Coming to Terms with Her Power
A Forgotten Past follows a woman who discovers a powerful ability within her that attracts the attention of some dangerous people. What was the inspiration for the setup to this thrilling story?
I’ve always been really fascinated by magical systems. Is magic learned, inherited? How does one become more powerful? When I was planning the story, I really wanted to make it original in how magic worked within society. In Sapeiro, magic was passed down through the generations, from the great sorcerers. Everyone has a touch of magic: weather prediction, mild healing abilities. But Lily discovers she has more than the rest.
So that’s where the story started: in a land where everyone has abilities, some have more than most. Lily will need to find out why hers seems more dangerous than she’s been led to believe, and she’s going to have to decide how she reacts to the news.
Lily is an intriguing and well developed character. What were some driving ideals behind her character development?
Lily is obviously the heroine in the story, and A Forgotten Past centers around her journey of self-discovery. I wanted to make Lily a really well-rounded character, and so she faces two main conflicts. The first one is her coming to terms with her power, and the second is her coming to terms with her identity. She doesn’t want to be a hero, and she certainly doesn’t want to be at the center of the conflict that’s sparked due to her power. A large portion of the book deals with her struggle to accept what’s happened, and the losses that came with it.
What were some themes that were important for you to capture in this story?
In A Forgotten Past, I really wanted to focus on Lily’s growth as she discovers her true identity and the circumstances that led to her forgetting in the first place. I also wanted to play with the theme of fate. Her power may make it seem as if she was destined to achieve greatness, but Lily doesn’t want that kind of recognition. She wants to be normal, and remember who she is and where she is from. Unfortunately for her, ‘normal’ is way behind her.
Another theme I wanted to focus on, and one that will be prevalent throughout the series, is the notion of power, and how far some go to attain it, collect it, and take it away from others.
This is book one in the The Sapeiro Chronicles. What can readers expect in book two?
In Book 1, the story focuses on Lily, and her growth as a character. She has several inter-personal conflicts that she needs to work through by the end of the narrative. In Book 2, the story gets bigger: Lily will feel more secure with her newfound power, and will gain a better understanding of why she’s found herself in the crosshairs of so many different powerful forces at work. She’s found allies, but the weight of the expectations being placed on her are crippling. So whereas the story in book 1 focuses on Lily and her internal struggle, book 2 focuses on what her power means for Sapeiro. We’ll learn more about the history of the land and how the magical system works.
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Or so she thought.
When she was a child, Lily had washed up on the riverbank near Basolt, with no memory of who she was. Taken in by the couple who found her, she was raised as their own, alongside their new baby.
Years later she does something extraordinary. And word spreads of a new Spirit Hopper, someone who can enter into and control not only beasts, but people. Someone who can change the land of Sapeiro. Someone who supposedly died years before.
The rumors catch the attention of those who would control her power. Those who would use Lily for their own purposes, no matter how many lives it costs. They set their plots to capture her in motion.
But Lily discovers there is at least one group who might hold the key to her real identity. One group who would protect her. But trust does not come easily for Lily. And her would-be saviors have secrets of their own.
Posted on December 23, 2020, in Interviews and tagged A Forgotten Past, adventure, author, author interview, book, book recommendations, book review, book reviews, book shelf, bookblogger, books, books to read, ebook, epic fantasy, fantasy, fiction, goodreads, kindle, kobo, literature, nook, novel, read, reader, reading, story, sword and sorcery, Tiffany Lafleur, writer, writing. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
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