BooksChatter: ℚ♫☄ Black Crow White Lie

Today we have the pleasure of meeting up with author Candi Sary to talk about Black Crow White Lie (first published 1 October 2012; this second edition 11 October 2015, Blue Mary Books, 232 pages), a Young Adult / Adult Coming of Age novel.

"Few novelists can arrestingly channel the voice of a neglected fourteen-year-old boy, half street urchin, half spiritual shaman, and emerge with an engaging first-person narrative that doesn't drip with sentimentality or patronize teen culture. Candi Sary can..." -Foreword Reviews Magazine

"Sary succeeds in portraying teen angst without melodrama, in depicting compassion without sentimentality, and in creating a world of characters on the margins of society whose depth and complexity outshine any Hollywood hero." -Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author Q&A | Film Trailer | Synopsis | Teaser | About the Author | Giveaway & Tour Stops

A very warm welcome to Candi Sary; thank you for joining us on BooksChatter.

To set the mood, Candi has shared with us her music playlist for Black Crow White Lie - enjoy! (note: I could not find a version of Kimba Arem's "E Homai”)

What was the inspiration for Black Crow White Lie?

"I was curious about people who claim to be healers, and how someone might come into that kind of power.

That was my initial inspiration, but as the characters developed and the story progressed, I found that I was also inspired to write about the power of storytelling. The stories we tell ourselves really shape our lives.

The boy in the novel, Carson, believes the fantastic stories his mother tells him, and while they are not all true, they become his truth. I am fascinated by how our thoughts and beliefs make us who we are."

How much of yourself is reflected in this book, and how?

"On the surface, it would seem the book is nothing like my life, and yet underneath, I think each character reflects something of me.

Carson’s neglected upbringing is nothing like my childhood, and yet I share his curiosity, his optimism and his desire to explore his own magic.

Juliette, his mother, has gotten her life into a mess, a mess unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, and yet I intimately know the part of her heart that deeply loves her son. I don’t know what it’s like to be that desperate as a mother, but I know what it means to fiercely love my child.

Candi Sary with her husband Tony and their children Cinnamon and Rusty - both young and all grown up!
Faris, a tattoo shop owner who is tatted from head to toe, may not share a single similarity in appearance with me, but I share his quiet understanding of people, his willingness to listen, and a lot of his views of the world.

Writing and creating characters seems to be an exercise in understanding how much more alike we are than we realize to people who appear different from us."

The first thing that draws me to a book is its cover. Can you tell us about your cover for Black Crow White Lie - why you chose that concept and who the artist is.

"The artist, Kerry Ellis, did an amazing job with the cover!

The story is about a mother who tells her son lies so that she can create an illusion that his life is better than it really is. One of the lies she tells is that the boy’s father was a hero who could catch and kill a crow with his bare hands. And so the cover shows a woman’s hands creating an illusion of a crow on the wall—the mother contriving the crow story for her son.

The overall look is simple yet mysteriously intriguing. I couldn’t be happier."

Can you tell us something quirky about Black Crow White Lie, its story and characters?

"There is a character, Harper Dee, who makes a brief appearance in the novel. She is the lead singer of an indie rock band. Harper visits Carson hoping he can heal her, and they end up sharing a cool moment together.

This character is actually based on Aja Volkman, the lead singer of Nico Vega. My husband and I went to a Nico Vega concert at the Fonda Theatre when I was almost a year into the novel, and our time there inspired me to set Black Crow White Lie in Hollywood.

I listened to Nico Vega’s music a lot while writing the novel (as you can see in the playlist) and it just felt right to add a character like Aja since her voice was such an inspiration to the story."

If you could / wished to turn Black Crow White Lie into a movie, who would be your dream team?

"Black Crow White Lie was actually turned into a short film and I was really pleased with how it turned out. Chase Wilson, the filmmaker, and the actors he chose became my dream team. You can check out the trailer here."

What do you like to write and read about? Do you stick to a particular genre or do you like to explore different ones?

"I love writing magical realism. It lets me stay grounded in creating realistic characters while adding a touch of magic to their lives. As a kid, I loved looking for magic in the world, believing in possibilities that weren’t supposed to be true. As an adult, I’ve become much more rational in my real life, but I can escape back into magical possibilities with my writing.

I also most enjoy reading magical realism, and letting other authors pull me into their fantastic yet realistic worlds."

What is your writing process?

"My writing process is very exploratory. I write and write and let the characters come alive on the page, and then take them with me in my mind everywhere I go. While I have an idea for the plot, it’s really the characters that lead the story based on the personalities that come through. It’s exciting getting to know them, though it’s also somewhat frustrating because they don’t fit into structured outlines very well.

Sometimes it takes tons of writing (that ends up getting deleted) for the most authentic version of a character to emerge. But once the characters fully emerge, there is no better feeling than discovering why they came and then telling their stories."

What is in store next?

"My next book is a ghost story. I’ve always loved ghost stories! It’s not a typical one, though.

I knew I wanted ghosts in it, but the characters took me in another direction. They have me exploring what it means to be an outcast. It’s heart breaking yet beautiful. The main character hits bottom, but she can only go up from there.

The novel is her bizarre story as she rises up into someone she wants to be. I keep a Sue Monk Kidd quote on the top of the manuscript that reads: “There is no place so awake and alive as the edge of becoming.”"

And as a final quirky thing, to get to know you a little bit better... do you have a pet or something that is special to you that you could share with us?

"I have three dogs. They all hang out with me while I write. Whether I am in my office, or in another room with my laptop, they follow me and keep me company through all my storytelling.

The dogs also give me a reason to take breaks from my computer and go on walks with them where I spend time out in nature. That’s where I think deeply about my characters and give them space to really come through."