New Adult Sci-Fi
Date Published: May 14, 2018
A science Fiction novel tangled in the psychology of being human and the vulnerability of an unconventional Love story
Grace was born a storyteller with a beautifully brilliant mind. Trauma twisted her reality into its own tale of darkness. Now, at eighteen, Grace has found herself on the shores of a shadow world created to heal a generation. A world whose purpose is to release our emotions from the bonds of youth.
But she is not alone. It's a world inhabited by others, those working on their own hearts and one other like herself. An amazing and yet afflicted empath and musician by the name of Kai that Grace feels inexplicably drawn to.
Will she be able to handle the suppressed memories of her youth? Accept the vulnerability necessary to explore her own heart and that of another? Fulfill the true purpose it seems she is destined to serve?
Come along with Grace as she learns to uncover her past, harness her gift, open her heart to love and embrace her future.
Interview with the Author
Is There a Message in Your Novel That You Want Readers to Grasp?
When I first started writing The Storyteller’s Throne, I started
with the question … why are we so afraid, as people, as a culture, to feel
things? Why do we have this need to
replace genuine feelings with something else?
We don’t all do this but if you look at our neighbors, our communities,
our schools … we’ve denied a lot of what
some would call negative emotions (anger, anxiety, depression) instead of learning
from them, expressing them and encouraging the process of healing through
them. Whether we’re just afraid or
uncomfortable with certain feelings or maybe these feelings have been
suppressed for so long that we feel like if we gave them voice they may never
shut up, this whole idea of denying them, ignoring them and suppressing them
has got to have an effect on the next generation … So the real question that I
siphoned down to as I began writing is:
What toll would our current trend of denial take on the next
generation?
My message I think is that we’re all people. We’re all human. We’re all equal … we all feel things and with
our humanness comes the very special gift of our hearts. The path that our hearts take will lay out
the future, and if we don’t open ourselves up to how we feel and how other’s
feel and start to become okay with it all, we may be in some trouble. It’s about empathy and trying to put yourself
in someone else’s life for a minute.
But I hate to sound preachy … so maybe the short answer is … the
message in The Storyteller’s Throne is to give each other a break and just
genuinely ask how someone is doing and then listen for the answer … LOL!
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your
writing?
I really enjoy the process of writing. I think for me the biggest challenge is
finding the extended time to let ideas unfold and then to get them out onto the
page before my 3 kids wake up for the day!
Sometimes I feel rushed or I only get out a bit and have to stop midway
through a thought since my littlest is only 1 and is getting around really fast
these days!
How many books have you written and which is your favorite?
The Storyteller’s Throne is the first novel I’ve written, So I
would say it’s my favorite so far!
If You had the chance to cast your main character from Hollywood today, who
would you pick and why?
Grace, the main character is 18 years old. She has a brilliant mind and has been through
trauma that may resonate with a lot of women and so whoever plays the role has
to be ridiculously honest with it to give it the weight that this kind of
trauma deserves. They would have to be
able to allow emotions to wash over and within easily and yet be a pillar of strength
and determination. On top of that, Grace
is a storyteller whose words take on life for her. So it would be important for the actress
playing her to taste the magic in words.
Grace has a shadow self present for some of the story, so whoever played
her would also need to play her shadow self too.
I think I would nominate Emma Watson. She’s so amazing as an actress. Her emotions live right up in front and she
gives a beautiful weight to the words she speaks. Plus she’s just so darn versatile :)
When did you begin writing?
I’ve been writing since childhood. In fact, I just found a pile of old notebooks
from when I was high school in the early nineties. I have this big plastic bin full of spiral
notebooks of all different sizes with doodling all over the covers. I got lost down the rabbit hole of teenage
angst just last weekend reading some of the stuff I had written. I’ve alway used the arts as a way to balance
my heart. I’d hate to see where I’d be
if I didn’t have that outlet!
I’ve only begun writing as a career in the last year though! And
I am loving it! I enjoy the time it forces me to take for myself. I enjoy the quiet and the play.
How long did it take to complete your first book?
It took me about 3 months to complete The Storyteller’s
Throne. Though I think the themes were
brewing inside of me for years if not a decade.
One day, kind of on a whim, I just decided that I needed to do
something more for myself so I signed up for a self publishing class and began
to write The Storyteller’s Throne. The
class kept me on a very strict schedule, which I personally needed, especially
as a mama to 3 homeschooled kids! I
pushed myself to stay on that schedule and meet deadlines while in the class
because I work well with deadlines. If I
don’t have them, I could be teetering on the edge of decisions for years! So I started an awesome habit of getting up
really early and working in the only quiet my house holds … when the sun is
just beginning to rise :) And I finished a book in 3 months … Though who knows
if every book I write will be that way!
Did you have an author who inspired you to become a writer?
Alice Hoffman is absolutely an inspiration for me. I’ve always
read her books from the time I was a teenager.
I love the way she weaves magic into the ordinary. Her voice is just beautiful and so very human
What is your favorite part of the writing process?
I really love the moment that it all clicks. When I’ve been meandering around a part in
the story trying to connect it all and then suddenly as my fingers are moving
across the keys, it just clicks, it all makes sense and I can look back and say
Yes! That’s it! Then it’s just so much fun to write it all out!
I also really enjoy stream of consciousness writing. I love to
just let my brain drip out on the page without any expectation.
Describe your latest book in 4 words.
Love
Magic
Pain
Revolution
Can you share a little bit about your current work or what is in
the future for
your writing?
I’ll be starting work on the second book in the The Storyteller Series
soon. I’ve just be re-reading The
Storyteller’s throne to get ready to write again! I’m really looking forward to
diving into it as I think the second book in The Storyteller’s Series will have
a lot of action and really challenge me to keep up weight the pace if it all.
You can follow my writing process on my blog. I also share tips for daily creativity and
artistic inspiration all around at jocelynbates.com
About the Author
Jocelyn Bates is a homeschooling mama to three and an arts therapist. She lives in NJ and writes in the elusive quiet that settles in the earliest of hours.
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