Interview with Author Amber Stokes

Today I am interviewing Amber about her new release WHERE TRAINS COLLIDE. So let's just jump right in!

Julie: You had the idea for this story over 3 years ago. What process of development did it go through? Did it change very much from your original idea?

Amber: I want to say that when I first started working on the story, the first few chapters came together fairly smoothly. I've gone back over them with feedback in mind and making minor necessary changes to fit how the story evolved. But it's the second half of the novella that eluded me for so long! 

Originally, I took the characters in a different direction. They went on an outing to Silver Falls State Park, and as I was closing in on the end, I brought them down to the redwoods. But I guess you could say I was about as lost as Trisha. Things just didn't feel quite right or come together clearly.

But then I stayed at the Heceta Head Lighthouse B and B. And it was after the second stay that I checked to see if it would be all right to use the B and B as a story setting. Still, it took me another couple years to finally bring it all together and really explore how things might turn out in a different direction. :)

Julie:You mentioned in your author note that you took a spontaneous train ride to get away from it all at one time. Did you take the same route as Trisha, or was your trip different? Were you seeking answers to something or having a bit of adventure?

Amber: I was going to college in Salem, Oregon, at the time, and I took the train north into Washington. If Trisha hadn't gotten off the train in Eugene, she would have eventually ended up on the same route. ;) However, at another point in college, I took most of her route, from Eugene (Oregon) to Redding (California) and back. And at different times I've taken a shorter section of the route, between Eugene and Chemult. The views on that ride are truly beautiful! I recommend starting in Chemult (or south of there) and heading north, so you get the views in daylight instead of in the evening. :)

To answer the second part of your question, I'd say I was seeking both adventure and peace. I felt overwhelmed with classes and activities...and the uncertainties still before me. I wanted to get away, find some perspective, and do something "adult" and exciting. :) As I wrote in a blog post from 2011, "I just wanted to go somewhere where it would be just me and God."

The trip was only a day outing, there and back. But it was a great experience, and I had a sweet friend who was willing to take me to the station and pick me up again. It was during that trip that I wrote the poem which inspired my blog title, "Seasons of Humility." 

Julie: I love the settings of your stories. Do you do a lot of research for each setting? Have you visited all of them?

Amber: Most of the settings I write about are places I've been. :) It's just easier that way for me to write with any authority or detail! One of my historical novels, Forget Me Not, was partially set in places I haven't been, and even though I looked up pictures and such for inspiration, I don't think the story was as accurate in that way as it probably should have been. I would love to visit Colorado someday, though! 

One of my contemporary stories, While You're Awake, doesn't really have a concrete setting. I left it ambiguous. ;) But for the most part, all my other published stories feature places I know...and places I really love. Virginia City, Nevada. Humboldt County, California. Eugene and Florence, Oregon. They're all incredible places in their own way!

Julie:The Heceta Head Lighthouse is featured in Where Trains Collide. It seems to be a favorite place you have found. What draws you to it?

Amber: Initially, it was the nearest lighthouse to where I was living in Oregon, one of the sights people have to see on a coastal outing. So, I was bound to visit there at some point! But I fell in love with the location...the way the lighthouse is both tucked among the trees and standing out on the bluff. The trail to the lighthouse is lovely. And when I discovered that you could stay in one of the former lightkeeper's buildings...well, I had to! I fell in love even more then. It started to become not just a neat place I had been once, but a familiar, cherished spot. The first time my husband and I met in person, we visited the lighthouse. And, knowing how dear it is to me, he proposed to me there too. :) 

Thanks Amber for letting me interview you! Come back tomorrow everyone for my review of Where Trains Collide and for a travel story of my own, and a giveaway!