5 Questions in 5 Minutes with Kim Harrison!

Hi Kim!  So glad you could be with me on Slippery Words today.  I just finished The Drafter, and I’m very excited to share a little bit about it with readers.  I think your fans will be amazed by this new character. The Drafter is the quintessential example of keeping readers on their toes and turning the pages!

Thank you Joelle. I’m pleased to be here and have the chance to talk to your readers today. That’s wonderful that you enjoyed the Drafter, and I’d love to talk a little about it.

1. I try not to ask questions like, “Where did you get your ideas?” but I do want to ask if there was anything specific that inspired the concept of the drafter and the anchor? The ideas are so totally new that I can’t help but ask how those concepts clicked in your mind?

Being able to cheat time is something I play with a lot in my work. The protagonist of my YA series (Once Dead, Twice Shy) is a grim reaper who can rewrite time to save a life. I sent one of my characters back in time in The Truth Series, (written under the name Dawn Cook). But the idea of a drafter who shifts time, and an anchor, who keeps the drafter sane after doing it, was born from the need to have limits. Peri was already going to be incredibly gifted in terms of kick-butt-attude, and needing to depend upon someone to such a high degree to maintain her sanity helped balance that out. That this dependency is a lie, fostered by her employer to maintain control, gave me an opportunity for a lot of character growth.

2. You’ve been writing the Hollows books.  How long has this new character and world been running around in your head?  Did you wait to write the book until you finished the Hollows or did you finish with Rachel and then find Peri?

Peri is actually fairly new to me, her first draft being started about three years ago, somewhere between beginning the last Hollows book and ending it. It was a toss-up between Peri and another story, Grace, as to who would be developed first. Grace, by the way, has been in my head for over a decade, her story evolving as my own life become more complicated.

3. Peri is in the middle of two entities and two worlds, and two men, really.  She’s not fully part of anything in this book.  Was her name an homage to this? I’m thinking of the definition of the prefix as being “near, about or around.”

Peri’s name actually comes from Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, who fought in the war of 1812 to secure the Great Lakes. After a mediocre career at sea, he valiantly won back from the British a small island chain in Lake Erie, Michigan. It allowed the American troops to retake Detroit, or Michigan might belong to Canada today. I spent a few summers at and around that island chain, and using Commodore Perry’s name for my protagonist felt fitting. He’s the guy who said “Don’t give up the ship!” and while that’s not Peri’s motto, she doesn’t give up anything, even a grudge.

4. As a reader, I’d love to see Peri gain more control over her life.  In this book, she is both a soldier and in some ways, a victim, as external forces try to control her. Will we see a little more of Peri’s establishing her own personality again in later books?

She is indeed a victim in the beginning, even as powerful and clout-whelding as she is, having been manipulated into believing she needs someone to maintain her sanity. It’s not true, but she doesn’t know that, convinced by the government group that trained her as a way to keep control. I’m already seeing complaints that she’s not kick-ass enough in the beginning, but I think the government would go to ungodly lengths to maintain control over someone who could change time.

5. Is the idea of drafting and anchoring a type of magic or a type of science? Or is magic just science we can’t understand yet?

I’ve always thought of it as accelerated science, or science so far ahead that we can only explain it with theory.

Kim, it is an honor to have you on Slippery Words.  Thank you for being here.

It has been my pleasure.

Here is a link to Kim’s website and her tour stops:

http://kimharrison.net/

The Drafter, 9/1/15

The Drafter Tour stops/times

Detroit (Ann Arbor) Mi – Nicola’s
Cincinnati, OH – Joseph-Beth
Lexington, KY – Joseph-Beth
Raleigh, NC – Quail Ridge Books
Charlotte, NC – Park Road Books
Atlanta, GA – Barnes & Noble
Birmingham, AL – Books-a-Million
Nashville, TN – Barnes & Noble