Book 1 that you didn’t realize would have any consequences end up altering the landscape of Book 2 in ways that are hard to predict.

That being said, I’m off to tear my hair out over Book 3…

End of Interview:

Get your copy of Synthetic Illusions from Amazon US (paper or ebook), Amazon UK (paper or ebook), or Barnes & Noble.

 

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