Blog Tour Interview: Becoming Indigo by Tara Taylor and Lorna Schultz Nicholson

Title: Becoming Indigo
Authors: Tara Taylor and Laura Schultz Nicholdon
Series: Book Two in the Through Indigo's Eyes Series
Genre: Young Adult
Published: July 1. 2013 by Hay House Publishing



Book Description:

High school is finally over, and Indigo Russell is living with two of her best friends in the Glebe, an artsy, bohemian area in downtown Ottawa. It’s summertime, which means humid, restless nights. The apartment is making strange noises at all hours. Is it just her imagination, or is something more sinister at play? Meanwhile, Indie has no idea what she wants to do with her life. As close friends and classmates prepare to head off to university, she’s left wondering where to go—a task made all the more difficult as her thoughts are interrupted by weird voices. Who are these voices that keep talking to her? Angels, or villains? Is the apartment haunted . . . or is she? As she searches for answers, and attempts to control her supernatural abilities, Indie forms a close bond with nice-boy Paul. Not long after, Indie’s first love, John, comes back into her life, complicating everything. Fate leads her to Annabelle, a woman who shares her psychic gift and who may be the one to help her figure it all out. In the face of danger and heartache, Indie must learn to follow her intuition, listen to her inner guide, and discover who she should trust, to become the person she is meant to be.

*Amazon*

About the Authors:

Tara Taylor is an internationally known intuitive counselor, spiritual teacher, and motivational speaker. She is president and CEO of Whitelight Wellness and co-founder of the Just Say Yes seminars. Tara counsels people of all ages and guides professional intuitives and children with clairvoyant gifts, as well as friends and family who need help understanding these special children. Visit: www.tarataylor.ca and www.throughindigoseyes.com

Lorna Schultz Nicholson is a full-time writer who has published over 20 award-winning books, including Roughing and Northern Star. Her nonfiction book, Home Ice, was on the Globe and Mail bestseller list for many months and was a top selling sports book during the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

Lorna divides her time between Calgary and Penticton, where she and her

husband share their homes with their crazy golden retriever, Snowball, and whiny bichon-shih tzu, Molly.

Visit: www.lornaschultznicholson.com and www.throughindigoseyes.com

Interview:

Tell me about Becoming Indigo.

Through Indigo’s Eyes is the story of Indigo Russell, a teenage girl who is struggling with who she is. And she is intuitive. Since she was little she has seen spirits and visions, and voices talk to her in her head, telling her things that end up happening in the future. As a child, she thought she was like everyone else, but as she grew older she realized she was different. Indie doesn’t want to be different; she wants to be normal and she definitely doesn’t want her high school friends finding out about her. This is a coming of age story but with a definite twist. It is also a love story.

Lorna: As an accomplished fiction writer with over 20 award-winning published books, what was it like to collaborate with Tara and write a fiction novel based on her life as a teenage Intuitive/Psychic?

This was a little different write for me, but I drew from my experience as a fiction and non-fiction writer to create the book. My first step was to interview Tara and talk to her about her life; how and when she knew she was intuitive, what it was like to live as a teenage intuitive, where did she live, what did her childhood house look like, what school did she go to, and on and on. All back story that is based on Tara’s real life. Fortunately, I lived in Ottawa so I knew all the landmarks she talked about and if I didn’t, I googled and did my research, as I would do with any work I was writing. And, of course, I wanted specific stories and details that I could include in the book. This was not done in one session. I talked to her a gazillion times and, in my trusty writer’s notebook, I wrote down story after story. Did I use them all? No. But I used many of them. Then I asked Tara for photos of when she little, and I wanted all ages. I needed the photos to see who she was. I could see her as a little girl, as a pre-teen, as a teenager. I was also able to draw on her mannerisms and personality traits and, with the photos beside me, I was able to see those personality traits in a much younger person. I also talked to her mother, to get a feel for her as a child. And that is how I developed the character Indie, which is the non-fiction component of the story.

