Today, Flashlight Commentary is pleased to welcome author Trini Amador to our little corner of the net to discuss his debut release, Gracianna. This was easily one of my favorite interviews to host and I'm so excited to be sharing it with you.
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Gracianna, my first novel, is inspired by true events in the life of my
great-grandmother, Gracianna Lasaga. I have always been haunted by the vivid
memory of finding a loaded German Luger tucked away in a nightstand while
wandering at her home in Southern California. Even though I was only four at
the time, the memory remained strong, and I knew I had to explore the story
behind the gun. Gracianna is now the name of the family winery I run with
my wife, son and daughter.
Your work is based on the life of your
great-grandmother, Gracianna Lasaga. Why did you feel her story needed to
be told?
As a boy I was left with a powerful value. Gratitude. My
great-grandmother used to talk about being thankful to me. What that meant I
had no idea. I don’t think folks really begin to understand what gratitude is
until you are in your forties or fifties or maybe even later. One needs to live
longer to better appreciate what we have. At four or five years old that idea
of being thankful for what one has comes to have a stronger meaning as I grew
into it. I needed to discover what gratitude meant to me through the research
and writing of this story.
What research went into the writing of
this book and what, if any, challenges did you face in adapting your
research to fiction?
At first I thought I had learned more about World War II and the
Holocaust than I cared to know. But I found that the research ultimately took
me to the Basque county between France and Spain and then to Paris and then
eventually to Auschwitz .I had no idea when I started this project that my
family had any linkage to Auschwitz until my aunt told me about a meeting she
had with Gracianna’s sister and seeing the “mark” on the inside of her forearm.
I had no problem adapting the work – the story is clear to me as I had been
forming the story for so many years. The effort was in incorporating all the
new and true portions into my vision of what the story would be. Once I started
writing it just flowed. I am grateful to Hillel Black, my editor who has worked
on no less than twenty New York Times best sellers. He has worked with talented
writers from Sydney Sheldon to George Plimpton and Moshe Dayan.
What scene posed the greatest challenges
for you as an author?
I came back to several scenes and spent days on certain sentences, writing,
re-writing, trying to express and evoke the deepest emotion. There were many scenes that I agonized over but
two or three come to mind and you can decide to share any or all with your
readers:
These were the thoughts in Juan’s mind, kaleidoscopic thoughts that gently tumbled, night after night, in his pre-dream driftings. He dreamed of an emerald-colored good life. He saw the thoughts like a play unfolding and refolding on the inside of his eyelids, in vivid colors with his own mountaintop sound. These were his young man musings. Sometimes he would gaze skyward with his lonely imaginative eyes at the end of his night-play thoughts and sense the way the moist air would invisibly layer dew all over his bedroll cover and cap. Juan would grin, warmed because he knew his well-trimmed beard was impervious to the droplets.
I returned to this passage more than ten different times during the
writing process. I wanted to accurately express the loneliness of Juan and the
intensity of feelings he had for his awakening to an “emerald-colored good
life” as he came to realize his love for Gracianna. This paragraph was to act
as the set up for the ancient dance that was to come. It was also a nod to L.
Frank Baum, the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, one of my favorite
books and movies. I wanted to reach for a sentence that attempted the
wonderment of how Dorothy might feel as she awakened in her “new world”
It was an ancient dance of innocence. Ceremoniously, Juan moved some stump seats into place for a long evening, swept the earth for a smooth conversation pit, placed the coffee pot as sentry for the next morning, shook and then carefully laid out his thick, wool bedroll—like a Turkish carpet man rolls out his wool for a buyer to inspect and admire—careful not to look her in the eye, but using motions and hand gestures to trick her eye into looking at the welcoming spot on the ground.
Gracianna was now thoroughly adjusting the tack, with occasional rattles of buckles, snaps of leather straps, plus some light horse whispering thrown in.
Her whispering in the ear of the horse intensified his interest.
Juan leaned forward. Gracianna leaned back. Each finding a reason to circle back to the other.
No words.
He now felt her wanting to flow with him. More and more, the tension built as the inevitable moment of choice came closer.
Finally, the crack-opening of the ranch-stilled whiskey, the tinny sound of two small cups being set atop the uneven log between the stumps, set tentatively, set just right, set with the smallest of a wood-pewter clink to signal the final moment of truth and set out the evening’s field of intrigue.Gracianna turned to look at Juan, her hand curled into the horse’s mane with the reins, nearly ready to mount.
Neither knew it, but only the late afternoon cricket, with his hypersensitive saw-legs could feel the vibe-pitch of the intense duel; cleverness, wonder, and anxiety from deep inside both souls. They were closer than ever and mate-dancing so perfectly. It was hardwired. Not knowing that we know how, we just do it, involuntarily the first time. “Just one drink is fine, if you don’t want to stay for two.” Juan began to pour.
Gracianna said nothing, which meant she did not object.
Juan poured the second cup. When he was done, Gracianna had not moved, so he brought the cups to her.
But, coming closer, he’d read the truth in her eyes.
“You’ll stay won’t you?”
