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FAQ
Web of Angels
How would you summarize your book in one sentence?
Mom with multiple personalities discovers a despicable crime in her neighbourhood and sets out to right the wrongs.
How long did it take you to write this book?
It didn’t take an eternity though it came close: eight years.
What inspired you to write this book? Do you know someone with dissociative identity disorder (DID)?
When my children were young, I participated in a chat room for people healing from difficult life experiences. There I encountered many people who’d survived early trauma by developing multiple personalities, i.e. DID—in fact more than 2 dozen. In the process, I discovered that someone close to me was multiple, which I hadn’t at all suspected, but made a lot of sense when I found out. I had thought being DID was like Sybil. It drove me crazy that the media images were so far from the reality, and that the quiet heroism of the people I knew was never recognized or acknowledged.
Research
Web of Angels is your first psychological thriller. Why this type of story?
I asked myself a question: what would a mom with multiple personalities see that nobody else could? And then: what was that about? The answer was that many of the people I’d known who had DID had been victims of the crime that underlies Web of Angels. Then on Christmas Eve in 2004, a friend sent me a link to a news story that haunted me. It formed the basis for the opening paragraph.
You set a high standard of research with your previous novels. What was it like for Web of Angels?
I came to know many people in the DID community in the most natural way – we were friends and acquaintances speaking often, even daily at times, about everyday matters as well as deeply personal ones. But even that wasn’t enough. I read everything I could get my hands on about DID, located research studies about child exploitation on the internet, and interviewed counselors, legal professionals, and police officers.
Life With DID
Sharon hid her other personalities from her husband and friends because she was ashamed. In your research, what were the reactions from friends and family toward a loved one living with DID?
The initial conversation is often difficult. Family and friends are typically afraid of saying the wrong thing, and the person disclosing is often defensive, afraid of their reaction. All the misconceptions about DID make it even harder. Yet talking about it clears up what everyone’s been experiencing but had no words for. Obviously some people have more supportive spouses and friends than others. And it's a process. When the spouse is willing to learn more and the person who is multiple finds out that they are accepted and loved, all of them, the relationships become closer. Life becomes richer for everyone, not just the person who has been hiding who they really are. I’ve seen this over and over: the influence of someone who is many things frees up “singletons” to more fully express all of who they are. Remember, that spouse fell in love in love with someone multiple.
You write that there's an army inside of the abused, and that "someone who is multiple isn't easily overcome." Can you elaborate?
An army consists of people with different abilities and roles: soldiers, engineers, planners, cooks, drivers, all of them contributing to the fight even though they may not see eye to eye and not always even get along. If one gets knocked out, someone else steps into the gap. The same is true for someone who is multiple. Every personality has different skills and roles. The ability to switch to someone who is best suited to the situation at hand leads to great resiliency. And despite the legacy of trauma, the range of skills creates great potential.
There's a message of hope in the book, and in your acknowledgements you write that the perps lost and the cycle is broken. Can you expand on that?
DID arises from crimes against children, which are committed by perpetrators who aim to break those children and thereby keep them silent, compliant and a wreckage of humanity. Yet with DID each broken piece evolves into a person, a gifted part of the whole. The survivors who grow up to raise their children with everything they never got—encouragement, respect, safety, tenderness—are heroes changing the course of history. I don’t know of any greater evidence of a holy and divine spirit than that someone who was not loved can give so much love to their own children and others in their lives.
Writing Habits
Do you write only when inspired or do you sit down to work on a regular schedule?
I don’t rely on inspiration, or I’m afraid that my house would be very clean and my books non-existent! I show up at my desk and put in my time and inspiration returns the favour by showing up unexpectedly and erratically. Having kids eliminated the luxury of getting up late and writing late. When they were small, they learned that Mommy goes upstairs to work. And when I came downstairs, I was theirs.
Do you have any personal tricks to dealing with writer’s block?
I think hot baths are the cure-all for everything. If a hot bath fails, then I resort to ice cream and long walks, frequently at the same time. Eventually something just pops into my head.
If you could talk to any writer living or dead who would it be, and what would you ask?
I’d like to talk to the author of the bible. I would ask if it’s true that the word “elohim” for God, which is plural as in (literally) “And Gods said, let us make humans in our image” means that God has multiple personalities.
Did you always want to be a writer?
Not always—you see until I was ten I thought all authors were dead. Once I discovered they were a living breed, I knew I wanted to be one.
Typewriter, laptop, or pen & paper?
Laptop. I can type as fast as I think.
What do you wear when you write?
Ancient grey sweatpants, a tank top, and a knee-length bathrobe.
What is the best gift someone could give a writer?
Time—every writer craves time to write and think. Next to time, faith and a home cooked meal.
Still Curious?
For more questions, have a look at my Q and A or send me your question at the link below.
Contact Lilian
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