Author: KEN BOIRE

Author: Ken Boire

Author’s website address: Outskirtspress.com/inheritthetide

Published books by the Author: Inherit the Tide

Books in Process: In The Company of Fishers

Interview:

1. When and why did you begin writing?
As with most writers, it has been a life-long desire but most of us will always need a day job. I like writing for the joy of creating scenes, actions, and emotions in somebody’s mind using only the written word. A great deal of the fun comes from creating characters.

For many years I made a very good living writing research reports for niche customers. I loved the work but each time I put pen to paper I felt manacled by the binding rules of engineering, public policy, political correctness and the required institutional point of view. I vowed someday to write free of the clamps on my creativity. I knew I could do it. I needed to put my pent up stories on paper. Ten years ago I freed myself of career ties and went into business as a consultant. The freedom allowed me to partition my workdays, effectively freeing the huge amount of time necessary to start Inherit The Tide.

2. What inspired you to write your first book?
During the years when I worked in a large engineering outfit there was a group of people who enjoyed racial jokes and slurs. Official policy was that such things were not allowed but none of the managers and executives objected. Uncomfortable with what was going on, I voiced my lack of support for use of some of the demeaning terms. I soon found myself on the outside of the clique.

I knew my 20th century experience must have been nothing compared to the bile faced by Native Americans on the frontier. I felt a tinge of sensitivity to their plight. Certainly the tests faced by the Native American women who married white men and tried to adapt to a white society must have been monumental. I wanted to test my writing talents in a challenging situation where the point of view would be both woman and Native American. I also wanted to reveal the bitterness and pain while showing that love can overcome barriers created by ignorance. I was driven by the idea that people are what they believe and understand. I had been carrying the story idea and my locked up emotions around for years. When I started to write it flowed easily. It was like a dam had been broken.

3. How did you approach writing your first book?
I created a flow chart of the story. It is similar to the "critical path analysis" commonly used in large engineering projects or in planning a computer program. The critical path type of thinking requires one to identify all of the pieces or tasks and get them into the correct order. In creating a critical path for a novel it forces one to create the entire story and fit it into a logical presentation.

4. Who or what influenced your writing?
In the book, Grandma understands her world as an ocean of mankind. She sees her family as creatures tied to the sea, "… born upon the tide…" she says. The ocean symbolizes a stage where anyone can be humbled and equalized by its awesome power. To her, the tide symbolizes structure and order. She has accepted that the tide embodies the intelligent design of the universe. To inherit the tide is to have the power of a shaman. Grandma knows Hecky will need to believe in himself for he will probably still be a child when she dies. A fatherless Indian kid in the city, in 1950, would not have much of a chance at success unless he believed that he did inherit the tide. She left him the one thing nobody else could, the power of his heritage.

I suppose one could say memories of my grandma came alive and influenced the story more than anything else. I felt like she was the only adult who understood me when I was a kid. I was a bit of a problem child and she was always there to answer my questions and guide me in the right direction. She and another old Native woman saved me from drowning in quicksand when I was about 10-years old (not in the book). I felt closer to her than I did my own mother before that; and afterwards I worshiped her.

5. Why do you continue to write?
Putting words on paper straightens out my brain. I like the discipline it requires and most of all, I like the feeling of having done something well that I didn’t have to do at all.

6. What do you hope to accomplish through your writing?
In this book each character is born from the circumstance as the story unravels. I had a rough idea of the types of characters the rough story line needed but I didn’t know what they would look like or what their mannerisms would be until they flowed out through the story. By the time each of them arrived on the scene it had become obvious to me who they were. It is entirely an intuitive and spontaneous process at that point. In Inherit The Tide, the only two characters I had a deep and clear picture about before the writing started were Susan and Grandma.

Before long I knew Hecky would be at the center. It became clear he would need to see himself becoming an extension of the things and ideas he believes and understands. That would be the underlying theme to accomplish through the entire book.

7. What has been your experience as a published writer?
I am constantly thrilled and flattered by the attention and respect people have for writers. There is an immediate breaking down of barriers. People seem to assume writers are thinkers and balanced, open, creative, patient people and that is very satisfying. I really like being asked to autograph a copy.

