Q&A with Paullina Simons #TheTigerCatcher

Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Tiger Catcher by my favourite Paullina Simons!

The Tiger Catcher is book 1 in The End of Forever trilogy and it has quickly become one of my very favourite books. I adore the story (even though at parts it breaks my heart!) so very much. Julian and Josephine’s story has charmed their way into my soul. I cannot wait to read more of their story. Book 2 The Beggar’s Kingdom is coming out in August and book 3 Inexpressible Island is out in December. This is a story you do not want to miss!

I am so excited today as I have a Q&A with Paullina Simons for you. Please see synopsis below and enjoy the Q&A!

Synopsis:

True love never dies.

The Tiger Catcher is the story of Julian, living a charmed life in Los Angeles, whose world is turned upside down by a love affair with Josephine, a mysterious young woman who takes him by storm. But she is not what she seems, carrying secrets that tear them apart—perhaps forever.

So begins Julian and Josephine’s extraordinary adventure of love, loss, and the mystical forces that bind people together across time and space. It is a journey that propels Julian toward impossible choices which will lead him to love fulfilled … or to oblivion.

Q&A with Paullina:

• First of all, congratulations on another absolutely fantastic and epic story! A big portion of the book is set in London. I think this is the first story you have written that is set in London. Can you tell us why London and why in this story?

For a long time, I have wanted to write a story that was set in London, but up until the End of Forever saga, I didn’t have an idea worthy of that great city. I lived and worked in London for half of my twenties, went to university near there (Colchester), had my first baby there (Barking), got my first job out of college there (City of London). London has many personal, intimate, painful, and joyful memories for me. I wanted to do them all justice. It only took me nearly three decades to do it.

• In The Tiger Catcher Josephine is passionate about theatre. I also notice by following your social media that you often go to watch shows and plays too. Is this also a passion of yours?

Yes! I love the stage as a forum for telling stories. It’s unique, and there are no other forums quite like it. The entire story has to be revealed almost exclusively through the characters on the stage talking to each other. There are no dragons or fires or large-scale battles, such as in movies or TV. There are no internal thoughts to let us understand what our characters are thinking, as there are in books. All it is, is conflict between people. All drama comes from plays. Which is why they’re called the dramatic arts.

• I absolutely love the fact that we have all three books in the End of Forever trilogy released this year! We don’t have to wait long! In one of your recent interviews you mentioned that this was because nowadays people like to binge watch TV shows so why not binge read books too. I love that. Did you feel more pressure while you were writing the books that you must finish all three in one go?

No, I didn’t know I was writing three books. I thought I was writing a story. The story just happened to be told over the course of these three novels and as each of the novels have a beginning, middle and end, the books taken together are the beginning, middle, and end of Julian and Josephine’s journey. The true pressure I felt is the length of the story I was writing, and the amount of time it was taking me to finish it.

• The Tiger Catcher did end in a cliffhanger! Can you tell us a little bit about what we can expect in book 2 A Beggar’s Kingdom and book 3 Inexpressible Island?

Well, if you enjoyed The Tiger Catcher, I would say about A Beggar’s Kingdom is you ain’t seen nothing yet. There is more adventure, more passion, more heartbreak, more tragedy, more joy. There is just more. And there might even be more of a cliffhanger.

• You have written a lot of books, do each of your books have a character that you would consider to be alter ego of yourself?

The identification characters in my books are not so much my alter egos as they are a version of what I would like to be. Steely and resolved like Tully, kind and loving like Tatiana, courageous and passionate like Alexander, smart and quiet like Spencer, a lottery winner like Lily, lol.

• Is there a character by another author you wish you created yourself?

Gavroche in Hugo’s Les Miserables.

• You are the reason why I love Russia and books set in Russia. Do you consider yourself more Russian or American? Which parts of you do you feel more American and which parts more Russian?

Thank you! I consider myself American on the outside, with a Russian soul. I fully embrace all things American; I love the TV and the travel; the versatility and agility; I love the movies and the humor and the food. But when it comes to the melancholy arts of long-suffering contemplation of the meaning of all existence, I am fully Russian. Ask my children why one Mother’s Day I made them watch with me a documentary on celebrities growing up without mothers.

• What is your writing process and ritual? For example, do you always have the ending of the book finalised first then work your way backwards? And do you like to write in a quiet environment or the noisier the better?

I must work without interruption; I do not enjoy being jostled as I’m trying to build a world inside my books that doesn’t yet exist.

And yes, I usually always write toward an end. I need to know where I’m going, even if the reader does not. Only when I write with an end in mind can I know what parts to keep and what parts to throw away. I don’t think I’ve ever begun a book without knowing how it finished.

 Now, every once in a while, I would approach the finish line and realize I have to change the ending, because it no longer fit the story I was telling.  When that happened, I would go back and revise the story to fit the new end. I never wanted to structure a story around an end I did not write to.

 The one exception is The Bronze Horseman. I wrote that story with one end in mind, and by the time the book was published, and it was too late to change it, I had written a sequel to it that I ended up scrapping. I started again and wrote a different sequel.  Among my fifteen novels, The Bronze Horseman stands alone as a novel with an end that never came to be. All I can say about that, is LUCKY YOU.

• What are your top three favourite books?

East of Eden by John Steinbeck, The World According to Garp by John Irving, and The Godfather by Mario Puzo.

The Tiger Catcher is out now. Thank you so much Paullina for taking your time to answer my questions. Thank you so much Amber and Midas PR for sending me an advanced copy to review.

About The Author

Paullina Simons is the author of TULLY, THE BRONZE HORSEMAN, and eleven additional novels, as well as two children’s books, a cookbook, and a memoir. Her books have been published in over 23 countries and have been on many bestseller lists around the world. Born in Leningrad, Russia, Paullina immigrated to the United States in the mid seventies and now live in New York with her husband and half of her children. Discover more about Paullina on Facebook: @PaullinaSimonsAuthor, Twitter: @PaullinaSimons, Instagram: @PaullinaSimons, and http://paullinasimons.com.

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