I reached way back to the moments when I felt the first inkling of
attraction and tried to help readers feel the innocence of the “ancient” pull
that we all feel inside us. The innocence of that “pull” to another person is
one of the most magical moments in our life. I wanted to help the reader teeter
on the edge of that moment before ‘falling” (and that was why I had Gracianna
literally “fall” for Juan…oh, I love telling these back stories. Thanks Erin).
I had several of these moments. Once was in my English class in 9th
grade in Santa Rosa California at Comstock Junior High School. I was in Mr. Archer’s class (a particular
fervent English teacher who gave me a double shot of Melville’s’ Bartleby, the
Scrivener and Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage igniting a fire of the
written word) and sat next to Virginia Bacigalupi. I sat next to her each day
for most of the year. But one hot afternoon, the door was open and a warm
breeze entered the room and I looked over at her and realized she was the most
beautiful woman in the world. It enveloped me. I was overcome. I never told her
but it hit me Pow! Who else can recount that sort of experience? Gracianna is
filled with moments of realizations. This is what I was aiming for. I hope that
is realized.
The last passage was this:
The Nazis arrived with efficiency at 8 p.m. sharp. Black ink had arrived in the dining room; their dark boots wrote evil words on the tiled floor as they cracked. Gracianna wondered how she would scrub the evil imprints of their footsteps off the floor.
My brother Mark, a powerful writer himself, actually sent me a note
about this line and said it was magic. I spent days on this line. It was the
first line of the chapter “Gracianna’s Shock.”
The “floor” plays an important role in the story. It acts as the place
where Gracianna plays out her life. I used her relationship with the floor as
an allegory for her life…it was sticky, she needed to clean it in her drive to
be perfect, it has evil imprints, “words written” on the floor by the Nazi’s
“dark boots.” Everything needed to be just right and it all started with the
floors. This surely was a link to my own life when the time to be “perfect” was
reflected in all acts including a floor being clean and perfect.
Gracianna's relationship with her sister
Constance is a central element of the story. How did you approach re-creating
the connection between these two women?
Piercing question Erin! As you rightly point out it is one of the major
themes of the story. The unique love and awakening of and between siblings. I
studied these types of relationships around me but especially between my son
and daughter. Ashley and Trini (IV) were the drivers of the characters. My
belief is that inevitably siblings (of any gender) vie for attention, affection
and resources from each other, their parents and their extended community as
they grow into their own self. Our kids do not have the exact characteristics
of Gracianna and Constance but the dynamic is the same. I wanted to make it a
realistic portrayal of siblings that any person with a brother or sister could
relate to. In my view, as each matures into their own person they come to better
accept the other for who they are realizing that one does not control the
other, one must respect and appreciate that their shared experience has led
each to a place that hopefully each will find comfort. “I am who I am and you
accept me, love me and celebrate my successes and failures for that.” At the
end of the day, the archetype is that siblings unconditionally love each other
and simultaneously are most critical while being the biggest fan of one
another. Maybe I have over-thought this but who doesn’t relate to that?
If it isn't too impertinent a question, how
do you think Gracianna's war time experiences influenced the person she
became after the conflict?
Obviously the war, in her true-life experience was a major influencer in
her life. It made her (and her generation) not take things for granted and to
be wary of the future. They made conservative choices as a result of the war I
think. But it gave a powerful sense of gratitude. To be grateful for what we
have now, life, health. family.
Being a history nut, I have to ask. What
happened to the German Luger your great-grandmother kept in her bedroom?
I am finished saying “great question Erin.” You are full of great
questions! My Aunt Kathy tells me that the Luger was sold to a man that was
friend of the family. She could not remember his name or for how much but it
was more to get “rid of it” than anything else. You need to understand, as far
as I know, no one knew or remembered about the incident with me and the gun.
Wow, that made me tear up. I am overwhelmed at the thought. She would
be so proud. She would probably touch my hair or face—even though I am a grown
man—and say that I must have heard her well when I was a boy. How pleased she
is that I have gone my own way. Then say, “Why did you make me so short in the
story?”
What do you hope readers come away with after
reading your work?
Courage to act can be a powerful driver of our day to day activities.
Folks tell me that we are filled with the mundane. Deciding to act in a way
that breaks that monotony of life takes courage. Try it. Write a book, change
careers, stand up for what you believe in, speak up, take a stand, act.
Finally, what is next for you? Any new projects
waiting in the wings?
Funny you should ask, Greenleaf has asked the same thing and like the
idea of the follow up to Gracianna and there is a story. But before I started
thinking about writing the sequel I had already outlined a book, based on true
events, about my time working in the music business in Hollywood. I think at
the first of the year I will decide if that is in the stars. I would love to
hear from your readers and let me know what they think. Trini.Amador3@Gracianna.net
Thanks you so much for asking such wonderful questions Erin. I
absolutely enjoyed spending this time with you. Let’s do this again whenever
you want.
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About the Author:
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Check out all the stops on Trini Amador's Gracianna Virtual book tour
Monday, August 5
Review at So Many Precious Books, So Little Time
Review & Giveaway at Broken Teepee
Review at So Many Precious Books, So Little Time
Review & Giveaway at Broken Teepee
2 comments:
Gracianna sounds fascinating, I can't wait to read it!
It is a wonderful book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
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