Q: What is this rare medical condition, and what led you to include it as part of Ella’s character?

CJ: As a physician, I’ve long been fascinated by unique medical oddities such as synesthesia. It’s not a disease, but rather the way the brain processes information is mistranslated into other senses. You may see letters as colors or smell words you read.

I have friends who have it—one is a musician who sees the notes she plays as color and light, another hears colors … I myself have what may be a mild form (or maybe it’s just a symptom of my overactive imagination!). I can taste recipes for food I’ve never eaten before just by reading them.

People with synesthesia experience the world differently, which is not only fascinating, it makes for an intriguing character—especially since we all base our idea of reality on what we see, hear, feel. For people with synesthesia, their reality is already very different than people who don’t have synesthesia, so if we upset that reliance on what is seen, felt, or heard, how do we know what’s real and what isn’t?

Start playing with people’s perception of reality, of their basic, essential truth, and you open up a world of possibilities for a story.

Want to learn  more? THE COLOR OF LIES releases on November 6th. Pre-order your copy today!

Want to learn more? Check out my new YA Thriller, THE COLOR OF LIES

A new Young Adult thriller (suitable for ages 12 and up), THE COLOR OF LIES:

For The Color of Lies, my first inspiration was the idea of a girl who saw everyone else’s truth … but was blind to her own.

I loved that conflict, the paradox of what we see and believe versus what is real. And how we deny reality, sacrifice it to our dreams by what we choose to believe … It happens every day in the real world. Just look at the epidemic of fake news posing as reality.

What if someone’s entire life was colored by what they wanted to believe instead of what was real? Answering that question led to The Color of Lies.

Pre-order your copy today! Releases 11/6/18