Seth Mullins is the author of the new novel The Authors of This Dream, the first in his Edge of the Known series. He is also a musician.
Q: What inspired you to write The Authors of This Dream, and how did you create your character Brandon?
A: For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by the processes of artistic genius. Where does inspiration come from? How does an artist live with that vision?
Questions like that led me to devour dozens of biographies of various musicians, poets, writers and painters. My conception of Brandon - the archetypal wounded and gifted poet/songwriter/shamanic healer - grew out of that search.
Q: How was the book's title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: When I was younger, I struggled with a lot of things that I was never able to find help with. That was the main incentive behind my own intellectual and spiritual search.
It informed my image of Saul Mason, who serves as Brandon’s mentor and soul-guide. Saul approaches healing from the perspective that we each create our whole experience in this world for ourselves, from the inside out - a philosophy that he occasionally sums up with the phrase, “We are the authors of this dream.”
Q: Did you know how the book would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: I had a sketch. I also had a definitive, culminating moment in mind - comparable to, say, Sylvester Stallone running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Rocky.
But a lot of unexpected movements occurred along the road to getting there. Once I know that I’ve got a story worth telling, I like to keep the space open for new inspiration to intrude at every stage of the writing.
Q: This is the first in a series--can you talk about what's coming next?
A: Some of the core aspects of Saul’s method of therapy, like dream-work, are only hinted at in this first book. They’ll be explored in greater depth. The esoteric aspects of the story begin to blur the lines between “reality” and “fantasy.”
The overall scope broadens as well, transcending the arc of a band struggling for recognition to encompass the idea of a greater cultural moment that they are a part of, a kind of spiritual renaissance.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I blog regularly at http://www.sethmullins.com/ and you can follow me here:
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/apoeticwanderer/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/apoeticwanderer
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5YXEoa5MTvt3bn3pZLxNnA/videos
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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