Interview with Irie Parker

WG: Irie, can you talk a little about what motivated you to write Twisted Consequences, and what you hoped the book would accomplish?

IP: The key motivation was to write and independently publish this story, parts of it are based on real situations I've personally been in as a quad. I wanted this story to motivate other disabled people to push the limits if they want to.

WG: Can you discuss a scene in the book in which you drew on your own experience? How did your experience help you to develop that situation in the story?

IP: As the story progressed, I wanted the reader to experience some of the confusion that Tyson was having to deal with. The scene where the airport employees were suspicious about the missing piece of luggage comes to mind. I borrowed heavily from my own experience here, this did happen to me leaving Europe once. There was certainly some confusion in the air, no one had much experience with wheelchairs. So, knowing that this type of treatment does cause confusion for all the individuals involved, I added it.

WG: As you began to develop the ideas for your story, who did you envision your audience to be? In other words, who do you think would be interested in reading Twisted Consequences? Talk a bit about what you do in the book to try to appeal to that audience.

IP: This is an excellent question. I hope anyone can pick it up and be entertained, but I feel it's best audience is the people with new disabling injuries. Tyson doesn't have the "poor me" attitude, instead he chooses to engage and interact with life in a way that almost makes the physical disability transparent. I really want Tyson's character to inspire all people suffering from tragic life changing injuries to get out and continue to make goals in life and to never stop dreaming.

WG: I think that your statement, "he chooses to engage and interact with life in a way that almost makes the physical disability transparent" opens up an interesting question. To what extent do you think that Tyson's attempt to "overcome" his disability is a kind of denial. Does he accept himself as a disabled person? If so, what in Twisted Consequences shows that he does accept himself.

IP: Tyson has been a quadriplegic for almost ten years when he decides to try and meet a potential mate online. During his email relationship with Michaela he sheds light on his reality, which at times has it's unpleasantries. He wants her to understand his needs as a disabled person, he remains positive during his description. I'd have to say this character isn't experiencing denial at this point in his life.

WG: Irie, I'd like to to switch gears for a second and ask about your own writing process. Do you have a particular routine for writing? Do you use any adaptive equipment to access the computer?

IP: Yes I do use Dragon dictate's speech recognition software to quickly get my thoughts into the word processor. Then I go back and clean it up using a knuckle on the back of my left hand. This is like crawling compared to speech recognition, but works out fine because I need to slow down to edit properly. Then my version goes to two other people to proofread. I always consider any suggestions they make, but most of the time I'll go with what I wrote originally. I create my own PDF files in Adobe Indesign to send to the printer.

WG: Obviously, using Dragon and then going back to manual editing takes quite some time. How long did it take you to write Twisted Consequences? Many writers have certain daily routines that they follow. Do you have a particular routine that you follow, such as writing at a particular time of the day?

IP: I started playing with ideas, and began accumulating data for this book in 1999. I wasn't happy with Michaela's choice of words or accent, so I stopped for a few years. Then I met, and hired a nurse from Ukraine. I listened to her English for six months, and then polished Michaela's accent so it sounded more like an eastern European woman. I worked part time on the letters for a couple of years, this was the most challenging part to finish. Part two took six months to get right, half of that time was spent doing the tedious manual editing you mentioned. I used to write when I had nothing to do, but that wasn't good enough. Eventually, I had to set aside two hours per day to use only on Twisted Consequences. If I hadn't disciplined myself in this way, the book would never have been completed.

WG: Can you give some of examples of some of the things that you changed when you did the editing?

IP: I took out the contractions in her letters and speech to make her English appear more foreign. For example, instead of didn't I would have her say did not. For another effect I changed some of the verb tenses to be incorrect, this was one thing I noticed my nurse doing frequently.

WG: Aside from Michaela's character, how did you approach dialogue in the book - especially the characters of Jack, Rex and Tyson? You have mentioned the writer Tracy Koretsky to me previously. She is writer who really studies the dialogue of others and makes each voice distinctive so that you that on any given page you know exaclty who is talking. What did you do to try to make your own dialogue seem real and to give each character their own voice?

IP: Yes, Tracy Koretsky does a fine job with her characters. I certainly agree with you on that. My dialog is different, it was meant to be that way in Twisted Consequences. I use Jack and Rex specifically to speed the story up, their short bickering dialog can be uncomfortable at times, but I like the way the it creates action. Rex was great for adding tension too, I wanted to show the reader his rude behaviors through his condescending dialog with others. I felt if I went into any narrative about why he developed this nasty abusive persona I'd lose the quick chaotic pace. The characters Tyson, Rex and Jack are from the same neighborhood. The quick slang loaded conversations would be difficult to grasp if the reader quickly glanced at different parts of the book. Each of the three characters prefers a certain slang word, this was implemented to distinguish a slight difference in their speaking.

WG: How well do you think that readers in general will relate to three guys from the same neighborhood whose vocabulary as you said are slang loaded? Are you targeting readers who come from similar backgrounds?

IP: I'm not sure how well readers will relate to the Generation X type of slang and dialog. I'd have to guess that almost everyone in the US is familiar with the word "dude". This type of speaking has been used in our society for almost thirty years now, and it doesn't seem to be going away. I was trying to show Tyson's kind and sensitive side thru his emails to Michaela, but when he's around his peers he uses speech that Jack and Rex are accustom to hearing. I wasn't intentionally targeting readers from any background necessarily, and I don't think you need to have a birth date in the 1960's or 1970's to follow and understand what the three guys are saying and experiencing.

WG: How can readers get a copy of Twisted Consequences?

IP: The book is available on Amazon.com for $10.99 and the PDF is obtainable for $6.99 on lulu.com. I did the PDF for other quads like myself who find it easier and more private to interact with reading materials in this way.

WG: I'd like to thank you for the interview and wish you luck with Twisted Consequences. I know that publishing a first book is both exciting and challenging. Is there anything else that you would like to say before closing?

IP: Thank you for the interview. In closing I'd like to place more emphasis on pushing creativity to the limit when writing. Fiction is an art where you can pretty much do whatever you want. I decided not to follow a genre's script because it places boundaries on creativity in my opinion. I see Twisted Consequences as experimental fiction, which one should read with an open mind.