8. How do you promote your book(s)?
Here is the way it went. The novel started at the bottom of the Amazon.com sales list at the end of October, with somewhere between about 1.5 million – 5 million titles between it and the top. By mid-December, it slipped into the 26,266 spot – over 98% of the way up the list. It maintained the top 10 – 20% through December and now is in need of a boost since it has settled into the top 20 - 40% in late January. This mid-range ranking should be short lived as a distributor will be picking it up soon and there are orders waiting to be filled there.

· I wrote a press release. A hometown newspaper featured the book by picking up on the release.
· The largest newspaper in Alaska responded to a direct contact and featured the book as one of three in its Sunday magazine. [The novel is set in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.]
· Spreading the news through professional trade circles resulted in a book announcement being sent out to several thousand contacts by way of a company newsletter.
· A paid advertisement is being planned for the weekend issue of the Seattle Times. It will capitalize on the Valentine Day shopping patterns of the weekend edition’s 1 million readers.
· A free copy to Northwest Writers resulted in a crackerjack review and a professional caliber web posting.
· Twenty free copies were spread around to friends with active networks, and resulted in recommendations to dozens of others.
· Twenty books were sent to newspapers with review sections.
· Sent mailers to about a few independent book stores in Washington and Alaska and got one very positive reaction from a large outlet.
· The book has a website through the publisher, plus my own, and has been picked up by several other sites.
· Sent e-mail flyers to all of my contacts.
· No free books to family, friends, and neighbors – tell them to buy it.
· The cover is a stand-out presentation by itself.

Major brick and mortar stores such as Borders and Barnes & Noble make no bones about ordering it for customers. The day after the book’s release, it was picked up by Borders, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, Powell's Books, 1BookStreet, Blackwell's, Al Books, Booksamillion Club, Studentbookworld.com, and others

9. What advice would you like to share with other writers?
My advice is to find a quiet place to work and make it yours. Imagine you are storing ideas there so when you walk in they motivate you. Leave your rough notes sitting around, shuffle through them from time to time.

Keep the story to yourself at least until the first draft is on paper. Don’t let the energy leak out, it dims the picture you are trying to create. When you get stuck, write yourself out of it by asking where do I want all of this to end up?

Visit the library when you need a break and pick out a book from an author you have never read. Look it over and ask yourself, how would I have done this? What is her best paragraph? How would she handle my problem?

At the beginning, take an hour to create a flow chart, then look at it frequently through the writing. Remember, you can always change the flow chart, and you should change it if the story is going merrily down a different path. Rely on your creative instincts. The flow chart is just a compass. Most of all it helps keep things happening in a logical and correct order. Novels are complex and order becomes important to the believability of the story. Sacrifice that and people will not read on. Circular overlapping stories are not easy to write and the reader must be able to follow along without back tracking. The reader wants order and she wants motivation. The writer must pull her forward in a direction she wants to go because she needs to know what happens next. Confuse her and all is lost.

And lastly, when people tell you how much they liked the book, let them know how much that means to you. I am amazed at the detailed comments I have received from some readers. I feel like each word had value to them and it makes me feel delighted. I am thrilled when somebody approaches me with the idea that Inherit The Tide would be a great movie. It makes me giggle. The supreme compliments were delivered by a reader in Texas and another in Oregon that put together a fantasy cast for a movie.

10. Any other comments you would like to add?
The one thing that stands out is how complex and difficult management of the story becomes as it grows toward the conclusion and how much time is needed. Before I started writing, I knew who the characters would be and the theme of the story. Weaving it all together in a finished literary fashion became a major time demand. I was taken by how solitary the work is. No one can help create a story that comes from inside of you. I do not mind working alone, but the large amount of solitary time created a loneliness other novelists probably share. I was surprised again about how much time it took to get from the first draft to the final product. I cut out so much that I could probably assemble a second book similar to Inherit The Tide although I have no plans to resurrect any of it.

Interviewer: Kaye Trout - March 21, 2006 - Copyright