Welcome to the next stop on the Seers Virtual Book Tour!
Today we welcome Seers author, Heather Frost who has kindly agreed to a guest post and the topic:
Creating My Version of the Afterlife
While writing Seers, I got to explore some really fascinating questions and ideas. Figuring out how life after death worked, trying to gauge what horrible traits a Demon had to have in order to qualify for Demonhood, and exploring the motivations for choosing to become a Guardian rather than going on to heaven. Making the rules for immortality was also a fun challenge.
When I decided to write Seers, I knew I'd have a few challenges. But I think one of the bigger ones for me was suddenly becoming a judge. All of a sudden, I had to decide what sort of people would ecome Demons for eternity. It was kind of daunting, especially because I firmly believe that people can change. And here I was, daring to condemn characters to a perpetual Demon existence. Honestly, I took the easy road on this one. For the most part, I leave it up to the reader's imagination. Demons are those who die with a “corrupt heart”. It's pretty open to personal interpretation, but I knew that I wanted to keep my readers from assuming all lawbreakers were instantly banished from heaven. Acts are important to judge, but the motivation behind the action is equally important to me. And so, I created Toni. He's a Guardian, but he's not really all that angelic. He committed a wide range of illicit acts while he was alive, but I chose to judge him by the intents of his heart. Toni is my line in the sand, s it were, outlining in my mind the major difference between Demons and everyone else.
So, if you died, what would you choose? A life in heaven where everything is perfect and everyone is happy—surrounded by friends and family forever? Or would you choose to return to Earth as an immortal Guardian, where you fight to protect humanity from Demons? In my mind, it's a no brainier—I'd pick family and heaven every time. But I needed characters who wouldn't choose that, and so I needed to figure out what reasons a person might have to turn down eternal happiness for a life of guarding. Since, for me, heaven's biggest draw was family, I felt pretty confident in my decision to make a lot of Guardians orphans. They're the toughened ones, for sure—the ones that learned to
survive just fine without family support. And when they eventually met their deaths, the decision
between joining their family or staying on earth, they picked what they knew; the most comforting fate, in a way. And there are people like Toni. Sure he was an orphan too, but he's got another reason to
choose Guardian life—He likes it here, and he honestly can't imagine being any happier in heaven. (And what thief wouldn't want to be able to go invisible?) Another reason a person might choose the Guardian life is pure selflessness. Some people truly just want to help someone else. And it's a good thing, too—if we didn't have such kind souls on the earth, we wouldn't have as many Guardians to watch over us. Obviously there are many other reasons people chose this life, but at least these motivations gave me something to work with. Another thing I had to figure out was what happened to children who die. There are several different ways I could have handled this, but in the end, I went with the only thing that felt right. Children go straight to heaven, without ever facing the choice. They don't need to choose, because they haven't experienced enough life to want anything other than heaven.
Immortality is a fascinating subject in its own right, and it's been dealt with in so many different ways by so many different authors. My immortal characters have many of the same struggles and perks generally associated with eternal life, but there's something that makes them a bit different. Because in the world of “Seers”, Guardians and Demons maintain the same maturity level forever. This makes it a
lot easier for me to believe the falling in love with a mortal idea, and also just why most Guardians remain happy with their choice to return to earth after death, even if it's a forever kind of deal. It may also help us understand why Demons have an especially hard time being nice.
I had a lot of fun figuring out these intricacies, and the more I explore these ideas for the rest of
the trilogy, the more excited I get. The possibilities really are infinite.
For more info on Seers, check out http://seersthebook.
To get your hands on your own copy :
or The Book Depository
Check back later this week for my review and lastly thank you to Heather Frost and Cedar Fort Books for allowing me to participate in this awesome blog tour :)
SapphiredDragon xx
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