Welcome to today's stop on the Sominium Blog Tour. I have an interview the author of Somnium, Deirdre Swinden. Enjoy.
Interview With Deirdre Swinden
Give
everyone a quick overview of your book, Somnium.
Somnium
offers readers a glimpse into Gillian Hardie’s life after she’s struggled with
persistent nightmare disorder. It’s affected her in many ways, and there were
times when it affected the decisions she made. What she doesn’t know is that
her troubles were caused by a glitch in dream advertising technology, and that
the recent uptick in the strength of her dreams is no accident.
When the dreams
are bad, MCL Nathan Keller jumps in to help. Aided by Dex Cooper and a host of
Somnium Corporation’s technology, they battle her demons and usually win. When an
accident traps Gillian in the dream state, it’s a race against time to ensure
she not only survives, but that her survival doesn’t result in the unleashing
of an unimaginable nightmare that could affect millions of Somnium’s customers.
At its core, Somnium
is a cautionary tale about the lethal dangers of corporate greed and a society
hellbent on advancing technology without thought to the repercussions. The
focus on Gillian—one woman so badly affected by a glitch in the dream
advertising tech that she will either die by her own hand because of her
nightmares or suffer until death during those dreams—is my way of showing that
advancement isn’t without collateral damage. At the same time, it’s about the
nature of self-forgiveness – the struggle we all go through to accept ourselves
as both good and bad in order to become whole and strong.
What were
your inspirations for writing this book?
I’ve been
fascinated by the concepts of sleep paralysis and lucid dreaming most of my
life. The idea that people across time and cultures have had the exact same
dream—an image of an old hag (the succubus)—and experience the same sensation
of being awake and in the presence of something “evil” but not able to move
resonated with me. I’ve had those dreams myself. Add to that a grumbling joke
that soon they would be advertising to us in our dreams and a nightmare where I
thought it would be nice if someone could jump in to help and you’ve got Somnium.
Tell us
about the main character, what’s their personality? What kind of emotional
journey does your character go through in the book?
The book
centers on Gillian Hardie, who has had her life disrupted by bad dreams. She is
introverted, isolated and has struggled to survive the deep depression
associated with persistent nightmare disorder. She has learned to avoid
technology to help calm her anxious brain and mastered the art of lucid
dreaming to combat her fears. She’s had a troubled past, and throughout the
book, readers will get to know what brought her to her present state of mind.
The journey she undertakes is not only one to save her life, but to remind
herself that it is worth living—no matter what she may have done in the past.
What did you
enjoy most about writing your book?
I love the
process. From the first inkling of an idea, to building out the characters and
their different personalities, to building the world they live in. Writing the
story helps me get to know them, to learn who they are—which is often different
than how I originally imagined them to be. It’s a difficult process, and I
often find myself and my characters frustrated, but I wouldn’t have it any
other way.
What did you find most challenging about writing your book?
For me it’s
endings. I’m a “plantser” – writing by both plan and the seat of my pants – so
I can see a general ending in my head when I start writing. As I get closer to
the end, it gets harder to get there—to build the bridges from where my
characters have unexpectedly ended up to the ending I had originally foreseen.
With Somnium, I needed to break my hold on the original ending and
incorporate elements of that idea with what popped up along the way. It was
difficult to give up that original scene, but once I did, the ending finally came
out.
Did anything
surprise you about the process of writing your book?
Not really
about the process—I’ve been writing most of my life and have several novels
that no one will ever see tucked away in a file, so I’m familiar with my writing
process. I think what surprises me is some of the twists and turns that pop up
as I’m writing. The way the characters can take over and as the author, you’re
simply capturing their actions and words as they flow. I think Stephen King
described that feeling as the hole that opens in the screen and you just fall
into the world. You feel like you’re watching and taking notes vs. actually
being in control of the story.
How do you
create your characters? Do they begin as a name, an idea, or do they start
talking to you fully formed?
Usually I have
an idea about a scene and over time, I build the characters and their
personalities around that scene. How do they interact in that moment? Do they
make me laugh? Make me angry? What about them captivates me because they’re in
that scene? If I can’t let them go after that initial scene, then I know I need
to write their story.
What is the
hardest challenge you’ve had to overcome in your writing life?
I think my fear of rejection is
probably the most difficult thing I’ve had to overcome. To be a writer is to
put yourself out there on paper and pixels for all to see, and as an introvert,
that is really hard for me. My MFA program helped me to overcome that fear, but
it certainly still plagues me from time to time.
How do you make time to write, and
how do you utilize that time.
I try to write whenever I can—lunch
hours, a few hours on the weekends. Sometimes I talk myself through a scene in
the shower or on a commute to work. I prefer to write in the morning and edit
in the evenings, and knowing those proclivities, I find I’m better able to use
the hours I can snatch to work on my writing.
Do you have
a favourite author, or writing inspiration?
There are so
many! Margaret Atwood, Shirley Jackson, Michelle Paver, Stephen King, Richard
Matheson, M.R. James, Susan Hill, Neil Gaiman…the list goes on! I love good
dystopian novels, sci-fi epics, ghost stories and anything having to do with
haunted houses (or haunted people…or objects…really anything haunted!).
When I need
inspiration, I reread The Shining, Oryx & Crake, Hell
House and The Haunting of Hill House (or watch their various movie
iterations). The blend of science and spectre—of psychological and
paranormal—is something I strive for in my own work.
Anything special on your 'to read'
list for this year?
My “To Be Read”
pile is huge! I have the latest from Stephen King and Margaret Atwood at the
top of my list, but also several new releases from new authors that I want to
try out. In particular, I’m itching to get my hands on some of my fellow female
horror authors’ works!
Do you have
any amusing writing stories or anecdotes to share?
Sorry – nothing
comes to mind on this one!
What’s your
next project? What can readers expect from you in the future?
I recently
completed a sci-fi/horror crossover where a group of misfits are isolated and
experimented on by a scientist attempting to solve the problem of death itself.
It inevitably goes horribly wrong. I’m also working on a fantasy/horror
crossover based on the idea that sometimes, a world might need to be destroyed.
It plays on the concept that the destruction of long-held ideals or beliefs
isn’t always bad, and that those who do the destroying aren’t always the
villains they seem to be. I’m still working on that one, but the feedback so
far has been good!
Somnium by Deirdre Swinden
Immerse yourself in a terrifying blend of psychological
horror and high-tech science fiction in this riveting novel where dreams can
kill. Gillian Hardie experiences nightmares so intense they threaten her very
existence, thanks to a glitch in Somnium Corporation's groundbreaking dream
advertising technology. Every night, her sleep unleashes monsters that her body
reacts to as if they were real, pushing her to the edge of despair.
Armed with her lucid dreaming skills, Gillian battles these
horrors, but when an accident traps her in a perpetual dream state, she must
rely on Nathan Keller, a nightmare warrior, and Dex Cooper, an Operator, to
navigate this nightmarish reality. With her darkest fears manifesting like
never before, Gillian faces a race against time to survive a threat that could
unleash unimaginable horrors from the depths of her mind.
TRIGGER
WARNINGS:
This novel
includes a brief depiction of sexual violence, gore, and nightmare imagery.
Author Bio:
A
successful writer/editor in the corporate world for more than two decades,
Deirdre Swinden is currently living and writing in
North Carolina. She received an MFA in Creative Writing from Arcadia University
and has published short stories in
Griffel Literary Magazine and
Grim
& Gilded. Early in her writing career, she won the Popular Short Story
Contest at the 2000 Philadelphia Writers’ Conference with her short work,
“Shooting Televisions.”
WEBSITE – https://deirdreswindenauthor.com
