Godsmack Part 1: The Mother Earth follows a gay businessman who becomes sick and moves to a rural farm to heal and start a new life. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

The inspiration for my story was the contemporary archetypal personal healing journey that’s both mental and physical. Many of us had to learn the hard way about proper rest, nutrition, nurturing companionship, and not letting our careers “sap” our life force.

With so many interesting characters in this novel, what was your approach to writing the interactions between characters?

Likable and psychologically deep characters are the most important aspect of storytelling from my viewpoint. If the reader is to engage emotionally and stay with your story to the last page of your novel, I feel they need to relate and understand and be intrigued by the characters in both word and deed. The next level of craft for me is to thoroughly know how they feel about each other while maintaining a realistic and human moment-by-moment behavior that’s not stilted or filled with cliche dialogue. I think my acting training and work in that field has a big impact on my emphasizing all the detailed work on the characters when I sit down to write.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

I personally love to examine disparate and opposite themes. I find it challenging in a good way to put varied thematic elements into a story and find hidden connections. My overall goal was to have the reader come away with a deeper understanding of life and human beings. What I chose in Godsmack was to combine death (via the central symbol of heroin) and life (via the plot milestones for the protagonist, and the story’s denouement symbolized by spiritual wisdom achieved at the close of the novel.) Hence the title: God (spirit), smack (the street name for heroin), and The Mother Earth (the mechanism for healing).

Where does the story go in the next book and where do you see it going in the future?

My next book will be a prequel to the current novel which will provide a deep backstory for the criminal gang. 

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