Our interview this morning is with Aida Brassington. Aida is the author of the paranormal romance book called Between Seasons. Before we get to our interview, here is a book description of Between Seasons: There are things Patrick Boyle will never forget: the sound of his own neck breaking at the moment of his death in the fall of 1970, the sweet taste of his mother’s chocolate cake, and the awful day his parents abandoned him in his childhood house-turned prison. Nineteen-year-old Patrick wonders for decades if God has forgotten all about him or if he’s being punished for some terrible crime or sin over a lovely forty years trapped in an empty home. But when Sara Oswald, a strange woman with a mysterious past, buys his house, old feelings reawaken, and a new optimism convinces him that she’s the answer to his prayers. Things are never simple, though, especially when she begins channeling the memories of his life and death in her writing.
Interview with Aida Brassington
Tell us about Between Seasons.
Thanks for hosting me today! Between Seasons is a paranormal romance that tells the story of Patrick Boyle, a nineteen-year-old man who falls down the stairs of his parents’ house and dies just days before reporting for the Vietnam draft. Instead of moving on to whatever comes next, he gets stuck in the house as a ghost. When a mysterious young woman buys the house forty years later, Patrick isn’t sure if she’s a blessing or a curse, especially when she starts unintentionally channeling his memories in her writing. What was unique about the setting of the book and how did it enhance or take away from the story?
The entire novel is set in a single house located in Media, Pennsylvania (this country’s first fair trade town!), which is a small suburb outside Philadelphia. Reducing the novel setting to such a small space — really, about four rooms and a staircase – allows for the reader to experience his sense of claustrophobia at being trapped, but it becomes intimate when he finds himself drawn to Sara Oswald, the woman who purchases the house. Several readers have made note of the confined setting, saying they’re shocked the novel never seemed stale or boring despite the setting.
There are two main characters in Between Seasons, can you tell us more about them?
Patrick lives with his parents and works as a mechanic in his father’s garage — as I mentioned, he gets called up for the Vietnam draft. He’s pretty typical of a nineteen-year-old in 1970: he’s got friends, he doesn’t particularly want to go to war and considers — though not seriously — escaping to Canada, and he’s fairly self-absorbed (really, not so different from a nineteen-year-old today). He grew up in a small town outside Philadelphia, and he probably would have lived there his whole life if not for his accident on the stairs and the interruption of Vietnam. Sara’s quite a bit different than Patrick. She grew up in a more urban area on the other side of the country, moved to California with her husband, went to college, and went through a pretty serious crisis that precipitated her divorce. Even though they’ve had different life experiences, both of them are capable of making the best of their situations, which is something that allows them to find each other. I genuinely like them as people — if they were real, they’d definitely be in my circle of friends.
Was there a basis for your story? A previous experience? Something else?
The inspiration was my own house. I live in a house that was built in the 1940s, and one of its former inhabitants appears not to have left — every now and then a man appears on my staircase. He doesn’t do anything but look around, almost as if he’s checking in to make sure all is well. It’s not scary or eerie; it’s just one of those things we’re grown used to. Of course, I started wondering who the man was in life and what his life (or afterlife, if you want to call it that) is like — is it a conscious thing, if you know what I mean. And that’s how the idea for Between Seasons was hatched.
What is your method for writing a book? A certain amount of hours every day? A certain routine? Are you character/story builder or an outliner or some other method?
I tend to write sitting on my couch with the television on and my computer on my lap, although much of this novel was written in a coffee shop during my lunch hours. As much as possible for Between Seasons, I liked to listen to music since it’s such a big part of the novel – the music Patrick loved in 1970 as well as more modern music that Sara would have listened to in 2011. Through my research into music that was popular in 1968 through early 1970, I found a few new favorite songs — Clarence Carter’s Slip Away, for instance, which plays an important part in one scene. Always, though, I’m an outliner. I refuse to begin writing anything until I have a solid outline and a grasp of who my characters are.
What can you tell us about the sequel to Between Seasons? What is in store for Patrick and Sara? Do you have a tentative publishing date?
My guesstimate on the sequel (titled North of Frost) is March of April of 2012. It could happen sooner than that if I get inspired to jam on the writing (which gets it to editing sooner). We’ll have to see. I can’t tell you much about the sequel because it would totally give away the ending to Between Seasons, but I can tell you the follow-up novel ties up some loose ends and explains a few things in terms of what happens to Patrick. I will also say that there are consequences to getting your heart’s desire. Always.
website: http://aidabrassington.wordpress.com
twitter: http://twitter.com/AidaBrassington
website: http://aidabrassington.wordpress.com
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