An interview with Sheri Sebastian-Gabriel


Sheri Sebastian-Gabriel
SPIRITS  Publication: July 22, 2019 Haverhill House Publishing




Sheri,

Thank you for taking your time for my audience and myself ~


Who are your influences? 
My influences are wide-ranging. I grew up reading a lot of modern horror masters, but I also draw a lot of inspiration from masters of the grotesque like Flannery O’Connor, Nikolai Gogol, Franz Kafka, Carson McCullers, and William Faulkner. My formative years as a writer were also spent reading a lot of classics, but there’s very little rhyme or reason to my influences among those writers. It’s a jumble of things from Poe to Hawthorne to Camus.

When did you begin writing?
I started writing short stories when I was about seven or so. I began submitting my work to magazines when I was about 15. They were terrible! I suspect a lot of editors realized I was quite young. I received a lot of kind personal notes with my rejections encouraging me to keep writing. 

How do you come up with your stories, characters, character names, POV, etc.?
My process is rather random. Sometimes I start with a name and flesh out the details. Other times, I start with a vague plot and choose character names that are meaningful to that plot. I lean towards third-person limited as my go-to POV because I feel most comfortable with it, but I will write in first person if I feel the story demands it. Third-person omniscient is tougher for me, and I don’t think I’ve ever written in second person.

If you could actually meet one of your characters, who would it be?  Why?
I’d most like to meet Amelia Warren from Spirits. She’s an optimist and a people-pleaser, much like myself. She’s the kind of person who just wants to help, but I admire that she knows her limits, recognizes when she’s being taken advantage of, and takes no crap.

Do you work from an outline? 
I’m mostly a pantser, but I generally have an idea of where I’m going with the plot. I develop a rough mental outline and leave plenty of space for creativity.

Tell me about your favorite scene in your novel(s). 
The scene from Spirits that most sticks out to me involves my protagonist, Tori Garrett, stepping into the shower only to see the distorted outline of a person through the shower door. I won’t give anything away, but it’s creepy and claustrophobic and pretty terrifying!

Can you tell us a little about your writing philosophy? 
My writing philosophy is to put the characters first. Write about people above all else. Plot is vital, but it means nothing if we don’t care what happens to the characters in your book.  

Have you ever tried writing in any other genres? 
Absolutely! My first love was science fiction. I have a few science fiction projects I’m fleshing out now. “Revolt,” which is set to appear in the charity anthology Dystopian States of America later this year, is a cyberpunk story. I’ve also written noir, suspense, and pulp.

Do you have any interesting writing-related anecdotes to share?
My husband-to-be, Matt Bechtel, and I are both writers, and we draw so much inspiration and motivation from each other. I’ve heard people say, “Never date a writer,” but we both broke that rule, and I think we’re better for it. If you can find someone who pushes you to be better every day and inspires you to keep going in an industry that is competitive and sometimes soul-crushing, you’re quite lucky. But I’m the luckiest of all!

Do you listen to music as you write?
Definitely. I often program project-specific playlists. Music is essential to my process.

Where is your favorite place to read?
I have a special reading chair in front of our fireplace that is a divine place to read. I also read in bed a lot.

What is the current book you’re reading?
I’m reading A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P. Djeli Clark.

Sheri, here are some suggestions I feel readers would like to read:
The inspiration behind your book, the benefits of your book for the reader and any personal related story compared with the world of your book ~
The inspiration for Spirits is, unsurprisingly, tragic. In my hometown, a teenager was struck and killed by a motorist. As a mother, I can’t even imagine the horror and sorrow his family went through. Then I started thinking about the person who killed him. Slowly, a story developed about a person who accidentally takes a life and how their life unravels in the aftermath. Tori, incidentally, is named for my real-life best friend, Tori Boone. She was quite amused that my train wreck of a protagonist was named for her.



On the behalf of my readers Sheri, thank you again ~



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