This is the question I've been asked most in the past couple of months by friends, book reviewers and enthusiastic readers. My initial knee-jerk response would be something like, "uhhh," while looking back at the curious inquisitor with an equally dumb expression on my face.
Why are you putting me on the spot? There's a reason I write, I thought to myself. I was never good with the adlib, on-the-spot kind of thing. And, inevitably, something more brilliant would pop into my head at a later moment, missing the opportunity to show off my real charm right then and there. Performing under pressure, if you will, was never my forte. I like to think before the words drop out of my mouth. Like spotting a great dress in a store window, I still need to try it on for size before the actual purchase.
Having a book launch coming up, I wanted to avoid the glazed look "uhhh" syndrome, and jot down a few thoughts as to what led me to write my first novel, The Gilboa Iris. So here it goes:
I always wanted to be a rock star...
Yeah, well, that didn't pan out. So, naturally, I decided to go for the next logical sure thing and become a writer. Scoff now, but ye shall see....
It's all about passion.
I didn't know that I was going to write this novel. It wasn't planned. Even while having the story line rampage through my mind for months, it still didn't occur to me that what I had was the material for a great novel (if I say so myself). The Gilboa Iris is a novel of passion. Not only passion between the characters, but a passion for life, and a passion for the Land of Israel. And, just as passion can erupt unexpectedly, so to, did the writing of this novel.
The story line developed out of a deeply entrenched ardent fervor for Israel and a keen awareness of the Israeli condition as opposed to the human condition. My own thoughts and perspectives somehow formed into a full blown plot with characters that soon would become as alive on paper as they were in my head.
Before I even deigned to write it all down, however, I had, at the same time just finished reading a popular novel that my teenage daughter wanted me to read. I didn't expect to like it. It was one of those teen-fantasy-vampire stories. But, I not only liked it, I loved it. Surprised as to how I was entirely drawn into the fabricated narrative, I re-read the book with a more scrupulous eye and upon finishing it, I thought...I could do this!
The very next day, I sat myself down in front of my computer and began typing out the story in my head that was already haunting me throughout my days. It was as if I were living two separate lives. The actual one on the street and the one dancing around in my mind. I guess it was a good move - for sanity's sake, to finally merge the two. And so, for about a year and a half I sat at my computer punching out the story of Roni, Dara, Uri, Mace, Alana, Jen and Yaniv. What started out as my passion becoming theirs, their passion became mine and I became the book. It got to a point, where when working on an emotionally charged and difficult chapter, my friends, noticing my dreary mood, would insist I get further on in the book-writing where the story line would take an uplifting turn and free me from my funk.
The Gilboa Iris evolved from my reaction to visiting a number of families in Israel who had either lost loved ones in an Arab terrorist attack or while on active duty in the army. I was awe struck how within each family - parent, wife, husband etc...would accept their loss stoically with a level of faith that I couldn't fathom. And one day, after visiting one such family who lost a son in a training accident in the army, my mind wandered (having my own two sons in the army) to a place a mother never wants it to wander. But, apparently the mind has a mind of its own. I began to think how I would react if God forbid....
Would I be as brave as these families? Would I be able to summon up that level of faith? Strength? Courage?
It didn't take me long to realize the answer. Hell no! And then, before I knew it, I had a whole scenario playing out in my mind with "Dara," a young idealistic American student who travels to Israel to live her dream and must deal with the deadly consequences of Arab terror and global jihad. And with "Roni Ben-Ari," the symbol of the type of courage and unrelenting hope that can be found in the modern day Israeli.
I wanted to transport the reader, invite him or her into the very core of the Israeli. To see what I see, what Israelis see and what needs to be seen. I wanted the reader to be submerged in the lives of Dara, Roni and Uri - to feel what my characters felt as if it were palpable - to have the passion permanently imprinted in one's heart.
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