This week, Christopher Kokoski talks about his novel, Past Lives. Christopher was born in Kansas, the son of an Army Ranger and Black Hawk pilot. He grew up in Kentucky and Germany, and graduated from Murray State University in 2002 with a degree in Organizational Communication. He spent the next three years laboring over his first book, Past Lives, while marrying his college sweetheart, having a beautiful daughter, and more or less finding his stride in life.
He currently lives in Southern Indiana and works in Louisville, Kentucky as a national trainer. He has presented at local and national conferences on a wide spectrum of topics including communication, body language, cultural sensitivity and influence. Other notable activities include writing articles, short stories, novels and training materials for national and international audiences.
Synopsis of Past Lives:
Secrets: Plunged into the center of a high-profile murder investigation, Eric Shooter discovers under hypnosis that he is a reincarnated serial killer. The only way to clear his name is to track down the most elusive and cunning predator in history, a methodical assassin with whom he shares a shocking connection.
Mystery: If he fails, he is doomed to repeat the endless cycle of death and rebirth, placing thousands of innocent lives in danger. The mounting darkness within him threatens to destroy everything and everyone he loves. As the real killer closes in, Eric is forced to confront an ageless and unimaginable evil. When past and present lives collide, Eric must catch the serial killer to prove his innocence, and alter his destiny to save it.
What inspired you to write your first book?
As far back as I can remember, I’ve had a vivid and active imagination. Strangely, when I was growing up, I hated to read. “Loathed” is probably a better word to describe my almost clinical aversion of reading. Then came my 8thgrade year in middle school and the dark summer that followed. Like most people, I’ve experienced my share of trouble in my life, but that year of school and those few months in the summer were by far the worst times of my life to date. I credit God for getting me through it alive. It was during that summer that I started to write a story, “The Temple of Gold,” I think I called it. It was about the leader of a band of travelers who had to choose between sacrificing untold universes of people or his closest, most loyal friends. I only made it to about page 100 and I never finished the story. I still like the premise, but I’m sure the writing was horrendous. Still, the therapeutic nature of creative writing healed something in me that summer. I guess I discovered the power of stories, and so I wrote my first novel with the hope of healing both myself and others.
Of course, I also love to write, create, and shape words and ideas on the page. I get a kick out of a scene coming together or a fresh new metaphor.
As for my first finished novel, Past Lives, which is now also the first book in a series, the inspiration came from several sources. The novel (and the series) is about a man who discovers under hypnosis that he is a reincarnated serial killer. I have always been fascinated with hypnosis. There are so many wonderful applications of it. There are also dark and troubling ways it can and is used to manipulate individuals and groups of people.
One of the uses of hypnosis is past life regressions, or mentally uncovering someone’s past lives. This application of hypnosis, quite understandably, is shrouded in controversy. Personally, I don’t believe in it, but I do find the idea interesting. Most people (in the U.S.) who undergo past life regressions discover that they were famous, beautiful, or someone heroic in the past. I wondered what might happen if a person found out they were something terrible, even something as horrible as a serial killer. How would that affect their lives and relationships? What would they do about it? What could they do about it? It has always been questions like these that have lead me to write my stories, questions that baffle and intrigue me. I hope that makes my stories more thrilling to read.
Do you have a specific writing style?
Yes, but it has morphed over time. With Past Lives, my style is very short, punchy sentences with a minimalist view of description and super-brief chapters. Many readers compare this writing style with someone like James Patterson. This comes as no surprise to me as I was reading a lot of James Patterson novels when I wrote Past Lives. Observant readers might even take note that I mention Patterson in the story as a way to pay homage.
My second novel (to be published sometime in 2012) is written with longer sentences and more description. The chapters remain short. My goal has always been to tell entertaining stories with beautiful language. My favorite writers are those who manage to be both great storytellers and fine verbal craftsmen of the English language.
How did you come up with the title?
The title fell into my lap as I wrote the novel. Much of this first book in the series is about discovering the main character’s past lives and how he and the those closest to him react to the revelations. There is also an ongoing , present-day serial killer investigation threaded throughout the story. Past Lives just seemed to fit, so I stuck with it.
Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
Absolutely. Of the several thematic elements, I’m hoping readers come away with a sense of the awesome power of surrender and a belief in the potential to overcome the darkness of our past.
How much of the book is realistic?
It might be surprising for some to realize that much of the “meat” of the story is based on true or ‘supposedly true’ events. For example, everything (both the good and the bad) that hypnosis is capable of doing in the story is not only possible, but happens on an alarming scale everyday somewhere in the world.
Also, back in the early 1900’s a man named Edgar Cayce discovered an uncanny ability to place himself in a state of deep self-hypnosis. During these “trances” he would predict the unpredictable, know the unknowable, and prescribe medical treatments that cured many people of all sorts of illnesses and injuries even though he had no previous medical training. Eventually, he started talking about reincarnation during these episodes. Quite the controversial personality of his time, I wanted to “steal” some of that controversy for my story hoping to make it not only more “realistic,” but hopefully more interesting.
Want to hear more? The rest of the interview will be posted on the Review Among Us Blog on January 6, 2012.
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