The fiction component, which includes plot lines and secondary characters, came to me as I wrote. As with every work of fiction, I start with a small seed, which in this case was the vision Indie sees in the first chapter. And I took that from my daughters. I thought about what they would have viewed as conflicting when they were teenagers in high school. Once I have the small seed, I allow it to fester, and, for me, the beauty of writing fiction is that the seed always grows. Sometimes so much that I am jarred awake in the middle of the night with the classic fiction writer line, “That’s it!” So, ideas and thoughts just came to me and I created the fictional world around Indie and, magically, (okay, Tara would say I was being fed by higher powers), all the real stories Tara had fed me became fuel for the plot. I had many “Aha” moments where I would think, “OMG, I can use that story here!”

Tara: How did you feel sharing your life with Lorna and then having her put it into this fiction book form? Did any old emotions surface during the process?

I will never forget the day that Lorna and I were sitting in a coffee shop chatting. I was telling her about the non-fiction book I was writing about embracing and balancing the ego, and had asked her about the new sports fiction series she was writing. We then started chatting about the different types of intuition. I shared with her that she is a knower and a feeler, and was explaining how she could best use these intuitive abilities in her life. That led us to the topic of what it was like for me to see, hear and know things that most people aren’t aware of

(until I was seven, I thought everyone saw and heard the things that I did). I was happy to share my stories with Lorna because she is a very dear friend to me and I felt safe to open my world to her. Lorna had said, “I would love to write your memoir one day” and I laughed and said “how about a fiction?” That was the beginning of our adventure together creating Through Indigo’s Eyes. I have always been such a huge fan of fiction (and anything by Jim Henson). Fictions and the movie Labyrinth were my escapes when I felt so different and “out of place” in this world. Both were a place I could go and hide for a while. Creating this series with Lorna’s amazing talent of writing fiction and waving in fact is like creating that safe place that I had for other people. Yes, there is a part of me that feels vulnerable exposing my past and stirs up past emotions, however I believe that if sharing my experiences and knowledge will help even just one person in this world understand their own intuition and be able to live life with more ease and happiness, then it is worth every second of feeling vulnerable and exposed.

So how does this reader know what is fiction and what really happened in Tara’s life?

Haha. The reader is going to have to guess but just a little hint—the plotlines are fictional but some of the back story and most of Indie’s memories are real. The Canadian setting is also real because that is where Tara lived when she was a teen, which also includes landmarks like the Parliament Buildings and the Glebe. And…Indie’s family members, including pets, are based on Tara’s real life family.

What about the other characters in the book?

All characters except family members and Indigo's mentor are totally fictional including schoolmates, good friends and teachers.

Do you think spiritual YA fiction is an upcoming genre for writers?

Lorna’s predictions: I just write what I’m passionate about and I’m not so concerned with trends. I feel if you follow trends you will always be behind and not writing what moves you. I wrote this novel because I wanted to and just the thought of the project gave me goose bumps and made my mind tick in this crazy way. But, hey, when vampires are done being the trend perhaps there will be room for a YA spiritual genre. Who knows? Or maybe it is here now? I don’t know. And I’m not predicting. This is a crazy business and although it is forever changing there is one thing that always remains consistent…and that is a good story with strong characters. Indie is a strong character and we have Tara to thank for that. I will let Tara add her two cents on this question as…haha…she is the intuitive one!

Tara’s predictions: Lorna you are too funny! I think that we will see YA spiritual fictions pop up more and more. I find that our world is becoming more “in tune” and that is expanding over all ages. I keep meeting these amazing young souls that come into my office that are far more advanced then I was at that age. They truly see our world differently and have a deep compassion to make massive changes in this world. I think that readers are looking to be entertained as well as looking for something that speaks to them on a deeper level and can shed some light on explaining the unexplained.

Who is the audience for this book?

It is a YA book and will definitely appeal to teens, especially females. But this kind of “spiritual” novel should also cross a few genres. Hay House has a large non-fiction spiritual audience who will also want to read this book because it does give a bird’s eye view into the life of an intuitive. And it might appeal to adults who like reading YA fiction. Or romance readers who just crave a good love story!

What can we expect from The Indigo Series in the future?

All we can say is that there will be a sequel and it is scheduled to be released in July 2013. The working title is Becoming Indigo! and the first chapter is in the back of Through Indigo’s Eyes.

MGO: Thank you so much for being here today Tara and Laura and for letting us get to know more about your series, it sounds like so much fun!