Enjoy this delightful visit with author Julie Christine Johnson as we chat about Ireland, The Crows of Beara, musicality, and – um – muddy boots.

Great to see you here, Julie! I brewed coffee and tea. I wasn’t sure which you preferred. Cream and sugar?

Julie: Annie, it’s such an honor to be here. I love your site- the reviews, interviews, guest authors. Thank you for being such an advocate for the literary arts! And since it’s so early, I’ll take coffee—gut-searing, black, piping hot coffee.

Help yourself to the cookies too. Say, is that a gift you brought for me?

Julie: Well, they are rather encrusted with mud, and that lump there may be some sheep dung, but I’m sure you’ll find a special place for the bootlaces from the last pair of hiking boots I wore‑—and left behind in—Ireland. I’ve been saving them for a special occasion, and this is it!

You are so sweet! I, um, love them. Yes, it’s – well, so thoughtful! So with your story set in Ireland, there must be a lot of musicality in your dialogue. Accents, pauses, tempo. How do you separate out the characters so we hear their distinct voices? What technique did you use to bring about the rhythm of your characters’ voices?

Julie: How wonderful that you mention musicality. Music and language are kissing cousins, and I’ve always had an affinity for both. I pick up accents easily, but more than that, I love getting beneath the skin of a language, to learn its rhythms and cadence and how speakers inhabit their native tongues- their gestures, the ways their mouths move, the sounds of their voices. I can’t claim any particular technique on conveying my characters’ distinct voices. I simply write what I hear, that particular music that gets under my skin. 

Ah, the scones are finally ready from the oven. Please choose your favorite. I have pumpkin, blueberry, cinnamon, and cranberry.

Julie: Ermagerd . . . (spraying crumbs from her full mouth) Pumpkin with maple frosting? How did you know . . .? 

It’s been a very pumpkin month. Tell me, (surreptitiously wiping off crumbs from her side of the table) which of Aristotle’s six elements-plot, character, thought, language, melody, spectacle- do you feel is your strongest and why?

Julie: I’m inclined to think that language is my strongest suit. Words–the magical immensity and precision and possibility and poetry of them–just blow my mind. But I believe all story begins and ends with character and this is where I invest most of my writing energy. I begin each novel working through character sketches for my protagonist and main characters, and it is from these characters that a story problem and the themes take shape. And from these, the plot. As I dip cautiously into reviews of my novels, the most gratifying comments are those that center on the relatability and resonance of my characters.

If your Annie and Daniel were dropped off at the cinema, what movie would they choose?

Julie: To Have and Have Not. Bogart and Bacall. Character and Conflict. Boom.

What is your favorite aspect of your main character –strongest trait, etc. (adds fresh coffee to Julie’s cup)

Julie: (reaching for another pumpkin scone) Annie’s vulnerability, all the raw and ridiculous moments of self-awareness that make her cringe and yet stiffen her resolve to heal and move forward.

Who is your favorite writer and why? What aspect of that writer do you try to incorporate into your own craft?

Julie: I have far too many favorites to name just one, but there is a writer whose work and philosophy have informed my own: Colm Tóibín. He once stated that he writes the silence between the words. I feel this. I feel the power of the unspoken, the unstated, the silences. It’s what I seek to do—to give the reader space, to give my characters space, to respect and write the silence.

Oh you know Harold Pinter the playwright was famous for those silences and pauses that spoke volumes. What was the most difficult part of the writing stage?

Julie: For this particular novel, letting go of several POVs that I’d incorporated into the narrative. I had chapters written in the POVs of the women Annie met, the women who embodied the legend of An Cailleach Bheara- the Hag of Beara. My editors convinced me to narrow the POVs to Annie and Daniel. I had a few hair-flip, foot-stamp moments over that, but of course they were right.

What is one piece of advice you’d give to other authors as they settle in for a second draft.

Julie:  Accept that it is only the second draft. You likely have dozens more ahead of you. Read like a reader. Use this draft to begin pulling the story together, slowly, word by word.

What other fun things or words of wisdom would you like to share?

Julie: I don’t have the best track record of book dedications. I dedicated my first novel, IN ANOTHER LIFE, to my husband: we divorced six months after that book’s publication. My second, THE CROWS OF BEARA, I dedicated to my boyfriend, who broke up with me two months before publication. I briefly considered dedicating my third novel, now on submission, to my cat, but I can’t even imagine what tragedy would result from that gesture. My heavens. You have to be able to laugh at all this, right? Even if it means crying at the same time . . .

You know, there really is no need to add me to your book’s dedication. Really. You’ve brought me a present. But you know what they say about three times is a charm, right? You have been such a delightful guest. I hope you come back and chat when you have a new book out or just to stop by with some words of wisdom. Thank you so much for visiting ePen! Please take this extra scone with you!

Julie: Thank you. It’s an honor to be featured! (tucks the scone into her purse, waves, and heads out the door)

The Crows of Beara
By Julie Christine Johnson
Genre: Fiction, Climate Fiction, Eco-Lit, Women’s Fiction

Along the windswept coast of Ireland, a woman discovers the landscape of her own heart. When Annie Crowe travels from Seattle to a small Irish village to promote a new copper mine, her public relations career is hanging in the balance. Struggling to overcome her troubled past and a failing marriage, Annie is eager for a chance to rebuild her life.
Yet when she arrives on the remote Beara Peninsula, Annie learns that the mine would encroach on the nesting ground of an endangered bird, the Red-billed Chough, and many in the community are fiercely protective of this wild place. Among them is Daniel Savage, a local artist battling demons of his own, who has been recruited to help block the mine.
Despite their differences, Annie and Daniel find themselves drawn toward each other, and, inexplicably, they begin to hear the same voice–a strange, distant whisper of Gaelic, like sorrow blowing in the wind.
Guided by ancient mythology and challenged by modern problems, Annie must confront the half-truths she has been sent to spread and the lies she has been telling herself. Most of all, she must open her heart to the healing power of this rugged land and its people.
Beautifully crafted with environmental themes, a lyrical Irish setting, and a touch of magical realism, The Crows of Beara is a breathtaking novel of how the nature of place encompasses everything that we are.