Interview & Giveaway! Sarah Holman & Destiny of One

 Today we have with us Sarah Holman, author of the Christian Sci-Fi "Destiny" trilogy, The Destiny of One, The Destiny of a Few, and The Destiny of a Galaxy. Sarah writes from the Missouri countryside, and enjoys exploring the outer reaches of possibility that sci-fi allows.


 Enter to win a e-copy of Destiny of One! (At the bottom of this post.)

Good morning, Sarah! So glad to have you here, and it's always a blast to talk about writerly things!  Tell us... who did you base your main characters on; or are we allowed to ask that? ;-)

Haha, yes, you are allowed to ask.  Maria, the main character in The Destiny Trilogy was based off of me. Her sister Anna was based off my sister Rose, her brother Daniel was based off of my brother Michael, and Quint was based off of Han Solo form Star Wars.

  With Sci-Fi as your genre, you've got the sky for a limit. With all that imaginary room to play in, what was your favorite "invention"... or something that you created uniquely for your story?

Oh, that is a hard one.  I had so much fun playing among the stars it is hard to pick one thing.  However, I think my favorite creation was a very small one and not extremely unique.  It was the Star Window, it is a window huge that is hidden by panels.  When you press a button, the panels slide into the wall revealing the amazing view into space.

How did you decide what level of culture/technology to use? Was it even a question?
I wanted to story to feel believable and have the feeling that it could happen in the near future.  Other than the presence of starships, technology is only slightly more advanced then we have now.  In fact, I think that 10 years from now, most of the inventions I put in will look as silly as the computers on Star Trek do to us now.

With sci-fi being so open to interpretation, did you find you needed to do much research? And if so, where did you turn?
I did do some research, but not much. As you said sci-fi is open to interpretation, much like fantasy.  I enjoyed creating and building Maria’s world out of my imagination

Many sci-fi authors go with unusual names for their characters. Did you consider this, and what influenced your ultimate decision?
This is very true.  Most of my characters, I have a hard time naming.  However when I started writing The Destiny of One, I felt like my main character entered the room and said: “Hi, Sarah!  My name is Maria Morris.” I didn’t think about it long, her name just seemed to fit.  Many of my side characters have unique names such as Quint, Windspear, and Winter.

What is your biggest pet peeve within the science fiction genre; (Other than the un-Christian slants. I think we can all acknowledge that one!) So... Plotwise?

Many sci-fi writer’s use the genre to make people afraid of the future, and I hate that.  That doesn’t mean that only good things can happen in the book, but the message of the book shouldn’t be one that makes people afraid.

What about World-building wise?
I don’t like a lot of weird creatures.  I know it comes with most sci-fi but I just don’t like.  I wish there were more without.

If you were advising the soon-to-be author of your next hugely-favorite sci-fi novel, what would you say? "Make sure it has...?"
Make sure it has lots of adventure and action!  Those are two of the things that drew me into writing science fiction in the first place; all the possibilities for action and adventure.

Anything else you would like to say to readers and writers of Christian Sci-Fi?

Think outside the box. Build your own worlds, don’t just copy what you have seen. Whatever you do, make sure your faith shines in all you write.

Blessings,

Sarah

 Thanks so much for chatting with us, Sarah! I love your perspective!  

 Here are the links where you can get in touch with, or learn more about her.

Sarah's Books

The Destiny of One

Meditations of His Love

Homeschool Authors

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