Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m the Canadian author of The God of My Art. It is a psychological novel about an artist coming into her own. I am working on a second novel, which is a literary thriller about a doppelganger, her original, and the madness of salsa dancing.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The God of My Art: A Novel is about a young woman from a small northern town in British Columbia who can’t decide what she wants most: to escape poverty or be an artist. She ran away as a teenager to Vancouver, and she has since managed to finish high school and get into university. That is when the trouble begins for her, however: she feels like a fake and an outsider amongst the more privileged middle-class kids. And then she meets Matthew…
Another word for the artist’s muse is the goddess of art: the eternal feminine who inspires the enamored male artist to great works of art. Helene’s muse is a man, however. So the title makes reference to Matthew, the male source of her inspiration.
I was inspired to write this book by questions regarding where the balance lies between freedom and responsibility and between necessity, fate, and a lack of choice. I was particularly interested in how class, gender, terrible childhoods, other people’s decisions, and random accidents could influence my characters’ choices and limit their freedom to decide their lives.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
None in particular.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Too many to list here. My reading tastes are eclectic, but I particularly like tragic dystopian stories about finding courage despite the loss of innocence and a lack of choice. I was beguiled by the Russian author Vladimir Nabokov’s use of the English language to manipulate the reader in Lolita. I was awed by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s depictions of everyday tragedy in Half of a Yellow Sun. I lived vicariously through the Chinese author Wei Hui’s frank depictions of a young woman’s coming of age in the banned novel Shanghai Baby. I was terrified by the British author George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four’s depiction of Big Brother and the Thought Police. I was swept away by the British author Caryl Phillips’s fictionalized depiction of Bert Williams’s life in Dancing in the Dark. And so on…
What are you working on now?
A literary Gothic thriller about a doppelganger, her original, and the madness of salsa dancing.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use my website http://www.sarahlanebooks.com to connect with readers.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write what you’re curious about, not what you already know. Write for an audience, not yourself. Master the rules before you break them. Read constantly. Finish what you start.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Writing advice? Murder your darlings.
Life advice? Take responsibility for your life and future.
What are you reading now?
Lots of dystopian fiction to get a better feel for that genre as I’d like to write in it someday.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Completing the literary Gothic thriller about salsa dancing and a doppelganger that I’m working on, then starting a dystopian trilogy.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Stranded-on-a-desert-island survival guides.
Author Websites and Profiles
Sarah Lane Website
Sarah Lane Amazon Profile
Sarah Lane’s Social Media Links