Author Bites - Artist Arthur on Books and Frozen Desserts

I felt Manifest was so awesome that I asked Artist Arthur if she'd like to donate a few words to my blog to further back up my love for her book. Yay for me, she agreed! Here Artist talks about reasons, richies and whys. Thank you so much, Artist, for stopping by!

Remember when Forrest Gump referred to life as a box of chocolates? Well, to me, Manifest is like a bowl of rainbow sherbet (I prefer sherbet to ice cream and sometimes chocolate). In my rainbow sherbet, there’s orange, lime, raspberry and pineapple—yummy! In Manifest there’s teenage angst, current affairs, fantasy and fiction—interesting.

I know that Krystal is bratty and selfish at times, just like the teenage girl that resides in one of the bedrooms in my house. In creating Krystal, I really wanted to make sure her actions and reactions were on point. I spent a lot of time wondering how I would feel if I were put in the position she was. I knew that I’d be angry and most likely not in the mood for socializing, especially not with a ghost. But the adult me knows how important it is to go through things in order to grow. Ricky was the perfect person to pull Krystal out of what she thought was her reality, because he was dead. I think Ricky’s status was the main eye-opener for Krystal.

The powers were another point of consideration for this series. I wanted them to directly relate to each character in some way. Krystal is disgusted with the living people in her life, it stands to reason that talking to the dead would not make her happy either—yet the dead are who actually save her from her own self-destructive path. Sasha seems to have it all and yet she can disappear. Why would a person who has it all want to leave it all? Jake has super strength, but is physical strength all he’ll need to fight his inner battle? There’s a method to my madness—one of my teacher’s used to say that all the time, usually as she was passing out a pop quiz.

Creating the town of Lincoln was a crucial part in developing this series. What I wanted was a small town plagued with secrets, mysteries and people in denial. Does it seem weird that Sasha is rich and going to a public school? Yes, it does and makes you wonder why, right? There has to be a reason that these really rich people aren’t sending their child to a private boarding school. Maybe she can’t go to the boarding school. Why are the rich people in this town…in this small town when they could be in the big city, living a much richer life? The “why’s” seem to be endless, I know. Did I do this on purpose…maybe. Okay, yeah, some of it I did. Sorry if it bugs instead of intrigues, I can truly understand just wanting a simple answer. Problem is, I can’t really give one without it being a spoiler!

I selected Connecticut because of its coastal region and the fact that it wasn’t that far from New York, where Krystal was just moving from, where her mother was born and raised. More details about the fictitious town of Lincoln will be revealed in the coming books. So I don’t argue what real coastal towns of Connecticut are like socially, but there’s a reason that Lincoln’s a little different. It’s that methodical madness again.

Now I’m anxious for Mystify to be released (Feb 2011) so some of the “why’s” can be answered. I’m also really craving a bowl of rainbow sherbet right now. Or a really good book. J