Guest Post: Pamela Davis, Author of Gaia Dreams

Imagination by Pamela Davis

Did you ever look at the clouds on a nice day and try to see things in them? Writing is like finding shapes in the clouds. There is nothing, there is randomness, nebulous wisps...and then suddenly you see the shape. All you need is that one shape. A whole story can flow from it. You see a sailboat...where is it going? Who is on it? You see a man...how old is he? What does he do for work? Who does he love? Who does he hate? Does he have a sailboat? Answer those questions and you have the beginning of a story.

In my first book, Gaia Dreams, one of the biggest challenges to my imagination was to come up with the potential end of the world. I’d been interested in and studied natural disasters as well as man-made ones for many years. What I discovered in the writing process was that just one disaster wouldn’t do it--two or three or even four were not enough. As I considered the possible outcomes of various disasters I realized they would have to build on each other, until a tipping point was reached where society could no longer cope. A place where the world as we know it would end.

Imagination flowers in the strangest places and ways. Sometimes I need music to be blaring through the headphones to clear out my mind so the ideas have room to grow. Other times I will sit quietly and crochet. Once I was waiting for a bus, staring at the street in front of me, and suddenly had an idea of how to fix a problem in the book. When I was writing disasters, I used lots of heavy metal played at high volumes to get me into the right headspace. 

Writing disasters could feel violent and fast and pressured—explosive. Then at other times it was sad, a slow dirge as the world crumbled and changed everyone knew nothing would be the same ever again. The book showcases the disasters almost as characters with their own personalities.

Gaia Dreams is more than a book about disasters. The characters are real people in my imagination, with real dreams and fears as they live in a world of upheaval and renewal. As they come together in a ‘safe zone’ they have to learn not just to survive, but to trust, to depend on one another—and the animals among them as well. New forms of communication and unusual abilities among the survivors are part of what brings them all together. Gaia Dreams is a book about hope and discovery, adventure and wonder. It is the first book in the Gaiaverse series.

About the author of Gaia Dreams:

Pamela Davis received a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Smith College. Along with writing, she enjoys cooking, crocheting, reading and watching professional basketball. She has worked as a web designer, a life insurance claims analyst, a medical case manager and a funeral home make-up artist. She prefers writing, with music in the headphones and a cup of coffee at her side. She lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, and is currently at work on the next novel in the Gaiaverse.

Where you can find her and the book:

Pamela Davis website: http://pameladavisbooks.com/
Amazon Kindle version: http://amzn.to/nHzOkh
Amazon trade paperback version: http://amzn.to/s96kFs
In Barnes & Noble stores and at: http://bit.ly/uY7d27
Twitter: @PamelaDavis5102
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gaia-Dreams/242197972474647