1.
What inspired you to
write your newest book? I was talking to Brenda, the Cambodian owner of the
coffee shop I go to most mornings when she told me how, at the age of six, in
1975, she and her family were driven out of Phnom Penh by the Khymer
Rouge. I was fascinated-not only by her experience but by her courage,
toughness and cunning as a little kid instrumental in keeping her family
alive and eventually getting them to the U.S. I wanted to fictionalize the
story based on Brenda's reality and she agreed to tell me all she remembered.
2.
What is it about? "Remember
to Remember" is about a child surviving the killing fields of
Cambodia. After being driven out of Phnom Penh this six year old girl takes on
the responsibility, while imprisoned in a farm labor camp, of finding food for
her mother, two brothers and younger sister while many around them starve or
die from overwork or execution.. When released after four years,
the family travels, mostly by foot to a refugee camp across the border in
Thailand. "Remember to Remember" shows a girl becoming a teenager
while doggedly pursuing her promise to get her family to a new life.
3.
Why must we read it? Those
terrible four years when Pol Pot and his brutal Khymer Rouge army took
over Cambodia, killing at least one and a half million people in Pot's
attempt to enforce a classless peasant society, must not be swept under
the rug and forgotten. I hear that the savagery of this time is not being taught
in Cambodian schools and Phnom Penh is now advertised as a tourist's paradise. The
brutality of the Khymer Rouge army is a lesson in how ignorance can be a fallow
field for the indoctrination of evil.
4.
What challenges did you
overcome to write this book? Embellishing the truth with the right fiction and
seeing everything through the understanding of a child and young girl was a
challenge I enjoyed. Also, I needed to add some beauty and lightness to a
tragic situation. I knew almost nothing about Cambodia and its war.
I had seen "The Killing Fields" and Brenda said that is exactly how
it was. So I watched it again several times imagining a five year old child in
the midst of it. I wept over descriptions and photos of that time.
I studied the culture, flora and fauna, climate, rice growing, camp structure,
butterflies, Water Buffalo - everything I could think of.
5.
What do you feel
rewarding about being a published author? I love it when readers who have read
"Amber Dust" and "Caravan to Armageddon" say they now feel
differently about making snap decisions about people or judging their
actions. I want my books to raise people's empathy for others while
enjoying the story.
6.
Any advice to struggling
writers? Yes, sit down and write at the same time every day so it becomes a
habit. Stop going to classes and write something straight through to the end
without any editing at all. Then go back and rewrite. And enjoy being in that
other world where your imagination takes over.
For more information, please see: jilplummer.com
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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015
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